A couple weeks ago, this spring matchup, pitting Domingo Germán against Tigers starter Matt Manning, could’ve been riddled with some intrigue. Germán and Clarke Schmidt were supposed to be fighting for the fifth slot in the Yankees rotation, and Schmidt just fired an outstanding start last night, tossing five perfect innings against the Pirates. Instead of needing to answer back with a big outing of his own, Germán will simply need to continue fine tuning things as we head towards the regular season with both Germán and Schmidt likely locked into the rotation.
The Yankees will run a less than elite lineup out today behind Germán, with the focus seemingly being on getting players whose roles aren’t entirely locked in the most playing time.