The LoHud Yankees Blog

I know this is short notice. But given all the news lately, this seems like a good time to do a live video chat.

So click over to the LoHud Yankees Blog Mogulus channel at 4 p.m. and I’ll take questions for at least 30 minutes.

Thanks.

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OK, the Yankees are done with their workout and I posted a video report on our Mogulus channel about it. Its only three minutes long, but not much happened.

Derek Jeter just spoke to a handful of writers here. He reserved comment on A-Rod, saying he wanted to wait until the position players report and all the media was gathered.

I’m sure some will take it as Derek passing on a chance to support Alex, but I think he’s trying to be fair.

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Selena Roberts on WFAN at noon.

Here’s a shot of Derek and Jorge and one of a clean-shaven Nick Swisher in the cage.

Lots of Yankees here at the minor-league complex. Jeter, Posada, Swisher, Wang, Joba, Hughes and Gardner.

Wang threw off the mound yesterday and said his foot felt fine. He and Mrs. Wang are expecting a boy.

Here we are at WEDU in Tampa waiting to tape for ESPN2.

The station is right across the street from the George Steinbrenner Boys And Girls Club.

Boy, I wonder what they’ll ask?

Meanwhile this is the glamourous green room.

Alex Rodriguez said he was sorry for using steroids and blamed a permissive culture in the game.

For the Yankees, spring training will start with a major distraction to deal with. It will fall on Joe Girardi to lead the team through it.

Columnist Rick Carpiniello writes that voting for the Hall of Fame has become an impossible task because of steroids.

My first vote will be in a year and it certainly has become an issue. Frankly, I’m glad a player like A-Rod won’t be eligible for another 14 years. It might take that long to get some perspective on this era.

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I’ll be heading over to the minor-league complex this morning to watch he workouts. So check back later for reports. I’m also scheduled for First Take this morning on ESPN2 at 10 a.m.

I finally escaped my hotel room for a few minutes and while out in the fresh air (it’s a lovely 61 in Tampa), it occurred to me that A-Rod is probably going to have a huge season.

Think about it. He literally can’t get booed any louder than he does already, so the idea that he’ll somehow be tortured by fans is ludicrous. He’s past an ugly breakup and divorce. He’ll have Mark Teixeira hitting either in front of him or behind him. He also has this dark secret out in the open. In theory, he can just play baseball and stop worrying about what everybody thinks.

Personal goals of any sort are meaningless at this point for him. The only solution he has is to lead the Yankees back to the World Series. He’s a few big October hits away from Yankee fans not caring what he did. Fans from the other teams didn’t like him anyway.

The Bill James Handbook projected him for a .961 OPS, 42 jacks and 115 RBI. But if he went .325/.425/.625 with 45 homers and 140 RBI, would you be surprised? I wouldn’t.

For Joe Girardi and Kevin Long, the motivational speech is an easy one. The whole world knows what you did, now go show them what you can really do.

There may be a person who can save the newspaper industry after all:

Alex Rodriguez.

With two hours to go, there have been nearly 2,200 comments made on this blog today and we’re getting close to 70,000 page views. It’s amazing.

This is now the fourth season for this blog and nothing — absolutely nothing — generates more furor than our pal A-Rod. He is such a polarizing figure in so many ways. Fans either love him or hate him but everybody has an opinion.

So keep doing what you’re doing, Alex. In nine more years, you could be the guy who makes on-line journalism and blogging a profitable enterprise. Just don’t ask us for a cut, you make enough already.

Thanks to everybody for reading today.

STATEMENT FROM THE NEW YORK YANKEES

RE: ALEX RODRIGUEZ

“We strongly believe there is no place in baseball for performance enhancing drugs of any type, and we support the efforts of the Commissioner to continually improve the testing process.

“We speak often about the members of this organization being part of a family, and that is never more true than in times of adversity. Alex took a big step by admitting his mistake, and while there is no condoning the use of performance enhancing drugs, we respect his decision to take accountability for his actions. We support Alex, and we will do everything we can to help him deal with this challenge and prepare for the upcoming season.”

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With that, I think I am done for the night. I have one more newspaper story to finish and two bags to unpack. Thanks to everybody for reading and participating today. I appreciate it.