

Well yesterday was a busy and interesting day for the Yankees. It started with a slow morning and still no news. Then word came out that manager Joe Girardi called a special players meeting about two hours before last night’s game against the Miami Marlins. Soon after the meeting broke, the Yankees officially announced the opening day bullpen and named the final two players to make the 25-man squad.

This years 2014 opening day bullpen will consist of David Robertson, Shawn Kelley, Matt Thornton, David Phelps, Adam Warren, Dellin Betances, and finally Vidal Nuno. The odd man out at least for right now is Cesar Cabral, who was the early favorite to be the second lefty in the pen, but Nuno snags the final roster spot. GM Brian Cashman said earlier this week that the team was definitely going to carry two lefties and Girardi said they were going to take the best possible players. The thought process behind naming Nuno as the second lefty instead of Cabral was fairly simple. The Yankees play 13 straight games to open up the season, and having three potential long men in the pen is a good safety net for the team.

That wasn’t the only news announced yesterday evening. It seems the Yankees have also resigned a familiar face. Alfredo Aceves was signed yesterday to a minor league deal. Aceves broke into the league with the Yankees in 2008 and played three seasons with the team. Most of us probably remember him best over the last few seasons as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Aceves had pitched in multiple roles with the Red Sox over those three seasons, but he quickly fell out of the good graces of the team, which ultimately lead to his release last July. This offseason the Baltimore Orioles signed Aceves to minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. Thursday he exercised his opt-out clause with Baltimore after he wasn’t named to the team’s 25-man roster. Aceves will start the season in Scranton with the RailRiders, where he will work out of the starting rotation. Aceves has an opt-out clause for July 1st. Aceves’ career numbers are kind of a mixed bag of results. In 194 games and 381 innings pitched, he has a 3.94 ERA and has a career total of 29 saves. We will see what the Yankees end up doing with him, but for right now he is just an insurance policy.