Major-league baseball notes

Monday, March 3, 2014

YANKEES Tanaka to start Thursday

TAMPA, Fla. - Masahiro Tanaka will make his second spring training start for the New York Yankees on Thursday.

Yankees Manager Joe Girardi announced Sunday that the Japanese star will pitch in the road game against the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater.

Tanaka threw 2 shutout innings in his debut Saturday, allowing 2 hits and striking out 3 in the Yankees’ 4-0 victory over Philadelphia. He is set to go three innings Thursday.

“I thought he handled the situation really well because I think there’s been a lot of anticipation,” Girardi said.

Tanaka signed a $155 million, seven-year contract in January. He was 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA last year while leading the Rakuten Golden Eagles to a Japan Series title.

The right-hander is expected to start the Yankees’ third or fourth regular-season game.

ROYALS Reliever Mota to retire

SURPRISE, Ariz. - Reliever Guillermo Mota has announced he is retiring after 14 seasons in the major leagues.

Mota was a non-roster invitee to the Kansas City Royals camp and did not pitch last season.

The 40-year-old right-hander made 743 career relief appearances with a 3.94 ERA for the Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants. He was part of San Francisco’s World Series championship teams in 2010 and 2012.

In 2003 and 2004, Mota topped National League relievers in innings pitched.

He was suspended 50 games for using performance-enhancing drugs in 2007 while with the Mets.

BLUE JAYS

Rasmus has stiff neck

DUNEDIN, Fla. - Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Colby Rasmus was scratched from Sunday’s lineup against the New York Yankees because of a stiff neck.

Rasmus was set to bat seventh, but opted to sit as a precaution. He does not expect it to be a long-term issue and hopes to return in a “couple days.”

“I feel all right, I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Rasmus said. “I got a little crick in my neck and it’s just one of those things that after throwing and warming up, I just felt like I needed to take myself out.”

Rasmus hit .276 with 22 home runs and 66 RBI last season.

Anthony Gose took Rasmus’ place in center field in the exhibition game.INDIANS-DODGERS

Sellers traded for cash

GOODYEAR, Ariz. - The Cleveland Indians have acquired infielder Justin Sellers from the Los Angeles Dodgers for cash considerations.

The Indians also said Sunday that they had designated infielder David Cooper for assignment.

The 28-year-old Sellers played 82 games for the Dodgers in the past three years, hitting .199 with 3 home runs and 17 RBI. He split time at shortstop, second base and third base.

The 27-year-old Cooper finished last season in Class AAA for Cleveland. He hit .300 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI in 45 games for Toronto in 2012 before sustaining a serious back injury while diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt.

DODGERS Kemp cleared to take field

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp was cleared Saturday to take the next steps in his recovery from ankle surgery - and those steps can be taken on the field.

The latest MRI on Kemp’s surgically repaired left ankle taken Thursday was read by Dodgers team physician Neal ElAttrache and Robert Anderson, the surgeon who performed the microfracture procedure on Kemp’s damaged talus bone, on Friday. Kemp was given the go-ahead to increase his on-field activities including some running.

“I never thought running would be so fun,” Kemp said jokingly to reporters. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to do running without being 80 percent body weight. Today was pretty good.”

Kemp’s only running since the surgery in October has been on limited to a treadmill that comes equipped with a harness that carries part of the runner’s body weight. He has also been taking batting practice since the start of spring training and more recently has begun moving to field ground balls in the outfield during defense drills.

“Stan [Conte, Dodgers’ vice president of medical services] categorized this as Step 5 of seven steps,”Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said. “There’s still a couple stages to go through before he’s ready to play in games. … I don’t have any other timetable as far as ‘OK, in three weeks he’s going to be in games.’ Don’t have that yet.”

“Either way it goes, just know that I’m getting at-bats,” Kemp said. “Facing some of the big league guys (in live batting practice) or some of the minor league guys, getting a lot of at-bats it definitely helps. Last year when I had the ankle injury they had me out here in Arizona (before rejoining the Dodgers in September) and I was facing those minor league guys. I was getting 15 at-bats per day. I came back in Arizona and felt really, really good, and it was all because I was getting 15 at-bats per day. It really helps me with me with my timing.”

Sports, Pages 20 on 03/03/2014