TAMPA — If Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi and Luis Severino make it through spring training healthy, Ivan Nova’s value to the Yankees will be in long relief.
Of course, Tanaka, Sabathia, Pineda and Eovaldi missed time last year due to injury, so there is no guarantee they will avoid problems under the palm trees.
Monday, Nova threw a bullpen session with Joe Girardi watching, and the manager liked what he saw from the right-hander who returned from Tommy John surgery late last June and struggled.
“We felt that we would see a different guy this year,’’ Girardi said of Nova, who went 6-11 with a 5.07 ERA in 17 starts last season. “I was impressed with his bullpen today. I saw an arm that was very quick, probably better than [at] any point we saw last year. I think the time off really helped him and you will see a different guy.’’
When Aaron Judge was feasting on Double-A pitching last year, it wasn’t a reach to believe he could surface in the big leagues at some point this season. But struggles at Triple-A slowed that momentum a bit and now Judge, who turns 24 in late April, might require a full season at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“I am trying to take it one step at a time,’’ the 6-foot-7, 255-pound right-handed hitting Judge said before hitting a towering batting-practice home run to left off Nick Goody. “Wherever they need me I will play and whenever I get the chance I will take it.’’
After hitting .284 with 12 homers and 44 RBIs in 63 games at Trenton (Double-A), Judge batted .224 with eight homers and 28 RBIs in 61 games for SWB.
While Judge fanned 70 times with 71 hits at Trenton, the strikeout total rose to an alarming 74 with just 51 hits against International League pitching.
“It helped me work on my patience,’’ Judge said of learning from the Triple-A struggles. “In Double-A, I saw a lot of guys that really came after you. At Triple-A there were a lot of older guys in the league that had been up and down [to the big leagues] and they knew how to pitch.’’
“A lot of people look at him as a future star for us and he is making little adjustments he needs to make as a player to iron things out,’’ Girardi said.
Judge was very appreciative that Carlos Beltran asked that Judge’s locker in camp be near his.
“Next to a legend is awesome,’’ Judge said. “He is a class act so it’s a pretty cool honor.’’
The Yankees took Panthers quarterback Cam Newton’s post-Super Bowl 50 press conference walkout as an example of what not to do when handling defeat in a video shown to pitchers and catchers this week, according to an ESPN report.
In the same video, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s calm demeanor after his Super Bowl XLIX defeat was used as a positive example.
Needing a first baseman to replace Greg Bird at SWB the Yankees signed Chris Parmelee to a minor-league contract and invited him to spring training.
“He can play first, right-handed bat and we had a vacancy,’’ Cashman said of Parmelee, who will be 28 on Thursday. He was a first-round pick of the Twins in 2006.
Parmelee batted .216 with four homers and nine RBIs for the Orioles last year. In 63 games for Norfolk (Triple-A) Parmelee hit .314 with six homers, 32 RBIs and posted a .830 OPS.
Chase Headley, Didi Gregorius and Beltran all worked out at the minor-league complex.