The LoHud Yankees Blog

This from the commissioner:

“On behalf of Major League Baseball, I am saddened by the revelations concerning Alex Rodriguez’s use of performance-enhancing substances. While Alex deserves credit for publicly confronting the issue, there is no valid excuse for using such substances and those who use them have shamed the game.

“What Alex did was wrong and he will have to live with the damage he has done to his name and reputation. His actions are also a reminder to everyone in baseball — under our current drug program, if you are caught using steroids and/or amphetamines, you will be punished. Since 2005, every player who has tested positive for steroids has been suspended for as much as 50 games. Eradicating performance-enhancing substances from the game of baseball has been my first priority over the past decade and it is important to remember that these recent revelations relate to pre-program activity.”

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In other words, he won’t be getting suspended.

I’m transcribing the comments Brian Cashman made today. He’s pretty resigned to dealing with his mess Alex Rodriguez created by using performance-enhancing drugs.

“A lot of things took place in the past that we’re dealing with in the present. Obviously this is a significant one,” he said. “I look forward to getting everyone in here and starting to play the game of baseball and maybe we can eventually get the focus back on the field. But that’s not realistic right now and I understand that.”

I asked Cashman if he was confident that A-Rod has not used PEDs as a Yankee.

“I can tell you, from ’04 on we’ve had testing procedures in place and that’s the best that I can go off of. But I’m not here to represent that I’m confident about anything on anybody. I think we’ve lived through a tough, tough stretch that shattered that confidence level,” he said. “If you asked me that question five years ago, I’d be giving you a different answer. But I’ve been educated quite a bit, unfortunately, over the course of time. I won’t make the same mistakes I’ve made in the past. I’m not confident about anything in the past any more.”

It’s safe to say the Yankees are not pleased. They don’t take kindly to their image being dusted like this.

So here we are at Big Stein Field, waiting for the Joe Girardi press conference. The place, as always, looks good.

Girardi, the coaches and Brian Cashman and others are in a meeting discussing all the pitchers and catchers in camp. They’ll go over everybody else tomorrow. These are marathon sessions.

Wonder how long they spend on Kei Igawa? 30 seconds?

Here is the audio from Brian Cashman’s session with the press today. I’d like to tell you we talked about sunny skies, bright prospects and prospective trades but it was all A-Rod

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In essence, the Yankees are going to take each day as it comes. Cashman said he has no plans to try and find out whether any of his players are on the list of positive tests from 2003. He believes those tests were anonymous and should stay that way.

A. J. Burnett is here and tossing in the outfield.

Brian Cashman is here and said the club is taking it day by day with Alex.

Cashman was asked whether he was confident that A-Rod didn’t use steroids while a Yankee.

He said he could not be given all the revelations in the game. “I’ve been educated,” he said.

Cashman said he will not ask any Yankees whether they are on the list from 2003 as he believes it should remain anonymous.

More on this later, along with audio.

Here’s a shot of Joba Chamberlain (left) and Phil Hughes throwing in the bullpen.

Joe Girardi is here in Tampa and will meet with the media this afternoon. We’re not quite sure of the time as there will be a staff meeting first.

For now the plan is to head over to the morning workout at the minor-league complex and see what is going on over there. I’ll be back later with some more primo iPhone photos.

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In case you were wondering — and you probably were not — the Yankees have a little name game going in camp.

As you know, they signed Mark Teixeira to play first base.

They also have RHP Kanekoa Texeira, who came over with Nick Swisher from the White Sox.

Mark has an extra letter “i” in his name. Kankoa does not. Back where I come from, we had a whole lot of Portuguese folks and they pronounced that name TEX-era. Mark pronounces it Tuh-SHARE-uh. I have no idea how Kanekoa pronounces it. He’s from Hawaii.

Joba Chamberlain went through a tough time this winter and he thinks A-Rod will get through his difficulties. This story also has word on some roster additions.

Tyler Kepner of the Times pointed out on his blog last night that A-Rod has added yet another set of advisors. He signed up with Outside Eyes, a crisis-management firm run by a former Republican political operative.

The company, interestingly enough, also employs Bonnie Bernstein. I wonder if she helped him prep for that ESPN interview? According to their web site, here is what they’ll do for a client in a crisis:

Assemble a team and build a War Room to coordinate and manage the people, process, and media in real time. Host a strategy session with your team to define objectives, expectations, success metrics, and confirm the pertinent facts and timelines.

Wow, a capital W and R in War Room. Impressive. What are success metrics? Confirming the pertinent facts could be tough.

So at last count, here is who Alex has for advisors:

· Scott Boras, super agent.

· Richard Rubenstein, the son of famed George Steinbrenner spokesman Howard Rubenstein.

· Guy Oseary, a Hollywood agent who guided Madonna to the top.

· The William Morris Agency, the noted talent firm.

· Outside Eyes.

· Yankees Media Relations director Jason Zillo.

They’re going to need their own clubhouse. In all seriousness, somebody along the way should be able to give the guy some good advice and hopefully he takes it. Whenever he does show up, it should be interesting.

The Post reported today that long-time (as in 21 years) team physical Stuart Hershon is stepping down and will be replaced by Dr. Chris Ahmad.

How teams manage injuries and work to prevent them is an aspect of the game that has improved greatly over the last few years and will continue. The Yankees have stumbled a few times (remember Marty Miller?) but this move seems like a sound one.

Dr. Ahmad is associated with the famed Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in California and is now with New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. He’s a shoulder and elbow expert and has done innovative work on knees. Obviously this is a top-notch guy and it’ll be interesting to see if the Yankees change how they’ve done things in the past.

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Mark Teixeira was at Georgia Tech today to drop a cool $500,000 on the baseball program and commented on A-Rod.

“I’ve been around long enough to not really be shocked by anything,” he said. “This is a sport that’s had some troubles, there’s no doubt. I’m not going to judge anybody. I’ve never touched steroids or any of those kinds of things — it’s something I feel very strongly about — but at the same time I’ve made mistakes, I’m not perfect, no one’s perfect.”

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One of the keys to spring training is a decent car. Along with driving back and forth to Big Stein Field every day, we have some fairly lengthy road trips.

I rented out of National and dropped $20 on the guy in the parking lot to get a nice ride that had satellite radio and an aux jack for my iPod. Terrestrial radio doesn’t cut it down here and I didn’t want to haul down a bunch of CDs.

It’s good having E Street Radio (all Bruce, all the time) and the POTUS channel for politics. ESPN has a few stations as well.

I stumbled across Chris Russo’s station this afternoon. He is just brutal without Mike Francesa. It’s like his old Saturday-morning WFAN show, only louder and more nonsensical. It was hard to get through five minutes.