Open Thread: February 18th Camp Notes

Pitchers and catchers reported to Tampa today and everyone who was supposed to report today did report today. No problems there. Joe Girardi held his annual start-of-spring press conference this morning, so check that out if you missed it. Here are some photos from today’s workout and here are a bunch of other notes from the first day of Spring Training:

• Masahiro Tanaka returned to camp today after spending a few days with his wife in New York after she gave birth to their first child. (It’s a boy.) He said his elbow feels better now than it did last spring. Tanaka will be behind the other starters this spring because the team is being cautious, but he’s healthy and ready to go. [Chad Jennings]
• Mark Teixeira (shin) has been running since January 1st and has no lingering issues from the small fracture he suffered late last year. Andrew Miller has gone back to an old training regime following last year’s forearm issue. Dellin Betances changed his offseason routine and took off two months rather than the usual four weeks.  Jacob Lindgren (elbow) is “100% and feeling great right now” following last year’s surgery to remove a bone spur. [Brendan Kuty, Meredith Marakovits, Anthony McCarron]
• Aroldis Chapman said he is “very happy” to have already been named closer. He and Miller will throw bullpens Saturday. Rob Refsnyder said he is “up for anything, to be honest” when asked about possibly changing positions. Right now the Yankees intend to keep him at second base. [Jack Curry, Bryan Hoch, McCarron]
• Here is a partial list of this year’s guest Spring Training instructors: Orlando Hernandez, Ron Guidry, Reggie Jackson, Hideki Matsui, Willie Randolph, Stump Merrill, and Lee Mazzilli. The usual suspects, basically. [Erik Boland]
• And finally, today is the first day teams can place players on the 60-day DL, so the Yankees can slide Greg Bird over whenever they need a 40-man roster spot. Ronald Torreyes can rest easy. For now. [Jon Morosi]

Here is tonight’s open thread. Both the Rangers and Islanders are playing, and there’s some college basketball on the schedule as well. Talk about those games, the first day of Spring Training, or anything else right here. Baseball’s back. Get excited.