The Boston Red Sox and the NY Yankees pick up their rivalry for ESPN for a spring training game on Tuesday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field and the matchup starts at 1 pm ET and is on TV and the WatchESPN website and comes after the game against the Pirates was cancelled for New York and now they take on the World Series champions.
The Yankees made a number of big moves this offseason to counter the Red Sox winning the championship and that included signing a former star of theirs in Jacoby Ellsbury to a big contract. Ellsbury will likely miss the game on Tuesday, but he has plenty more ahead this season and he joins Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka as the big free agent signings for the Yanks this offseason. The Yankees will be looking to get past the Boston Red Sox in the AL East after missing the playoffs for the second time in two decades and they only spent about $400 million in future deals this offseason to make up for it.
The Yankees come into the game after having their matchup with the Pirates called off and now they play against Boston before a game with the Atlanta Braves and Hotlanta is dealing with some pitching issues right now. The team signed Freddie Freeman, Craig Kimbrel and all their young stars to deals, but Kris Medlen is done and now they may need to make a deal for a pitcher. Ellsbury is out of the lineup on Tuesday and he is taking a rest and this comes after the Pirates came was rained out and now they have the chance to come back to Florida after their Panama series went down as well and naturally they were no hit while they were there.
Ellsbury is dealing with a calf injury and while it isn't anything serious, the team wanted to take it cautious in spring training to ensure that he doesn't miss any of the regular season. Ellsbury was one of the first big signings for the Yankees and it comes after he scored 92 runs last season in 134 games and eh also hit near .300 and the Yankees are hoping that he can do that again this season. The Yankees and Braves are playing at Disney World and Ellsbury said he would see how it is before the game and that means Ichiro will be in the lineup on Tuesday, while Michael Pineda is pitching again.
Pineda is angling for a role in the rotation and the lineup has Brian Roberts, Derek Jeter, Kelly Johnson, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira in action with Felix Doubront as the opposing pitcher. The Red Sox come in after winning their rematch with the Cardinals and they next will play against the Pirates at Fenway South.
Check here for the Red Sox and Yankees live coverage from ESPN.
