Feb. 25th Spring Training Notes: Hicks, Betances, Gregorius, Sanchez, Andujar, Gardner, Rotation

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays for their second straight Grapefruit League win this afternoon. Troy Tulowitzki went deep in his first at-bat. “It was the biggest Spring Training homer I’ve ever hit in my life … No doubt (it felt good). That was a team that told me I couldn’t play anymore,” he said to Bryan Hoch and Coley Harvey. Tulowitzki looked quite good in the field too. I was pleasantly surprised. Anyway, Kyle Higashioka socked a dinger and Aaron Judge banged a double off the wall in left-center.

James Paxton made the start tossed two scoreless innings. He struck out two. Paxton was a little wild in the first inning (two walks) before settling down in the second. Domingo German and Luis Cessa each tossed two scoreless innings as well. German allowed a single, Toronto’s only hit of the day. Chad Green and Jonathan Holder had uneventful innings. So far, so good. Here are the box score and video highlights, and here are the day’s notes from Tampa:

In case you missed it earlier, the Yankees signed Aaron Hicks to a seven-year, $70M extension with an eighth year club option. “I’m betting on you,” Brian Cashman said he told Hicks. The GM added he believes Hicks has “a lot more gas in the tank,” which I think means the Yankees believe Hicks has a lot of peak years remaining. Would be cool. [Jack Curry]
Cashman reiterated the Yankees are having extension talks with other players. “We’ve been very vocal that we’ve engaged with a lot of players,” he said. Dellin Betances is among them, though there is nothing imminent with him or Didi Gregorius. [Jack Curry, Andy Martino]
Gary Sanchez is expected to get into a Grapefruit League game at the end of this week. “We are still shooting for March 1st. He is ready to go,” said Aaron Boone. The Yankees are easing Sanchez back into game action this spring following offseason shoulder surgery. [George King]
Miguel Andujar and Brett Gardner were both scratched from today’s lineup. Andujar is sick and Gardner has an ingrown toenail. Neither is serious. Andujar is day-to-day and Gardner is scheduled to play tomorrow. [Bryan Hoch]
The upcoming rotation: Masahiro Tanaka on Tuesday (YES, MLB.tv), Albert Abreu on Wednesday (no TV), and J.A. Happ on Thursday (no TV). Damn. Was really hoping to see Abreu. [Coley Harvey]
And finally, in case you missed it earlier, the Yankees have hired Andy Pettitte as a special advisor to Cashman. Pettitte said Derek Jeter tried to woo him to the Marlins.

If you’re interested, this afternoon’s game will be replayed on MLB Network (8pm ET) and YES (after the Nets game). The Yankees are back at it tomorrow afternoon at home against the Phillies. That’s another 1:05pm ET start. YES and MLB.tv will carry the game live.