BRADENTON, Fla. – Sean Henn opened camp as the leading candidate to be the only left-hander in manager Joe Girardi’s bullpen and quickly was passed by Billy Traber, who isn’t a lock for a spot.
Since Henn is out of options the Yankees were likely to lose him if he didn’t make the club. Now, Henn may not be on the team but is still a Yankee because there is a chance he opens the season on the disabled list with a tender left shoulder.
“Not sure,” general manager Brian Cashman said of Henn starting the season on the shelf because of tendinitis.
Henn, 27 next month, last pitched in a game on March 12 when he went an inning. He threw a bullpen session Saturday and is slated for another today.
As for the final three spots in the bullpen, right-hander Jeff Karstens didn’t help his chances of being the long man. Karstens gave up four runs and seven hits in three innings in an 8-0 loss to the Pirates at McKechnie Field.
“Before today, I thought I was all right,” Karstens said when asked to assess his chances of sticking with the team. “After today, I don’t know. We will see what happens. Today I fell behind, and they made me pay. Every 2-0 count they got a hit.”
Karstens is 1-3 with a 9.65 ERA. In 91/3 innings he has allowed 19 hits.
According to Girardi, Karstens is competing with left-hander Kei Igawa and right-hander Darrell Rasner for the long man role. Igawa pitched four hitless innings against Trenton (Double-A) yesterday and fanned eight.
“Today was the best I have seen him,” Girardi said of Igawa. “He kept the ball down. He threw his curveball and slider for strikes and the biggest thing he wasn’t behind the hitters. There weren’t many good swings against him.”
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The Yankees were held to two hits in their loss to the Pirates. . . . One day after sitting out with back spasms, Robinson Cano played and went 0-for-3. “He is fine, no issues,” Girardi said of his second baseman.
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Mike Mussina worked seven innings against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A) at Legends Field. The right-hander allowed one run, three hits, one walk and fanned four.
“It was OK. I was able to get into it enough to get something out of it and be frustrated by what I couldn’t do. It was worth going,” said Mussina, who will face the Marlins Friday or Saturday in Miami.
Always the perfectionist, Mussina said he wasn’t happy with the location of certain pitches.
“I couldn’t get the ball away as well as I would have liked. These guys can hit fastballs. It’s not like facing big-league guys that’s for sure. If I make a mistake they don’t hurt me as badly,” Mussina said. “For the most part up to now I’ve been able to do everything I’ve wanted to do.
I’ve been pleased because I’ve been able to throw breaking balls for strikes and pitch the way I would pitch in May or June.”
– Additional reporting
by Kevin Kernan