DUNEDIN, Fla. — The last two spots of the Yankees rotation are up for grabs, but two of the primary candidates had decidedly different outcomes on Thursday.
First, there was Luis Cessa, who struggled with his location and got rocked for four runs on six hits in just 1 ²/₃ innings in an 11-5 win over the Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
On the other end of the spectrum was Bryan Mitchell, who had his best outing of the spring, striking out five in his three innings.
For most of his time on the mound against Toronto, Mitchell resembled the pitcher who excited the Yankees last spring before a toe injury near the end of the spring resulted in surgery that derailed his season.
Manager Joe Girardi, although quick not to place too much importance on the individual outings, acknowledged, “The competition is gonna heat up now.”
Girardi also said that what he saw from Mitchell resembled what the right-hander did nearly a year ago.
“That’s the closest he’s been since last year,” Girardi said. “We want to build on that.”
And Mitchell said he knows time is of the essence if he wants to join Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda in the rotation.
“You could definitely say that I’m competing,” said Mitchell, who gave up a run on two hits and a walk. “I’m not out there thinking about it, but I’m out there competing.”
Girardi declined to declare whether there were any leaders at this point after strong showings from Mitchell on Thursday and Luis Severino on Tuesday — with Chad Green and Adam Warren also in the mix.
“I still think it’s too early and we’ve got a long way to go,” Girardi said. “These starts and innings they’re pitching now become more important because they’re going longer. You’re going to see [starting] lineups for the most part.”
They will have to decide on which pair to pick soon enough.
“I just want two guys that are going to be extremely competitive and keep us in games, give us some length and do their job,” Girardi said before the game. “It doesn’t really matter which two.”
Austin Romine had a CT scan on his right hand after taking a wild pitch off it Wednesday night. It came out negative, showing only a contusion, and Girardi said he hopes to have Romine back when the Yankees visit the Astros on Sunday in West Palm Beach.
Girardi added that Romine is “the guy’’ to serve as Gary Sanchez’s backup, despite Kyle Higashioka following up a solid 2016 split between Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Double-A Trenton with a strong spring.
“I think we all thought going in that Romine had a leg up because of what he did last year and I still feel that way,” Girardi said. “Romine has played well. [Higashioka] has played well. I’ll give him that. … But I think it’s been looked at as Romine has probably been the guy.”
Sanchez’s exploits of late last season caught the attention of Las Vegas. Bovada placed the odds of the catcher winning the AL MVP at 18-1. He’s listed at eighth. The Angels’ Mike Trout is the favorite at 5-4. Sanchez is also ahead of ex-Yankee Robinson Cano, who is at 20-1 to win the award.
The Yankees signed right-hander Ernesto Frieri to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training.
They also optioned outfielder Mason Williams to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and reassigned him to minor league camp.
Aaron Hicks and Starlin Castro aren’t really part of the Yankees’ youth movement, nor are they guys who have been in The Bronx for long. But they are still being relied upon for important roles in 2017 and each of them homered Thursday for the second time this spring.
After being scratched with the flu Wednesday, Chris Carter returned to the lineup against Toronto and went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He’s now just 4-for-28 with a homer this spring.
Clint Frazier went deep for the first time this spring on a 3-2 pitch in the seventh inning.
“That was great,” Joe Girardi said. “He hit it a long way. It was good to see.”
— Additional reporting by Ken Davidoff