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Yankees lineup vs. Rays, Reid Brignac Designated for Assignment & minor league moves

USA TODAY Sports

Tonight's lineup from Chad Jennings at LoHud:

Brett Gardner CF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Travis Hafner DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Zoilo Almonte LF
Jayson Nix SS
David Adams 3B
Austin Romine C

Vernon Wells gets a much needed day off and Zoilo Almonte gets his first big league start. Robinson Cano has strong numbers off Ramon Hernandez, the former Fausto Carmona. Cano has gone 11-27 with a double off the Rays starter. Also having found success off the right-hander are Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki, each with one home run off Hernandez in their careers. In their previous meetings, Lyle Overbay has not been able to do much against Hernandez, but the Yankees really have no choice but to play him anyway.

The Yankees subbed out a struggling Reid Brignac for Alberto Gonzalez, who had a brief stay with the big league club earlier this season. It doesn't seem like either option is particularly better than the other, but Brignac is a lefty and Gonzalez is a righty, which may have ultimately been the deciding factor. Gonzalez hit .224 in 23 games with the RailRiders. Joe Girardi says that he views Jayson Nix as the every day shortstop and David Adams as the every day third baseman with Gonzalez serving as Nix's backup.

Today was also a day for inconsequential depth moves at the minor league level. The Yankees acquired Yoshinori Tateyama from the Rangers and signed left-hander Mike Zagurski after he was DFA'd by the Pittsburgh Pirates last week. He had a 2.14 ERA for the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate in 21 innings. If the Yankees ever get into a brawl, Zagurski is the man you want leading the defense. Both players will be heading to Triple-A.

Peter O'Brien, who had been killing it offensively all season for Low-A Charleston, was also promoted to High-A Tampa today. The Yankees have yet to promote Gary Sanchez to Trenton, but it seems like that move should be coming soon. Both have hit very well this season and are completely deserving of the move to the next level.