The Yankees made some more cuts after today’s game.
Via Chad Jennings of the Lohud Yankees blog:
· Optioned and LHP Francisco Rondon, RHPs Dellin Betances and Brett Marshall, and C Austin Romine to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
· Optioned LHPs Manny Banuelos and Nik Turley, RHP Jose Ramirez and OF Ramon Flores to Double-A Trenton.
· Reassigned RHP Chase Whitley, C J.R. Murphy and 1B Luke Murton to minor league camp.
The last three were “reassigned” only because they aren’t on the 40-man roster and can’t be optioned. That’s the only difference.
Does Romine being sent down basically indicate it's Cervelli and Stewart to start the season?
Yup basically. I really hope its Cervelli who ends up being the starter. He looks like hes regained his defensive prowess behind the plate and offers a much higher upside offensively. Plus hes younger than Stewart. For all we know he could get better and make Romine and JR Murphy trade bait as he serves as the bridge until Gary Sanchez arrives. Its not like Romine offers any more offensive upside and if Cervelli keeps throwing out 35-40% of baserunners against him then its hard to imagine Romine being better defensively too
Besides Romine has missed a lot of time the past 2 years with back issues. He has barely seen AAA. The guy could use some more seasoning
I know J.R. Murphy is still very young and there was no way he was going to break camp with the team come the end of ST. But I still would have loved to see him get some more time in ST and face some of the others teams pitchers in that setting. Just my opinion.