Banuelos should start in minors

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It's spring training, which means Terry Francona and Joe Girardi can exchange some playful banter without sending their respective fan bases into convulsions.

"They should go slow with him," Francona, wearing a wide smile, said Monday of Manny Banuelos, the Yankees' pitching phenom of the moment. "Very slow."

"Like they did with Buchholz and Lester, and Daniel Bard?" Girardi responded, guffawing.

In this case, however, Francona's jokey advice should actually be heeded. And barring some crazy injury epidemic in the next two weeks, it will be followed. The Yankees will take it slow with Banuelos, who offered more glimpses of his potential at City of Palms Park, keeping an Opening Day-caliber Red Sox lineup scoreless for 22/3 innings.

"I think I'm ready" for the big leagues, Banuelos told reporters after he pitched, but his boss, Brian Cashman, presented this counterpoint: "He's going to the minor leagues to pitch in the rotation. He's not making this team."

In throwing 53 pitches, 28 for strikes, Banuelos struggled with his fastball (which veered between 92 and 94 mph), leading to three walks against two strikeouts. He showed off his changeup by striking out Kevin Youkilis, completing his work shift in the third inning, and he also impressed with his curveball.

Said a scout on site, on the condition of anonymity: "Good-looking prospect. Good delivery and easy arm action."

Of course, given Banuelos' youth, baseball-wise -- he turned 20 Sunday, he has thrown in only three games above Class A and he'll face an innings limit in the 140 range this year -- the Yankees didn't mind seeing him experience some adversity. He came out of it quite well, stranding all five runners he allowed to reach base.

In the first, he retired Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez (making his Grapefruit League debut for Boston) on a grounder to second. In the second, he escaped a bases-loaded, one-out situation by retiring Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia on grounders to third.

Banuelos took pride in his ability to work out of jams, and he reveled in this assignment. He found out earlier in the day that he'd be replacing the injured Sergio Mitre as the Yankees' starting pitcher against the dangerous Sawx, on an ESPN2 broadcast that allowed many family members and friends back in Mexico to take in the game.

Mitre trails Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova in the race to be the Yankees' fourth and fifth starting pitchers, and Banuelos carries considerably more upside than that trio and Bartolo Colon. In the Yankees' universe, where winning the World Series is always paramount, you could argue that they should start the season with Banuelos and, if he tires, hope replacement trade options surface in June and July.

But that would represent too much of a risk, with the reward of another title simply not worth it. Common sense says the lefty can only benefit from more seasoning. If he thrives at Trenton and moves up to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barres while, say, Garcia flames out, then perhaps this merits another discussion around Memorial Day.

Despite Cashman's loophole-free proclamation, Joe Girardi said, "It's been talked about that he's going to the minor leagues, but I don't ever say anything is 100 percent. Sometimes the needs change in a hurry around here . . . He's in big-league camp to show us what he can do. There's a reason for that . . . For him, that carrot's out there."

Banuelos is going after that carrot with conviction, and his future is bright. His immediate future nevertheless should be in the capital of New Jersey. Even if that pleases the Red Sox.