THE YANKEES ARE GETTING READY FOR OPENING DAY

Good news! Aaron Boone and Matt Blake are feeling good about Masahiro Tanaka's first bullpen session back since getting hit by a Giancarlo Stanton line drive on July 4. Even though Tanaka is looking crisp, Boone warns that he might not be ready to pitch his first start.

“I probably would be a little bit surprised if it was the first rotation through,’’ Boone said of Tanaka, who threw 30 pitches in the pen workout. “And then again, it is seeing how his next bullpen goes, seeing how facing live hitters go and what is the best decision for us and Masa as far as do we want to build him up entirely at the big-league level or do we want him to continue to build up and get to a point where he is built up more like a starter? Those will be conversations that we have internally and with Masa, for that matter.’’

Blake was impressed with the way that Tanaka recovered from the scary hit. The most important part is to make sure that Tanaka doesn't feel hesitant to be back on the mound and can understand that it could possibly happen again.

“I think he has been really good about how he has processed it all. He spent some time talking to Chad Bohling, our mental skills guy, just to make sure they are going through the necessary steps in terms of how he is processing that moment and what it means going forward,’’ Blake said. 

Now for some other Yankees updates!

Aaron Judge was back on the field and working out with the Yankees after being scratched from an intrasquad game last week. 

Gerrit Cole will have his final start today ahead of his Opening Day start. 

“We will probably keep him similar. I think he threw 85 [pitches] the last time. We will probably keep him around there,’’ Boone said. “He pushed pretty hard the last time on a pretty hot day. We will keep him there with the idea he would obviously go on the sixth day.’’

Lastly, since fans won't be in the crowd during the games, the Yankees will be playing crowd noises and music into the stadium. Reliever Tommy Kahnle thinks that this will help keep the players positive. 

“Some kind of noise, even when you are playing, it gives you a big adrenaline boost. I think it will give a better situation than just being out there with no sound, you could hear people talking. It is a good idea to do that but I did see a video today and it looked like the noise was a little too loud but I am sure they are just kind of working with it right now.’’

Even with noise and music playing, the team will still have to be cautious when it comes to any foul language and talk in the dugouts since the microphones will be able to pick up on more.

Get excited everyone, baseball is ALMOST back...finally!

--Missy O'Rourke

BYB Contributor

Twitter: @missy_orourke