MLB Player News

Yankees manager Joe Girardi chose to start Francisco Cervelli behind the plate on opening day against the Red Sox. Giradi added, however, he expects an "even split" with Chris Stewart at catcher and will use the first month of the season to evaluate the position. 

Stewart appeared in 17 games at catcher this spring, which was second most on the team at the position behind Bobby Wilson's 19 appearances. Stewart hit .239 (11 for 46) with one homer, two doubles and six RBI.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez was part of an offensive explosion in his teams' 9-9 tie Wednesday night, hitting his first home run of the season -- one of four home runs for the Royals in the game. Perez also added a single in his five at-bats to raise his spring line to .377/.375/.528. Perez checks in with the rarely-seen phenomenon of an OBP lower than his batting average by virtue of having just one walk this spring while adding two sacrifice flies.

The Indians optioned Yan Gomes and Cord Phelps to Triple-A Columbus on Monday.

The Blue Jays have optioned catcher Josh Thole to Triple-A Buffalo Sunday. Thole was once believed to have been the favorite for the backup position in order to serve as R.A. Dickey's personal catcher this season. He produced a mediocre .171/.237/.286 slash line this spring.

The Indians expect catcher Yan Gomes to return to game action by the weekend, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports. Gomes has been nursing a hamstring injury and hasn't played since March 15. The 25-year-old is hitting .385/.448/.692 with five doubles and a home run in 14 spring training games.

The Astros announced Sunday they reassigned Sergio Escalona, C.J. Fick, Che-Hsuan Lin, Carlos Perez, Josh Zeid, Paul Clemens, Robbie Grossman, Dallas Keuchel, Jimmy Paredes and Jonathan Villar to minor-league camp.

Indians catcher/first baseman Yan Gomes will be sidelined for three to four days with a right-hamstring injury, The Plain Dealer reported Saturday. Gomes suffered the injury Friday. Gomes is 10 for 26 (.385) with a homer and six RBI in 14 Cactus League games. 

Indians catcher/infielder Yan Gomes was forced out of Friday's Cactus League contest against the Brewers with tightness and cramping in his right hamstring. Gomes, who is fighting for a roster spot, is batting .333 with a home run and six RBI in 13 spring training games this year. 

MLB.com reports Yankees manager Joe Girardi hasn't decided who his opening-day catcher will be between Francisco Cervelli or Chris Stewart, but he appears happy with the tandem as spring training winds down. 

"I think these guys have played pretty well in camp. They've done a nice job with our staff," Girardi said. "Coming into camp, I think there were some questions about Cervy a little bit about throwing, because he had struggled in the past, but we had seen him really good when he first came up. I think he's back to that level again."

Girardi also hasn't figured out how he will split up playing time between the two catchers.

"It can work out pretty well, actually," Girardi said. "You can do it that way, keep them fresh, they know when they're playing. I think that's the big thing if you can sort it out as soon as you can, so they have a plan of when they're playing. I think that's important."