Coke will compete for a spot in Chicago's bullpen this spring.

The Chicago Cubs have signed left-hander Phil Coke to a minor-league deal, according to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal. As part of the deal, the 32-year-old will make $2.25 million if he makes the major league roster, per Chris Lott of MLive.com.

As Rosenthal adds, Coke passed up at least one major league offer in order to sign a minor league contract with Chicago. Still, he stands to make a reasonable sum of money if he makes the majors, and there is a fairly good chance of that happening. Coke can also make an additional $900,000 via incentives.

Coke has been an enigmatic arm over the past seven seasons with the Yankees and Tigers. For his career, he has just a 4.16 ERA, but his 3.71 FIP is much better. After putting up a 5.40 ERA in 2013, Coke was relatively good in 2014, posting a 3.88 ERA, 103 ERA+, and 2.05 K/BB in 58.0 innings pitched with Detroit. Coke has been especially effective against left-handed batters in his career, and will likely be deployed as a lefty specialist. Southpaws have hit for just a .649 OPS in 786 plate appearances against Coke during his career.

Coke will join fellow southpaws Felix Doubront and Drake Britton, giving Chicago some additional depth in left-handers for their bullpen. Coke will likely find himself competing with Doubront, Britton, Francisely Bueno, Jacob Turner, and Justin Grimm for the final spot or two in the Cubs' bullpen, as it seems that Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop, Neil Ramirez, Jason Motte, and Edwin Jackson are essentially roster locks at this point.

With Coke off the board, that now leaves Rafael Soriano as the only clear big league-caliber reliever remaining on the free agent market. The past two weeks has seen a plethora of names come off the board, including Coke, Mike Adams, Joba Chamberlain, Dustin McGowan, and Francisco Rodriguez.

Oh and spring training has begun and prospects are doing things! So that's fun.

It's been a little while since our first podcast of the season so the Matts and I got together to record another one. We talked about absolutely pivotal parts of the upcoming season, like how Chris Young struck out against a pitching machine, A-Rod saving Gotham, and comparing Brian Roberts to a dying cell. Enjoy.

[1:16] what is an A-Rod
[4:02] Whatever this A-Rod is, at least it's distracting the media from harassing Didi Gregorius
[7:26] The biggest news: The Yankees lost the Jim Miller sweepstakes. All is lost.
[7:52] Prospects! Aaron Judge&Greg Bird being bosses!
[14:10] On acquiring projects like Didi and Nathan Eovaldi
[16:35] Guess the former/current Yankees player based upon the 2015 BP Annual comment! (h/t Back of the Bullpen podcast)
[29:43] Tweetbag: Slade Heathcott, Tex or McCann at cleanup, the 25-man roster, a brief aside about our Luis Torrens sadness, A-Rod dressing as Batman
[45:21] Pop Culture Moment: Parks & Rec banter
[52:15] Quick Yankee/Mitre of the Week, very important

Podcast link (Length: 55:16)

iTunes link

RSS feed

The end of captains; Cervelli's fine with A-Rod; spring training stand-outs; Beltran's health.

ESPN | Wallace Matthews: According to GM Brian Cashman, the title of captaincy should end with Derek Jeter. Even though Jeter was the perfect player to be a captain, there might not be a player like that in the future. And because there are usually a few clubhouse leaders, Cashman doesn't want all of that responsibility to fall on one person.

New York Post | George A. King III: Even though he was traded, former Yankee Francisco Cervelli has no animosity towards the organization. He also stated that he had no hard feelings towards Alex Rodriguez, despite the Biogenesis scandal that created a rift in their relationship. But nonetheless, Cervelli is certainly excited to join the Pirates, and believes that they match his level of excitement.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: It's early on in spring training, but there are already Yankees that have stood out in the past few days. Prospects like Luis Severino and Aaron Judge have impressed, as well as miscellaneous pieces such as Ramon Flores, Austin Romine, and Jose Ramirez.

ESPN | Wallace Matthews:  If the Yankees want to play baseball in October, then Carlos Beltran needs to be a bigger contributor. After hitting career lows in a few statistical categories, he'll need to bounce back to at least what we've seen from him in St. Louis.

New York Post | John DeMarzo: Jimmy Rollins wouldn't have minded if he was traded to the Mets, but he definitely didn't want to be a Yankee. Because of the enduring legacy of Derek Jeter, he would not have felt comfortable trying to fill those shoes.

Background

If you've been paying attention to the Yankees farm system, Abiatal Avelino is a name you should already know. Signed out of the Dominican Republic before the 2012 season, he impressed in the Dominican Summer League with a .302/.398/.374 batting line. He made his American debut in 2013, hitting .303/.381/.399 over the season and even got a small taste of the competition in the New York-Penn League at the age of 18. He showed very little power to speak of, but things were still looking up as the shortstop started pushing himself into the top prospect conversation alongside fellow countryman Miguel Andujar. All he needed was a big year to get him over the hump.

2014 Results

Unfortunately, 2014 was the exact opposite season he needed to have. The Yankees started him out in Low-A Charleston along with fellow shortstop Tyler Wade, where, at 19, they were 2.5 years younger than the league average. For awhile things seemed to be going well, despite the platoon; Avelino hit .294/.349/.387 and stole 11 bases over the first month of the season, but he eventually went down with a quad injury that kept him out until July. After a brief rehab assignment he returned to the RiverDogs and only managed to hit .160/.236/.250 over 24 games to end the season and in that time he didn't steal a single base. It was pretty clear that even though he was deemed healthy enough to return, something was just still not right. While he struggled over that span, he did manage to hit his only two home runs of the year, pushing his career total to three. Wade, in the meantime, collected 575 plate appearances, hit .272/.350/.349, and stole 22 bases. Way to make him look bad, man.

2015 Outlook

Perhaps we can write off Avelino's 2014 struggles to his leg injury, but if a poor, injury-plagued season caused him to drop out of the spotlight for so many evaluators, it's going to be even harder for him to get back into it. Maybe Avelino has a big year, but if he continues to be a light-hitting shortstop with little plate discipline, there might not be much in store for him. Avelino's future lies squarely in his ability to hit the ball, regardless of how far he can get it to go, so we'll have to see. As Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs reports, Avelino is "a solid average runner with a good first step, good hands and a plus arm," but his thick body could be something to watch out for. He'll probably start off in Charleston again, but with Jorge Mateo nipping at his heals and Tyler Wade likely in front of him on the depth chart at this point, he doesn't have much room to maneuver.

Two baseball games will go on today, and Carlos Beltran will make his spring debut. Huzzah!

I am not Greg Kirkland, obviously. But, the thread shall go on! The Yankees played a baseball game yesterday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they defeated them by a score of 2-1. Esmil Rogers and Chase Whitley each threw two scoreless innings apiece, and Tyler Austin hit a go-ahead dinger to put the Yankees ahead for good.

Today, the Yankees will play two games. The first is a split-squad game where Bryan Mitchell will take on Cole Hamels; that one will be on MLB.tv. The second game will only be on Gameday Audio, but it's certainly of note because Carlos Beltran makes his debut. For an offense that was nearly non-existent, a healthy Beltran is pretty, pretty important. Here's to health.

Comments of the Day

LTL does not like your distaste for bacon, and you will be judged for it.

And for donuts, too.

Preach it. Get it done, MLBAM.

LTL: back at it again.

GIF of the Day

It's a new season, and Victor is back! NoMahbles knows this better than anyone.

Honorable Mod Mention

This HMM goes to Greg for all of his COTD posts. Cheers to you!

Fun Questions

• You've been selected to go on a one-way trip to Mars. What do you do with your remaining time on Earth?
• What's your favorite book and why?

Song of the Day

A Love Supreme, Part I: Acknowledgment by John Coltrane

It's arguably the greatest jazz album of all time, and certainly one of the most iconic in American history. There was nothing like it before, and nothing was the same after it. It's Coltrane: how can you go wrong?

You can use this as the open thread for the day, and a game thread should be up for the 1 PM game as well. Go Yankees, go baseball.

Today the Yankees take on the Phillies at home in the first part of a doubleheader. Game 1 starts at 1:05 PM with the Yankees on the road, while game 2 will be at 7:05 PM against the Pirates at home. Making the start for the Yankees today will be Bryan Mitchell, who will make his first start in his attempt to hijack a rotation spot from Chris Capuano. Meanwhile, the Phillies will send their ace Cole Hamels out against the Yankee lineup.

To help fill out the rosters for both games, several minor league players have been called up to big league camp for the day:

Jaron Long, Matt Tracy, Mark Montgomery, Taylor Garrison, and Caleb Cotham on tomorrow's #Yankees travel roster.

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer74) March 5, 2015

Same goes for Alvaro Noriega, Eric Jagielo, Michael O'Neill and Taylor Dugas, up from MiLB camp. Tyler Wade is up today. #Yankees

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer74) March 5, 2015

It should be interesting to see what Jaron Long, Eric Jagielo, Michael O`Neill, and Tyler Wade can do in their time with the club.

If you're still following the downward spiral that has become Mark Montgomery's career, you'll be happy to know that there might be some hope for him yet, even if he wasn't invited to big league camp:

Mark Montgomery says range of motion is back to where it was before the shoulder issue. Been facing hitters. Getting swing and misses again.

— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) March 6, 2015

Hopefully this translates into better velocity and control so the organization will take him seriously again.

Here is the full day-game roster:

Split squad today - Game 1 at Phillies in Clearwater at 1:05 pm pic.twitter.com/ObFvQiLMnz

— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) March 6, 2015

Who are you excited to watch today?

Bryan Mitchell makes his first case for a spot in the big league rotation

Lots of Yankees baseball today, folks!  The Yankees play a split-squad doubleheader today, and with the need to fill out two rosters, the Yankees called up a lot of minor leaguers, including Eric Jagielo and Mark Montgomery.  But the biggest draw for the first game of the doubleheader, away against the Phillies, was clearly Bryan Mitchell.

Mitchell has long displayed good stuff, but he's never quite been able to put it together into a dominant minor league season.  He did manage to finally see some big league action last year, and all signs point to 2015 being the year he should get a chance, what with all the injury concerns (and the fact that Chris Capuano is all sorts of meh) filling the rotation.  Well, in his first start of the spring, Mitchell looked like everything the Yankees are hoping for.  In two innings of work, Mitchell surrendered just one hit and struck out two.  He thoroughly flummoxed opposing hitters, and doing it while dueling Cole Hamels doesn't hurt either.

While the Yankees also failed to get to Hamels, they did make some noise in the fourth against Mike Nesseth.  After Mark Teixeira led off the inning with a single, PSA favorite Greg Bird doubled to deep right center, scoring Kyle Roller (who pinch-ran for Tex). Bird came in to score on a one-out single from Ramon Flores, making it 2-0 Yankees. But they weren't done, as Didi Gregorius smoked a two-out double to give the Yankees a three-run lead.

The Yankees added a fourth run in the top of the sixth when Nick Noonan doubled, scoring Slade Heathcott.  The Phillies lone run came against Mark Montgomery, who gave up a homer to journeyman outfielder Xavier Paul.  Montgomery escaped the rest of the inning unscathed, although he did give up another hit, a single.  Montgomery's two hits surrendered actually constituted half of the Phillies' four hits - Yankee pitching was stellar today, as Mitchell, Matt Tracy, and Branden Pinder all threw two innings of shutout ball, and Jaron Long and Nick Goody each contributed a scoreless inning.  All in all, it was a good day for the Yankees - there were Didi defensive highlights, a Greg Bird sighting, and some really promising work from Bryan Mitchell.  Maybe there's hope for a Capuano alternative after all.

Box score

Should captaincy be retired with Jeter's number 2?

This is the first Yankee spring training that Derek Jeter hasn't been a part of in over twenty years. There hasn't been too much focus on his absence thanks to the media's obsession with Alex Rodriguez, but Brian Cashman finally brought up Jeter yesterday. In an interview with ESPN Radio's Mike Lupica, Cashman said he believed that "the captaincy should be retired with number two." Should Jeter be the last Yankee captain ever?

Jeter was first named the Yankees captain back in 2003. At the time, the Yankees were in a slump and George Steinbrenner hoped that Jeter's leadership would bring them out of it (they ended up advancing to the World Series, so I guess that did the trick). He held the title until he retired last fall, making him the longest tenured captain in Yankee history. The next closest, according to the Yankees' media guide, was Roger Peckinpaugh from 1914 to 1921. Shortest tenured Yankee captain? Babe Ruth, for about 10 weeks in 1922. In total, there have been 16 confirmed captains in Yankee history, though that number is subject to some debate. When they were first established, the Yankees pretty much always had a designated captain up until 1925. Lou Gehrig was named captain in 1935 and remained so until 1941. Then the Yankees had their longest gap in history, going without a captain all the way until 1976 when Thurman Munson was given the title. It therefore wouldn't be unprecedented for the Yankees to go several years, or even decades, before naming a new captain, but not ever having one again is another matter entirely.

Cashman acknowledged that he isn't the decision-maker when it comes to picking captains, but he said he wouldn't give a captain title to anyone else if it were up to him. "Leadership comes in a lot of forms. It would be a hard one to anoint someone captain regardless of how great they might be." On the one hand, I agree. There will never be another Derek Jeter, and giving someone the "C" is just a title that's mostly meaningless. Just because there isn't an official captain designated doesn't mean that there won't be guys who are leaders in the clubhouse. It's not like the team needs to name someone else captain immediately. On the other hand, saying that there should never be another captain is a bold statement. Forever is a long time. While they shouldn't concern themselves with trying to give someone the title, that doesn't mean that there couldn't be a worthy candidate twenty or so years down the line. Maybe the future captain could pull the 2047 Yankees out of a slump.

Do you think Jeter should be the last captain ever? Does the presence or absence of a captain really impact the team one way or the other? Vote in the poll below and let us know what you think in the comments.

Half of the Yankees already secured a win today against the Phillies in Clearwater. The other half will try to do the same against the Pirates tonight at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Chris Capuano and Carlos Beltran are making their spring debuts along side the regular starting outfield. Veterans get to stay and play at home, you know how this works. The game, unfortunately, won't be televised anywhere. You can listen to Gameday Audio or on the radio, if you are so inclined.

Go Yankees, Go Baseball.

The @Yankees second game of the day starts at 7:05 vs. Pittsburgh in Tampa pic.twitter.com/lFXVC7faVB

— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) March 6, 2015

Chris Capuano gets his first chance to prove he's deserving of the fifth-starter job

The Yankees continued their pursuit of a Grapefruit League title Friday night in the second half of a split-squad double header against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Chris Capuano made his first start of the spring, and we got a look at what could potentially be the first four in the batting order come Opening Day in Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann. It was Beltran's first in-game action of the spring. Alex Rodriguez was the DH and hit fifth.

The game was not televised, so it's hard to say just how Capuano looked, but his line for the night suggests it could have gone a little better. In two innings he allowed three hits, including a long two-run home run in the second inning by Tony Sanchez, though he did strike out four. In the early returns on the competition for the fifth starter job, this afternoon's starter Bryan Mitchell appeared to take round one.

David Carpenter and Chris Martin each threw a scoreless inning in the third and fourth, respectively. Both allowed a hit and struck out one. Righty thrower Jose Ramirez came in for the fifth, and was promptly greeted by a first pitch launched over the wall by Pirates' center fielder Jaff Decker (that's not a typo, his name is Jaff), but Ramirez rebounded well, retiring the next three in order. After 1 2/3 scoreless innings from Diego Moreno, Jacob Lindgren made a successful appearance, striking out two and walking one in 1 1/3 innings pitched. Chasen Shreve pitched a scoreless, hitless ninth.

The Yankee bats were dormant for the majority of the game. Beltran kicked off his spring with an 0-for-2 with two strikeouts, one looking and one swinging. He worked a walk in his final at-bat in the sixth inning, and was pinch-ran for by Jake Cave. A-Rod also went 0-for-2 with a walk, a strikeout, and what the writers at the game described as "a soft, broken-bat lineout" on Twitter. Prior to the eighth inning, the Yanks only had two hits, one each from Gardner and Ellsbury.

In the bottom of the eighth, the bats came to life a bit and the Yanks got themselves on the board. Catcher Eddy Rodriguez doubled on a line drive to left, followed by a Francisco Arcia single and an RBI single from Cave. That would be the extent of the Yankees scoring, though.

Box Score

Esmil Rogers took pitching tips from Mariano Rivera; Beltran pain free; A-Rod could play third base on Sunday; Best and worst case scenarios for the rotation.

The Wall Street Journal | Jason Gay: Brian Cashman has voiced the idea of the Yankees retiring the captaincy with Derek Jeter, but it sounds like they're just being overly nostalgic.

NY Daily News | Mark Feinsand: Multiple pitchers are in the running for the fifth spot in the rotation, and Esmil Rogers took some tips from Mariano Rivera during spring training.

Newsday | Eric Boland: Carlos Beltran made his spring training debut yesterday and was pain free; Alex Rodriguez has told Joe Girardi that he's ready to play third base in some games and that could happen as soon as Sunday.

It's About The Money | Brad Vietrogoski: What if everyone stays healthy? Imagining the best case scenario for the Yankees rotation. You can compare it to the worst case scenario if you're on the glass half empty side of things.

The Yankees split two games yesterday, and they'll play one against the Astros this afternoon. How I've missed Saturday afternoon baseball.

The Yankees played two spring training games yesterday, winning the first by a score of 4-1 against the Phillies, and losing the second game by a score of 3-1 against the Pirates. The first game saw Didi Gregorius hit an RBI double and play stellar defense, and the second game saw some good pitching from Jacob Lindgren and Chasen Shreve. Carlos Beltran also made his spring debut, and he struck out twice.Oh, and A-Rod walked if anyone cares.

Comments of the Day

It was a rough day yesterday for SBNation, technically speaking. It just needed an aspirin and some sleep, so it's fine now.

Pasta Diving Didi does have a nice ring to it, but I doubt we'll use it.

Keep in mind: Ryan Howard is also massive.

#GregBirdIsTheWord

GIF of the Day

As I said before: Didi. Very good at doing the defense thing.

Aaron Shelby Rose had the thread alone to himself, so he decided to fill it with puppy GIF's! No thread is complete until it is populated with pups.

Honorable Mod Mention

The HMM goes to Andrew for updating each thread with Bird, Judge, and Didi pictures/GIF's. Keep 'em coming.

Fun Questions

• What's your favorite dog breed?
• You're at a diner for breakfast. What do you order?

Song of the Day

Tap Out by The Strokes. Every day is a Strokes kind of day.

The Yankees will play a game against the Houston Astros at 1 PM, and this one will only be available over radio. You can use this as an open thread for the day, and another thread will come up for the game. Happy Saturday, all.

Join the conversation as the Astros take on the yankees in Kissimmee.

Houston Astros (1-1) vs. New York Yankees (2-2-1), 12:05 p.m. (CST)

Radio: KBME 790 AM, MLB.com At Bat
Yankees SBNation Blog: Pinstripe Alley

Pitching matchup

LHP Dallas Keuchel (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP) vs. RHP Scott Baker (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP)

Lineups

#Astros lineup vs. NYY. Altuve and Lowrie make #AstrosST debuts. @kidkeuchy on the bump. First pitch 1:05 p ET. pic.twitter.com/Gb9aBY0h4P

— Houston Astros (@astros) March 7, 2015

Astros pitchers today: Keuchel, Gregerson, Qualls, Fields, Sipp, Downs, Jankowski.

— Brian McTaggart ⚾️ (@brianmctaggart) March 7, 2015

Today's #NYYSpring lineup: Gregorius SS, Headley 3B, Drew 2B, Tex 1B, Romine C, Roller DH, Austin RF, Flores LF, Williams CF, Baker P.

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 7, 2015

Notes

• Astros lost to the Cardinals yesterday, 5-2.

The New York Yankees head out on the road to face the Houston Astros, for a day game after a split-squad night game. Unsurprisingly, veterans who played in the late start yesterday have been given today off. The starting infield will be playing today though. We might see - or well hear, this game isn't televised - about Greg Bird, Robert Refsnyder and Aaron Judge in the second half as all have made the trip as well.

Several pitchers today may be looking to play themselves into 25-man roster consideration. Scott Baker makes his first game appearance as a Yankee, and scheduled relievers behind him include Jose De Paula, Danny Burawa, Tyler Webb and Nick Rumbelow.

If you'd like to follow the game, audio broadcasts are available through MLB Gameday and the WFAN radio network. Once again though, there is no video coverage of the game, unfortunately.

Interviews with Pirates prospects Andrew Lambo and Tyler Glasnow

I had a chance to talk with both Andrew Lambo and Tyler Glasnow this week. I've spoken with Andrew a couple times over the past few years and he invariably surprises me with some specific insight or revelation. He did again on Wednesday when he basically said he wasn't as prepared as he should have been coming into camp last year. Needless to say, he had a different approach this offseason.

This was the first time I've spoken with Tyler and I came away as impressed with his off-the-field demeanor as I have been with his on-the-field performance. We spoke about an hour after he made his spring training debut with a 1-2-3, 2K outing against the Yankees on Thursday. Both interviews run about ten minutes.

Yankees win on the road against the Astros behind a ninth-inning comeback.

The New York Yankees pulled off their first ninth inning comeback of the Grapefruit league this afternoon, beating the Houston Astros 9-4.

Minor league signing Scott Baker made his first Yankee start today and it could have gone better. He allowed the first five Astros he faced to reach base, conceding three runs and six hits in his only inning of work. He did have a pair of strikeouts. There weren't speed gun numbers available, so we don't have velocity figures on the Baker fastball, but PSA member DOMM00RE who was at the game was not positive on Baker's pitching performance. Hopefully his next game is a little sharper.

The rest of the game involved several candidates for the final bullpen spot coming out of spring, and perhaps callups later in the year. Danny Burawa had a little trouble with control, walking two Astros in his only inning, but with the help of a double play kept it scoreless. Jose De Paula pitched two scoreless innings of his own, helped out by some nifty defense by Stephen Drew that John Sterling was very positive about on his radio broadcast. Nick Rumbelow was spotless in the fifth but was chased out of the sixth inning after giving up a pair of hits and a run. Tyler Webb came in and loaded the bases but got out of it with no further damage. Kyle Davies and Caleb Cotham added '0's to the scoreboard to close out the game.

The Yankee offense was kept quiet through the first five innings, facing the better pitchers that the Astros sent out on the day, but Ramon Flores lead off the sixth inning with a homerun to break the shutout. Jake Cave added another solo shot to open the eighth inning to make it 4-2 Astros. A Nick Noonan double and Jose Pirela triple made it a one run game with a runner on third and nobody out. A Robert Refsnyder strikeout and Gregory Bird groundout that saw Pirela gunned down at home effectively ended the threat.

The Yankees trailed by one heading into the ninth, but erupted for six runs in the top of the ninth. After loading the bases, aided by a misfield by the Astros, Noonan walked to tie the game before Rob Refsnyder singled in two runs to put the Yankees up. A balk made it 7-4 Yankees before Greg Bird hit a 400+ foot home run into deep right center. An exciting end to the game, though it might have been better if we could watch the end.

It was interesting to hear Joe Girardi gush about the young players on the field today, when he was a guest on the WFAN broadcast in the sixth inning, and then to see those players like Bird, Refsnyder and Pirela deliver on the manager's words with big hits late in the game. Hopefully it continues to add to their confidence, and we get to see these players come through for the Yankees in the future when the games count.

The Yankees host Washington tomorrow, at 1:05 ET - public service announcement, the clocks move forward tonight in the USA, worth noting if you are in another timezone as well. For those missing watching the Yankees on TV, good news, it will be televised on the YES Network. Adam Warren will take the ball for the Yankees and Doug Fister gets the start for the Nationals.

The "LOOGY" role has never been a strength for the Yankees. Should it even be a role?

The Yankees have had a difficult time finding quality left-handed relief pitchers over the past well...ever, and it hasn't been for lack of trying. Since the departure of Mike Stanton - one third of the dynasty era late-inning relief troika that birthed all subsequent troikas - after 2002, the Yankees have rummaged through a miscellany of lefty bullpen specialists who have ranged from the mediocre - Boone Logan, Chris Hammond, Damaso Marte - to the ineffective - Pedro Feliciano, Felix Heredia, Mike Myers - to the "are you serious?" - Jesse Orosco? Alan Embree? Buddy Groom?

This spring, you can't throw a rock at Yankee camp without hitting a lefty reliever. The team spent $36 million on could-be closer Andrew Miller, while trading decent assets in Francisco Cervelli and Manny Banuelos to get hard throwers Justin Wilson and Chasen Shreve. Beyond their three acquisitions, they have in-house southpaws who became well-known last season - 2014 second round pick Jacob Lindgren and the also under-25 Tyler Webb and James Pazos. Every single one of those six pitchers had a strikeout rate of 9.0 or better at the highest level where he pitched.

If you ask Joel Sherman of the New York post, though, the Yankees' boon (no pun intended) of left-handed relievers is somehow a knock-able offense. Sherman writes:

...even if they have broken their post-Stanton curse, this might be the worst time in recent history to have strong lefty relievers in the AL East. The only team with a predominantly lefty lineup is the Yankees. Consider that four lefty swingers qualified for the batting title and had better than even a .720 OPS last year and play currently for an AL East team. Three are Yankees — Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner and Garrett Jones. The other is Boston's David Ortiz.

While the "LOOGY" role might not have much import in the AL East of 2015, that's not a problem, because the lefties the Yankees have in camp aren't LOOGYs - and if Joe Girardi tries to use them that way he's making a mistake. Andrew Miller was murder on lefty hitters last year, holding them to a .161/.206/.261 slash line and a .211 wOBA a year ago. But do you know who else Miller dominated in 2014? Righties. They hit an even more paltry .142/.245/.202. Wilson, too, fared better against right-handed hitters with a .623 OPS against as opposed to .681 vs. lefties, while Shreve, in his short stint in the majors, stymied the 25 righty batters he faced to a .167/.200/.208 line.

It's not often that I give Joe Torre credit for something, especially something bullpen-related, but Stanton's career presents a pretty good model on how to effectively use a left-handed reliever who can get outs against hitters from both sides. As a Yankee, he faced 1,905 hitters in 456 appearances, an average of just under 4.18 per game and for his career, 63.4 percent of the batters he saw were right-handed. Those are the kinds of numbers we should hopefully see from Miller, Wilson and Shreve this year.

The threat is always there for any left-handed reliever to get pigeonholed into a matchup role that he's not suited for. It's not that these guys wouldn't be effective facing mostly lefties - they would because they have the stuff to get any hitter out - but the Yankees would be artificially limiting their usefulness. LOOGYs - and ROOGYs, for that matter - are for teams with bad bullpens. If you don't have guys who can get three hitters out consistently, then it makes sense to play the match-ups to extract what value you can from a sub-par group. But the Yankees have spent much of this off-season ensuring that they have a plethora of quality options from both sides. Using them for full innings whenever possible will keep everyone fresher by keeping their appearance totals down, and it'll take some pressure off an embattled starting rotation that's trying to shake the "injury prone" label.

Yankees score 6 runs in the ninth to sink the Astros.

It was a sellout crowd at Osceola County Stadium, even with the premium prices for Yankees fans. Dallas Keuchel took the mound for the Astros on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Keuchel allowed a single and walk in the second inning but escaped with an inning-ending double play to complete two scoreless innings of work.

The Astros bats worked quickly against Yankees starter Scott Baker, Houston lead off the game with five-straight hits. Jose Altuve, Robbie Grossman, and George Springer singled to load the bases for Chris Carter. Carter ripped a double to left field, scoring two runs. Luis Valbuena drove in a Astro run with single of his own to put Houston up 3-0 through one.

Both teams went quiet for four innings, the Astros held their 3-0 lead into the sixth. It was a product of Luke Gregerson, Chad Qualls, and Josh Fields pitching a scoreless inning each. Fields pitched an immaculate inning, striking out the side on nine pitches.

The Yankees' Ramon Flores touched up Tony Sipp for a solo home run to put the New York on the board. Jason Castro responded with a double to score Nolan Fontana to keep the Astros lead at three runs in the bottom half of the six.

Darian Downs surrendered a home run and double to lead off the eighth. Jordan Jankowski relieved Downs and gave up a triple to Jose Pirela to score another run. Jankowski remained the game for the ninth, the score 4-3 Astros. He would walk home a run after allowing three singles. The game now tied, bases loaded, and one out. Jankowski struck out Jose Pirela. He was one out away from escaping with a tie game. Rob Refsnyder would have none of that, singling to score two more runs.

Kent Emanuel replaced Jankowski and promptly balked home a run and gave up a two-run home run to Greg Bird. The Astros went down in order in the bottom of the nine to finish the game.

Game Notes:

• Jose Altuve, Jed Lowrie, and Hank Conger saw their first game action this Spring Training.
• Three main pieces of the Astros bullpen pitched a scoreless inning each, Luke Gregson, Chad Qualls, and Josh Fields.
• Jason Castro was 2-for-3 with a double, Carlos Correa was 1-for-1.

The ferocious AL East, Tommy John, the lefties down on the farm, and the trade deadline is sooner than you think.

Fox Sports | Jeff Sullivan: Yup, the AL East is going to be the toughest division in baseball once again. That's bad news for a team like the Yankees, who are going to be clawing for every win they can get. A little run of luck (and health) could make this a very exciting season.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Scott Baker put off Tommy John surgery after an injury in college. He eventually went under the knife, but he pitched for a number of years and he thinks the Yankees have done the right thing with Masahiro Tanaka. Despite TJ's strong track record of success, he's especially concerned about high schoolers and other young athletes choosing surgery when rehab might be possible. We're sure to hear more about this as Tanaka's countryman Yu Darvish prepares for his own date with the doctor.

New York Times | Billy Witz: Learn more than you ever thought you would about how different Yankees break in their gloves.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: The Yankees have more young left-handed pitchers rising through the system right now than they did at any point in the last decade. Unfortunately, that talent is arriving at the same time as the AL East has lost some of its best left-handed hitters.

Beyond the Box Score | Matt Jackson: An interesting analysis looking at what kind of teams participate in the trade deadline and what kind of players they go after.

Can't have too many infielders, right?

The Yankees have signed corner infielder Mat Gamel to a minor league contract this week, according to Baseball America's Matt Eddy.  Gamel has mostly played first and third during his (brief) major league career, and while he's never really stuck in the big leagues, it never hurts to take a low-risk flyer, especially with all the injury concerns the Yankees have.

In just 106 major league games and 269 plate appearances, Gamel has hit a paltry .229/.305/.367 with a 78 wRC+.  He did perform pretty well in both 2010 and 2011 at the minor league level, posting a triple slash of .309/.387/.511 with a 127 wRC+ in 2010 and hitting .310/.372/.540 with a 121 wRC+ in 2011 (both years he spent in the Brewers system).  In fact, Gamel was once one of the Brewers top prospects, and Baseball America ranked him as the 34th best prospect in baseball in 2009.

Unfortunately, he never quite put it all together in the majors, and he's been out of baseball altogether since 2012.  Gamel has torn his right ACL multiple times - once chasing down a pop up in 2012 and again in 2013 before injuring his knee yet again in 2014 while working out at home.

Obviously this signing probably will amount to nothing and we'll never see anything of Gamel anywhere close to the majors.  Little seems to be known of even where the Yankees are considering fitting Gamel in, as first base is locked up at all three minor league levels.  The best case scenario is probably him finding some at bats as the DH in Trenton or Scranton, so at least the Yankees can see if Gamel has anything left in the tank.

Fun fact: Gamel is the older brother of Yankee sprospect Ben Gamel, who played outfield for Trenton in 2014.