Category: Sports News

TAMPA — Jasson Domínguez looked like the future, going 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and three runs in Friday’s win over the Twins.

On Sunday, “The Martian” will be spotted again, starting against the Phillies in Clearwater.

But Saturday, general manager Brian Cashman brought the once-hyped prospect back to earth, reiterating the challenge that the 23-year-old outfielder still faces to make the major league roster.

“He’s taking his reps and trying to push himself in the mix,” Cashman said before the Yankees’ 5-1 win over the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “Clearly the everyday spot’s not there, with [Trent] Grisham and [Cody] Bellinger and [Aaron] Judge and [Giancarlo] Stanton, currently. But you know how things change really quickly, so all he can do right now, him and [Spencer] Jones, as well as [Randal] Grichuk and anybody else, is put themselves in a position for us to take notice and we’ll evaluate what opportunities exist at the end of camp and make calls.

“Hopefully those calls will be tough ones to make.”

Despite a slash line of .417/.429/.833 through four spring training games, Domínguez’s narrow path back to The Bronx grew slimmer when the Yankees recently agreed to a minor league deal with Grichuk, a 12-year veteran who offers a far superior track record against lefty pitching.


Grichuk, who participated in his first workout with the Yankees on Saturday, has a .268 lifetime batting average against southpaws, while posting a .819 OPS.

Domínguez has only had 134 career plate appearances against lefties, but the switch-hitter has badly struggled from the right side, batting .176 with one home run and a .530 OPS. 

Grichuk, who debuted with St. Louis in 2014, has 212 career home runs and a career .763 OPS. 


“Just trying to provide some choices for us,” Cashman said of signing Grichuk. “Hopefully we’ll have tough decisions by the end of camp. That means everybody stayed healthy and performed at a high level and it makes those decisions difficult. That’s ultimately the goal. But obviously he has a history of hitting left-handers. We tried to acquire him at the deadline last year. He got popped from Colorado to Kansas City, so took another crack at him again this winter.”

Last year, Domínguez lost his starting job after being deemed too green to contribute to a title contender. This year, a 34-year-old on a minor league deal may provide more upside.

The future may have to wait.

“He’s been a pro,” said Cashman, describing how Domínguez has handled the situation. “I think he knows what’s in his control, which is performing, showing a commitment level on a day-in and day-out basis, and then letting the rest take care of itself. So he knows what’s in his control, which is that, and what’s not in his control, which is how the roster shakes out.

“I think Domínguez, Spencer Jones and anybody else is just looking to make a name for themselves and make sure people take notice of them. We’ll act accordingly.”

PORT ST. LUCIE — In a bullpen that’s been overhauled since last year, with former closer Edwin Díaz now a Dodger, replaced by Devin Williams following a rough season in The Bronx, among the most intriguing members is Craig Kimbrel. 

Only four pitchers have recorded more career saves than the right-hander who turns 38 in May and is still looking to contribute. 

Kimbrel is coming off a season in which he did not record any saves and was released twice before he finished the year with Houston. 

He made his Grapefruit League debut on Saturday and had mixed results in his one inning, as Kimbrel gave up a run and walked a pair of batters in a 3-2 loss to Washington at Clover Park. 

At this point of Kimbrel’s career, though, he’s not overly concerned about the numbers — although he was bothered by the two free passes. 

Earlier in the week, Kimbrel said his body felt good and he was working his way back into form, and following Saturday’s appearance, Carlos Mendoza was encouraged by some of the veteran’s stuff. 

There was increased velocity on his fastball and Kimbrel said he’s trying to integrate a cutter into his arsenal “to get guys off my fastball and open up some offspeed opportunities.” 

“It was good to go out there and compete and get on track to where I want to be,’’ Kimbrel said. 

The Mets could have a spot for Kimbrel in the pen if he proves that he’s still capable of getting batters out and the team values his presence in camp, but he turns 38 in May and will have to earn a spot. 

Mendoza said Saturday that Luis Robert Jr. is scheduled to play his first game of the spring Wednesday, adding that it will be on the minor league side as the team looks to keep the center fielder — acquired from the White Sox in the offseason for a package that included Luisangel Acuña — healthy after Robert battled lower-body injuries during the previous two seasons. 

He’s been getting at-bats, but the team has held off on putting Robert in game situations. 

Mendoza said Francisco Lindor has not yet progressed to impact activities — like catching a ball — after getting the stitches out of his surgically repaired left hand following the stress fracture in his hamate bone. 

“He’s getting a lot of exercise and [building] strength in that area,’’ Mendoza said of the shortstop who advanced to long toss and one-handed swings Friday. “He’s continuing to get stronger before we start impact drills.” 

Grae Kessinger, in camp as shortstop depth, was scheduled to get an MRI on Saturday after injuring his left knee in Friday’s game against the Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla., was on crutches in the clubhouse Saturday.

TAMPA — There goes the captain — and a third of the projected Opening Day roster. 

The Yankees just hope to get them all back in the condition they sent them. 

Aaron Judge and most of his other teammates who are playing in the World Baseball Classic got their final tuneup in Saturday afternoon before leaving for the camps of their respective countries. 

Some could be back in as soon as 10 days, but others, including Judge, may be gone for two-plus weeks — meaning they would return just a week before Opening Day — which comes with a bit of an unsettling feeling for the Yankees as they watch their most precious commodities from afar. 

“Honestly, I’m excited for them,” manager Aaron Boone said Saturday after a 5-1 win over the Blue Jays at Steinbrenner Field. “I am looking forward to following it. I think it’s going to be a great tournament. So sure, in some ways, you want to make sure they’re getting what they need and obviously you don’t want injury to happen. 

“The reality is, somebody in the tournament is probably … something’s going to happen. It doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen here necessarily. But I think everyone that is going is very well prepared. There’s risk in everything you do in life. These guys have come in ready to go, checked a lot of boxes this winter to put themselves in position to go do this. At the end of the day, it’s something that’s been very good for the game. 

“I’m sure there’ll be some moments you hold your breath a little bit, but that’s OK.” 

Besides Judge, the Yankees will be without their starting catcher (Dominican Republic’s Austin Wells) and starting double-play combination (Great Britain’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Panama’s José Caballero); their top three relievers (USA’s David Bednar, Dominican Republic’s Camilo Doval and Puerto Rico’s Fernando Cruz); and two of their most important bench bats (USA’s Paul Goldschmidt and Dominican Republic’s Amed Rosario). 

And while Judge said he told his teammates staying back at camp that he would be just a phone call or text away if they needed anything, he is also taking on the captaincy for Team USA and wants to be present in that role while he is there. 

“I wear many hats,” Judge said. “Captain of the Yankees is one of them. … But I’m going to try to be where my feet are. Be with those boys with Team USA, I’m going to try to soak all that up, enjoy that moment and give everything I can to those guys.” 

Judge, who is usually just easing into Grapefruit League games at this point in spring, played in his fifth exhibition Saturday.

The back-to-back AL MVP has been looking forward to this event since being the first player to officially commit to Team USA last April, spearheading a flurry of the game’s best players joining — which wasn’t fully the case in the last WBC in 2023, when USA fell to Japan in the championship. 

“Now it’s time for us to go out there and change that script,” Judge said. “You get a chance to throw yourself into full games, heated competition, you’re fighting for your country, it’s pretty cool.” 

The Yankees are hoping that playing in such high-stakes games in early March can benefit their large swath of participants, taking that momentum right into the start of the regular season. Most of them also mentioned wanting to pick the brains of their new teammates and find out what makes them great. 

“I haven’t known any professional baseball outside the Yankees, so I’m looking forward to getting out there, listening to what guys are doing and maybe bring some stuff back here,” Wells said. 

But the event also comes with its share of injury risk, no matter how careful and intentional the Yankees were in building their WBC players up early this spring. 

“It’s the same risk for anybody else,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “It’s part of this year’s process. Like any year, there’s so many twists and turns as your season plays out and challenges, from injuries to unexpected poor performance to whatever other issues might pop up. It all gets put in the pot as you’re trying to cook up a championship run. But we wish them all the best. 

“If you have good players that those countries want, we’re losing a lot of people — it’s a reflection of we have a lot of good players.”

PORT ST. LUCIE — For most of the previous seven seasons, there was hardly ever a question about who would be at first base.

For better or worse, Pete Alonso was an everyday presence at first base, solid at scooping balls in the dirt, despite lacking range or a strong arm.

Those days are over and the hole Alonso leaves is clearly felt more in the lineup than in the infield.

Still, until the Mets prove that some combination of Jorge Polanco, Mark Vientos and Brett Baty can handle the position, there will be curiosity regarding the new-look infield.

Saturday was another step in that process, as Baty made his first start of the spring at the spot and the lefty swinger — while not looking like a natural — at least held his own.

“It was a fun challenge out there,’’ said Baty, who’d never appeared in a game at first in the majors or minors prior to Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Washington at Clover Park. “There were no mistakes, but it didn’t look pretty, either. We’ll get better over there, for sure.”

The overall performance, though, was encouraging, according to Baty.

“It gives me confidence [going] into the next game,’’ Baty said.

There was a grounder to the right side by Washington’s James Wood that caused Baty to pause only briefly before he headed quickly to first, as second baseman Marcus Semien made the play easily.

“There are some things you never see in practice till you get out there and do it in a game,’’ Baty said.

Speaking of a play like the Wood one in particular, Baty said he chatted with infield instructor Kai Correa and Carlos Mendoza, as part of the learning process.

“I felt like I wanted to go get the ball,” Baty said. “That’s just how I’ve always been: At third base, go get every ball you can go get. Second base the same thing. Some [balls] I wanted to get and I had to remember Marcus is right behind me and I need to get my butt to first base.”

It’s a play he watched his former teammate make plenty of times.

“I felt Pete was really good at knowing where the second baseman was and his job was just to be at first base,’’ Baty said of Alonso, who departed for Baltimore in the offseason.

Baty’s spring won’t be limited to just learning the nuances of first base. He’ll also see time in the outfield, with Mendoza saying he’d likely be in right field early on, so that Baty remains on the right side of the field.

“I tell people I feel like a football receiver out there,’’ Baty said of the outfield. “I can catch fly balls and show off the arm. I like it out there.”

Mostly, he likes being in the lineup and if all goes according to plan, Baty will see time at first, second and third base, as well as potentially left and right field.

“I love tackling adversity,’’ Baty said of the work that goes into becoming a more versatile player. “Any way to get at-bats … and help the team win.”

There will undoubtedly be bumps in the road for all three first basemen, with Polanco moving from the middle of the infield and Vientos — who is slated to play third base for Team Nicaragua in the WBC — having the most experience at the position, with just 12 major league games.

They have until March 26 to get more comfortable playing the position, with Mendoza noting how many aspects of the game they need to stay on top of at first, from in-between plays, positioning, holding runners and knowing where to be on cutoffs.

The manager remains confident they will prove to be up to the task.

“I feel comfortable that any of the three can play first base,’’ Mendoza said, adding of Baty, “I’d like to continue to get him as many reps as possible. It’s not easy, but he’s embracing the opportunity. He’s up for the challenge.”

Today, the Kansas City Royals absolutely pounded a Colorado Rockies squad that issued 15 walks. (You read that correctly.)

For more details on the game, click here.

Here are Michael Lorenzen’s comments on the day, which he saw as an important learning experience:

In addition, Ryan Feltner weighed in:

That said, please enjoy this Jordan Beck home run:

And don’t overlook Charlie Condon’s third homer:

That’s baseball.

The Rockies will face the Cleveland Guardians tomorrow afternoon at 1:05.

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With most of the expected big hitters out of the lineup after yesterday’s split-squad games, some other sources made Tanner Bibee’s first inning of the spring a miserable one. For him.

No. 2 hitter Sam Antonacci started things off for the White Sox when he got a 2-0 cutter that had too much of the plate.

Antonacci knew that was gone from the start, all 107.1 mph, 416´worth. That shot was followed by Miguel Vargas and LaMonte Wade Jr. doubles, with Wade later scoring on a wild pitch for a 3-0 Sox lead.

Bibee settled down for two scoreless innings after that, but Shane Smith showed his weak first start had just been working out the kinks as he kept the Guardians off the board until one run in the third, although a sweet play by William Bergolla Jr. at short kept the damage from being worse.

Lousy Cleveland defense (see, other teams have that, too) helped the Sox to two more runs in the fifth, with Bergolla and Antonacci scoring after walking and getting hit by a pitch, the first of two HBPs for Antonacci in the game. Bergolla also had an RBI single in the sixth, making it 6-1, and Antonacci scored in the seventh for a 7-1 lead. Both players are making management decisions on which middle infielders to keep when camp breaks ever more difficult.

Three Sox relievers cruised their way to the seventh, when Tyler Davis decided the game was too much of a yawner and coughed up three runs on two hits and a walk in the bottom of the seventh. Cleveland added one more in the eighth and had the tying run at the plate, but Adysin Coffey got a three-pitch K to end the threat. Shane Murphy then had an easy ninth for the save.

The Sox only had seven hits for their seven runs as they ran their spring record to 6-4, but six walks and those two HBPs, along with bad Guardian fielding decisions, helped things out.

Next up is a rematch with the Cubs, first pitch at 2:05 p.m. Central tomorrow. It will be on ESPN 1000, but you won’t get to watch the game unless you’re on of those turncoats who get Cubs TV.

Record 5-4. Change on 2025: +0.5. 5-inning record: 2-7.

Whenever a pitcher is leaving the mound with a trainer after having hit two batters and walked a third, while showing sharply lower velocity… Yeah, it’s never a good thing. Such was the situation this afternoon in Tempe for Brandyn Garcia. His fifth inning appearance was sharply curtailed, and the worst was feared. Not least because, if he went down, the only left-handed reliever left on the D-backs’ 40-man roster would be Philip Abner, and the non-roster invitees wouldn’t help much either [there’s only three, and Yu-Min Lin is already reassigned] However, it appears to have been just a stomach bug for Garcia, rather than looming Tommy John surgery. Phew.

While we make our way back from the SnakePit Fainting Couch, the D-backs notched their third consecutive win, though as has become a habit this year, it required a late comeback. A five-run eighth inning proved key, with a three-run homer by Yassel Soler the big hit. Later in the inning, Wallace Clark drove in the final run with a single. I think that might be the first hit ever in a D-backs jersey by a player born in the United Kingdom, Clark being a native of London. Arizona’s other runs came on a two-run homer by Luken Baker in the fourth inning, and a Jorge Barrosa triple the next frame. Soler also walked in addition to his home-run: Baker and Aramis Garcia each had two hits.

Mitch Bratt’s start started well, with a 1-2-3 first, but he ended up lifted in the second after allowing two runs, and also gave up a homer in the third inning, after returning. His final line: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. The D-backs ended up using ten pitchers again. The other runs came off Paul Sewald – good to see him in mid-season form already – and Jonathan Loasiga, making his Arizona debut. Bryce Jarvis got the save with a clean ninth, and Abner also appeared, loading the bases but escaping without damage thanks to a pair of strikeouts. A good day for home-plate umpire Jonathan Parra: three ABS challenges, but all confirmed his call.

Tomorrow, it’s back to Salt River Fields where the Guardians will be visiting. Michael Soroka gets his second start, with a 1:10 pm first pitch. Several members of the A-bullpen are scheduled to work behind Soroka.