Today’s news is powered by one of the great ambassadors and spokesmen of the game … the late Buck O’Neil.

• Cano and Marte returned from their WBC games with some health issues.
• The Bombers, perhaps in response to their difficulties in selling those premium field box season ticket plans, are holding an “Open House” this weekend where you can sit in/pick out your own seat.
• Meanwhile, you can register for a random drawing for an opportunity to buy regular season game tickets on-line.
• The News has a nice article on the “no-name” relievers (non-Rivera):

Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, Phil Coke, Dave Robertson and Jonathan Albaladejo might not be household names – heck, they are barely recognized by Yankee fans – but the Bombers are confident that this group of no-name relievers has what it takes to join Rivera, Brian Bruney and Damaso Marte to form a successful bullpen.

Veras (60 games, 57-2/3 innings, 63 strikeouts), Ramirez (55 games, 55-1/3 innings, 63 strikeouts) and Coke (one run in 12 outings) helped contribute to a Yankees bullpen that ranked fifth in the American League last season with a 3.79 ERA, which was nearly a third of a run lower than the league average. That number becomes even more impressive when you consider that their 543-1/3 innings were more than any team in the league other than the Rangers, who tossed 572-2/3. …

The Yankees’ bullpen topped the AL in strikeouts with 523, which was 87 more than second-place Texas. The Yankees’ .235 opponents batting average ranked third in the league, trailing only Tampa Bay and Toronto, while the opponents’ on-base percentage was .310, second in the league to the AL East champion Rays.

In addition, Yankee relievers led all AL teams in strikeout/walk ratio (2.46) and strikeouts per nine innings (8.66), showing that Cashman’s plan to stock the system with young power arms was beginning to pay off.

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Today’s news is powered by a “What’s My Line” appearance by Bobby Murcer (from 1971) …..

• MLB.com has an article on Hughes and Kennedy looking to redeem themselves in 2009.
• Fan favorite Jim Kaat now has his own website, kittykaat.com.  Also, Kaat will also return to the broadcast booth this season, calling a few games for the MLB Network.
• The Yanks have now reached contract agreements with all their non-arbitration players.  Joba Chamberlain will earn $432,575 if, as expected, he spends the entire season with the big club.
• PeteAbe gives us the salary list for those non-arbitration players.
• Mariano Duncan turns 46 today.  Duncan was a godsend at 2B for the Yankees in 1996, hitting .340 in 400 ABs.  He never learned how to take a walk, earning a mere nine free passes in 417 PAs that season (.352 OBP).  For his career, he walked a little more than once every 25 PAs.
• Happy 50th birthday to Luis Aguayo (spot starter at 3B for ’88 squad).
• On this date in 1937, Lou Gehrig signs for $38,000 with a $750 signing bonus.
• On this date last year, 59-year-old Billy Crystal makes an appearance in a Yankees spring training game. He strikes out on a full count from Paul Maholm after hitting one ball just foul.

Today’s news is powered by quite possibly the worst pro sports team music video ever (yes, worse than the “Super Bowl Shuffle”) … ladies and gentlemen … the 1986 LA Dodgers:

• Mariano Rivera appears to be right on schedule recovery-wise:

Rivera said he worked at about 90 percent of his regular velocity. He will throw batting practice again Saturday, and believes he could pitch in his first game of the spring Monday at home against the Phillies.

“If it feels as good as it feels now, there will be a game,” Rivera said. “Everything feels great.”

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With the nation’s economy in the tank, and our best player on the DL, we could all use a good laugh. So, today’s news is powered by the late, great George Carlin:

• It appears the Yanks are beholden to Ransom:

As for acquiring a fill-in for Rodriguez, Cashman said again on Tuesday that he is not actively searching. “I’m not optimistic about doing anything,” he said. “I’m not going to be proactive in trying to do something.” Cody Ransom, a 33-year-old journeyman, is in line to step in for Rodriguez. “With the team not wanting add payroll, not wanting to hurt the farm system and stuff like that, and we’re going to get Alex back, we’re going to go with what we have in camp,” Cashman said.

• The Captain has been getting to know the BoSox’ Pedroia and Youkilis, and it appears to be a mutual admiration society:

“You get to know guys playing against them, as players,” Jeter said. “But one of the good things about something like this is you get an opportunity to put personalities with the players.” Previously, Pedroia and Youkilis had only spent time with Jeter as part of last year’s AL All-Star team. … “I like to keep it loose and have fun,” Pedroia said after yesterday’s workout at Rogers Centre, where Team USA resumes play tomorrow night, having already clinched a berth in this weekend’s second round in Miami. “I think [Jeter] kind of laughs at me the whole time. He probably thinks I’m crazy.” Youkilis said he has always respected Jeter, but spending the past week with him has taken that admiration to another level. “[Jeter] has been unbelievable, and you see why he’s the captain of the Yankees,” Youkilis said.

• There was a Moose sighting at Steinbrenner field:

The recently retired right-hander was a special guest visitor at Yankees camp on Tuesday, escaping the Pennsylvania cold for a vacation and some fun in the sun. He has no regrets about his decision to walk away from the game. “I’m doing nothing,” Mussina said, grinning. “And when I walked through the weight room, I knew why I’m doing nothing. I feel good being retired.” As he would later reveal, Mussina knew last spring that 2008 would be his final season. There was no point during the offseason that he thought about changing his mind, he said, and even when pitchers and catchers began reporting to Spring Training camps, Mussina found himself content. … Mussina’s former corner locker is now occupied by CC Sabathia, and Mussina greeted his replacement, calling him “Mr. Sabathia” and telling him to keep the space.

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Today’s news is powered by a view of hip labrum surgery (not for the easily squeamish, but hey … what OTHER baseball website is gonna offer you this?):

• The initial hip labrum surgery for A-Rod was deemed a success.
• Did you know that golfer Greg Norman and ice skater Michelle Kwan have had the same procedure done?  Its part of an excellent article detailing the physiology at play in A-Rod’s surgery.
• First it was pool …. now Girardi has the players “golfing” … on the basepaths.
• Andy Pettitte realizes the pitchers have to step up in the absence of A-Rod.
• The Captain believes the Yanks will survive without Alex … cause …. what choice do they have?:

“We were hit pretty hard last year,” Jeter said. “You’re talking about the combination of Jorge and Hideki, that’s a pretty big chunk right there, two guys in the middle of your lineup.

“But hopefully Al is not going to be gone for long. I don’t know the timetable, but you hope he’s back sooner rather than later.”

Can the Yankees survive without A-Rod?

“We have no choice,” Jeter said. “But we have enough guys on our team that we’ll be all right.”

• Count Wallace Matthews in the camp of “he should have had the whole procedure done now”:

By announcing that A-Rod will undergo a scaled-down surgical hip repair this morning, then be rushed back into the lineup ASAP, the message they are sending out is an SOS.

As in, Save Our Season. How misguided is that?

In the interest of long-term safety, they could have chosen to shut down their $275-million third baseman for four months, allow him to take as much time as he needs to recover, and try to muddle through with the other $190 million or so worth of ballplayers still on their active roster. …

… But the Yankees didn’t do any of those things. Instead, in announcing A-Rod’s fast-track recovery plan, they made an unmistakable announcement of their own: We can’t win without this guy.

Forgetting, conveniently, that in five seasons, they have yet to win a thing with him.

[My take: There are back-handed compliments … and then there are back-handed putdowns.  But I do agree that for the long-term health of A-Rod, having the entire procedure done now in one shot would have been preferred.]

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Powered by the memory of Joe DiMaggio, who passed away 10 years ago yesterday, here’s the news:

• As you most likely know by now, A-Rod and the Yanks have decided to proceed with a lesser form of hip surgery on Monday.

The decision eliminates the option of Rodriguez treating the injury with rest and rehab and playing through the season without surgery. But this operation will not completely correct the hip.

“The surgery that will just repair the labrum tear right now would shorten his rehab,” Cashman said. “Then, following the conclusion of the season, going in and repair the remaining aspects that need to be repaired.”

• ESPN’s Stephania Bell has a detailed explanation of the anatomy being poked and prodded:

Surgery to repair the labrum alone, without addressing any underlying bone issues, results in a shortened time frame. During surgery the damaged piece of labrum is either repaired or resected (removed), depending on the extent and location of damage. Since the labrum does provide some protection for the joint surface itself, surgeons aim to preserve as much of the healthy tissue as possible. Following surgery, the athlete is required to go through a “protective” phase, during which the amount of weight-bearing is limited to allow the tissue to heal, and range-of-motion and strengthening exercises are increased incrementally. Later in rehab, the athlete returns to weight-bearing exercises, which then get more complex in scope (meaning they start to look sport-specific — baseball-type exercises, in Rodriguez’s case — as opposed to basic leg-strengthening exercises). Once the athlete has demonstrated sufficient strength and stability, he can return to sports drills and eventually return to play. Complete recovery from a labral resection or repair typically ranges from 10 to 16 weeks. This scenario allows Rodriguez to return for the majority of this season, with the announced second surgery in the postseason to address any bone issues.

[My take: I realize I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to orthopedic surgery, but wouldn’t it be better to “go in” just once and get it all over with?  My thought is if the Yanks had a more-than-competent replacement at third, they would have had Alex go for the “complete” procedure now, rather than do it in two trips.]

• Rodriguez’s surgery is fueling plenty of rumors, including one involving the Royals:

Alex Rodriguez’s decision to undergo surgery on his hip is fueling rumors that the Yankees are interested in Mark Teahen as a temporary replacement at third base.

Royals officials, for now, are brushing off the speculation, and general manager Dayton Moore has long maintained that Teahen is more valuable now to the club than in previous years because of his versatility.

“What I’m hoping,” one Royals official said, “is they sign (second baseman Mark) Grudzielanek. That way, we get a (compensatory) draft pick.”

• Tidbits from PeteAbe:
  • Matsui may bat cleanup during A-Rod’s absence.
  • A.J. Burnett didn’t realize he was dealing at 98 on the gun during his last start.
  • Girardi is thinking of Cody Ransom, and ONLY Ransom, as an internal replacement for A-Rod.

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Today’s news is powered by a trip in the wayback machine, offering bloopers from the station that used to carry the Yanks …

• PeteAbe reports that while Brian Cashman has stated the Yanks have not made a decision on whether A-Rod will have surgery, however:

Alex is staying in Colorado for “the foreseeable future.”

Said Cashman: “The stiffness is the beginning of the process. Eventually there is going to be pain. … You have to be realistic. We could be on the verge of having an incident. … What’s best for him is what’s best for us.”

• The Times lays out the possible surgery/recovery timetables:

Later, Cashman acknowledged that Rodriguez could make the injury worse by playing without surgery. “Oh, that’s absolutely a possibility,” Cashman said. “The worse the tear, the more complicated the surgery.”

If Rodriguez chooses to play, it is likely that he would have regular magnetic resonance imaging tests to see if the condition is worsening.

If Rodriguez has surgery to treat only the torn labrum, he could return in four to six weeks. But if there is an underlying bone problem in the hip joint that needs to be repaired, the likely rehabilitation period would be four months.

• The specialist who saw Rodriguez earlier this weeks thinks Alex “could” play through it:

In a Thursday conference call with the Yankees and other parties, Dr. Marc Philippon, the specialist, described for others how the surgery would work. But there also was an indication, during the call, that there is a “75 to 80 percent chance” Rodriguez could get through the 2009 season playing through the discomfort.

• Ian O’Connor thinks an A-Rodless Yankee team might not be so bad, in a way:

Why? Because an extended A-Rod absence would swing open a door of delicious opportunity, that’s why.

The Yankees could go back to being the Yankees. They could go back to being the team that won four championships in five years with reliable pitching and a harmonious band of position players that didn’t need a slugger whose favorite teammates are Me, Myself and I.

“It was all about the team for us,” Tino Martinez said. “There were no real stars. You had Bernie [Williams] and [Derek] Jeter, but not superstars. We just figured out ways to get a lead and win games. “Position by position, this year’s team has much more physical talent than we did. It’s a way better team than our championship teams. But we knew how to come together, and that’s the trick.”

[My take: But you still have to put runs on the board at some point …]

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Today’s news is powered by an MRI machine, and this video …

• Jack Curry covers the recent history of A-Rod’s hip health:

When Rodriguez underwent a magnetic resonance imaging procedure for his right quadriceps last May, General Manager Brian Cashman said the results showed an incidental irregularity in his hip. …

But after the finding, the Yankees were seemingly lax about examining Rodriguez’s hip again. Rodriguez, the highest-paid player in baseball, did not have another M.R.I. on his hip during or after the season. Cashman said the irregularity on Rodriguez’s M.R.I. was an insufficient reason to pursue additional testing.

Still, considering how valuable Rodriguez is and how closely the Yankees typically supervise players, they could have ordered an M.R.I. last October to determine if the irregularity had developed into something more significant. The Yankees have $275 million invested in Rodriguez. An M.R.I. costs a few thousand dollars. Cashman said that was unnecessary because Rodriguez did not have a documented injury, often has stiff legs and never reported any pain.

• Tom Verducci writes of the Yankees’ achilles heel … the age of their big stars:

The Yankees have a 37-year-old catcher coming off shoulder surgery (Jorge Posada), a shortstop who turns 35 in June (Derek Jeter), a 39-year-old closer (Mariano Rivera), a 35-year-old outfielder (Johnny Damon), another outfielder who turns 35 in June (Hideki Matsui) and now a 33-year-old third baseman with a problematic hip. None of those position players except Jeter played 150 games last year.

• The Post sizes up possible short-term replacements (both internal and external) for Rodriguez.
• Ken Davidoff thinks the A-Rod hatred might just vanish come Opening Day:

A hip injury has to cause a tremendous concern for the Yankees. However, let’s take a leap and say that this is a condition from which A-Rod can recover, and be something close to his old self.

If A-Rod can return to the Yankees’ lineup sometime in May, then perhaps he’ll actually be appreciated for the positives he brings to the table. Rather than the negatives.

Right now, when everyone is tied in the standings at 0-0, it’s easy to hate the guy. To pick on him for daring to offer praise to Jose Reyes, of all things.

But when the Yankees open the season April 6 in Baltimore, and Cody Ransom is playing third base, we’ll get the full appreciation for the 7.1 Wins Above Replacement Player that A-Rod put up in 2008, a down year for him.

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Today’s news is powered by “Will it Blend?”

• MLB.com is reporting that Rivera will have his first bullpen session Thursday.  PeteAbe says Rivera will be throwing from the “Carl Pavano Memorial Half Mound”.

[My take: Pete can get a-hold of one every once in a while … ]

• PeteAbe also got some news from Hughes (Phil) on his newly-improved curve:

Hughes explained that he’s throwing his curve with the same arm speed as his fastball. So instead of a big loop (picture Mike Mussina’s curve), it goes to the plate on a straighter plane but still has some action as it gets there. It’s how A.J. Burnett throws his curve.

Hughes devoted a lot of time in the Arizona Fall League to working on that particular pitch. “It’s hard to change because you get used to throwing a pitch a certain way,” he said. “In games, you tend to go back to what is comfortable. But they’ve been staying on me to throw the power curve more. I have to trust it and I do.” …

Hughes also has changed the grip on his change-up. He throws it like a splitter.

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Today’s news is powered by a little league game turned into a big-time event …

• A-Rod has been diagnosed with a cyst on one of his hips, and will most likely miss participating in the WBC.
• Here’s the official press release from the Yanks on the cyst-em of a down-ed player.

[My take: Unfortunately, one of the first things I thought of when I read this news was ‘cysts can form around multiple injection sites, but its highly unlikely it developed five years after he stated he last used injected PEDs … unless he was using HGH recently’.  (Yeah, I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt, but its so hard to given all that has gone on lately …).]

• Rodriguez complimented the play of Jose Reyes, but may have slighted his BFF Jeter in doing so:

“I wish he was leading off on our team, playing on our team,” Rodriguez said of Reyes, who hustled to take an extra base in the fifth inning and then stole third and scored in the Dominican team’s 10-1 win over the Marlins. “That’s fun to watch. Anytime you have that type of speed… I mean, we have a guy in (Brett) Gardner that’ll be fun. That’s probably the most you can have, watching those guys run.”

Rodriguez may have forgotten who plays shortstop for the Yankees these days, but he quickly remembered once his brief press conference was over. A Dominican team spokesman told reporters that Rodriguez’s compliment of Reyes was not intended as a shot at Jeter, the Yankees captain who has remained somewhat distant since A-Rod’s steroid admission.

[My take: Its the subject of our poll today (see below).]

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Today’s news is powered by  “ANSKY”:

• CC Sabathia made a simulated start on Monday.  28 pitches … only one of which were put into play in fair territory.
• C-MW looked good and, more importantly felt fine, in his start against the Astros Monday.
• Joba Chamberlain made a kid’s life a little happier, as he spent part of Sunday at Disney World with a hard-working student from his hometown:

Chamberlain said that his efforts to give back have been well-received at home.

“I pick a student that represents what I stand for and where I come from,” Chamberlain said. “Jazmine had worked really hard, and she deserved it. Talking to her parents, I guess a lot of kids started working harder in school because of the rewards that come along with it.”

While in Orlando, Chamberlain appeared on the Baseball Tonight studio set and introduced Jazmine and her family to CC Sabathia, who was also present for the ESPN events.

“It’s cool to be able to cherish that with your teammate and someone that cherishes their time with their family as much as I do,” Chamberlain said.

• BP.com’s Joe Sheehan examines how the Yankees have (re)built their bullpen over the last few seasons:

Other than re-signing 2008 trade acquisition Damaso Marte to a three-year, $12 million deal, the Yankees made the statement, however implicit, that they are committed to their homegrown relievers in 2009. One of the bright spots in the team’s first October-free season since 1994 was the emergence of hurlers such as Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras, who combined to strike out 126 men in 113 innings with a 3.74 ERA. By the end of the season, Phil Coke and David Robertson were making contributions in low-leverage situations. Add in free-talent pickups like Brian Bruney and Alfredo Aceves, and the Yankees have more than enough effective relievers to go around, whether you’ve heard of them or not.

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Today’s news is powered by a pitch from The Mick:

• Two of the Baby Bombers got nicked in the Yanks Grapefruit League game on Sunday:

Yankees catching prospect Jesus Montero left Sunday’s Grapefruit League exhibition against the Reds after suffering a strained right groin. …

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that Montero had been examined by trainer Gene Monahan and that the 19-year-old backstop would miss at least a few games.

Earlier in the contest, Yankees right-hander Jonathan Albaladejo was also forced to exit after being struck in the left calf by a batted ball.

Albaladejo was working in the bottom of the third inning, when Cincinnati’s Jeff Keppinger hit a hard shot up the middle and off the pitcher into center field. …

• Mike Vaccaro of the Post profiles Mariano Rivera:

“People come and people go,” Derek Jeter said the other day, smiling, shaking his head, “and then you have Mo, who isn’t going anywhere.”

The smile thinned a bit.

“Who’d better not be going anywhere,” he said. …

It is Mariano Rivera. It is the ninth inning. It is, as his arm can attest, as often as not a few outs in the eighth inning, too. It is 482 saves in 542 lifetime opportunities, an 88.9-percent success rate that the record books insist is just fourth, all-time, among all relievers with at least 200 save opportunities. …

Especially because last year may have been Rivera’s finest, 39 saves in 40 chances, a 1.40 ERA, all of that at age 38, with more than 800 appearances and close to a thousand innings already on his right arm, elbow, shoulder and rotator cuff.

“I like the idea of being consistent, of being slow and steady and reliable,” Rivera says. “I like that I’m an element of the team the other guys can count on being ready to do my job. That’s what I do. That’s why I’m here.”

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Today’s news is powered by the brainpower of Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman of “Mythbusters” (with special guest Roger Clemens):

• Cliff has the recap of the Yanks 5-1 win over the Rays yesterday.
• Here’s a link to something to make Banterites less nervous …. Georgie juices one.  (sorry … couldn’t resist)
• Tyler Kepner writes of Posada’s progress to date.
• The Bombers will be wearing a new cap to commemorate their inaugural season in their new stadium.
• George Vecsey notes the number of major leaguers that have lost a bit of weight in the off-season, including Brian Bruney.
• Those obstructed-view bleacher seats will now go for $5, rather than the original $12.
• The Bombers and Bank of America have ended their long, drawn out negotiations for a major sponsorship deal.
• Lonn Trost, however, states that the economy has not affected the Yankees’ sponsorship deals “one iota”.  Furthermore, with regard to those obstructed-view bleacher seats:

“Those seats are being sold at $5, not $12,” he said. “I think some seats may have gone out improperly invoiced. Those are going to be corrected, but those 600 seats are going to be $5.” …

“When we built the sports bar we knew architecturally there is an architectural shadow,” he said. “And that means there are a group of seats that are in the bleachers that if you are sitting very close to either the rightfield or leftfield side of the sports bar, you may not see the opposite side.

“We knew that going in, and to that extent we pre-prepared to put televisions in the wall, as well as that big screen so you don’t miss anything.”

[My take: You put televisions in the food courts so people don’t miss the action.  You shouldn’t have to put them in the actual seating area.  Whatever.]

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Since the games have finally begun (OK … only exhibition, but still) … today’s news is brought to you by someone who decided to videotape a Strat game:

• ESPN recaps A-Rod’s day as part of the Yanks 6-1 Spring Training opener, and offers these tidbits:

The slugger had dinner Tuesday night with former Yankees star Reggie Jackson, now a special adviser with the team.

“I told him to hit the baseball. It’s really an old story. It never really changes,” Jackson said. “Hit the baseball, and hit it like heck. That’s really about all that really matters.”

The Hall of Famer also passed along some words from Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner.

“He said, ‘You deliver this message: Just tell him hit the damn ball and hit it when it counts. That’s really the most important thing that he can do. All the other conversations, they don’t matter. The more you talk, the more you have an opportunity to make a mistake.’ “

[My take: What an interesting contrast and comparison to be had … A-Rod and Mr. October.  Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall for their conversations?]

• Tyler Kepner points out the contributions of Swisher and Gardner in the win.
• MLB.com offers a capsule recap of the game.
• PeteAbe ponders why Igawa is not playing in the WBC, and gets a blunt assessment:

One of the Japanese reporters in Tampa covering Hideki Matsui was asked why Igawa was not considered for the WBC roster. He searched for the right words.

“They think … he is not so good,” the man said.

• PeteAbe also gets some interesting quotes from Reggie regarding A-Rod’s revelations:

“The best answer I can give you is that I was disappointed. I was very lucky to have been a good player. When I started playing I was a fan. When I played I was a fan and when I left the game I am a fan of Derek Jeter, of Alex Rodriguez, of CC Sabathia. I like to be at games, I like to watch the games. … I get affected as a fan. You get saddened.

“I get angry sometimes. I’ve been reprimanded by the commissioner and the president of our team. I’ve pleaded with them to understand that I’m personally affected; I’m personally involved. I’m hurt; I’m bewildered. I don’t know that we ever get past it.”

• The Babe Ruth monument has landed at the new Stadium.

[My take: No truth to the rumor that the Babe’s view of the field is blocked by the center field restaurant.]

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Today’s post is powered by a classic personality pitching a (for its time) classic baseball video game:

• Edwar Ramirez has been diagnosed with mild bursitis in his right shoulder, and won’t pitch again until this weekend.
• Mariano Rivera notes that his shoulder is well on its way to full recovery:

“It’s feeling strong and now I am building muscle,” Rivera said of the shoulder, which was operated on after last season. “I have been throwing, playing long toss and it’s getting better every day.”

The next step for Rivera is to get on a bullpen mound, but he isn’t sure when that will occur.

“I don’t want to push it,” said Rivera, who vowed on the first day of spring training he would be ready by Opening Day, April 6.

• Tyler Kepner has a nice piece on Hideki Matsui’s efforts to get all the way back:

Matsui will be 35 in June, and his knees have made him a full-time designated hitter. He had surgery on his right knee after the 2007 season, then on his left knee on Sept. 22. Matsui delayed that operation so he could play in the final game at Yankee Stadium.

He stayed in the United States until December, working to strengthen the knee. In Japan, he practiced jogging on grass. He did not jog here until Monday, and he ran the bases gingerly after a round of batting practice Tuesday. He will not be ready to play when the Yankees visit the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday in Dunedin. …

Matsui spent 10 seasons playing his home games on artificial turf at the Tokyo Dome. At 6 feet 2 inches and 220 pounds, Matsui said he was among the bigger players in Japan and worried about damage to his knee cartilage.

“I knew there was a certain level of stress that was being put on my knees and my lower body in general,” he said. “I did have that fear that at some point, something was going to happen.” …

“I still feel I have a lot of baseball in me,” Matsui said. “Yes, I did get injured the last few years, but in terms of how I feel physically and my baseball skills, I don’t feel like I have any issues.”

• Kepner also details the positional battles to be address over the next five weeks:

With Edwar Ramirez dealing with bursitis in his right shoulder, there could be another opening in the bullpen. Mariano Rivera, Brian Bruney and Damaso Marte are locks. The Yankees will probably take a long reliever, too, which leaves three more spots from a group including Jose Veras, Phil Coke, Dave Robertson, Jonathan Albaladejo, Mark Melancon and Ramirez. …

Others who will try to squeeze onto the roster include the versatile infielder Cody Ransom (who is on the 40-man roster), and non-roster players like shortstop Angel Berroa and catcher Kevin Cash. Among the other non-roster players with major league experience include Shelley Duncan, Todd Linden and John Rodriguez.

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Today’s news is powered by a baseball-themed clip from Conan O’Brien’s final show:

• The infirmary report on Jorge Posada keeps improving by the day:

Reporting to camp well ahead of pitchers and catchers, Posada has had plenty of time to work out the kinks. He is incrementally moving closer to getting behind the plate in a big league game, and he is still eyeing Opening Day on April 6 at Baltimore as the moment he will stick a few fingers down for CC Sabathia.

The 37-year-old made 15 throws from distances as far as 220 feet Sunday, drawing praise from Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who called it “substantially different than what I saw just four or five days ago.”

• Ken Davidoff writes about Joe Girardi philosophy when it comes to making out line-ups:

Torre’s early Yankees teams, particularly those from 1996-99, carried amazing depth on the 25-man roster.

Joe Girardi, part of that depth on those clubs, knows he won’t be able to match that. But in crafting the lineup cards this season, an admittedly crucial one for him, he hopes to strike that magical balance among stability, variety and versatility.

“I prefer to have a set lineup. I think it works best,” Girardi said yesterday after a second straight relatively tranquil practice that was light on the A-Rod. “But sometimes, similar to some of the teams that I was on, you’re better if there’s some platoon situations, or your bench is extremely strong, or everyone’s in the mix, or everyone’s healthy. We just have to see how it shakes out.” …

… Girardi struggled to get a feel for when to start his players and when to rest them, a failing that came to life Aug. 11 in Minnesota, when he benched Johnny Damon (10-for-24 in the previous five games) against Twins starter Glen Perkins. Justin Christian led off and went 0-for-4, and the Yankees fell meekly, 4-0.

The Yankees used 130 lineups last year, and they used their Opening Day lineup – Damon in leftfield, Derek Jeter at shortstop, Bobby Abreu in rightfield, Alex Rodriguez at third base, Jason Giambi at first base, Robinson Cano at second base, Posada at catcher, Hideki Matsui at designated hitter and Melky Cabrera in centerfield – only on April 1.

• Joe Girardi decided to cancel workouts Monday and instead organize a team “field trip” to a local pool hall.  Mariano Rivera turned out to be the best pool player of the bunch:

The idea hit Girardi in the early days of Spring Training, realizing that camp runs longer this year because of the World Baseball Classic and a day of respite might be welcome before exhibition games begin.

It would also be a good way for Girardi to better familiarize himself with the team.

“I think every year you’re here as a manager, you want to have more knowledge about your players and their personalities,” Girardi said. “You want to feel closer to your players. You want to bring a group together. It’s important that a group is united when they leave Spring Training.”

Looking for an event that could not be impacted by weather, Girardi originally considered renting out a bowling alley, but the idea of having his pitchers whipping 12-pound balls down the lanes dissuaded him.

The Yankees found a billiard hall that could accommodate a large group, and Girardi told the Yankees to book it for a few hours. The tournament was expected to last about 2 1/2 hours — until lunch — but Girardi acknowledged it might take longer, with no real pool sharks known to be on the roster.

[My take: The mental image I have of Sabathia leaning over the table to make a tough shot scares me a bit.]

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Let’s get right to it …

• PeteAbe has a longer-length column on Joe Girardi “more personal approach” this season:

Girardi approached the Yankees last season like one of the industrial engineering assignments he undertook as a student at Northwestern. If he applied enough of his own hard work and logic to whatever issue came up, he would find the solution. But those pesky variables, other people, kept getting in the way. …

Eight days into his second spring training with the Yankees is not enough time to determine whether Girardi truly has changed the methods that led to the reconfiguration of his coaching staff, tension in the clubhouse, and a fractured relationship with the reporters who cover the team. But his reaction to the Rodriguez scandal reveals a man willing to change.

Relentlessly positive a year ago, Girardi has been measured in his support of Rodriguez – a position that reflects the mood of the team – while at the same time using the situation as a way to better connect to his players. The bridges that he vowed to build last fall are falling into place, plank by plank.

• Steve Serby has a fluffy but fun Q&A with CC Sabathia, including this instant classic exchange:

Q: Why do you wear your hat cocked?

A: It feels straight to me when I have it on.

• John Harper details the financial risks Andy Pettitte took in the off-season:

When all the haggling was finally done this winter, Andy Pettitte turned down $10 million and wound up signing for $5.5 million with incentives, which is the kind of deal you think would get an agent fired in most cases.

Pettitte says no, he has no problem with Randy Hendricks and no problem with his deal. He was determined to get the $12 million he thought he was worth, and in the end maybe he paid a price for playing his hand too boldly, but he insists it was worth it for the chance to prove the ugly finish to last season doesn’t mean he’s one step from being washed up.

“Hey, around July last year I thought I was going to win 20 games,” Pettitte was saying Saturday. “I felt that good. So don’t tell me that based on my last 11 or 12 starts I’m done. I had a shoulder problem.”

As it turns out, he’s essentially betting $4.5 million that he can stay healthy and reach the incentives that could get him to $12 million, and for a 36-year-old pitcher with a history of elbow injuries to go with last year’s shoulder problem, that’s a risky bet.

• Wallace Matthews profiles the always energetic Nick Swisher:

Wedged in among the dramatics of A-Rod, the stoic professionalism of Jeter and the quiet dignity of Mariano Rivera, Swisher sticks out like a lunatic in a library.

“Swish is very energetic, I’ll tell you that,” said a bemused Posada, who sits four lockers away, still close enough to feel the bass vibrations in his sternum. “He looks like he’s really enjoying being here.”

Think Jack Black with a first baseman’s mitt or Ozzy Osbourne with the ability to draw a walk, and you’ve got Swisher pegged.

And his high-energy pre-workout routine – a little air guitar, a little wrestling with the kids running around the clubhouse, some mosh pit writhing – was just a warm-up for his post-workout session. That’s when he spent an hour in the batting cage with hitting coach Kevin Long, honing his swing from both sides of the plate while shouting “Nobody else is working like this!” between hacks.

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Its Saturday morning … you wanna sleep late … but your cat has other ideas …

Important note!
I would rather not (further) play into the MSM’s fixation with the A-Rod PED story. I don’t want to help feed the “let’s hunt down every possible angle til we tear down Rodriguez” monster, so from here on, I will only post a PED-related A-Rod story if it has a direct result on his playing status (ex. he needs to miss a game to speak to Congress). Otherwise, I’m gonna let it slide.  This has Alex Belth’s blessing.  I hope you understand.

Now, back to the news:

• David Ortiz admires Mark Teixeira, and his fortunate timing contract-wise:

“Everybody needed a player like him at the time and the market was wide open. He walked into a situation that was perfect for him, and on top of it he was a very good player. Everybody who performs at that level wants to be put in that situation.” …

Under his previous deal, (Ortiz) could have potentially hit the free agent market at the age of 31.

But in the first month of the 2006 season Ortiz chose to sign a four-year, $52 million extension with a team option for 2011. …

“Teixeira was 28 years-old. In a few years I’ll be 35. It’s a totally different situation,” Ortiz said. “They know what you deserve and you go from there. But I’ll tell you what, if I was 28 I would be thinking like that.

“The market (when he signed his deal) wasn’t like it is now. It wasn’t close to what it is now. The year after I signed my deal the market exploded with the big television deal. I know it will be hard to get that kind of money a few years from now. I haven’t really sat down and thought about it. All my focus is about doing my thing. You work, try to get better every day for a reason. I’m not planning to go anywhere.”

• Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady are experiencing some financial liquidity issues:

Damon, 35, and Nady, 30, told FOXSports.com on Friday morning that their finances are frozen because of money they have with a Stanford company.

On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission froze all assets of three entities — Stanford International Bank, Stanford Group Co., and Stanford Capital Management — all managed by Robert Allen Stanford. Those were the only three entities whose assets were frozen, according to the SEC filing.

“I can’t pay bills right now,” Damon said at the Yankees’ spring training facility in Tampa. “That started on Tuesday. I had to pay a trainer for working out during the offseason. I told him, ‘Just hold on for a little bit and hopefully all this stuff gets resolved.'”

Nady faces similar concerns.

“I’m affected in some ways. I have the same (advisor) as Johnny,” Nady said. “He said I didn’t have money with Stanford (investments). But all my credit card accounts are frozen right now because of that situation. I’m trying to get an apartment in New York. I can’t put a credit card down to hold it.”

[My take: Maybe Nady should see if A-Rod’s apartment is still up for sale (vacant)?]

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Powered by it just being Friday, here’s the news:

• BP.com’s Christina Kahrl runs down the worst free-agent contracts of the off-season, and bestows the “worst” upon A.J. Burnett’s deal:

… why spend $16.5 million per year for the next five on a pitcher with Burnett’s spotty track record? Well, because you can, I suppose, and because somebody else you’re competing with might, but is investing this kind of money in a pitcher coming off of just his second full season in a big-league rotation in ten in The Show really where you want to wind up? Between Burnett’s repeated problems with durability and consistency over the course of his career, the money alone for this kind of length was nuts. Add in that young pitching is the organization’s great strength—Phil Hughes representing just the front end of the wave—and short-term deals like Pettitte’s incentive-driven one-year contract look entirely sensible as an adaptation to the market and the team’s immediate win-now needs; Burnett’s deal, by comparison, does not.

• BP.com also trots out their first 2009 iteration of their Playoff Odds report, and pegs the Yanks as having a 32.1% chance of winning the East and a 24.5% chance of nabbing the wild card.  Their resulting 56.5% chance of making the post-season ranks a comfortable 2nd behind the BoSox in the AL.
• If you care ….they’ve tracked down A-Rod’s cousin.

[My take: This song seems appropriate.]

• Buster Olney reports that the Yanks and Padres are each interested in the services of a 32-year-old Mexican League pitcher named Walter Silva.
• MLB.com explores the Yankees interest in players from China.
• It appears that the Yankee lineup will run Tex/A-Rod in the 3/4 slots.
• ESPN.com reports that Boss George and Bernie Williams each showed up at camp Thursday.  Here’s what was said about Steinbrenner:

Steinbrenner arrived at about 10 a.m., was brought from the parking lot to Steinbrenner Field in a golf cart, then was transferred to a wheelchair near a bank of elevators before going up to his office. The 78-year-old has been increasingly frail in recent years.

[My take: I was almost taken aback when I read about the wheelchair.  I mean … we all know he’s on the decline … but I still think of George as bluster and braggadocio.]

• No surprise here … Hank Steinbrenner doesn’t think much of John Henry’s call for a salary cap:

“Along with a few other teams, we’re basically baseball’s stimulus package,” Steinbrenner told The Associated Press. …

The Yankees, according to AP, paid about $110 million in revenue sharing and luxury tax last season — the latter a penalty for having a payroll beyond an agreed-upon dollar figure between owners and the players union.

“As long as we’re doing that and giving all this money to other teams in revenue sharing, a staggering amount, we should be able to spend on salaries what we want to,” Steinbrenner said. “Because of revenue sharing and because of the popularity nationwide, the Yankees are critical to baseball.”

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Today’s news is powered by a classic baseball cartoon (goodness knows we could all use a laugh right about now) …

• BP.com’s Joe Sheehan points out the media frenzy and the unfairness towards A-Rod’s actions:

The reaction to Rodriguez’s press conference has been at best apathetic, and at worst, critical. His demeanor, his word choice, his expressions, his inflections have all been picked apart, and he’s been given no credit for the details he provided. There’s an assumption that he’s being deceptive, duplicitous, and insincere. Whether this stems from the dislike so many people have for this very insecure man, the dislike of his agent, or the general disdain for the successful and wealthy—let’s face it, sports coverage has devolved into thinly disguised class warfare—this most open moment has been dismissed, and Rodriguez has been given no credit for providing it.

Contrast that with the reaction to the press conference at which the Chargers’ Shawne Merriman openly discussed his… oh, wait, that didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because the NFL doesn’t have a vested interest in making its players look bad to gain the upper hand in an unending war against its own product. The NFL would never sustain a story like that through multiple news cycles, never allow PED use to overwhelm the story of training camps opening, never contribute to speculation that its game and its stars were somehow less than because of their behavior.

The other day, Bud Selig whined that he shouldn’t be held responsible for the so-called “steroid era,” claiming that he wanted to talk about the problem as far back as 1995. As I’ve mentioned, Selig has flipped on this issue a few times, sometimes claiming to have been fighting it for a while, sometimes claiming he didn’t know there was a problem. …

• Steven Goldman of Pinstriped Bible finished up with this thought after viewing the news conference:

Of course, none of these concerns go to the bottom line, which, as A-Rod correctly pointed out, is that he had his best season in 2007, and there has been a testing regimen in place for a few years now, one that seems to have been successful in nailing quite a few players. There remains little evidence that steroids do much more for ballplayers than build muscle, or that Rodriguez’s numbers were affected in any significant way. He remains one of the best ballplayers in the business and also one of the hardest to like. From the point of view of winning pennants, one out of two ain’t bad.

• Jayson Stark gets some interesting comments about the whole A-Rod deal from the one and only Mike Schmidt:

… when Schmidt was asked directly if he thought he’d have gotten caught up in trying performance-enhancing drugs had they been part of his era, he answered: “Most likely. Why not?”

“A term that I think has been overused a lot, especially by Alex, is ‘culture’ — culture of the era he played in,” Schmidt said. “We had a culture when I played. There was a culture in the era when Babe Ruth played. And in the ’60s, there was a culture. It’s just that way in life. And apparently — I wasn’t involved, but from hearing everybody — that was the culture of the ’90s and the early 2000s. The temptation had to be tremendous to the young men playing major league baseball back then.”

But when he was asked if he thought that being “young and stupid” was an acceptable explanation for what A-Rod did, Schmidt said: “Young and stupid may be better [when you’re] 12, 13, 14, as opposed to 23, 4, 5 and 6.”

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