The Yankees and Rays played seven and a half innings of scoreless ball before both team’s tallied in their final at-bat to make it 2-1 Yanks. The big news, however, is that Morgan Ensberg was added to the 40-man roster after the game, prompted by an escape clause in his contract that would have kicked in at midnight had he not made the 40-man. Having been added to the roster Ensberg is guaranteed $1.75 million for the season. Joe Girardi has said, as he did regarding Billy Traber, who was added to the 40-man a week and a half ago as prompted by a similar clause, that this doesn’t mean Ensberg has maid the team, but Ensberg has long since run out of options, and I find it difficult to believe that the Yankees would play $1.75 million just to cut him loose in a week.
Ensberg went 0 for 4 in last night’s game, which dropped him to .270/.341/.405 for the spring, which may not be a far cry from what the Yankees can expect from him during the regular season, but it’s a heckuvalot better than what they’d get from a Nick Green/Chris Woodward type. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com had a good piece up on Ensberg earlier in the day in which Ensberg raves about working with hitting coach Kevin Long.
As for the guys this leaves out, Brett Gardner and Cody Ransom, who will be Scranton’s starting center fielder and third baseman, respectively, put themselves on the short list should the Yanks need roster filler during the season. Gardner has hit .393/.469/.536 thus far this spring and stolen six bases in six tries. The catch is that he’s only played 45 games above double-A and the Yankees want to give him a little more time in triple-A. They may also prefer to have him keep his bat warm in a starting role in the minors just in case Melky Cabrera leaves the door open to the major league job in center field. Ransom has played all four infield positions and hit .273/.294/.455. He’ll walk more than that, which makes him a threat to Ensberg if the latter struggles. Jason Lane hit .263/.333/.526, but is simply too similar to Shelley Duncan, though that puts pressure on Shelley to perform assuming Lane will wind up starting in one of the outfield corners in Scranton. Perhaps most significantly, the fact that Chris Woodward faded from the fight despite his .409/.435/.455 line this spring (that’s all singles save for one walk and one double, by the way) is an encouraging early indicator for Joe Girardi’s decision-making skills.
Oh, and Ensberg has said he’ll change numbers, “”I’m not taking Paul O’Neill’s number. I’ll be trying as quickly as possible to get rid of that.” Per Mark Feinsand, Ensberg has always worn 14 and will attempt to buy the number away from Wilson Betemit.
As for the game . . .
