Yankees to start with Marwin Gonzalez on three-man bench

TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees at last made the final decisions on the 28-man roster they plan to start the season with, and there were no surprises.

In deciding to carry 16 pitchers, a direction Aaron Boone said on Monday the organization was “leaning” toward, that means a three-man bench.

Comprising that group is DJ LeMahieu — the primary backup at third, second and first — backup catcher Jose Trevino and Marwin Gonzalez, who Aaron Judge called “a super utility guy.”

Gonzalez, signed to a minor league deal earlier in camp, earned his spot on the roster by coming out hitting and never stopping. The 33-year-old switch-hitter, who can play first, second, short, third and all three outfield spots, went 9-for-24 (.375) with three homers and a 1.192 OPS in eight games this spring.

Before the game, the Yankees optioned Tim Locastro, a reserve outfielder with tremendous speed who would have been on the roster had the club gone with 15 pitchers, to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. INF/OF Miguel Andujar, whom the Yankees spent the spring trying to deal, was also optioned to Scranton.

“You’d always want better coverage everywhere, but also feel like early on, we have to make sure we protect and build up the arms properly,” Boone said. “I think having Marwin’s flexibility does allow us to give a guy a day in those first 10 days as we build position players (up) as well. You can’t have everything. We’ll make it work and if we have to change on the fly a little bit, we’ll do that.”  

The final two bullpen spots went to righthanders Clarke Schmidt and Ron Marinaccio, both of whom were on the 40-man roster. Lefthander JP Sears, also a member of the 40-man, was informed Monday he had made the club out of camp.

Rain, rain go away

Rain, and a lot of it, is in the forecast for both Wednesday’s voluntary workout and, more significant, Thursday’s season-opener against the Red Sox.

“It definitely looks dicey,” Boone said. “I know everyone’s monitoring that closely.”

If Thursday’s game gets postponed, it would be made up Friday, a scheduled off-day for the teams, with the forecast far better for that day.

Bird call

Greg Bird, whose once-promising career in pinstripes was derailed by a series of injuries, is back in the organization after agreeing to a minor-league deal. The lefty-swinging Bird, 29, spent the spring with the Blue Jays but opted out of his minor league deal with them when informed there was not a spot for him on their 40-man roster. Bird, whom as a prospect back in 2015 GM Brian Cashman called the “best pure hitter” in the Yankees’ organization, was assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Schmidt honored

Before the game, Schmidt, 26, was named the 2022 James P. Dawson Award winner, given annually to the most outstanding Yankees rookie in spring training. Schmidt, who suffered through an injury-plagued 2021, went 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA this spring, leading all Yankees pitchers with 11 strikeouts in his 9 1/3 innings pitched.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.