Pettitte scratched from Minor League start

Andy Pettitte has been suffering from back spasms for about two days now and was unable to make a scheduled start at the Minor League complex on Saturday. Pettitte said he felt the injury while driving home from Legends Field on Thursday afternoon. Joe Girardi seems to believe Pettitte will be available to make one final spring start, next Thursday, which would put him around 100 pitches for April 2 vs. Toronto.

Back spasms do seem to happen to anyone — Girardi said even he had them Saturday morning — but you do have to raise an eyebrow since this is Pettitte’s second missed start of the spring. In the event Pettitte is unavailable for April 2, Girardi said that Joba Chamberlain would be a "legitimate candidate" to start, but that they’d also consider Kei Igawa, Jeff Karstens and/or Darrell Rasner, depending on who makes the team as the long reliever.