Wallace Matthews, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Can Adam Warren go the distance?

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Among the many differences between Adam Warren and Secretariat -- the athlete New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman compared Warren to on Wednesday to characterize his lead in the fifth-starter competition -- there is one of paramount importance to Yankees fans.

By the end of his third season, Secretariat had proved he could win at any distance, from six furlongs to a mile-and-a-half, the distance at which he still holds the world record, more than 40 years after it was set.

But after three seasons with the Yankees, Warren has yet to prove he can go more than six innings. And when he did that, it was in long relief, not as a starter.

So if there are any questions left about Warren, it is that one: Can he take the stuff that made him an effective middle reliever last season, and won him a starting job this spring, deep into a ballgame that he has started?

We already know he has the repertoire to be a starter -- four pitches, including a fastball that touched 97 mph at points last season. We know he has the swing-and-miss stuff the Yankees covet in a reliever. And we know that he has the moxie to throw six scoreless innings in relief, as he did over the final six of a 16-inning game in Oakland in 2013, holding the line long enough for the Yankees to pull out a 3-2 getaway-day win.

What we still need to learn is, can Warren take the ball at the beginning of a game and go as deep as the Yankees need him to before handing it off to, say, the next Adam Warren?

"I feel like pitching is pitching," Warren said after throwing the first 3⅔ innings of the Yankees' 6-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. "I’ve proved I can pitch at this level. I just got to go out there and learn from some of the guys who have started and learned the mindset of being aggressive, attacking always, getting early outs. But I feel like I’ve got the stuff. It’s just going out there and executing pitches."

Warren has been sharper than he was on Thursday, in which he surrendered a home run to Evan Longoria -- which Yankee starter hasn't done that? -- but allowed just one run on four hits and struck out five. In fact, he had been so sharp all spring that Cashman, who grew up around the racetrack in Lexington, Kentucky, compared his lead in the competition with Esmil Rogers, Chase Whitley and Bryan Mitchell to the 31 lengths between Secretariat and the rest of the 1973 Belmont Stakes field.

But the Yankees have liked Warren for a long time -- he made 69 appearances out of the bullpen last season and made a couple of spot starts in 34 appearances the season before -- and this is the second straight year he was put into a competition for the last starting slot. In 2014, he lost out to his close friend David Phelps, now departed to the Miami Marlins in the trade that brought Nathan Eovaldi to the Yankees. In spite of his success out of the pen last season, this winter Warren was told to prepare himself as a starter, and he came to camp noticeably lighter than he was last year.

Still, when the Yankees re-signed Chris Capuano, it looked as if he would be the odd man out again, and even after Capuano went down with a Grade 2 quadriceps strain hat is expected to keep him out until May, it seemed as if Warren's ability to pitch out of the bullpen would work against his hopes of becoming as starter. But as Rogers and Mitchell faltered -- Whitley was given just one start, early in camp -- Warren's stock began to rise again. And the day after Rogers got bombed by the Tigers on Tuesday night, Cashman saw fit to put Warren's name into the same sentence with one of the greatest athletes, albeit a four-legged one, who ever lived.

Manager Joe Girardi, of course, has yet to make official what his general manager has already made definite, and Warren was careful on Thursday not to assume anything. "I really haven't been told anything face to face, but I feel like I've pitched well and I'm happy about that," Warren said. "I came into the spring and wanted to pitch well and I feel like I've gone out there and proven myself. It's been a fun spring for me. I'm right where I want to be."

As for going the distance, Warren has acknowledged that in the past, he has taken a different mindset into his three career starts from the one he uses out of the bullpen, the mindset that says he needs to hold something back in order to go as deep into a game as a starter must. That way of thinking, he realizes, must now be rendered obsolete.

“Now, I think you just try to keep the foot on the pedal as long as possible," he said. "Just try to go out with my best stuff from pitch one and see how far I can go with it. I’m just going to go out there and try to hit the mitt, go as hard as I can for as long as I can.”

Secretariat couldn't have said it better himself.

Baby bombers: Once again, the Yankees' minor-leaguers put on a bit of a show late in the game. Ramon Flores, Slade Heathcott and Rob Refsnyder had doubles, and Jake Cave singled in a ninth-inning run that drew the Yankees to within a run Thursday. Didi Gregorius, the only Yankee in the starting lineup who is likely to start on Opening Day, had an RBI double, too.

Murphy's law: This was supposed to be Austin Romine's day to show what he could do in the still-close competition for the backup catcher's job, but he was a late scratch because of what Girardi called a stomach virus. John Ryan Murphy, who caught Masahiro Tanaka on Wednesday, made the trip instead and went 1-for-2 with a run scored.

Everything's Jake: Girardi reported that Jacoby Ellsbury (oblique strain) had a successful tee-and-toss session and might progress to some batting practice in the cage on Friday. If all goes well, Ellsbury, who has not played in a game since March 15, is expected to return to action in a minor league game on March 31.

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