Jan

Non-roster Spring Training invitees

The Yanks announced that they’ve invited a small army of non-roster players to Spring Training. The breakdown:

IF: Bernie Castro, Eric Duncan, Nick Green, Cody Ransom, Marcos Vechionacci
OF: Justin Christian, Colin Curtis, Brett Gardner, Austin Jackson, Jason Lane, Greg Porter, Jose Tabata
C: Kyle Anson, Jason Brown, Jesus Montero, PJ Pilittere, Austin Romine
RHP: Dan Giese, Alan Horne, Steven Jackson, Dan McCutchen, Mark Melancon, Darrell Rasner, Scott Strickland
LHP: Heath Phillips, Billy Traber

Wow, you think the Yanks like Austin Romine just a bit? I can’t remember the last time they invited a HS draftee to ST the year after he was drafted; maybe Eric Duncan? I don’t think this is a case of simply needing some catcher to catch all these pitchers, the Yanks have a ton of guys older and more experienced than Romine at their disposal to do that. Hopefully he stations himself directly between Jorge and Tony Pena at all times.

Jon Albaledjo, Jeff Marquez, Scott Patterson, Steven White, Juan Miranda and Frankie Cervelli will also be with the big boys during ST, by virtue of holding down a 40-man roster spot. If I was Kevin Whelan, I’d feel a bit snubbed. Just about all of the pitchers listed – Mark Melancon being the exception – will compete with the likes of Edwar, Ohlendorf, Bruney, Britton, Henn, etc. for a big league bullpen spot. Whoever pitches the best will get it. My dark horse? Steven Jackson.

Categories : Spring Training

9 Comments»

Motown Yankee Fan says:

January 15, 2008 at 2:49 pm

Anyone know when the first televised game will be at spring training? God, I miss baseball.

Travis G. says:

January 15, 2008 at 3:19 pm

cant wait to watch horne, mccutchen, ajax, tabata, melancon, montero and romine.

dan says:

January 15, 2008 at 4:41 pm

Mike, lay off the crack…. Steven Jackson? Are you for reals? Speaking of snubs, wasn’t Cox in camp last year? He’s coming back from surgery (I’ve seen conflicting reports over whether or not it’s TJ), but they still invited Melancon, who has yet to even pitch in Tampa.

Mike A. says:

January 15, 2008 at 5:04 pm

Bah. Anyone can tell you that Melancon or Cox or McCutchen can help the big league club this year. I think I’m the only guy around willing to go out on a limb and say that guys like Jackson and Wordekemper could help too.

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- RollignWave says:
  
  January 15, 2008 at 9:17 pm
  
  Why are people so confident on Melancon when he has all of wooping 8 IP of pro experience under him? all the talk is nice but wouldn’t at least even a liiiitle sample be a good idea?
  
  Reply

Count Zero says:

January 15, 2008 at 4:54 pm

Wow — Romine is a shocker!

This is going to be a very interesting spring. I bet at least one dark horse makes the 25 man — maybe even two.

Speaking of which — what’s the word on Slam Duncan? I have the funny feeling his shoulder problem is a lot more serious than has been reported to date. Not sure why…just a feeling.

Rob says:

January 15, 2008 at 5:43 pm

One word: David Robertson

dan says:

January 15, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Nah. He has been pretty sick, but has still only pitched 4 innings above A-ball. Maybe if the system were thin on pitching they’d give him a shot, but he has too many guys to leapfrog in order to make it.

Reply