Yankees Spring Training Notes: Day 2

Pitching and catchers finally reported to the Yankees spring training complex this week,  and thanks mostly to Peter Abraham of the Journal News we’ve been keeping on up on the day-to-day notes.

Position players haven’t reported yet, which means Alex Rodriguez wasn’t there so there isn’t a lot going on. Except Abraham reported that A-Rod called Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts to apologize when he lied to Peter Gammons and said she attempted to break into his house. When will the lies end A-Rod?

On to the baseball news, Chien-Ming Wang threw today and said everything felt fine. He told reporters that when he started throwing earlier in the off-season he felt a tightness in his foot, but said that has now subsided. He still hasn’t gone back to running and instead is using a stationary bike.

Andrew Brackman threw today, the first time he’s done so in two spring trainings. After missing last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery he is finally at 100 percent and he’s dropped a ton of weight from 270 a year ago to 232 now.

Now he just needs to add innings, Abraham estimates that he’s only thrown 193 innings since 2005 including college, the Cape Cod League, and winter ball.

Girardi said he plans on keeping a long reliever on the roster, but thinks it will hurt either Phil Hughes' or Ian Kennedy’s development if he puts them in that role. Instead it likely will come down to a competition between Dan Giese, Alfredo Aceves, and Brett Tomko. I give the edge to Aceves.

Girardi also watched Jorge Posada throw again today and said that he thought he was doing well. He said the ball, “sounded good in the air.”

Also, now I’m not sure this counts as Day 2 notes but, Brian Bruney said he has something to prove after getting called out on the MLB Network by Harold Reynolds. Here is an excerpt from a Ken Rosenthal story:

"

“He said, ‘They’ll still have the problem of getting to Mariano (Rivera) in the ninth inning,”‘ Bruney recalls.

“I take that personally. I’ll show him. See what he’s saying mid-year when you’re rolling. I want the eighth inning.”

"

Apparently Reynolds is one of those fools who thinks that the Yankees would be better off using Joba Chamberlain in the pen rather than in the rotation. I’m not sure how much he knows about Mark Melancon or David Robertson, but I doubt it. The Yankees bullpen is fine.

Finally, I wanted to post this the other day, but the other day the Daily News posted a list of important dates coming up this spring. Here it is:

Tuesday, Feb. 17 - Position players report (A-Rod meets the media under the big top)

Wednesday, Feb. 18 - First full-squad workout

Tuesday, Feb. 24 - Final World Baseball Classic rosters announced

Wednesday, Feb. 25 - Yankees first spring game (at Blue Jays in Dunedin)

Thursday, Feb. 26 - Yankees spring home opener (vs. Rays)

Monday, March 2 - WBC players must report to their teams

Tuesday, March 3 - Yankees host Team USA in exhibition game

Thursday, March 5 - World Baseball Classic begins in Tokyo

Monday, March 23 - World Baseball Classic final at Dodger Stadium

Wednesday, April 1 - Yankees final Grapefruit League game (vs. Phillies)

Friday, April 3 - First exhibition game at new Yankee Stadium vs. Cubs

Saturday, April 4 - Final exhibition game at new Yankee Stadium vs. Cubs

Monday, April 6 - Opening Day at Baltimore