Baseball America has two items of interest to Yankees fans: an article on the Triple-A stadium situation and a quick little roster breakdown of the farm system. You don’t need to be a subscriber to read either piece, they’re both free. Josh Norris also posted a great interview with LHP Jeremy Bleich, who spoke about the shoulder injury that has kept him on the shelf since May of 2010.
Now for some housekeeping. RHP Jairo Heredia, RHP Diego Moreno, RHP Dan Burawa, 1B Luke Murton, OF Damon Sublett, C Jeff Farnham, RHP Matt Daley, RHP Adam Miller, IF Jayson Nix, 2B Corban Joseph, DH Russell Branyan, and Bleich will all start the season on the DL. Some (Heredia, Moreno, Burawa, CoJo, Branyan, Bleich) are actually hurt, others are on the phantom DL. Both IF Yadil Mujica and RHP Craig Heyer have been promoted to Triple-A, and OF Dewayne Wise is currently on the inactive list because his wife is giving birth. Congrats to the Wises.
With that out of the way, welcome to Minor League Opening Day. All four full-season affiliates kicked off their seasons tonight, marking the seventh year of DotF. As per tradition, here are the full lineups…
Triple-A Empire State (3-0 loss to Lehigh Valley)
SS Ramiro Pena: 0-4, 1 K, 1 E (throwing)
CF Ray Kruml: 1-4, 1 2B, 2 K — they were getting perfect game’d until he doubled with one out in the seventh
1B Steve Pearce: 0-3, 1 K
DH Jack Cust: 0-3, 1 K
3B Brandon Laird: 0-3, 2 K
RF Colin Curtis: 0-3
LF Cole Garner: 0-3, 2 K
C Frankie Cervelli: 0-2, 1 BB — poor Frankie
2B Doug Bernier: 0-3, 1 K
RHP Manny Delcarmen: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 24 of 45 pitches were strikes (53.3%) … was sitting 91-95 early on … this was his first start since August of 2004
RHP Craig Heyer: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 8/3 GB/FB — 37 of 58 pitches were strikes (63.8%) … kept them in the game in his Triple-A debut … gotta think he’ll start next time around, not Delcarmen
LHP Juan Cedeno: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K — nine of 12 pitches were strikes
RHP Jason Bulger: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — seven of eleven pitches were strikes