Open Thread: March 24th Camp Notes

The Yankees are a team of Grapefruit League destiny. They won again today, this time rallying for two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Minor league camp call-up du jour Trey Amburgey had the walk-off single. The Yankees have won 20 spring games for the first time since winning 24 in 2009. You know what that means, right? Anyway, right field candidates Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge both had singles. Judge also threw a runner out the plate. Hicks ain’t the only outfielder on the roster who can throw.

On the mound CC Sabathia moseyed on through 5.1 innings of two-run ball. An inordinate number of ground balls found holes during the two-run second inning. Sabathia struck out one. Dellin Betances retired both batters he faced in his first outing back from the World Baseball Classic, and Luis Severino chucked three scoreless innings. He fanned five. Here are the box score and video highlights, and here are the rest of the notes from Tampa:

• Following today’s game Joe Girardi announced Sabathia will start the second game of the season. Michael Pineda will start the third. Pretty much what I expected. The Rays, meanwhile, announced Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, and Alex Cobb will start their first three games in that order. The Yankees open the regular season with a three-game set in Tampa. [Bryan Hoch, Marc Topkin]
• The Yankees announced another round of roster cuts today: Luis Cessa was optioned to Triple-A and Ji-Man Choi, Dustin Fowler, Clint Frazier, Jason Gurka, and Billy McKinney were reassigned to minor league camp. So I guess that takes Cessa out of the rotation (and bullpen) mix. I count 39 players still in big league camp. Oh, and if you missed it earlier, the Diamondbacks returned Rule 5 Draft pick Tyler Jones.
• The Yankees had a brief on-field ceremony prior to today’s game to present last year’s Scranton RailRiders with their championship rings. Here are some photos. Pretty cool ring. Scranton beat El Paso (Padres) in last year’s Triple-A Championship Game.
• Shane Hennigan has the day’s minor league lineups. Heart eyes at the top of the Double-A Trenton lineup. Hitting coach Alan Cockrell said he’s working with Jorge Mateo to widen his stance, which has “kept him on the ball better.” [Brendan Kuty]
• Tyler Austin said he’s going to be in a walking boot another two weeks. Once healthy, he’s essentially going to have to go through Spring Training to get ready, so he might not return until early-May. Sucks. [Hennigan]
• Tyler Clippard is back in camp following the World Baseball Classic. Also in camp: Hideki Matsui! He’s there as guest instructor. Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett was in camp today too. The Yankees have brought in coaches from other sports to give motivational speeches and whatnot over the years. [Kuty, Mike Mazzeo]
• The Yankees are home against the Blue Jays tomorrow afternoon. Adam Warren is lined up to start. That game will be on YES and MLB.tv.
• And finally, the Yankees will reveal their 2017 commercials next week. I’ve been hoping they had some coming. Neat.

This is the open thread for the night. MLB Network will cover the Yankees as part of their 30 clubs in 30 days tour tonight at 10pm ET, so keep an eye out for that. Also, this afternoon’s game will be replayed on YES (10pm ET) and MLB Network (2am ET), if you’re interested. MLB Network has the Orioles and Twins live right now, plus the Islanders and Nets are playing, and there’s March Madness as well. Talk about anything here as long as it’s not politics or religion.