Yost managing Infante's time, reserves' roles

DETROIT -- Although second baseman Omar Infante is starting the season with a Spring Training history of shoulder and elbow ailments in his throwing arm, manager Ned Yost has no immediate plans to give him down time.

"He's always going to have the bone spur [in the elbow]. The bone spur causes the inflammation. The inflammation is what heals," Yost said. "He's had it [before]. It just never got to the point where it inflamed anything until this spring."

It's nothing serious in Yost's view.

"It's the equivalent of a headache, it comes and it goes," he said. "It's not fun when it hurts, but you still manage through it, for the most part."

So any time off for Infante coming up?

"We'll see how he feels but right now, no, I think he's going to be fine," Yost said. "We've got four off-days built into this month."

Those off-days pose a challenge, too, as Yost tries to give his bench players some playing time while keeping his regulars sharp as well.

"The biggest problem that you foresee, especially when you start the season, is how do you get [Jarrod] Dyson, [Justin] Maxwell and [Danny] Valencia at-bats," he said. "So you try to take every opportunity to do that."

Valencia was brought on board partly to provide a right-handed alternative to left-handed-swinging Mike Moustakas, who's struggled against left-handed pitching. So it's possible Valencia might draw a game against lefties early on.

"It's not because I don't think Moose can't hit a tough lefty. It's more trying to keep Danny sharp than it is worrying about Moose hitting against a lefty," Yost said.