It's rare that a spring training game becomes a highly-publicized event, but that's exactly what happened with Masahiro Tanaka on Thursday.
The New York Yankees' newest prize took to the mound for the second time this spring, making his first start against the Philadelphia Phillies. It was the same team Tanaka faced in his debut on Saturday, when he threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
The Phillies didn't take it easy on Tanaka this time around, going with many of their regular players in the lineup, including Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Marlon ...
The New York Yankees are preparing for Mark Teixeira to be healthy enough to play at the start of the regular season, and all signs indicate that he will be.
Teixeira has taken very few swings in spring training batting practices thus far, with the most recent ones coming on Wednesday morning, reports Dave D'Alessandro of NJ.com. D'Alessandro notes that the first baseman came out just fine in terms of his wrist, though he was a bit disappointed in the short session:
Before all the consternation, Tex looked fine for a guy ...
The New York Yankees have a problem.
Despite spending $503 million on talent this winter, the team will likely enter the 2014 season with major questions across the infield, especially at the up-the-middle positions of second base and shortstop.In theory, Brian Roberts and Derek Jeter can reclaim their health and star-level talent to fill those holes with durability and production. Of course, that's unlikely to last for a full season. Roberts, 36, hasn't played in 100-plus games since the 2009 season. Jeter, 39, is attempting to become just the fifth player in baseball history to ...
Derek Jeter is finally healthy. In fact, the 39-year-old is feeling better than ever at the onset of his final spring training.
"Everything is good," Jeter told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, knocking his knuckles against the wood of his clubhouse locker. "Like I told you, I've been working extremely hard to get my strength back. I feel like it's back, I feel strong, so it's not an issue in my mind. I don't think about it."
Jeter, of course, was limited to just 17 games last year due to injuries and batted ...
Anything can happen between now and when the New York Yankees break from spring training at the end of March, but barring injuries, it doesn't appear as if the 25-man roster will be too difficult to project.
The team's star-studded cast makes a vast majority of the 25-man roster easy to predict. In fact, there are really only two places where there are no guarantees. The final infield spot should end up being a battle between Eduardo Nunez and Scott Sizemore, and the final spot in the bullpen could seemingly be ...
Quite an interesting scenario was proposed by Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com.
On Sunday, March 2, Marchand opined about the New York Yankees possibly making a move to land Jose Reyes of the Toronto Blue Jays in a year from now to replace Derek Jeter at shortstop.
Reyes originally signed his current contract (six years, $106 million) with the Miami Marlins prior to the 2012 season. After just one year in Miami, Reyes was dealt to the Blue Jays in a massive 11-player deal that also included Josh Johnson.
The Yankees would have to ...
With only the first week of 2014 spring training in the books, it's easy to perceive Masahiro Tanaka's two shutout innings and Yangervis Solarte's hot streak as the only takeaways for the New York Yankees.
But don't be fooled by the small sample size.
In just six games, some very noticeable trends have already emerged among those vying for the final backup roles and bullpen spots. If nothing else, these early storylines should help Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman begin the decision-making process.
The biggest one has been the offensive outburst by a ...
The New York Yankees were wild spenders in free agency this offseason, bringing in Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka on massive contracts.
There was almost another large contract handed out by general manager Brian Cashman.
Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that shortstop/third baseman Jhonny Peralta was offered a three-year contract by the Yankees earlier in the offseason:
Of course, Peralta ended up signing a lucrative deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, as reported by Jon Morosi of Fox Sports:
Peralta also turned down an offer from the New ...
The long-awaited debut of Masahiro Tanaka finally took place Saturday afternoon, when the New York Yankees' prized pitcher took the mound for two innings of spring training work against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Pitching in front of a jam-packed crowd at George Steinbrenner Field, Tanaka was under more pressure than a typical first-year player would be. Various televised camera shots of the Japanese media illustrated how much attention this game was getting.
So after all the build-up, did Tanaka give the fans and media everything they wanted?
Of course not. It was two innings ...
In March, it's common to introduce an opinion of a player or performance by reminding readers that it's very early, spring training statistics don't count and the real games are about a month away from reality.
With New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, that edict isn't just necessary—it's vital.
In Tampa, Fla., Tanaka's debut was a big deal. In his home country of Japan, a scheduled two-inning outing was a reason to celebrate and watch Grapefruit League baseball in the middle of the night. Clearly, Tanaka's spring training debut didn't profile as ...