It got ugly pretty quickly, but at least it wasn't all bad

It was another bad outing for the Yankees as Hiroki Kuroda followed up CC Sabathia's poor start on Tuesday with an even worse start of his own. The Japanese righty surrendered a total of six earned runs on 10 hits while striking out one in 3.2 innings. Thankfully, aside from Kuroda–and Kelly Johnson committing two errors at third base–the Yankees offense was eventually able to make up for it. Also, Francisco Cervelli had one heck of a day too.

Kuroda was a little erratic as only 38 of his 60 pitches were strikes. A lot of his pitches were also up in the zone, especially in the first inning when the Tigers did most of their damage. He surrendered two singles in the first to put runners at the corners when a throw from Carlos Beltran got away from Kelly Johnson to give up an early lead. A fly ball later and they were down two runs. Kuroda surrendered another two singles and then Nick Castellanos brought them in on a double to make it 0–4. Cervelli spared us another run when he made a great play diving back to tag the runner before he could score. Just look at that picture at the top of the article. Impressed yet?

In the third, Kuroda gave up a single and two consecutive doubles to score another two runs. Once again Cervelli helped out by gunning down a runner who was trying to steal third before Chase Whitley got him out of the inning.

The Yankee offense was led by Cervelli early on. He hit two solo home runs in back-to-back at-bats in the third and fifth innings. If the Yankees are looking to trade him, he looks to be doing everything he can to help them out. What a team player. I hope scouts saw that. Alfonso Soriano, Kelly Johnson, and Austin Romine were the only other players who managed to get hits before the eighth inning.

The rest of the bullpen was once again more successful (ignore Coello) than the starting pitcher they backed up. Shawn Kelley, Fred Lewis (allowed one hit), and Danny Burawa all did their job. At least we finally got a look at Yankees prospect Jose Campos, who started off at around 89-90 mph and surrendered a double, but he finished strong, collecting a strikeout on a 93 mph heater.

They finally got something started in the eighth when three consecutive base hits from Zoilo Almonte, Yangervis Solarte, and Adonis Garcia loaded the bases. John Ryan Murphy was able to get a run in on a ground ball and Jose Pirela took a walk to re-load the bases. Zelous Wheeler then hit a ground rule double just inside fair territory in left field to pull the Yankees to within one run before they got out of the inning.

In the ninth, Robert Coello came in and collected a strikeout, but he also surrendered an additional run to put the Yankees in a worse spot. The offense still came back when Jose Gil hit a double and Zoilo Almonte launched a game-tying, two-run home run to right field to tie the game at seven. In the 10th, Yoshinori Tateyama collected a strikeout and allowed a hit, but he was actually able to keep Detroit from scoring. Jose Pirela hit a bloop single in the bottom of the 10th, but nothing came of it and we ended in a tie.

The team announced that they have cut Nik Turley, Slade Heathcott, and Gary Sanchez from major league camp and have reassigned them to Triple-A (Turley, Slade) and Double-A (Sanchez). Cutting Turley and Heathcott makes sense since both were dealing with injuries that prevented them from playing, but it would have been nice to see more of Sanchez before he was inevitably sent to the minors.

Check out all these tools

MLB.com released their top 20 list of Yankees prospects, grading them on a 20-80 scale based on what their tools project to be as major league players. 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average. Jim Callis graded the Yankees as such, with the list's best tools highlighted in bold:

– Giving Mason Williams a 60-grade hit tool is beyond ridiculous when there are more than enough questions about his strikeout potential.

– It's interesting to see that Sanchez projects to be a better power hitter than the monstrosity that is Aaron Judge.

– It's pretty bizarre that Murphy was rated as a 20-grade runner. I'd understand Sanchez being rated as below-average, but there's nothing that Murphy has done in his career that would make me think that he's even worse than that on the base paths.

– Sanchez has by far the best overall throwing arm, while Heathcott and Judge have the best outfield arms, and Abiatal Avelino has the best infield arm out of the top 20.

– Williams is the overall best fielder among the top 20, but it was a little surprising that after everything that was said about his glove, that Katoh only graded out as a 55.

– While Callis says that Jagielo will be good enough to stick at third base, it seems that he won't even be league-average in the field. That's kind of disappointing.

– The biggest difference between Avelino and Andujar seems to be their power potential. Avelino is the better fielder while Andujar has a lot more power potential.

– It's interesting that Ian Clarkin is now the best pitcher in the system. Maybe things will change if Banuelos proves himself healthy and effective, but ranking a prospect with five professional innings as the top pitcher in the system is bold.

– I didn't realize that Severino graded out so well compared to other, more seasoned, prospects. He has one of the best fastballs and control in the system, which is likely why scouts are raving about him.

–Bryan Mitchell has the best curveball in the top 20 by a wide margin. Despite the mixed results he's seen throughout his career, it's clear he has good stuff when he has two above-average pitches and another average offering.

– Jose Ramirez still has the best changeup in the system, but since he has only one other plus pitch and shaky control, he's likely destined for the bullpen.

– Rafael De Paula has one of the best fastballs of the top 20, but his other pitches and control look to be below average. That sounds like a future reliever to me.

What observations can you make from this information?

McCann has been doing his homework to get to know the pitching staff, and it already seems to be paying off.

Brian McCann has been working to get to know Yankee pitchers since before spring training even started. Back in November when the deal was made, he received an iPad in the mail, preloaded with videos of the pitching staff. This included footage of two good and two bad games for each pitcher, along with at-bats by various AL East players. McCann received videos of Masahiro Tanaka after he became a Yankee, as well.

All of this studying seems to have paid off, as Yankee pitchers have had a lot of good things to say about McCann so far. CC Sabathia had a rough outing in Tuesday's game, but he mentioned afterwards that McCann had picked up on something in the middle of the game. Sabathia then changed what he was doing which he said "yielded immediate results." Sabathia didn't elaborate, but maybe he put that correction into play in the third inning, which happened to be his only clean inning of the day. On the topic of Brian McCann, Sabathia said, "I can tell we’re going to be able to work together really good. I think we'll be fine."

David Phelps also spoke highly of McCann, specifically mentioning his ability to get low strike calls. Speaking of which, Baseball Prospectus recently came out with an article on framing and blocking pitches that lists Brian McCann as one of the best framing catchers, and even says that he's been worth "about two extra wins per season" over the past five years, just based on his pitch framing abilities. That is pretty remarkable. Former Yankee and PSA favorite Chris Stewart also gets a good rap in that article, despite all of his offensive woes. Still, it's refreshing to have a catcher who brings both defense and offense to the table, and to hear that he's getting on so well with the pitching staff. If he could go ahead and fix Sabathia, that would be great.

Oh, and on the subject of the pitching staff: it seems that the rumor that Francisco Cervelli might be Tanaka's personal catcher could be false. Tanaka threw a simulated game on Tuesday and John Ryan Murphy was his catcher. To make it seem like a real game, some relievers pitched innings of their own, and Cervelli did the catching for all of the relievers. If the Yankees are looking to unload one of their catchers, they should probably hold off on assigning a personal catcher to Tanaka, at least for the time being.

Last Time on Pinstripe Alley

• Brian McCann has already earned the respect and trust of Yankee pitchers
• Yankees Prospects: Examining MLB.com's top 20 by tools
• Yankees 7, Tigers 7: Cervelli and offense salvage Kuroda's poor outing
• Spring Training Game Fifteen: Yankees vs. Tigers
• Cat Man Beltran travels through time and space
• When should we start to worry about CC Sabathia's velocity?

Yankees News

MLB.com | Andrew Simon: Zelous Wheeler is still trying to make it to the major leagues.

Minor League Ball | John Sickels: The top 20 prospects in the Yankees minor league system.

LoHud | Chad Jennings:Slade Heathcott talks about how he's changed his approach over the years.

It's About the Money | Brad Vietrogoski: A comparison between CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka, two pitchers who are adjusting to new careers.

MLB.com | Paul Hagen:Hiroki Kuroda will make adjustments after his disappointing start on Wednesday.

NoMaas | Avi Miller: A look at Mariano Rivera's relationship with Panama.

ESPN New York | Andrew Marchand: The 12 important dates in Derek Jeter's final season.

It's About the Money | Michael Eder: Projecting Brendan Ryan's 2014 season for the Yankees.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Despite trade rumors, Francisco Cervelli wants to stay a Yankee.

SB Nation | Alex Skillin: There are several other pitchers who, like CC Sabathia, are dealing with diminished velocity.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: If the Yankees can't do something with Ichiro Suzuki, they'll have the most famous bench player in baseball.

Pinstripe Pundits | Chris Mitchell: Comparing Alex Rodriguez's and Eric Chavez's defensive abilities at third base.

Examining where players without guaranteed spots on the Yankees' Opening Day roster stand in their quest to make the team after two weeks of spring training.

Two weeks is still quite early in spring training, especially when you're trying to see which ones might be the best fit for an open spot on the major league team. There aren't that many spots for players in camp to fill on the Yankees since most of the roles are firmly held onto by a veteran or player being paid far too much money to be forced out. Still, there are a few chances for players in camp to work their way onto the Yankees' Opening Day roster with an impressive showing in spring training. We are here to attempt to measure where they stand on a weekly basis and how they stack up to their competition.

This post will focus on only the hitters, while Jason's subsequent post will cover where the pitchers stand in their quest to make the team. We graded out where each of the players stand with the following legend:

Keep in mind that all spring training players are not created equal. Some can bat 1.000 and still won't have a spot on the team while another could pick up one hit before the team heads north and would still have a spot on the Opening Day roster. The reality of each player's situation is taken into consideration in their ranking.

Francisco Cervelli's hot spring so far seems to have him firmly in the driver's seat in the race to be Brian McCann's backup, but he's also being scouted by other teams that may want the Yankees to unload a bit of their catching depth. If the Yankees are, indeed, willing to part with Cervelli, his two home runs on Wednesday can only help boost whatever they might be able to bring back in return. The fact of the matter is that there doesn't seem like a place for five catchers on the 40-man roster all season and the Yankees have to find ways to boost their infield if they have the chance.

Another competition that has been full of guys hitting as well as anyone can hope is the battle for the open utility infielder role. Dean Anna, Yangervis Solarte, and Scott Sizemore are all vying for a spot on the team with minor league candidates like Jose Pirela also having an extremely strong showing two weeks in. Solarte has been the best hitter in camp to this point and Pirela has done nothing but hit all offseason. Versatility on the diamond from both players can only help their chances. Anna has the luxury of already having a spot on the 40-man roster, which goes a long way when the Yankees have shown real reluctance in the past to ditch a player in favor of clearing room.

Ichiro Suzuki is likely slated to be the fifth outfielder when the team heads north, but nothing about his spring so far has shown that he's really earned the spot. Outfielders like Zoilo Almonte and Adonis Garcia have played well in camp to this point, but it seems unlikely that either one would be able to play well enough to wrestle a near-guaranteed spot away from the veteran. There's always the unlikely chance that the Yankees find a team in need of an outfielder that is willing to take Ichiro off their hands, but it sounds like they have been trying to unload him for a while without any luck so far.

The Yankees made another round of cuts on Wednesday with Slade Heathcott and Gary Sanchez being assigned to minor league camp. Sanchez wasn't going to start with McCann in place and Heathcott hadn't been able to make it into a game so far this spring while continuing to recover from offseason knee surgery. Tyler Austin has also been kept out of spring training games to this point with an injury to his wrist, but it sounds like he is progressing toward being able to get on the field at some point soon.

Which players do you think have played well enough to improve their chances of making the team since spring training began? Can any of the hot-hitting newcomers manage to hit well enough to take a job from a veteran favorite?

Who's making the team?

There are two battles going on in spring training; one for the fifth starter spot and whoever will make the bullpen. After just the second week of games, the results of these battles are already becoming much clearer. We've lost three players in the last few days as Jose Ramirez, Francisco Rondon, and Nik Turley have been cut from major league camp and were optioned to the minors. None of them were playing due to injury and were unlikely to make the team, but it would have been nice to watch them pitch nonetheless.

Here are the chances for those that are left:

The competition for the fifth starter spot has devolved into a very simple scenario. Either Michael Pineda proves that he's healthy or David Phelps has the job. Phelps has been great while Adam Warren was never really going to win and Vidal Nuno hasn't really pitched. Pineda was impressive in his first game back, so hopefully he can build on that and become a realistic option.

As for the bullpen, aside from David Robertson, Matt Thornton, and Shawn Kelley, there are four open spots. While it's a wide open race, we know that only a few of them are really being seriously considered. If everything plays out as it should and there are no injuries, Adam Warren, David Phelps, Vidal Nuno, Mark Montgomery, Preston Claiborne, and Dellin Betances are the six pitchers with the best chances to be in the MLB bullpen. There are also a few pitchers who could make an impression in order to get a callup later in the season.

I'm being bold in my claim that Dellin Betances has a spot on the team. His performance has made him a favorite, but it's Joe Girardi's comments about him that set him apart from all the rest. If spring training ended today, Betances would be on the Yankees. As of right now, I think he has a spot won, but things could change if he starts to slip or someone else moves past him on the depth chart.

The only other pitcher whose chances changed this week was Fred Lewis. Girardi had good things to say about him, so, though it's still very unlikely he will make the team, he has at least put himself on the depth chart. By the end of spring training, he could become the lefty reliever waiting in the wings if Thornton gets hurt.

The Yankees will split up today with half the team taking on the Orioles at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa while the other half heads to Clearwater, Florida, to face the Phillies. Michael Pineda will make his first televised appearance of spring as he starts against the Orioles at home and Ivan Nova will look to bounce back after a rough start his last time out when he gets the start against the Phillies on the road. Both games will be available on MLB.tv and the home game will be televised on YES at 1:05 pm.

Fans will get their first real look at Pineda in two years after he missed significant time recovering from a labrum tear in his first few months as a Yankee. He pitched brilliantly in his spring debut against the Tigers Friday night in a game that wasn't televised. Hopefully he saved some for when people will actually be able to watch.

The bench will include John Ryan Murphy (C), Jose Gil (1B), Corban Joseph (2B), Jose Pirela (SS), Zelous Wheeler (3B), Jake Cave (LF), Antoan Richardson (CF), and Adonis Garcia (RF), with Gary Sanchez, Tyson Blaser, and Casey Stevenson as designated hitters. The bullpen will include David Robertson, Matt Thornton, Bruce Billings, Cesar Cabral, Chris Leroux, Matt Daley, Jim Miller, and Brian Gordon.

Prospect lovers will want to catch the Phillies game if possible, as second base prospect Rob Refsnyder will be up from minor league camp for the day and should get into the game. Mark Montgomery, Preston Claiborne, Francisco Cervelli, Austin Romine, Kelly Johnson, Yangervis Solarte, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mason Williams, Mark Teixeira, and various others will all be making the trip with Nova to Clearwater.

For this game, the bench will include Peter O`Brien (C), Francisco Arcia (1B), Rob Refsnyder (2B), Carmen Angelini (SS), Rob Segedin (3B), Ben Gamel (LF), Mason Williams (CF), Taylor Dugas (RF), with Ali Castillo and Wes Wilson as replacement designated hitters. The bullpen consists of Shane Greene, Bryan Mitchell, Mark Montgomery, Preston Claiborne, Danny Burawa, Fred Lewis, Tyler Webb, and Pat Venditte.

Yankees 6, Orioles 0

Michael Pineda made his first start since tearing his labrum two seasons ago and managed to follow up on his impressive spring training debut on Friday with 2.2 scoreless innings against the Orioles at Steinbrenner Field. Pineda allowed three hits and a walk while striking out five batters on 48 pitches, 27 of which were strikes. His fastball velocity was mainly in the 90-92 mph range. Joe Girardi said the team's gun had Pineda up to 93 mph. David Robertson came on in relief of Pineda in the third inning and got the only batter he faced in Henry Urrutia to strike out swinging. Matt Thornton followed Robertson out of the bullpen and faced only two batters, one of which reached base on a single.

The rest of the bullpen brigade was composed of Bruce Billings who worked 2.2 innings while striking out two, Chris Leroux who pitched two clean innings to continue his impressive spring performance, and Cesar Cabral who struck out two and allowed a walk and a ground rule double. The Orioles managed to reach base for the first time all game with two outs in the ninth inning.

Scoring got started early for the Yankees, who got themselves on the board in the first inning when Brett Gardner came around to score on a Carlos Beltran RBI single. Gardner drove in Zoilo Almonte with back-to-back doubles in the second inning before coming around to score himself when Bud Norris failed to field a Derek Jeter comebacker cleanly and threw it into left field. Alfonso Soriano put the Yankees up 4-0 with his fifth inning RBI single that drove in Brian McCann who reached base on a walk. The rest of the game's scoring came when Zelous Wheeler walked and came around to score on an Adonis Garcia RBI single in the eighth inning. Corban Joseph walked and scored on a double play. Russ Canzler had a day to forget, committing an error and striking out three times. He did make an impressive grab by the stands at first base to somewhat mitigate an otherwise disappointing day.

Box score

Yankees 2, Phillies 6

The away Yankees did not fare as well as their counterparts, falling 6-2 to the Phillies in Clearwater. Ivan Nova gave up nine hits and three runs in five innings of work, but he allowed no walks and struck out six batters across that span. Shane Greene and Bryan Mitchell each tossed a scoreless inning to give the offense time to catch up, but Preston Claiborne allowed four hits and three runs in 0.2 innings to put the game solidly out of reach. Mark Montgomery got the final out for New York.

Roberto Hernandez kept the offense quiet for nearly all of his five innings of work. The traveling split squad only managed four hits in the game, one of which was a home run by Jacoby Ellsbury. Kelly Johnson, Francisco Cervelli, and Scott Sizemore were the only other Yankees to pick up hits in the game. Cervelli continued to impress by driving in the only other run and making a couple of impressive defensive plays. He may yet prove himself too valuable to be traded if the Yankees feel that they are better on hanging onto him as their backup for the season. Mark Teixeira reached base on a walk, the only one on the Yankees' side in the game.

Box score

David Phelps gets the start tomorrow against the Twins at Steinbrenner Field at 1:05 pm. The game will be televised on MLB.tv

After signing with the Cardinals for much lower than anticipated, should the Yankees have offered the Cuban infielder a contract?

With the St. Louis Cardinals signing Cuban infielder Aledmys Diaz over a couple days ago, the details of his contract have come out, and it is much lower than was originally predicted. Initial reports said that the deal was for four years and $15-20 million dollars (and some thought he'd get a contract worth even more than that). However, it turns out the Cardinals got Diaz for just $8 million over four years.

If he could have been had for so cheap (or even a little more), should the Yankees have taken a chance on Diaz? His price very well could have dropped precipitously once the Yankees (and potentially other suitors) passed on him, but still, few people were predicting he could be had for such a low price. Some expected his deal would be somewhat comparable to those of Alexander Guerrero (4 years, $28 million) and Erisbel Arruebarruena (5 years, $25 million), but obviously, Diaz didn't come anywhere close to that.

Diaz hit .315/.404/.500 with 12 homers and 11 steals in 313 plate appearances during his final season in Cuba (2011-12). This sounds good, but according to Joe Kehoskie, a baseball consultant who formerly was an agent and represented players from Cuba over the years, the Cuban National Series now amounts to little more than a High-A league. Kehoskie also said during his interview with Viva El Birdos that Diaz will see better pitchers "in his first week in Double-A than he faced over his last year or two in Cuba." Based on a less-than-stellar league inflating his stats, Kehoskie said that Diaz would likely have to move to second base, as his defense at short isn't that good, and he projects to be no more than an average hitter (and he says that may even be wishful thinking).

However, Scout.com's Kiley McDaniel had a more optimistic take on Diaz. He described the Cuban infielder as having "a level, fluid stroke and above average bat speed," and that he and other scouts grade his bat at about 55-60 "and project a .270 or .280 batting average" (not too shabby for a middle-infielder). While his power is below average and his defense at short is also nothing to be too excited about, McDaniel thought he could be average to above average defensively at second base, as well as use his speed to steal 15-20 bases.

This is by far the most positive scouting report I could find, however. Still, I wouldn't have minded seeing the Yankees take a shot on Diaz. He might not turn out well, but for $10 million over four years, or a little more, I think it would've been a risk worth taking. He clearly could've been had for much less than everyone originally thought, and he could turn out to be a solid defensive second baseman and a serviceable hitter. He probably would not have been the Derek Jeter replacement the Yankees will need after next year, but with a system relatively void of middle-infield prospects, taking a shot on Diaz would've been worth the risk. For a team that just shelled out $500 million in the offseason and made it clear that Plan 189 was dead, $2-3 million per year is clearly just a drop in the bucket for a financial juggernaut like the Yankees. Signing Diaz would've been the low-risk, high reward type move that could have resulted in - optimistically - the starting second baseman for the foreseeable future, and - perhaps more realistically - at least a solid utility guy off the bench that can play three infield positions (he can play second, shortstop, and third base).

Who knows what the Yankees saw in Diaz's workout for the team (it must have been truly terrible). Still, if the Yankees could've gotten Diaz for close to the price the Cardinals did, they should've made it happen.

While a shortstop in the twilight of his career struggled Thursday, another at the beginning of his career flashed some talent in a big way.

The Yankee Captain's final spring training isn't treating him well.

Derek Jeter is now hitting .167/.231/.208 after his latest 0-fer in the Yankees' 6-0 split-squad win over the Orioles on Thursday. Jeter is hitless in his last 10 plate appearances and has struck out four times during that span, but manager Joe Girardi told MLB.com's Paul Hagen that he isn't worried about the future Hall of Famer's slow start:

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"Timing's messed up. I've seen him pull some balls, and that's kind of unusual. Older guys you don't worry so much about early on in Spring Training. I can remember Lou Piniella told me not to worry about Raul Ibanez, that I'd see it in the last week and he'd start to hit. And he was right. Sometimes it just takes those guys a little longer to get going."

Jeter has never been as good in spring as he has been in the regular season. His career Grapefruit League line .289/.342/.390, which falls short of his lifetime regular season numbers by quite a bit. Still, it has to be a bit concerning to see Jeter look as lost at the plate as he has, especially given the fact that he's coming off of a season filled with circumstances he has not yet faced in his illustrious career.

Of course, some good news also came out of the Yankees' win. Michael Pineda had another strong start, tossing 2⅔ scoreless innings in which he struck out five batters and walked only one. Pineda has struck out nine and walked one while allowing four hits in 4⅔ scoreless innings thus far.

Correa goes deep twice

Astros top prospect Carlos Correa homered twice and showed some flash on defense in Houston's 7-5 win over the Blue Jays.

The 19-year-old shortstop threw out Jose Bautista at the plate in the first inning and made a few rangy plays in the field, but it was his pair of home runs that were most impressive. Correa broke a 2-for-15 slump with the two dingers, which plated three of the team's seven runs.

Houston starter Dallas Keuchel allowed six hits in four scoreless innings. He struck out a pair of batters and did not issue a walk.

Trout, Angels keep scoring runs

After scoring a combined 24 runs in their two split-squad contests on Wednesday, the Angels put another eight on the board against the White Sox on Thursday en route to an 8-6 victory.

Mike Trout had three hits, including a triple, and is now 12-for-27 with four extra-base hits and seven runs scored this spring. Howie Kendrick added a pair of hits to raise his Cactus League batting average to .435. The Angels scored seven of their eight runs off of White Sox starter Jose Quintana, who also allowed six hits and three walks in three innings of work.

Other scores

Cardinals 11, Braves 0

Red Sox 4, Twins 3

Marlins 4, Tigers 2

Mets 7, Nationals 5

Phillies 6, Yankees (ss) 2

Rays 4, Pirates 1

Reds 8, Dodgers 2

Indians 12, Royals 5

Brewers 8, Padres 0

Mariners 6, Diamondbacks 3

Giants vs. Rangers, 9:05 p.m. ET

Rockies vs. Athletics, 10:05 p.m. ET

Last Time on Pinstripe Alley

• Did the Yankees make a mistake passing on Aledmys Diaz?
• Yankees split squad teams top Orioles, fall to Phillies
• Spring Training Game Sixteen: Yankees vs. Orioles & Yankees vs. Phillies
• Yankees spring training: Pitchers' Making the Team Meter - Week Two
• Yankees spring training: Hitters' Making the Team Meter - Week Two

Yankees News

New York Post | Joel Sherman: Could the Yankees trade Francisco Cervelli for Gordon Beckham?

Beyond the Box Score | Bryan Cole:Hiroki Kuroda pitches backwards to hitters more than most other pitchers.

Pinstripe Pundits | Chris Mitchell: Comparing Derek Jeter's defensive abilities compared to Eduardo Nunez and Brendan Ryan.

ESPN New York | Wallace Matthews: There's still a lot to dream on with Michael Pineda.

The Star-Ledger | Jorge Castillo: It seems that Derek Jeter's timing is off at the plate.

Fangraphs | Tony Blengino: Where do the Yankees rank among the best and worst systems in the majors?

MLB.com | Richard Justice: Mark Teixeira appreciates playing more after missing most of last year.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Michael Pineda will be on an innings limit if he wins the rotation spot.

It's About the Money | Michael Eder: CC Sabathia's struggles can be attributed to inconsistent mechanics.

ESPN New York | Wallace Matthews: The Yankees announced the roster for their games in Panama.

Dellin Betances has generated a lot of buzz this spring and its looking like he might crack the Opening Day roster. Is he finally ready to help the Yankees?

With his high-nineties fastball and four scoreless outings to his name this spring, Dellin Betances has generated a lot of buzz in camp, and it looks like he has a good shot of cracking the Yankees' Opening Day roster. There seems to be one spot up for grabs in the Yankees' bullpen at the moment since Joe Girardi has said he "fully expects" David Phelps and Adam Warren to make the team, and I'm assuming Preston Claiborne will make it, too. So that essentially leaves Betances, Matt Daley, and second lefty candidates Cesar Cabral and Fred Lewis to battle for one spot -- and if Girardi's praise means anything, Betances looks to be the favorite at this point.

Although he still throws gas, Betances' prospect star has faded considerably over the years. Once projected to be a front-line starting pitcher, the Yankees finally moved him to the bullpen last May after struggling to find his command as a starter for nearly a decade. Betances looked much better after his move to the 'pen, posting a 1.35 ERA and a 2.20 FIP over 32 appearances. As great as that all sounds, Betances' control remained an issue: He walked 11% of opposing hitters and that rate jumps to 13% if you include the five batters he hit.

Let's play the blind player game. Compare the stat lines of Player A and Player B from 2013:

Both seem like good pitchers with very solid strikeout totals. Nonetheless, the edge has to go to pitcher B, who walked less than half as many batters as pitcher A, and also has the much more believable HR/9. If you read the previous paragraph, you probably guessed that player A is Betances. Player B is none other than Matt Daley, who also pitched in Scranton last season.

As good as Betances was out of the bullpen last year, Daley was even better -- and Daley didn't spend the first five weeks of the season stinking up the joint. Sure, Betances has looked strong this spring, but he's primarily been facing minor league hitters up to this point and it's well-documented that spring training performances mean next to nothing. Besides, Daley has been just as sharp, whiffing six batters in 3.2 innings. And unlike Betances, Daley has a track record of success in the majors. Other than the fact that Betances throws harder, I don't see any reason why he should make the team over Daley, who seems to be little more than an afterthought in the bullpen race.

Betances' performance in Scranton last season was encouraging, but it was a pretty small sample size, and he continued to show glimpses of the wildness that's plagued him in years past. Control has always been an issue for Dellin and last year was no exception. His raw stuff is nasty, which makes it easy to dream on him blossoming into a dominant, late inning reliever. That can certainly still happen, but we've been hearing about that top-notch stuff for nine (!) years now. Until he proves he has a clue where the ball's going, I'm not sold -- and I'd prefer to see Daley break camp with the team next month.

New York hopes that they can limit Pineda's innings voluntarily in 2014.

Yankees right hander Michael Pineda is still considered the better half of the trade that sent Jesus Montero to Seattle before the 2012 season. Unfortunately for Montero, Pineda has never pitched an inning for the Yankees.

The trade seemed like a significant deal at the time, but nothing substantial has come from it to date. The Yankees are hopeful that they can change their end of the deal by easing Pineda, who has suffered injuries that have kept him from debuting as a Yankees for two years, back into a full-time workload.

The team plans to employ an innings limit with Pineda, according to the New York Post's Joel Sherman.

General manager Brian Cashman indicated to manager Joe Girardi that "you are not getting 200 innings out of [Pineda]," though a definite number has not been given.

Pineda, 25, has been watched closely this spring. The results are guardedly encouraging. His velocity has been clocked at 93 mph -- he average 94.7 mph in his only major league season. In 2011, he finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting and made the All Star team as a 22-year-old. He posted a 3.74 ERA in 171 innings for the Mariners that season.

The Yankees will likely rely on a combination of Ivan Nova, David Phelps, and Vidal Nuno at the back end of their rotation in order to bring Pineda along slowly.

There's no harm trying to deal from a position of strength for a solution to the questions surrounding the infield. Well, there's harm if the player received in return is as terrible as Beckham.

Francisco Cervelli's hot start to 2014 on the heels of a similar hot start last year have reportedly sparked some trade interest in the 28-year-old catcher. After going through an ugly 2013 behind the plate, the Yankees suddenly seemed to have a position of strength when they signed All-Star catcher Brian McCann over the winter. Now though, the 40-man roster is crowded with catchers, as five of the players on it are catchers: McCann, Cervelli, John Ryan Murphy, Austin Romine, and Gary Sanchez. Therefore, it makes sense to deal from this excess in order to improve the infield, which arguably has question marks of varying degrees at each position. Murphy and Sanchez are sure to attract interest since they were both well-regarded young prospects last year, but it seems as though some teams might be interested in Cervelli, too.

In a recent article, Joel Sherman mused about the Yankees possibly trading Cervelli to the White Sox for second baseman Gordon Beckham:

Francisco Cervelli is having a strong camp. His reputation already was for strong defense and he has three homers this spring. Catching is in short supply and he could start for some teams, including the White Sox. A deal built around Cervelli and Chicago’s Gordon Beckham is not impossible.

It's a nice thought to think the Yankees could get an infielder for Cervelli, but Beckham is not an infielder that anybody should really want. Sherman even notes in the article that the 27-year-old Beckham hasn't cracked a .700 OPS since 2009.

Beckham was a top-ten overall pick in the 2008 MLB draft out of Georgia, and he made his MLB debut just about a year later in June of '09. Drafted as a shortstop, he played third base in his first full season, which was actually pretty successful; he hit .270/.347/.460 with 28 doubles, 14 homers, a 109 wRC+, and 2.5 fWAR. Beckham finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting, and it's been all downhill ever since.

The White Sox shifted him to second base for his sophomore season and since 2010, he has hit an anemic .244/.306/.364 with an 81 wRC+ and 3.0 total fWAR. In 2013, he also missed time due to a broken bone in his wrist. His fielding is decent but nothing exceptional, and same goes for his baserunning. Beckham's not even useful as a platoon player since he's not especially good from either side of the plate and is in fact worse from what should be his stronger side. After the strong start to his career, he has hit .211/.290/.320 with a 66 wRC+ in 488 at bats against lefties, and .254/.312/.377 with an 85 wRC+ against righties.

Are those results from a bench player really worth dealing a guy who's proven to be a fine backup catcher? Cervelli's no All-Star, but in his career, he's hit .271/.343/.367 with a 93 wRC+ in 201 games, much better numbers than Beckham. That's not even taking into account his positive defensive reputation with a strong arm that pairs nicely with his pitch framing and blocking skills. Sure, there's the possibility that Murphy or (less likely) Romine could duplicate Cervelli's numbers while backing up McCann and Beckham would probably be a better backup than Eduardo Nunez.

However, it's highly debatable whether risking whether Cervelli's production for a player as flawed as Beckham is worth it or not, especially since it's possible that one of the other backup infielders in camp like Scott Sizemore or Dean Anna could play better than Beckham (and Nunez) anyway. There's no sense in throwing Cervelli away for a guy whose only redeeming quality is that he's better than Nunez because frankly, it's not difficult to find someone better than Nunez if that's what the Yankees want to do. As of now, the Yankees have one of the best backup catchers in the league. If they are seriously considering trading Cervelli away, they should wait for a better offer. It makes sense to deal while Cervelli's value is high, but doing so and taking a step down in bench quality with a player like Beckham is simply not worth it.

Who is the top rotation in the A.L. East? You probably already know, but read about it anyway.

Hopefully you read about part one of this series earlier today. If not, take a look. I'll wait.

OK? So let's jump right in to the top three starting rotations in the American League East.

3. New York Yankees:

This is a rotation with big upside and big risk. First off, their supposed #1 starter, CC Sabathia, has shown an alarming sign - loss of velocity. On his second start of spring training vs. the Nationals, his fastball stayed around 85~87 mph and topped out at 88 mph. For someone who was averaging at 92.3 mph as recently as 2012, that is pretty discouraging. In 2013, he averaged 91.1 mph with his fastball and it came with subpar result: he ended up with worst full season of his 13-year career. While his K/9 (7.46) and BB/9 (2.77) were around the career average, he allowed more home runs (1.19 HR/9, the previous high was 0.99 HR/9 in 2012), which resulted in 2nd-worst-FIP of career (4.10. His worst is 4.22 from his rookie 2001 season). Because there is a correlation between Sabathia's diminished stuff and the amount of hard-hit balls, the news of his even lower velocity cannot be good. We may see some velocity increase later in the season and CC may try to change his strategy. He could turn around and re-invent himself as a finesse pitcher like 2008 Mike Mussina (20-9, 3.37ERA with 4.9 fWAR and 86.4mph avg. fastball) but it may involve pain to learn how to pitch around lesser stuff.

Hiroki Kuroda is less of a headache but there are concerns. As a 6-year major leaguer, he accumulated 19.1 fWAR, which is around 3.2 fWAR per year, which is a nice #2-starter-type production. In 2013, he carried the Yankee rotation by eating 200+ innings, showing good command (1.92 BB/9) while keeping the ball in the park (it's not easy to put up 0.89 HR/9 while being a right-hander pitching in Yankee Stadium). However, he is 39-years old and he seemed gassed out towards the end of the season, going 0-6 with 6.56 ERA in his last 8 starts. Based on his 3.7 fWAR in 2012 and 3.8 last year, you could expect another year of 3.0's fWAR (or mid-high-2.0's, which is still nice for Yankees) unless if his skillset falls off the face of the earth.

Masahiro Tanaka, who follows behind Kuroda in the rotation, is set to pitch in his first ML season after destroying NPB for last few years - his ERA for last three full season are 1.27, 1.87 and 1.27. After having scouted Tanaka extensively, Yankees signed him for 7-year $155 million, which will buy him a lot of (insert stereotypical Japanese item here). So far in the Spring Training, the words on Tanaka are very positive. However, we won't know how he will settle in as a ML pitcher until he actually gets some regular season action. ZiPS projection is very optimistic on him, giving him a 5.1 WAR, a value equivalent to Chris Sale and Cliff Lee's from 2013. Steamer, on the other hand, gives him a 3.5 WAR, which is still solid #1~2 starter type production. Signs point that Tanaka will be a very productive starting pitcher in ML but the veil has got to come off before we get to conclusions. As you may know, historically, there have been ML acquisitions of Japanese pitchers that went very well (Hisashi Iwakuma, Yu Darvish, Kaz Sasaki, etc.) and not as well (Hideki Irabu, Kei Igawa, Tsuyoshi Wada, etc.).

Ivan Nova is another starter with an unsure upside. He was a rotation enigma coming off a mixed 2012 season in which he increased his K-rate (8.08 K/9) but got hit harder (16.6% HR/FB and 4.60 FIP). In 2013, from mid-June till the season's end, he was a pitcher that Yankees front office envisioned him to be - 7-5, 2.70 ERA in 116.2 IP and the major factor on improvement was being less homer-prone, reducing HR/9 from 1.48 to 0.58 while his groundball % went up by 8.3%. Is he going to continue that trend of being a groundball-inducing solid starter? We'll see. Because he was never all that highly-regarded as a prospect, there have been more doubts.

There definitely is a 5th spot competition going on in the ST for the Yanks. The main three candidates seem to be David Phelps, Michael Pineda and Vidal Nuno. Phelps has been bouncing in and out of the rotation. He's not the kind that will come at you with explosive stuff but he's done a decent job at getting hitters out - probably the "low ceiling high floor" of the three. Michael Pineda, however, who is looking to get his first ML regular season action after his dominating 2011 season, has a big ceiling but hasn't pitched for two full years in Majors. After starting against the Orioles on Thursday, his ST line so far is 4.2 IP, 4H, 0R/ER, 1BB and 8 K, which is nice and shiny. His fastball is still stuck at 89~92mph range (the same as before he suffered torn labrum in ST of 2012), but the Yankees are happy that he's getting live action and doing well in it.

Nuno is a finesse lefty (remember the Nate McClouth walk-off homer versus the Yanks on May 22 last season? Nuno served up that pitch) who definitely does not overpower hitters but mixes pitches to get hitters out. He dominated the AAA (1.44 ERA in 25.0IP with 10.80 K/9 and 0.70 BB/9) before getting to the majors and he was doing decently before a lower half injury shelved him for rest of the season. The Yankees will give more looks on him at the rotation or use him as a LOOGY - but I don't know if he will be the clear winner of the 5th starter slot.

Verdict:

A lot of question marks: Will Sabathia be good again or implode even more? Will Kuroda's age catch up to him? Is Tanaka a Darvish or an Irabu? Is Nova's ‘13 second-half fluke? Who is the fifth starter? This staff has a lot of upsides and risks. Yankee fans need to invest on voodoo dolls (or lucky rabbit's foot) for the rotation to lead the team not to repeat the mediocre 2013.

2. Boston Red Sox:

The reigning World Champs have a lot to feel good about their rotation - for good reasons too. Jon Lester has been the consistent staff #1 since 2008. 2012 was a bit of a hiccup with an outlier-like 4.82 ERA, but he rebounded well in 2013 with a strong 15-8, 213.1IP, 3.75 ERA/3.59 FIP line. Looking more into his numbers, his K-rate and walk rate only made marginal improvements from 2012, but his home run rate improved - 1.10 to 0.80. He was also stranding more runners in 2013 with 73.7% LOB, which is closer to his career average of 74.6% than his 2012 number, 67.6%. For now, it's very safe to say that the ever-reliable Lester is back.

John Lackey was a much bigger comeback story of 2013. Lackey's name became synonymous with joke in 2011 after putting up an abominable 6.41 ERA in 160.0 IP (and being one of the pitchers subject to the entire "chicken and beer" saga, etc.). However, he came back in a big way last year - his 7.65 K/9 is well above his career 7.09 rate, he demonstrated much-improved command (1.90 BB/9 after 3.15 BB/9 in 2011), resulting in a solid 3.2 fWAR. He was looking like the pitcher that the Sox paid big money to acquire. Last year, Lackey mixed slider much more than he did before - opting to throw the pitch 30.0% of the time as opposed to 12.1%. Looks like it's a part of a formula that worked well for him - last year, Lackey induced ao 9.8% swinging strike rate, his highest since 2005, when he posted up a great 5.6 fWAR. He's gone through hard times, but he put himself as a solid anchor of the rotation.

Clay Buchholz did not play for a good chunk of ‘13, but when he did, he was unreal. For one, he put up 1.74 ERA as a starter - his peripherals are not as flashy but still pretty good (2.78 FIP, 3.41 xFIP). Something that worked hugely in favor of Buchholz was his sublime 0.33 HR/9 rate, helped by an almost unsustainable 4.5% HR/FB rate. It's not unreasonable to expect a low home run rate from Buchholz because he's a groundball pitcher who flirts with 50.0% GB rate every year, but we'll see if there will be regression. This article in Fangraphs suggests that his strikeout rate rose but most of the gains came from looking K's, which "do not have the sustainability of swinging strikeouts." You can look to see if his strikeout rate will regress back a bit but because of his skills to induce weak contact (that and he is in prime time of his career at age 29), he has a lot of upside. The main problem with Buchholz is that he pretty much has never had a full healthy season in ML - 189.1 IP in 2012 is the career high.

If Buchholz outperformed his peripherals, Jake Peavy pretty much pitched to his in 2013. His ERA is just a bit higher than his FIP and xFIP (4.17/3.96/4.03) but there aren't significant differences. There's a bit of a negative sign to Peavy - his home run rate has been sneaking up for last three years (7.6% -> 9.7% -> 10.1 %) and his groundball tendencies have gone as low as 32.7%, which is not necessarily a good news for a pitcher in hitter-friendly Fenway. Both Steamer and ZiPS expect his home run rates to go down a bit, resulting in more or less better result (ZiPS give him 3.2 WAR as opposed to 2.4 fWAR he earned in ‘13). Even if he pretty much repeats his 2013 result, he would still be a very serviceable #3~4 type.

Taking the #5 is likely Felix Doubront, who pitched to a 2.8 fWAR and 4.32 ERA/3.78 FIP in 162.1 IP. Which is quite nice (especially considering that 2.8 fWAR would fit in as the #2~3 type in many other rotations). Doubront's 2013 featured lowered K rate (9.34 -> 7.71) with more or less the same walk rate, but also a much improved home run rate (1.34 -> 0.72). He pretty much went from being homer-prone to keeping the ball in the park well. He traded his strikeout skills for weak contact skills - his line drive % fell from 23.4% to 19.9% and his groundball % rose from 43.7% to 45.6%. Based overall result, it seems to be a worthy investment. He's also young (turned 26 in October) and consider that he suffered a below-average strand rate (69.9%) - few more adjustments and we could be looking at a better pitcher, who is potentially Sox's 5th starter. Also, don't forget their latest SP addition, Chris Capuano, who could be a solid spot-starting arm.

Verdict:

There's a lot of talent in the rotation and they could help a lot to potentially deliver them another division title (well, with their explosive offense, that is). It's not as much future upside as Ray's rotation, but no Major League GM should be upset for having one like Bosox's. Just make sure someone like Capuano is ready to cover for Buchholz if the righty gets injured again.

1. Tampa Bay Rays:

The Tampa Bay Rays become one of the envies for their starting rotation even without having everything go right in 2013. For instance, David Price had a slow start for the first two months of the season (1-4, 5.24 ERA in 55.0IP), Jeremy Hellickson had his career-worst season ERA wise (136 ERA-) and Alex Cobb missed 2 months worth of action after taking a liner to the head in June 15 versus the Royals. Despite those mishaps, Rays rotation ranked 9th in ERA in ML and 11th in FIP, while being in AL East. Their #1 starter, David Price, even on his "down year", recorded a 4.4 fWAR while showing his great command (1.30 BB/9) and the ability to keep the ball in the park (0.77 HR/9). If there's a cause for concern, his overall fastball velocity dropped (95.5 mph -> 93.5 mph) but he recovered some after being back from disabled list in July so that is a relief for Rays fans and fantasy owners. As far as starters go, David Price is one of the top-tier choices.

For naked eyes, Matt Moore had a very fine season in his second full-season in ML (17-4, 3.29 ERA). Looking more into the peripherals, there are things that are left to be desired. While he is quite good at striking out ML hitters (8.56 K/9), he needs to walk less hitters (4.55 BB/9), and he's not much of a groundball pitchers either (39.4 % groundball rate). While his above-average 87 ERA- doesn't reflect his average 105 FIP-, he is still a very attractive young pitcher: a hard-throwing young lefty that keeps the ball in park with top-prospect pedigree and one of the best ML starting debuts in recent memory. Both Steamer and ZiPS project him to post a 2.0 or higher WAR (around that range), and I don't disagree. Rays should be, and are, very happy to have Moore as part of their future plans.

Another pitcher that they treasure is the RHP Alex Cobb, another one of their homegrown SP talent. While he doesn't have the stuff to overpower hitters, he gets the job done. His pitch mix data indicates that he started to use his curveball more (16.1% in 2011, 19.1% in 2012 and 23.6% in ‘13). His curveball did not bring a superb value (only 1.0 runs saved last year), but I'm guessing it mixed up pitches more to his advantage against the hitters. A lot of things have been trending well for Cobb - K rate (6.32 -> 7.00 -> 8.41 in last three years), walk rate (3.59 in 2011, 2.83 in 2013) and he's been able to stay off being homer-prone (0.82 HR/FB last year) while inducing grounders (55.8% GB). Unless if he gets derailed by injuries, he's on his way to be a solid #1~2 type starter in any rotation for his career with many desirable qualities.

Chris Archer left his impression in the Rays rotation with a great rookie season. He started the season as one of the team's top prospects in AAA. While he was striking hitters out in Durham, he didn't have the best control (4.14 BB/9). But once he got to Majors, the walk rate cut down significantly to 2.66, which seems to be the big contributor to his successful first ML campaign. What clicked? Did he get a good coaching after being promoted? Is it a fluke? So far in the Spring Training, (SSS alert!) he's gone 5.1 IP without walking anyone and press has been raving his "precise command and control". Well, isn't that welcome news for Rays fans. Both Steamer and ZiPS expect Archer's walk rate to regress back (both projecting 1.5 WAR), but only time will tell if Archer will keep it up or not. Even if he regresses back, not a lot of fans should be complaining about 3.72ERA/3.99FIP in 152.1IP that ZiPS is projecting for Archer in 2014.

With Hellickson sidelined with elbow injury at least until late-May, former first-rounder Jake Odorizzi is the favorite to take the fifth spot. Odorizzi was originally picked by the Brewers but was traded to Royals as a part of the package that sent Greinke to the Brew Crew. In December 2012, Odorizzi was part of the package of the trade that sent James Shields to the Royals. Odorizzi doesn't seem like a guy who gets by with pure stuff, but he seems to have a reasonable command (2.90 BB/9 in AAA last year). The challenge for Odorizzi in the Majors will be keeping the balls in the park as a flyball pitcher. Lucky for him, Tropicana has been rated to be pitcher-friendly.

When Hellickson returns, the former AL ROY will look to rebound from his worst ERA season. If you look at his peripherals, his strikeout rate is actually his career-high (6.98), his walk rate is his career low (2.59) and his home run rate (1.24) is not as high as 2012 (1.27) when he recorded a 3.10 ERA. What happened? He suddenly was not able to strand the runners. He went from a very high 82.2% runners LOB to quite low 66.7%. What happened? Some suggest pure luck. Personally, I feel like a sudden drop-off from one extreme to another involves more than just luck. In the article, one of the commenters suggested his mechanics to be a cause. "The increased usage of the slide step pitching from the stretch messed him up, leading him to elevate pitches. He was the same guy with bases empty, but awful when working from the stretch." Something to think about. %LOB is a curious stat to think about.

Verdict:

The youth and skills of pitchers like Price, Moore, Cobb, Archer and even Odorizzi have the pitching aficionados drooling for this season - it's a testament to their farm development. Not all of them may showcase their best asset this year, but barring any major injuries, it should be a fun rotation to follow. Also, if Hellickson figures out what he's doing wrong with runners left on base, that's just adding more to the treasure island.

David Phelps takes on Kyle Gibson as the Yankees play the Twins for the first time this spring.

David Phelps will take the mound today against Kyle Gibson and the Minnesota Twins. Half of the Yankees left for Panama on Wednesday night, so you will notice that most of the regular outfielders, Derek Jeter, Francisco Cervelli, David Robertson, etc., will all be absent for the next few games. The game starts at 1:05 pm and will be televised on YES, and available on MLB.tv.

The bench will include Austin Romine (C), Francisco Arcia (1B), Rob Refsnyder (2B), Carmen Angelini (SS), Rob Segedin (3B), Ben Gamel (LF), Jake Cave (CF), and Taylor Dugas (RF), with Wes Wilson and Ali Castillo expected to fill in at DH. The bullpen will include Manny Banuelos, David Herndon, Fred Lewis, Dellin Betances, Danny Burawa, Mark Montgomery, Aaron Dott, James Pazos, and Branden Pinder.

David Phelps got into trouble quickly today, falling behind in the count early, and allowing two hits, and a walk in the first inning. With runners at the corners, Chris Colabello hit an RBI single before Phelps could get out of the inning. He settled down in the second inning, eliciting his second strikeout of the day. Brian Dozier started off the third inning with a home run to deep left field. By the fourth inning, Phelps left a few pitches up in the zone and it led to a Josmil Pinto single and Danny Santana double with two outs, but he was able to get out of the inning without a run. Through 4.0 innings, Phelps allowed five hits, a walk and two earned runs, along with four strikeouts.

The Yankees got on the board in the first inning and then that was it for them. Jacoby Ellsbury made it safely into second base thanks to some help from shortstop Danny Santana, who was unable to handle the throw from right field. If he had caught the ball, Ellsbury would have been out by a mile. Brian Roberts followed with a ground-rule double and an RBI single off the bat of Mark Teixeira gave the Yankees their second run. Eduardo Nunez was able to hit a groundout to score Tex. Kyle Gibson settled down after the first inning, giving up no more hits through the fourth inning.

David Herndon came out of the bullpen to start the fifth inning. He walked Brian Dozier, and after a Jason Kubel grounder, Colabello was able to hit his second RBI-single of the day to bring Dozier home and tie the game. Wilken Ramirez ended the inning by grounding into a force out, with Colabello clipping Nunez in the leg as he slid into second base. Oh, Nunez.

Manny Baneulos started the 6th inning and struggled mightily. His velocity was fine as he worked in the low-90s, but he had no command of his pitches. ManBan gave up a single and walked two to load the bases. He struck out a batter, but then gave up a ground-rule double, surrendering two runs, and that was the end of his day. Fred Lewis came in to clean up the inning, but he didn't fair much better. He allowed two runs to score on a ground ball and single before finally getting out the inning with a 3–7 deficit.

Lewis came back in for the 7th and continued to struggle. He loaded the bases after a walk and two singles, before making way for Dellin Betances, who got out of the inning with a strikeout and ground ball. Betances came back out and collected another strikeout in a 1-2-3 8th inning. He was really impressive today. James Pazos pitched the ninth and collected a strikeout in his first taste of big league camp.

Over the entire game, the Yankee offense collected three hits (all from the first inning) and a Mark Teixeira walk later on. Most of the players were brought in from minor league camp, so at least we got a look at players like Rob Refsnyder, Ben Gamel, Taylor Dugas, and Jake Cave.

Could Park be the first of the Yankees' international targets?

The Yankees are reportedly planning to spend big on international players this offseason, blowing away the MLB spending limits in order to make up for their loss of first-round picks. Most of this kind of talent will be young and raw, so they won't be helping the major league team anytime soon. It was thought this spending spree could begin with Cuban defector Aledmys Diaz, but now it could be someone else. They have reportedly shown interest in Korean high school shortstop, Hyo-Joon Park. The Yankees scouted him while his high school was in the midst of a 40-day tour of California this winter where they played exhibition games against several Southern California schools.

The 17-year-old left-handed hitter can be described as a line drive hitter who is very smooth in the field. He doesn't have much power, but he obviously hasn't matured yet. There is some similarity to Hak-Ju Lee of the Tampa Bay Rays, who has hit .290/.364/.388 over five seasons in the minors. He has ranked among the top 100 prospects in baseball over the last few seasons by Baseball America, MLB.com, and Baseball Prospectus. Considering the Yankees' depth at shortstop, I would welcome someone like that who could potentially make an impact in a position of need, even if he's still years away.

Here is a quick highlight reel of Park in the field and at the plate. He seems decent with the glove, has speed, and can hit for some power. He also has an above-average bat flip tool.

Yatap High School is located in Seongnam, Gyeonggi in South Korea and produced new MLB pitcher Suk-Min Yoon, who just signed a three-year, $5.75 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles.

When Robinson Cano skipped town to play ball on the other side of the country, it left the Yankees with a problem to solve at second base. That's nothing new for the franchise or their fans.

For a 13-year period between 1976 and 1988, the Yankees were lucky enough to trot out one of the greatest players in franchise history to man second base everyday. Even though Willie Randolph's patience at the plate, solid base running and superb fielding prowess weren't as appreciated as they should have been in his playing days, hindsight says that he was worth an average of about four wins above replacement per year. Most players dream of being able to contribute at an All-Star level for 13 consecutive years, but few ever achieve it. At 33 years old, Randolph had done that and still had some gas left in the tank.

However, in his quest to overpay every big name that was willing to come to The Bronx, George Steinbrenner decided to let Randolph walk after the 1988 season and instead signed former Rookie of the Year Steve Sax to play second base. For three years Sax was slightly above average but never quite lived up to Randolph's standard and certainly wasn't good enough to keep the Yankees out of the basement of the American League East. By the end of the 1991 season the team was still a wreck but they were finally making sound baseball decisions thanks to Commissioner Fay Vincent's second most famous ban that prohibited Steinbrenner from being involved with day-to-day operations of the club. With The Boss out of his hair, new general manager Gene Michael was able to rebuild the roster and Sax was one of his first casualties, sending him to the White Sox for a trio of pitchers.

For the next four seasons, the regular gig at second base was assigned to a young prospect named Pat Kelly. As a weak hitter with a decent enough glove, Kelly was born about two or three decades too late. He would have fit right in with a Major League environment that expected its second basemen to simply not make mistakes and advance runners with ground balls and bunts, but by the 90's the bar was raised quite a bit. Before the 1996 season, new Yankees manager Joe Torre wanted a better option so the team signed former National League All-Star and World Series champion Mariano Duncan.

Throughout an improbable season that required many things to bounce the right way for the Yankees, Duncan was a virtual rabbit's foot. Thanks in large part to an astonishingly high .400 batting average on balls in play (about 100 points higher than normal), he hit .340 for the year, by far a career high. However, even with all that luck on his side, he struggled to maintain an average performance level because of his legendary lack of plate discipline (he drew nine walks all year) and less than desirable glovework. The following year, Duncan surprised nobody by plummeting back down to earth and second base was handled by committee. The leader of that committee was Luis Sojo, a career utility infielder that won the hearts of fans with his goofy smile and everyman qualities. On the field, though, he performed at about replacement level, so heading into 1998 the quest for a consistently productive second baseman continued.

The Yankees thought they had their man when they pulled off a major coup by trading four top prospects plus $3 million to the lowly Minnesota Twins for Chuck Knoblauch, a 29-year-old disgruntled player with a superstar resume. Knoblauch was a perennial All-Star and a prototypical leadoff hitter, adept at getting on base and threatening to score when he did. He had also just won his first Gold Glove award and probably deserved several more before that. He came to New York a complete player with seemingly many more years ahead of him but his skills vanished quicker than anybody could have imagined. In his first Yankee season he found a bit of a power stroke, setting a career high in home runs, but his performance declined sharply in every other offensive category. In the playoffs that year he also had a memorable brain fart which cost the Yankees a potentially pivotal Game 2 of the ALCS.

His mental woes continued the following year when he began having trouble reaching first base on routine ground ball plays. It went from bad to worse in 2000 when his inability to make throws inspired Joe Torre to either make him the designated hitter or replace him in late innings with mid-season acquisition Jose Vizcaino. Knoblauch even lost his second base job outright for the playoffs when he became the full-time DH. By 2001, he wasn't allowed anywhere near the position as he was shifted permanently to left field. While he was battling his professional demons the Yankees won three consecutive World Series titles and four consecutive American League pennants so most fans look back at this time and think no harm, no foul. It's still amazing to see how far he fell so quickly.

With Knoblauch banished to the outfield, the Yanks filled his old position by promoting from within again. This time, a young, raw Alfonso Soriano took over. He quickly acclimated to major league pitching, and by 2002 he established himself as a power and speed threat at the top of the lineup, leading the league in hits, runs and stolen bases to go along with his 39 home runs. After a similar season in 2003, it seemed that the Yankees finally solved their second base problem with a player entering his prime and already producing at an All-Star level. Enter the Texas Rangers with an offer that Brian Cashman couldn't refuse. Soriano was sent to Texas in the blockbuster trade that put Alex Rodriguez in pinstripes, a move that filled a vacancy at third base but re-created the old familiar one at second.

To begin the 2004 season, journeyman infielder Enrique Wilson was the everyday second baseman and to put it lightly, he was a disaster. In fact, according to Fangraphs, Wilson is tied for having the worst WAR among position players in Yankees history. Eventually, Joe Torre had the good sense to give the majority of the playing time at second to Miguel Cairo, another journeyman who was merely below average without being disastrous. And that's as many words about the 2004 season as Yankee fans can tolerate so let's move right along. A bad situation got worse in 2005 when the team signed 35-year-old Tony Womack. In his one season in New York, Womack was so bad that he is the man tied with Enrique Wilson for worst all-time WAR among Yankee position players, and in about 150 fewer games, mind you. Thankfully, only about a month of that time was spent playing second base before a promising young prospect named Robinson Cano was called up to fill the position.

So up to this point, with the exception of two great years from Alfonso Soriano, the Yankees covered second base with a patchwork of former stars that quickly declined, young players that never panned out, and aging career backups that didn't deserve an everyday job. Even the most optimistic fans understandably couldn't have expected much from Cano. However, 16 years after Willie Randolph's run of success, they finally found their man. On the surface, Randolph's speed and grace stands in stark contrast to Cano's power and pure hitting ability, but the result is just the same. For the last nine years Cano has steadily improved his glove and plate discipline to the point that he has been worth an average of more than four wins above replacement per year. That put's him in a class that few players ever reach and based on that body of work he'll now earn a quarter billion dollars to play second base for the Seattle Mariners, leaving the Yankees with a problem they're accustomed to at the keystone heading into 2014.

Will newly signed second baseman Brian Roberts find the fountain of youth at age 36 and regain his All-Star form? With a slew of injuries limiting his performance and playing time since 2009, not likely. Will newly christened Top 20 prospect Gosuke Katoh be ready take the job long-term in a few years? After a promising 2013 campaign for the 19-year-old, maybe, but it's still entirely too early to tell. More likely, the Yankees are about to embark on a long and difficult journey to find a second baseman as special as Willie Randolph and Robinson Cano.

Last Time on Pinstripe Alley

• The Yankees' void at second base should seem familiar
• Yankees have shown interest in Hyo-Joon Park of South Korea
• Yankees 3, Twins 7: Manny Banuelos and offense struggle
• Spring Training Game Seventeen: Yankees vs. Twins
• Trading Francisco Cervelli for Gordon Beckham would be an awful deal
• Should the Yankees pump the brakes on Dellin Betances?

Yankees News

The Wall Street Journal | Daniel Barbarisi: The Yankees are keeping Masahiro Tanaka away from their AL East rivals and it's a good idea.

SB Nation | Grant Brisbee: Derek Jeter appears in a study of strikeout faces.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Rob Refsnyder talks about his conversion to second base.

Sports On Earth | Jorge Arangure Jr: Talking to Masahiro Tanaka's translator Shingo Horie about the importance of translating.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees and Marlins will pay tribute to Mariano Rivera in Panama, taking his career full circle.

ESPN New York | Andrew Marchand: Playing the over/under game with Derek Jeter.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: If the Yankees need to stop Michael Pineda from reaching 200 innings then it's a great success for them and him.

It's About the Money | Brad Vietrogoski: Guessing the over/under on the Yankees in 2014.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Brian McCann feels he needs to stay behind so he can work with his pitchers.

ESPN New York | Marly Rivera: Mariano Rivera plays host to the Yankees in Panama.

True Blue LA | Andrew Grant: All 30 teams described in one sentence.

Replace Level Yankees Weblog | SG: Projecting Mark Teixeira for the 2014 season.

It's About the Money | William Tasker: Comparing the 2014 Yankees to the 2014 Orioles.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Mark Teixeira knows his power will return.