Via Bob Nightengale, the Yankees will open the season with a $197.9M payroll, their lowest since 2007. That’s still the highest in MLB, obviously. The Padres are dead last at $53.9M. I believe that is the 25-man Opening Day roster payroll, not the full 40-man roster payroll with benefits that will get counted towards the luxury tax.
Update: Just for the sake of completeness, that number is the 25-man Opening Day roster plus players on the big league DL.
Via Jon Heyman and Marc Carig, the Yankees have signed right-hander Ramon Ortiz to a minor league contract. The 38-year-old actually got some big league time with the Cubs last summer, pitching to a 4.86 FIP in 33.1 IP. Ortiz was in camp with the Giants this spring, and apparently he was throwing the ball reasonably well. The Yankees needed someone to replace David Phelps in the Triple-A rotation — Manny Delcarmen is scheduled to start Opening Day tomorrow — which is what Ortiz will do.
The Yankees wrapped up their exhibition schedule today with a big win over the Mets. Andy Pettitte threw 13 pitches and faced the minimum in his one inning of work (video), giving up a ground ball single that took a big hop over the first baseman’s head (runner was later thrown out trying to steal), a pop-up to shortstop, and a routine ground ball to second. Seriously, it was like he never left. Same old Andy.
Frankie Cervelli clubbed a two-run homer before a) getting demoted, and b) the minor league replacements unloaded on the Mets. Kevin Mahoney, Ramon Flores, and Hector Rabago all drove in runs. David Robertson practiced his Houdini act, striking out the side after putting men on the corners with no outs. Here’s the box score and here’s the final Spring Training update from Tampa…
Here is your open thread for the evening. The Nets are playing tonight, plus there’s an actual regular season baseball game being played. The Marlins officially open their new ballpark against the Cardinals on ESPN at 7pm ET (Johnson vs. Lohse). Enjoy.
Spring Training is officially over, and the Yankees had until 5pm ET today to set their Opening Day roster. Boone Logan’s back gave us a minor scare this morning, but it’s just spasms. He’ll be fine it seems. Frankie Cervelli was expected to be the backup catcher basically forever, but he’s headed to Triple-A after George Kontos was traded for Chris Stewart. Justin Maxwell was also designated for assignment, which isn’t all that surprising. He had no spot on the roster and was out of options. That’s life.
Barring any late and unforeseen announcements, here are your 2012 Yankees…
Catchers
Russell Martin
Chris Stewart
Infielders
Robinson Cano
Eric Chavez
Derek Jeter
Eduardo Nunez
Alex Rodriguez
Mark Teixeira
Outfielders
Brett Gardner
Curtis Granderson
Raul Ibanez
Andruw Jones
Nick Swisher
Starting Pitchers
Freddy Garcia
Phil Hughes
Hiroki Kuroda
Ivan Nova
CC Sabathia
Relievers
Boone Logan
David Phelps
Clay Rapada
Mariano Rivera
David Robertson
Rafael Soriano
Cory Wade
Congrats to Mr. Phelps. Dude became a father a week or two ago, and now he’s a big leaguer. Must be a pretty exciting time for him and his family.
Players on the big league DL will include David Aardsma (elbow), Cesar Cabral (elbow), Joba Chamberlain (elbow, ankle), Pedro Feliciano (shoulder), Brad Meyers (shoulder), Michael Pineda (shoulder), and Austin Romine (back). Aardsma and Feliciano are already on the 60-day DL while everyone else figures to land on the 15-day. The Yankees currently have one open 40-man spot even after adding Rapada, so they’ll surely slide Joba over to the 60-day whenever they need another spot.
Via Dan Barbarisi, Bill Hall is heading home after not making the Opening Day roster. He wants a big league job and will try to latch on with another team. Hall did not have an opt-out clause in his contract, so the Yankees released him at his request. That’s a shame, Hall would have been a nice guy to have stashed away in Triple-A for depth.
Via Mark Feinsand, the Yankees have designated outfielder Justin Maxwell for assignment. The writing was on the wall with this one, he was out of minor league options and the team had no room for him on the roster. A trade market never developed, I suppose. Maxwell had a huge spring and is a useful player, just not to the Yankees. He’ll likely get claimed off waivers, and yes, I know I said the exact same thing about Chris Dickerson.
So much for George Kontos stealing a bullpen spot. Multiple sources report that the Yankees have traded him to the Giants for catcher Chris Stewart. You might remember Stewart from 2008, when the Yankees ran through a half dozen catchers. He also spent time with AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2009. He will start the season as the Yankees’ backup catcher, as Francisco Cervelli will start the season at AAA.
Color me confused on this one. Stewart has a career .328 OBP in the minors, and .273 in the majors. How he’s an upgrade over Cervelli in any way is beyond me. If this was made to cover the catcher position at AAA since Austin Romine will start the season on the DL, well, it still doesn’t seem to make much sense. Kontos seems like a useful piece. Couldn’t the Yankees have found a .273 OBP catcher who cost a bit less?