TAMPA — Outside of the Yankees clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Monday morning, the only noise was that of packing tape being strapped across big brown boxes, for players to fill in the coming days.
The final week of camp has arrived, with the Yankees set to leave their spring home Sunday night for two more exhibitions against the Cubs in Arizona on the way to San Francisco for Opening Day.
And while the camp has been a fairly mundane one so far — not a bad thing for the Yankees — they still have a few decisions to settle on over the next week. Here’s a look at three key ones that will be of particular interest:
Who wins the last two spots in the bullpen?
Barring injuries, there appear to be six locks for the bullpen on the Opening Day roster: David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn. That leaves two spots — or potentially three if the Yankees do some roster gymnastics with their early-season schedule (more on that below) — for a group that includes lefty Brent Headrick and righties Jake Bird, Cade Winquest, Kervin Castro, Angel Chivilli and Yerry De los Santos.
