Pena Down & Laird Up

Ramiro Pena had an emergency appendectomy yesterday, following a strong performance in Toronto Sunday.  It looks like Pena will be out at least 6 weeks for his ailment, which would put his return to approximately the same time period when Arod would return to the Yankees.

The Yankees called up Brandon Laird yesterday and although he was activated for last night's game, he did not arrive in Tampa until the middle innings.  Laird has been a minor league prospect for a few years now and was the best option for a utility infielder as he is on the 40 man roster already.  His numbers are not great in Triple-A this season as he is only batting .266, but since his terrible month of April he is hitting .294.  Laird has been improving as the season progresses and in the month of July he already has 4 home runs. (10 on the season)  He plays third base, first base and the corner outfield spots.  He is probably best known as a third baseman though and that is where he will play on the Yankees behind Eduardo Nunez.  

Girardi has said that Nunez will be the everyday third baseman and Laird will be the back-up.  This gives the Yankees the option of resting Jeter at least one day a week and replacing him with Nunez while Laird gets some time at third base.  Nunez has been doing well offensively lately and has 17 RBI's on the season - 9 of which have tied the game for the Yanks or given them the lead!  He may not be the "clutch" batter that Jeter is, but Nunez is a worthwhile replacement.

And Who's Not!

Jesus Montero, the highly touted prospect known for his bat is struggling this spring.  He is batting .222 with only 2 doubles this spring.  Montero is known for his power numbers but has not hit a home run this spring.  The Yankees believe his low offensive numbers are due to him putting too much pressure on himself and it seems likely he may get optioned down to Triple- A.  Optioning him down actually will help him develop his offensive numbers since he will have an opportunity to start everyday rather than once or twice a week as the backup catcher to Martin.  It took Montero until June of last year to get his offensive numbers going, but once he did they skyrocketed and he hit .351 during the second half of the season. 

Posada seems to be having a difficult time adapting to the DH role.  The days of Jorge Posada playing catcher seem to be over, and he must find a way to be an effective DH.  Rumors around Spring Training show that Posada has spoken with Johnny Damon and David Ortiz about how to make this switch.  Hopefully they give him their keys to success because Posada is only batting .231 this spring.

The Yankees know what they are getting with Ramiro Pena.  He has a great glove, but very troubling offensive numbers that seem to be getting worse.  In 2010 he hit only .227, and many of his outs seemed to come during important bats in the game.  His Mexican League Winter Ball numbers weren’t better, as he only batted .233 and this spring got even worse, with his .171 batting average.  He is now looking at being replaced by Eduardo Nunez for that utility infielder spot.  I think it’s fair to say, we may have seen the last of Pena.

Andruw Jones was signed this season to replace Marcus Thames as the 4^th outfielder.  There is no chance of Jones being cut, but he is doing awful this spring.  He has more strikeouts (8) than hits (7) this spring his average is down to .219.  At the very least, he is still a terrific outfielder and the Yankees won’t have to try and use Nunez as a backup outfielder.

Swisher has surprised me with a slow start this spring.  All I heard during the offseason and beginning of spring training was that Swish was focused and working on his batting with Kevin Long as well as plate discipline.  That has yet to be seen as Swisher is batting only .255 with a dismal .280 on base percentage with 9 Strikeouts…. So much for plate disclipline.  At least with Swish, you can feel confident he will work hard to get it together and have another good season.

Friday's Game in Dunedin

The Yankees are on the road this afternoon in Dunedin to play the Blue Jays.  Burnett is the starting pitcher and the Yankees left the regular infielders back in Tampa.  Dunedin is one of my favorite spring training fields.  It is a minor league ballpark in the middle of a residential neighborhood and everyone who works at the field is from the town, from the elderly people ripping ticket stubs to the old men tossing brauts on the grill.  It's probably the only stadium you can get Labatt's on tap too. (The park has a canadian theme to it)  It really is the exact opposite of Steinbrenner Field which has a very corporate and city atmosphere and a great place to visit if you are in Tampa. 

Here is today's lineup:
 
Brett Gardner LF
Russell Martin C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Eric Chavez 1B
Eduardo Nunez 2B
Ronnie Belliard 3B
Ramiro Pena SS

Chavez is getting the start at First base and Nunez is starting at second.  I think Girardi has made up his mind at this point that both Chavez and Nunez will make the team as backup/utility infielders.  Both are worth keeping an eye on over the next two weeks.  Especially with Nunez trying to beat out Ramiro Pena for that last spot.

Burnett is coming off a great start against the Nationals last weekend where he threw 4 innings and only allowed 2 hits and 0 Runs.  He has improved his mechanics and is striving for consistency as well as a solid changeup.  This will be his final start before Girardi announces who is the #2 starting pitcher this season.  That announcement is set to come this weekend.

Also making an appearance today will be Sergio Mitre who has been sidelined recently due to a minor oblique injury.  He pitched a bullpen on Wednesday and Girardi says he's feeling good again.  Mitre is set to pitch 3 or 4 innings today.

Andrew Brackman who was actually cut from the Major League Roster earlier this week, will be making the trip as well.  It seems as the "Cuts" have only been made, on paper, and have no substantive effect on the spring training roster yet.  Brackman will have another opportunity to face some major league batters which should help him develop as a potential call-up later this season.  Hopefully he will have an opportunity to face Bautista on the Jay's and prove his worth!

The Battle of Nunez & Pena

Ramiro Pena and Eduardo Nunez are both competing for the open utility infielder spot on the team.  Nunez seems to be edging out Pena based on the offensive numbers.  Over the last two years, it doesn't seem like Pena has developed his offensive side and this spring training has not started well.  As of today, he is batting . 158  Fortunately for Pena he went 2 for 3 today against the Braves.  We know that Pena has a great glove and good speed, but needs to step it on the offense.

Nunez seems to be getting more and more attention from the Yankees.  They were reluctant to trade him this offseason and Girardi says he wants to see more of Nunez in spring training before making a decision on the open utility infielder spot.  This should come as a relief to Nunez since Girardi is making the first round of cuts this weekend and he will remain safe.   Nunez is batting .348 in the grapefruit league (albeit it's only been 7 games or so), but he aslo went 2 for 2 today and  hit a  Home Run yesterday against the Astros.  

Pena has had two years to prove his worthiness to the team, but has fallen flat.  It may be time to try Nunez and give him an opportunity to prove himself.

Where does Chavez fit?

This year Eric Chavez, 6 time gold glove third baseman for the Athletics, was singed for a minor league deal and may actually have a shot on this team.  He was one of those low risk – high reward signings, Cashman made this offseason.  With Chavez's experience, Cashman may be highly rewarded with this signing  Chavez has been working with Tino Martinez & Mark Texeira on his fielding skills to be the backup first baseman.  Yesterday he started at first and had a pretty solid defensive game, which included a nice scoop on a bad throw by Laird.  Girardi has been tight lipped about Chavez’s role but it seems he may be carried into the regular season as a backup first baseman and of course third baseman. 

I’m not certain who they would drop from the team but I think it would likely be Ramiro Pena.  His offense struggled last year when he only hit .227 with a  .258 on base percentage, and his winter ball numbers weren’t much better.  In the Mexican league he batted only .233 with a .296 on base percentage.  It will be interesting to see what role he will play on this team in the future as Eduardo Nunez seems to have caught a lot of attention last season.

Nunez played in Triple-A last season and batted .289 with a .340 on base percentage.  He was called up late in the season last year by the Yankees and hit .280 in 30 games.  He has decent speed as well and stole 23 bases in Triple-A.   Nunez may have beaten out Pena for a backup infielder role with these impressive numbers, but I think Chavez is a very worthwhile option and I believe he will start the season with the Yankees. No matter whether it’s Chavez, Pena or Nunez this season, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.  Watch for Chavez over the next several weeks.