After nearly a week of waiting, the Yankees are back on television today. They have not played a televised game since Monday — Tuesday’s game was supposed to be televised, but it was rained out — and our reward for going this long without the Yankees is a pair of televised split squad contests today. Half the team stayed in Tampa to play the Tigers and the other half made the half-hour bus trip to take on the Blue Jays in Dunedin.
Most of the regulars are staying in Tampa (duh). We’re entering the second week of spring games now and that means the veteran relievers are beginning to make their way into games. Accordingly, Aroldis Chapman will make his spring debut this afternoon. We’ll also get to see Adam Ottavino on the mound for the first time this spring, though it is his second Grapefruit League appearance. Here is the Tigers’ lineup and here are the players the Yankees will use at home today:
- LF Brett Gardner
- DH Aaron Judge
- RF Giancarlo Stanton
- C Gary Sanchez
- 3B Miguel Andujar
- 1B Greg Bird
- CF Estevan Florial
- 2B Thairo Estrada
- SS Kyle Holder
RHP Masahiro Tanaka
Available Position Players: C Francisco Diaz, C Ryan Lavarnway, IF Angel Aguilar, IF Diego Castillo, IF L.J. Mazzilli, IF Wendell Rijo, 1B/3B Dermis Garcia, 1B/OF Ryan McBroom, OF Trey Amburgey, OF Rashad Crawford, OF Isiah Gilliam, OF Ben Ruta. Diaz, Lavarnway, and Amburgey are in big league camp as non-roster invitees. Everyone else is up from minor league camp for the split squad games.
Available Pitchers: RHP Albert Abreu, LHP Zach Britton, LHP Rex Brothers, LHP Aroldis Chapman, LHP Nestor Cortes, RHP Jonathan Holder, RHP Jose Mesa Jr., RHP Adam Ottavino, LHP James Reeves, RHP Adonis Rosa. Reeves, Rosa, and Joe Table II are up from minor league camp for the day.
Meanwhile, over in Dunedin, DJ LeMahieu is going to play third base for the first time in a televised game today, so it’ll be our first look at him at the hot corner. He’s played one other game there this spring. It was his first game action at a position other than second base since 2014. The Yankees are planning to use LeMahieu as a utility guy, albeit one who plays nearly every day, so he’s spending the spring get reacquainted to first and third bases. Here is the Blue Jays’ lineup (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is playing) and here are the players the Yankees sent on the road:
- 2B Tyler Wade
- 3B DJ LeMahieu
- SS Gleyber Torres
- 1B Luke Voit
- LF Clint Frazier
- DH Mike Ford
- C Kyle Higashioka
- CF Matt Lipka
- RF Billy Burns
RHP Domingo German
Available Position Players: C Kellin Deglan, C Jorge Saez, 1B Chris Gittens, IF Oswaldo Cabrera, IF Wilkerman Garcia, IF Gosuke Katoh, IF Hoy Jun Park, OF Jeff Hendrix, OF Jhalan Jackson, OF Pablo Olivares, OF Zack Zehner. Deglan and Saez are non-roster players this spring. Everyone else is up from minor league camp to make the road trip for the split squad game.
Available Pitchers: RHP Cale Coshow, LHP Danny Coulombe, RHP Matt Frawley, RHP Drew Hutchison, LHP Anderson Severino, RHP Trevor Stephan, RHP David Sosebee, RHP Greg Weissert. Frawley, Severino (no relation to Luis), Sosebee, and Weissert are the extra arms from minor league camp.
It is warm but not oppressively humid in both Tampa and Dunedin today. Good afternoon to spend at the ballpark. The home game will begin at 1:05pm ET and you can watch live on YES and MLB.tv. The road game begins at 1:07pm ET and MLB.tv will have that one. There are no MLB.tv blackouts in Spring Training. You can watch both games at the same time. Enjoy.