Ronnie Belliard, who hadn’t played in any spring training games thanks to a calf injury, returned today and went 0-for-2 while playing third base.
Belliard, 36 in April, was signed to compete for a backup job with the Yankees, but it seems that his injury might have cost him a chance for a real competition.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi has said that he would like to have one middle infielder and one corner infielder on the team. Eric Chavez might have grabbed that spot while Belliard was out. Belliard could still potentially make the team as a middle infielder, but that job seems more likely to go to Eduardo Nunez or Ramiro Pena.
So it seems like Belliard is the odd man out and he hasn’t even gotten a shot yet. He does have experience up the middle, but at his age he will come no where close to the defense Pena or Nunez could provide and those two players are also options in the outfield where Belliard wouldn’t be.
That doesn’t mean that he should be c...
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