It looks as if the Yankees’ roster is mostly set, as prior to Monday’s game against the Phillies, the Yankees optioned RHP Deivi Garcia and Luis Gil to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and also re-assigned LHP Manny Banuelos and outfielder Ender Inciarte to Triple-A.
The moves leave 32 players in camp for 28 spots, but with two of those players injured – catcher Ben Rortvedt and pitcher Stephen Ridings, neither of whom will be ready for Opening Day – it’s really 30 for 28 spots, with the battle for the final bullpen and bench spots down to their final stages.
Manager Aaron Boone spoke of the moves during Monday’s YES broadcast of the Yankees-Phillies spring training game, asserting Garcia and Gil will be kept as rotation options.
“We think the best thing for them right now is to keep them as starters, and get them going as starters, so the best thing is to go down there and get prepared to go every five or six days,” Boone said, before noting that Banuelos will pitch for the Yankees in Tuesday’s exhibition finale before heading to the RailRiders, whose season starts Tuesday night in Syracuse.
The only competitions remaining are the final one or two bullpen spots, depending on whether the Yankees carry 15 or 16 pitchers on their opening day roster, and which Tim Locastro, Miguel Andujar, and Marwin Gonzalez – the last non-roster player left in camp – will fill the final one or two bench spots.
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The wild card could be Clarke Schmidt, whom Boone said was “still in the mix” to be a second swingman out of the bullpen on the initial roster after throwing 4 1/3 strong innings Sunday.
“I could see either way with Clarke; he definitely has the arsenal and repertoire to be a starter, but it’s continuing that next layer of strike throwing,” Boone said. “He’s definitely still in the mix for making our team as that hybrid, able to give us some innings out of the bullpen. It may be a situation where we send him back and forth to continue to build him up, too, because he needs to get that experience of continuing to start.”
Eight of the Yankees’ nine or 10 bullpen spots seem locked in, and JP Sears, who started Monday's game, has been told he is making the team as well. That leaves Schmidt and true reliever Ron Marinaccio left in camp perhaps battling for that 10th spot, depending on the Yankees' bench composition.
Even without Schmidt, the RailRiders project to have quite a formidable rotation with Gil, Garcia, possibly Banuelos, and Top 10 prospect Hayden Wesneski, who was on the affiliate’s break camp roster released Monday ahead of their Tuesday season opener.
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Meanwhile, it’s now outfielder Locastro, utility man Gonzalez, and corner infielder/outfielder Andujar left for whatever remains on the Yankees’ bench behind the backup catcher and whichever of the five infielders are not in the lineup on a given day.
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