Yankees scratch third baseman from Thursday spring training lineup as battle tightens

With every minute that passes, the New York Yankees non-tendering Jon Berti to save a few million looks sillier and sillier.

Now, two weeks before Opening Day, rumor has it the Yankees are seeking a "Jon Berti-type" trade to net them a professional right-handed hitter to add to either the outfield or third base mix. They seem content to open the season with an Oswaldo Cabrera/Oswald Peraza platoon, but potentially only by default. That's what they have, and Peraza's out of options, so that's what they'll roll with. They'd love to spend more but, you know, salary cap (no one tell the fans baseball doesn't have a salary cap).

The Berti-less competition was already bleak enough with both players — fine utility options and nice bench pieces, but probably not championship starters — healthy. Now, we have two weeks remaining to worry about that baseline.

Cabrera, the more experienced of the two, was scheduled to start behind Max Fried in Thursday's lineup. About a half hour after the batting order was initially announced, the Yankees posted a new one, featuring Peraza in Cabrera's spot. Optimistically, they just need to see more out of Peraza, and have decided that he requires more reps than the more familiar Cabrera. Pessimistically ... I don't know, it seemed fair to worry the same thing that's been happening over and over again to everyone happened again?

According to Aaron Boone, Cabrera is merely sick and not injured. Hopefully, he recovers soon, and we learn a little bit more about Peraza in the process, who's hitting .250 in 24 at-bats this spring.

Yankees Lineup: Oswaldo Cabrera scratched with sickness

It feels like so long ago by now, but it's tough to remember that DJ LeMahieu was once technically a part of this competition. Many feared him to be the front-runner because of the locker room's loyalty towards him. Instead, he suffered a calf injury two at-bats into his first game of the spring, and likely won't start rehabbing and working his way through a full camp until Opening Day had already passed.

That left Cabrera and Peraza battling with the intangible idea of an import. Was someone coming to take their gig, or were the Yankees content to ride out the first half on an information-gathering mission while their chief rivals trotted out Alex Bregman?

Stay tuned for updates, but Thursday's lineup shift might've halted that mission even further.