Yankees very old double-play combo of Derek Jeter, Brian Roberts healthy… so far

Spring training is  going perfectly for Joe Girardi’s near-ancient infield – which could become the  oldest in MLB history – especially because his veteran infielders are still  standing.

   NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, March 12, 2014, 11:03 PM

  

Kathy Willens/AP

Derek Jeter, chatting with hitting coach Kevin Long (l.), headlines an old  Yankees squad.

TAMPA — We are at the midpoint of spring training and everything is  beautiful in Joe Girardi’s world.

That would be because every man is remarkably still standing in Yankee camp  (given the fact the average age of their position players is potentially the  oldest of any team in history) — as opposed to a year ago when Derek Jeter,  Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira were already down with injuries that would  sideline them for mostly the entire season. Indeed, if there is one thing a  manager dreads most about spring training, it is the sight of one of his  position players coming up lame, one of his pitchers walking off the mound  holding his arm in pain or getting that morning visit from the trainer informing  him that, overnight, a torn or pulled hamstring, quad, adductor or oblique had  reared its ugly head and rendered one of his regulars unavailable for game  action for the foreseeable future.

If you don’t believe this, ask Terry Collins, who is still wondering when  the Ike Davis-Lucas Duda first base competition is going to resume in earnest  again. Or better yet, ask Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who in the course of 48  hours this week saw two of his starting pitchers, Kris Medlen and Brandon  Beachy, go down, joining a third, Mike Minor, who was already on the “doubtful  to open the season” list.

Which brings us Brian Roberts.

Of all the geezers contributing to the projected 33.59 average age of the  Yankee position players — which Baseball Prospectus maintains will be the oldest  in baseball history — no one is under more scrutiny than Roberts, the  36-year-old two-time All-Star second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles who, due  to a spate of injuries ranging from concussion syndrome to a torn labrum,  appeared in only 192 games from 2010-2013. Because of Roberts’ chronic  unavailability, the Orioles finally elected to part ways with the veteran, who  had been their best player from 2004-2009, when he averaged a .365 on-base  percentage and stole 212 bases, including a high of 50 in 2007. He was still out  there, among the free agent leftovers, when the Yankees signed him to a  one-year, $2 million contract on Jan. 14 to replace Robinson Cano.

Kathy Willens/AP

Brian Roberts (l.) says he is just a  small piece of the puzzle with the Yankees this season.

They are not asking him to replace Cano’s productivity, or play a Gold Glove  second base. They are merely asking him to play — as in at least 120 games,  although as Girardi said Wednesday, he really doesn’t want to put a number on it  because “so many of his previous missed games were on account of his concussions  and whatever number I might think of he could exceed. He’s looked great so far  this spring and he’s really fitting in here.”

Still, anything less will require some major scrambling with the Yankee  infield. Roberts understands. For the past three springs, the familiar refrain  in Orioles camp was “as Roberts goes, so go the Orioles” and unfortunately for  Buck Showalter, he was mostly a no-go. At least here, in Yankeeland, the focus  is on Derek Jeter and how many games he will be able to give Girardi at  shortstop, and Mark Teixeira and how many games — and accompanying homers and  RBI — he can provide at first base.

“I guess I am kind of under the radar here,” Roberts was saying Wednesday  before the Yankees-Tigers game at Steinbrenner Field in which he was at the  center of Girardi’s first-ever replay challenge. “I feel relaxed. By no means is  anyone saying, ‘As I go so, go the Yankees’! I’m just a small piece of the  puzzle here.”

Roberts is also in a somewhat diminished role. With the Yankees, he is  probably Girardi’s fourth leadoff option, behind Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner  and even Jeter — and, as such, can pretty much count on hitting seventh or  eighth.

It’s a wonder that Girardi wasn’t holding his breath a little watching  Roberts stretching down the first base line in the seventh inning trying to beat  out an infield hopper that was bobbled by Tigers rookie second baseman Devon  Travis. It was a close play, and once Roberts trotted off to the dugout, showing  no ill effects, Girardi elected to challenge the play. But after consulting with  the replay center in New York, the umpires upheld the out call and Girardi came  up a loser in his first foray with baseball’s new expanded replay system.

For now, it is fingers-crossed for Roberts and Jeter remaining Girardi’s  double-play combo. Last year Jeter went down early in the spring with a  recurrence of his ankle injury while Roberts pulled a hamstring his third game  of the season and wasn’t seen again until June 30. But then, the Yankee skipper  doesn’t need to be reminded of that — especially since it’s been such a  beautiful spring for him so far.

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