Janish hoping to play within the next few days

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles are scrambling to come up with enough infielders for tonight's split-squad game against the Yankees in Tampa. The minor league camp will be emptied.

Ryan Flaherty remains unavailable due to right shoulder soreness, though it's more of a precaution. He's playing catch today and wants to get back in the lineup.

Paul Janish is still getting in baseball shape after signing a minor league deal over the weekend. His workouts continue this morning at Ed Smith Stadium.

"Honestly, probably in the next day or two," Janish said. "I don't feel terrible or anything by any means. I don't really have anything bugging me, per se, but it's just one of those deals where there's not a whole lot of motivation really to stretch it at this juncture just because if I tweak something now, it just didn't make a whole lot of sense. So I'll just take another day or two. If not tomorrow, then probably Saturday for sure to be available and then we'll go from there.

"It's really not (anything specific) other than just getting some reps in, doing the groundball stuff, being out on the field hitting and really just running. I guess actually physically running is probably the thing that would be more ... having to go first to third in a game or trying to score from second or something and trying to stretch something out and tweak something that would become lingering. Other than that, it's just the typical soreness of being here for the first three or four days. Like I said, it would be the next day or two for sure."

There's only so much that a player can do at home to stay ready.

"You can't really simulate putting on cleats and stuff and doing stuff for three, four or five hours at a time," said Janish, 34, who has appeared in 14 games with the Orioles in each of the past two seasons.

"It's nothing really specific. It's just normal standard-issue stuff, and the fact that I'm getting old. You've got to take those things into consideration, and we're just trying to err on the side of caution, really. Fortunately, I've been here before, so I don't feel extremely pressed to do anything because everybody here knows me. So from that standpoint it's a good thing."

Janish adds to the Orioles' growing depth in the infield, following the minor league deals given to Johnny Giavotella, Robert Andino and Chris Johnson.

"Probably on both fronts, both infield and outfield, I think there's probably significantly more depth and I think you probably see that with whoever isn't fortunate enough to make the team," Janish said. "The guys that are going to be in Triple-A, I think it will be a completely different dynamic. You'll have a lot more depth and guys to choose from based on who's playing well."

Flaherty is the favorite to break camp as the super-utility player. Janish has mostly been a shortstop in the majors, but he's appeared in 66 games at third base and 22 at second and will take ground balls at all three positions this spring.

"Honestly, I feel comfortable in particular up the middle," he said. "Third was maybe a little bit of an adjustment initially when I started doing it a long time ago, but over the course of my career, I've always been in a situation where they want to put me at short when something happens, so I've just played a lot more short than anything else. But yeah, I feel totally fine doing the other stuff. I keep trying to add outfield to my resume, but nobody will give me a chance.

"I just work here, right? I just try to make it known that I'm comfortable playing wherever and based on need, I can do whatever you need me to do kind of thing."

Pitchers listed behind starter Kevin Gausman include Darren O'Day, Logan Verrett, Donnie Hart, Jason Garcia and Parker Bridwell.

Players brought over from minor league camp include pitchers Jefri Hernandez, Brian Moran and David Hess, infielders Sean Coyle, Ryan Mountcastle, Garabez Rosa and Jomar Reyes, and outfielder DJ Stewart.

Tyler Wilson starts tonight against the Yankees in Tampa. Also listed are Oliver Drake, Joe Gunkel and Jed Bradley. The Yankees are listing Adam Warren, Aroldis Chapman, Tyler Clippard and Tommy Layne.

Ubaldo Jiménez opposes the Rays' Chris Archer Saturday in Port Charlotte.

For the Twins
Byron Buxton CF
Jorge Polanco SS
Max Kepler RF
Kennys Vargas 1B
Eddie Rosario DH
Drew Stubbs LF
Eduardo Escobar 2B
Matt Hague 3B
John Ryan Murphy C

Phil Hughes RHP