Over the last few weeks Aaron Boone has gone from “you don’t envision that” to “I would expect there is a good chance” when asked about possibly using an opener this season. Due to injuries, something that wasn’t in the cards is now a very real possibility. Chad Green opened yesterday’s game — “I think I warmed up a little bit too early. That will be something I have to figure out,” he said to George King — and today it is Jonathan Holder’s turn.
With Dellin Betances out, the Yankees will need Green in the late innings maybe a little more than expected out of the gate, making Holder the most obvious candidate to be an opener. Something tells me Stephen Tarpley might get a shot at opening a game before the Grapefruit League lets out as well. We’ll see. Here is the Astros’ lineup and here are the players the Yankees sent on the 200-mile bus trip to West Palm Beach for today’s game:
- SS Gleyber Torres
- 3B Miguel Andujar
- 1B Luke Voit
- DH Greg Bird
- C Gary Sanchez
- RF Clint Frazier
- CF Tyler Wade
- 2B Thairo Estrada
- LF Billy Burns
RHP Jonathan Holder
Available Position Players: C Francisco Diaz, C Ryan Lavarnway, C Jorge Saez, 1B Ryan McBroom, IF Angel Aguilar, IF Thairo Estrada, IF Kyle Holder, IF Gosuke Katoh, IF Gio Urshela, OF Trey Amburgey, OF Jeff Hendrix, OF Matt Lipka, OF Zack Zehner. McBroom, Aguilar, Estrada, Katoh, Amburgey, Hendrix, and Zehner are up from minor league camp for the road trip.
Available Pitchers: LHP Rex Brothers, LHP Nestor Cortes, RHP Cale Coshow, LHP Danny Coulombe, LHP Phil Diehl, RHP Raynel Espinal, RHP Joe Harvey, RHP Domingo German, LHP Justin Kamplain, LHP James Reeves, LHP Anderson Severino, LHP Stephen Tarpley. Coshow, Harvey, Kamplain, Reeves, and (not related to Luis) Severino are the extra arms up from minor league camp.
The Yankees are on the other side of Florida today and tomorrow, so many of those players are staying overnight rather than making the long bus trip back and forth. I’m not sure who’s coming off the bench or out of the bullpen today. I do know German is starting tomorrow though, so we won’t see him this afternoon. The rest will be a surprise.
It is kinda cloudy, kinda warm, kinda humid, and kinda windy in West Palm Beach today. There is no rain in the forecast though, and that’s all that matters. Today’s game will begin at 1:05pm ET and you can watch live on MLB Network and MLB.tv. MLB Network will show the game in the Yankees’ home market and there are no MLB.tv blackouts in Spring Training. Enjoy the game.