The LoHud Yankees Blog

For those who don’t know the term, a non-roster player in spring training is anyone not on the 40-man, so this list includes both organizational minor leaguers and new players signed to minor league deals. Every player on the 40-man will also be in big league camp. Here’s the press release, with no huge surprises.

The New York Yankees today announced they have signed outfielder Marcus Thames to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League spring training. In total, the club invited 20 non-roster players to 2010 Spring Training in Tampa, Fla. The list includes 10 pitchers, five catchers and five outfielders. The total number of players now scheduled to report is 60.

Thames, 32, was originally selected by the Yankees in the 30th round of the 1996 First-Year Player Draft. He owns a .243 career batting average with 75 doubles, 101 home runs and 261 RBI in 522 Major League games over parts of eight seasons with the Yankees, Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers. Since 2006, he has averaged one home run every 14.52 at-bats, marking the fourth-lowest ratio in the American League over the stretch (min. 1,100 AB). Thames batted .252 with 11 doubles, 13 home runs and 36 RBI in 87 games with the Tigers in 2009, missing nearly two months (April 19-June 7) on the disabled list with a left rib cage strain.

LHP Wilkins Arias, 29, spent the 2009 season with Double-A Trenton, going 5-4 with a 3.65 ERA in 48 appearances (two starts) and holding left-handed batters to a .183 (20-for-109) batting average with one home run. Arias was originally signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent in June 2005.

LHP Jeremy Bleich, 22, combined to go 9-10 with a 4.86 ERA in 27 starts with Single-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton in 2009. Bleich enters the 2010 season ranked by Baseball America as the organization’s ninth-best prospect after recording the fifth-most strikeouts (116) among all Yankees minor leaguers in 2009. The Louisiana native was originally selected by the Yankees in Compensation Round A (44th overall) of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.

OF Colin Curtis, 24, appeared in 126 games with Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2009, combining to bat .250 with seven home runs, 48 RBI and a career-high 24 doubles. Curtis was originally selected by the Yankees in the fourth round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft out of Arizona State University.

RHP Grant Duff, 27, combined to go 4-3 with two saves and a 3.52 ERA in 45 appearances (one start) with Single-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton in 2009. The right-hander was selected by the Yankees in the 31st round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft out of the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif.

OF Reid Gorecki, 29, saw his first Major League action in 2009, batting .200 in 31 games with Atlanta. Also spent time with Triple-A Gwinnett, batting .286 with 27 doubles, nine home runs and 49 RBI in 106 games, setting a career high in doubles. Gorecki was originally selected by St. Louis in the 13th round of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft.

C Kyle Higashioka, 19, batted .253 with 11 doubles, two home runs and 32 RBI in 60 games with short-season Single-A Staten Island in 2009, leading all New York-Penn League catchers in games caught (57), total chances (497) and putouts (451). His 25.3 percent caught stealing rate (19-for-75) ranked fifth in the league. Originally selected by the Yankees in the seventh round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, Higashioka will be the youngest player in the team’s spring training camp.

RHP Jason Hirsh, 27, owns an 8-11 career record with a 5.32 ERA in 32 appearances (29 starts) over parts of three Major League seasons with Houston (2006) and Colorado (2007-08). In 2009, he combined to go 10-7 with a 5.55 ERA in 26 appearances (22 starts) with Triple-A Colorado Springs and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Following a mid-season trade to the Yankees on July 29, 2009, he went undefeated in six starts with Scranton/WB, going 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA. Hirsh was originally selected by Houston in the second round of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft.

LHP Kei Igawa, 30, led Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in both wins and games started, going 10-8 with a 4.15 ERA in 26 starts. With 29 career wins at the Triple-A level, the lefthander now holds the record for most victories in Scranton/WB history. Igawa was originally acquired by the Yankees through the Japanese posting process in November 2007 and owns a 2-4 record with a 6.66 ERA in 16 Major League games (13 starts).

RHP Zach McAllister, 22, went 7-5 with an Eastern League-leading 2.23 ERA in 22 starts with Double-A Trenton in 2009, ranking second among Yankees minor leaguers in ERA. Originally selected by the Yankees in the third round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, he enters 2010 ranked by Baseball America as the Yankees’ fifth-best prospect and as having the “Best Control” in the organization.

C Jesus Montero, 20, combined to bat .337 with 45 runs, 25 doubles, 17 home runs and 70 RBI in 92 games with Single-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton in 2009, ranking fourth among all Yankees minor leaguers in home runs. Named to the midseason All-Star teams with both Tampa and Trenton, he had his season cut short when he was hit by a pitch while behind the plate on 8/1, fracturing his middle finger. Originally signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent in October 2006, the Venezuela native, played for the World Team in the 2009 All-Star Futures Game at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium. He enters the 2010 season ranked by Baseball America as the Yankees’ top prospect and the fifth-best prospect in all of Baseball (top catcher).

C P.J. Pilittere, 28, combined to hit .220 with one home run and 17 RBI in 55 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Double-A Trenton in 2009. Originally selected by the Yankees in the 13th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, Pilittere will be making his fourth straight spring training appearance after receiving non-roster invitations each year since 2007.

LHP Royce Ring, 29, spent the 2009 season with Triple-A Memphis, going 5-2 with four saves and a 3.04 ERA in 51 relief outings. In 94 relief appearances, he owns a 3-3 record with a 4.93 ERA over parts of four Major League seasons with the Mets (2005-06), San Diego (2007) and Atlanta (2007-08), holding left-handed batters to a .229 (30-for-131) batting average. Ring was originally selected by Chicago-AL as the 18th overall pick in the first round of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft.

C Mike Rivera, 33, owns a .244 (129-for-528) career batting average with 13 home runs and 69 RBI in 181 Major League games over parts of seven seasons with Detroit (2001-02), San Diego (2003) and Milwaukee (2006-09). He hit .228 with two home runs and 14 RBI in 41 games with the Brewers in 2009, making 31 starts at catcher. Rivera was originally signed by the Detroit Tigers as a non-drafted free agent in 1997.

C Austin Romine, 21, was selected by the Yankees in the second round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft out of El Toro High School in California and will be making his third consecutive appearance as a spring training non-roster invitee. He batted .276 with 61 runs, 28 doubles, 13 home runs and 72 RBI in 118 games with Single-A Tampa in 2009, tying his career high in hits and establishing career highs in doubles and RBI. Following the season, Romine was tabbed by Baseball America as the second-best prospect in the Yankees organization. He was selected by the Yankees in the second round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft.

RHP Amaury Sanit, 30, went 1-5 with 10 saves and a 3.16 ERA in 44 combined relief outings with Single-A Tampa, Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2009. Sanit was originally signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent in August 2008.

RHP Zack Segovia, 26, went 1-0 with a 7.84 ERA in eight relief appearances with the Washington Nationals in 2009. He also saw time at the minor league level, combining to go 3-5 with six saves and a 3.24 ERA in 51 appearances (three starts) with Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse. Segovia was originally selected by the Phillies in the second round of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft.

OF Jon Weber, 31, hit .302 with 14 home runs and 69 RBI in 117 games with Triple-A Durham in 2009, leading the team in hits (136) and doubles (46) and ranking third in runs scored (63) and RBI. Originally signed by Cincinnati as a non-drafted free agent in 1999, Weber spent the last two seasons in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

RHP Kevin Whelan, 26, combined to go 4-0 with three saves and a 2.67 ERA in 44 relief appearances with Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2009, allowing just one home run in 67.1 IP. Whelan was acquired by the Yankees with RHPs Humberto Sanchez and Anthony Claggett from Detroit in exchange for OF Gary Sheffield in November 2006. He was originally drafted by the Tigers in the fourth round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft.

OF David Winfree, 24, batted .273 with 48 runs, 14 home runs, 61 RBI and a career-high-tying 31 doubles in 116 games with Triple-A Rochester in 2009, leading the team in doubles, ranking second in home runs and RBI and third in hits. Winfree was originally selected by the Twins in the 13th round of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft.

Jon Heyman is reporting that the Yankees have signed Marcus Thames. Nothing official, but I have to assume this is a minor league deal.

Brian Cashman has said several times that he would like to add a right-handed hitting outfielder, and this could be exactly the addition he’s been looking for. Good competition in big league camp, and more outfield depth if Jamie Hoffmann struggles.

UPDATE, 3:38 p.m.: Just confirmed with Brian Cashman that Thames has signed a minor league deal.

UPDATE, 3:58 p.m.: The Yankees just announced the Randy Winn signing. That news broke so long ago, I think I had forgotten it wasn’t official.

At some point in the past four months, I got used to writing about baseball every day. Taking seven days off felt … odd. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the time off, but it took a few days to break the habit of constantly checking email and Twitter and various corners of the Internet.

Now that I’m back, it doesn’t seem that very much has changed.

• I couldn’t help noticing in Jesse’s morning post that Johnny Damon’s name still has this label next to it: (FA). Same for Chien-Ming Wang.

• Still no list of non-roster invitations? I was positive that would come out while I was away. Positive!

• Saturday was Babe Ruth’s birthday. Friday was Hank Aaron’s birthday. That’s a lot of home runs coming from a couple of days in early February.

• One thing I did not miss last week was Nick Swisher on How I Met Your Mother. I thought he did a nice job, and episode was funny, but Jim Nantz stole the show.   

As for this morning’s guest post, which of those names do the Yankees miss the most? Would you most want to have Alfonso Soriano back? Bobby Abreu? Johnny Damon? Wil Nieves? Juan Rivera isn’t the best of the bunch, but he would be a nice fit with the current Yankees. A fairly cheap, sort-of young, right-handed corner outfielder with pop would fit pretty well.

Next up in the Pinch Hitters series is Jesse Ghiorzi, who searched through baseball to put together a team of familiar faces.

Jesse grew up in Westchester County, lives in Ohio and tries to make it home for two or three games at The Stadium every year (he also catches four or five games on the road). “My favorite Yankees memory was sitting on the third-base line during David Cone’s perfect game,” he wrote.

Jesse is the PR coordinator for a race track — “cars, not horses!” – and runs his own blog with his friend Mike Pellegrini, “who had the idea for the ex-Yankees team,” Jesse wrote.

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If you take a look at virtually any MLB roster, you’ll recognize a player or three who played in the Yankees organization at one point. Years ago I remember looking at guys like Jay Buhner mashing, Kenny Rogers toeing the rubber and J.T. Snow flashing leather and wondered “what could have been?”

While this team isn’t as star-studded as it could have been in other years, I’ve often thought you could put together a roster comprised of former Yankees that is good enough to compete for the playoffs. I picked the team based on who would give me the best chance to win in one season, not one game, not one series, or for five years. My selections are below, with information about how the player came to and left the Yankees as well as his active years in the organization.

Lineup
1. Alfonso Soriano, 2B (CHC)
signed after playing for Hiroshima Toyo Carp, 1999-2003, traded to TEX 2004
2. Johnny Damon, CF (FA)
signed as FA, 2006-09, currently unsigned
3. Bobby Abreu, RF (ANA)
acquired via trade from PHI, 2007-09, signed w/ANA 2008
4. Carlos Pena, 1B (TB)
signed as FA, 2006, released 2006
5. Hideki Matsui, DH (ANA)
signed as FA, 2003-09, signed w/ANA 2009
6. Juan Rivera , LF (ANA)
signed as amateur FA, 1996-2003, traded to MON 2003
7. Mike Lowell, 3B (BOS)
drafted, 1995-1998, traded to FLA 1999
8. Dioner Navarro, C (TB)
signed as amateur FA, 2000-04, traded to ARI 2005
9. Nick Green, SS (BOS)
purchased from ATL, 2006, signed w/PIT 2007

Bench
Melky Cabrera, OF (ATL)
signed as amateur FA, 2001-09, traded to ATL 2009
Wil Nieves, C (WAS)
acquired via trade LAA, 2005-2007, signed w/WAS 2008
Eric Hinske, UTIL (ATL)
acquired via trade from PIT, 2009, sign w/ATL 2009
Jerry Hairston, Jr., UTIL (SD)
acquired via trade from CIN 2009, signed w/SD 2010

Rotation
Ted Lilly, LHP (CHC)
acquired via trade from MON, 2000-02, traded to OAK 2002
Jake Westbrook, RHP (CLE)
acquired via trade from MON/WAS (same one as Lilly!) 2000, traded to CLE 2000
Ross Ohlendorf, RHP (PIT)
acquired via trade from ARI, 2007-08, traded 2008
Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (FA)
signed as amateur FA, 2000-09, currently unsigned
Jeff Weaver, RHP (LAD)
acquired via trade from DET, 2002-2003, traded to LAD 2003

Bullpen
Scott Proctor, RHP (ATL)
acquired via trade from LAD, 2003-07, traded to LAD 2007
Octavio Dotel, RHP(CHW)
signed as FA, 2006, signed w/KC 2006
Tyler Clippard, RHP (WAS)
drafted, 2003-07, traded to WAS 2007
LaTroy Hawkins, RHP (HOU)
signed as FA, 2008, traded to HOU 2008
Brett Tomko, RHP (OAK)
signed as FA, 2009, released 2009
Phil Coke, LHP (DET)
drafted, 2002-09, traded to DET 2009
Randy Choate, LHP (TB)
drafted, 1997- 2003, traded to MON 2003

Coaching staff
Manager- Joe Torre (LAD) 1996-2007
Bench- Don Zimmer (TB) 1996-2003
Pitching- Joe Kerrigan (PIT) 2006-07
1B- Willie Randolph (MIL) 1994-2004
3B- Larry Bowa (LAD) 2006-07

Strengths
An outfield of Rivera, Damon and Abreu gives me good pop (68 HR in 2009) and lots of offense but leaves a lot to be desired in the department of defense. Speedy guys like Ellsbury and Ichiro would tag up from 1st base on deep flies. The bench is a major strength, with Leche starting probably three games a week to give Rivera, Damon and Abreu each a day off. It’s also versatile with two guys (Hinske and Hairston, Jr.) who can play multiple positions.

Weaknesses
Injury concerns run rampant up and down the roster, so we’re going to throw a crazy amount of money at the vaunted Phoenix Suns training staff to keep our largely injured and/or aging players. Obviously with Green and Lowell on the left side of the infield is a point of concern, but hopefully that’s made up for with All-Stars on the right side. While the term closer-by-committee terrifies any baseball fan, it looks to be the case for the Ex-Yankees without a clear cut favorite. Choate (5 SV/ 13 GF in 2009) and Hawkins (11 SV/ 34 GF in 2009) are most likely going to see the bulk of the action.

Tough Choices
I love what Pudge Rodriguez can do for the staff, but I preferred the younger Nieves. It would have been nice to find a place for Xavier Nady, because I think he’ll put together a decent year, but there are enough guys coming back from injury-plagued years on the club already. There was absolutely no way on God’s green Earth I was going to allow Carl Pavano and his cancerous ways into the clubhouse.

Bottom Line
If these Ex-Yankees were to play a full season in the AL East they could lose 90-95 games if the injury bug hits them. I think the best they’d do is around .500 based on having such a questionable pitching staff that the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox would abuse at times. However, since we are clearly operating in a fantasy world, imagine Bud Selig’s last act as commissioner was to place the Ex-Yankees in the NL Central in place of his Brewers. With this club getting to play the Reds, Pirates, Astros and Cubs (without Soriano and Lilly, remember) I pencil them in for 88-74, contending for the wildcard.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably battling a little bit of a stomachache and/or heartburn right now but feeling all the same that it was worth it. I hope everyone had a great time with family/friends/whomever during the game, and congrats to the Saints for pulling off a terrific comeback.

I’m not a huge Sean Payton fan – and he wasn’t exactly gracious to the Colts or Peyton Manning on the victor’s stand after the game was over – but say this for him: He gave a helluva of a halftime speech and he made some gutsy calls in the biggest game of his life. No doubt, the Saints were the better team today and they won.

Anyway, the highlight for me at these things is almost always the food and we pretty much had a clean sweep in terms of quality. The cheesy hash brown chili was fantastic, and the different wings both came out great. Obviously the Carvel football cake (pictured at right) was top-notch as well.

More importantly, the end of football season means that the stage is now set for baseball’s return. We’re just over a week away from pitchers and catchers reporting, and soon enough Opening Day will be upon us. The fun stuff is getting ever closer.

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By the way, for those who are interested: In my previous post, I talked about visiting the Ninth Ward on a recent trip to New Orleans and I meant to mention a project that I’ve written about in the past. Brian Bordainick, who is from Rockland County, N.Y., started up a foundation that is raising money for a new athletic stadium built within in the Ninth Ward. They’re getting cloesr to their funding goal but could use all the help they can get. I know Drew Brees and the Saints have pitched in, and if you’re interested, the website to donate is right here.

Today is, obviously, a great day for football fans but it’s also a great day for those of us who like to eat (and, I suppose, those of us who like commercial with Clydesdale horses).

Anyway, I’m rooting for the Saints today – I’ve had occasion to be in New Orleans several times since Katrina and I’d love to see that city get to throw a party that will surely be as big as Mardi Gras. It’s really amazing the amount of damage that is still visible from the hurricane; what struck me most was the difference from street to street and, sometimes, from house to house in terms of what had been able to be repaired. It was just incredibly jarring. One time when I was there, my wife and I drove out to the Ninth Ward and watched as a family literally worked on patching holes in its roof. This was in 2007.

Certainly there are great stories on both sides (watching Pierre Garcon hold the Haitian flag above his head after the AFC Championship game was intense, too), but I’m backing New Orleans, though – unfortunately – there won’t be any crawfish in my Super Bowl menu.

Here’s what is on tap:

Cheesy hash brown chili (something sort of like this)
Meatball subs
Lemon-pepper wings (sort of something like this)
Teriyaki wings (sort of something like this)
Beer-soaked shrimp (this is TBD – my dad often makes this but no confirmation)
Chips/salsa
An elaborate cheese tray
A football-shaped ice cream cake from Carvel

Needless to say, I’m excited. Feel free to talk about the game, the food, the commercials and everything on this thread and I’ll be back later on tonight to wrap up the week. Hope everyone has a great afternoon and evening.

Several times this week we’ve tried to compare players from different generations, almost always with frustrating results. Attempting to liken one player’s accomplishments (and the challenges he faced) with another’s from an entirely different era is the height of subjectivity; everyone has a different opinion on what corresponds fairly.

Now John, despite being a Saybrook man at Yale (there’s Stiles blood in my family), presents an interesting argument about Roger Maris and the single-season home run record. He posits that Maris is still the rightful holder because, if you remove all players who have admittedly (or very nearly been show to have) used PEDs than Maris’s performance is still tops.

It’s a tough question. One could make a reasonable case that, actually, Babe Ruth should still have the record since Maris needed eight more games in his season to hit one more homer than Ruth. I don’t happen to agree with that thinking – a season is a season and Maris can’t be faulted for that, much like earlier stars couldn’t control who was and wasn’t allowed to play in the majors – but if a player isn’t penalized during a particular season (for something that wasn’t penalize-able, if you will, during that season) than is it fair to retroactively say the accomplishment doesn’t count?

It’s easier for me to formulate an opinion on how to handle the Hall of Fame issue. If I’m fortunate enough to become a voter in a few years, I’ll be more comfortable coming up with a way to handle PED users whose stats put them in the HOF discussion (as discussed earlier, I lean towards leaving out admitted “cheaters” on the morals clause, though I’m still considering).

With the records and the so-called “asterisks,” I’m more conflicted. How do you differentiate? What are “felonies” and what are “misdemeanors” on the grand PED scale? Are greenies as bad as stanazonol? HGH? Boli? How do you rank them?

The only answer is that there is no easy one. And the sad reality is that the harm inflicted by those who use PEDs stretches much farther than most would imagine. Posts like John’s show the damage can reach across generations.

Now batting in our Pinch Hitters series is John Ettinger, who wrote in appreciation of a broken record.

A sophomore economics major at Yale — “and a proud member of Saybrook College,” he wrote — John grew up in New York City and hopes to one day write public economic policy. Although he worked last summer as an intern with the Mets, John has always been a Yankees fan, counting Phil Hughes as his favorite player, “since the day he was drafted.”

“My father and grandfather inspired in me a love for both the sport and the team,” John wrote.

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In a sport of hallowed records, there is none quite as sacred as the single-season home run mark. A home run is, in every sense, the perfect physical feat: the sweet “crack” of the bat, the eerie stillness as the ball disappears into the night, the skyward gaze of the helpless fielders. Americans hold a special reverence for the home run and for those heroes who can launch not just one or two, but dozens over the course of a season.

One such hero is an under-appreciated country boy from Fargo, North Dakota. Roger Maris did the unthinkable in 1961 by supplanting the Great Bambino (albeit given 8 more games) as America’s home run king. His 61 dingers stood for over three decades as the unrivaled pinnacle of sporting achievement. Today? The single-season home run tally looks like this:

1) Barry Bonds, 73 (2001)
2) Mark McGwire, 70 (1998)
3) Sammy Sosa, 66 (1998)
4) Mark McGwire, 65 (1999)
5) Sammy Sosa, 64 (2001)
6) Sammy Sosa, 63 (1999)
*7) Roger Maris, 61 (1961)
*8) Babe Ruth, 60 (1927)
9) Babe Ruth, 59 (1921)
T-10) Jimmie Fox, 58 (1932)
T-10) Hank Greenberg, 58 (1938)
T-10) Mark McGwire, 58 (1997)
T-10) Ryan Howard, 58 (2006)

Maris’ legacy has fallen far and fast. Once a king, he has now dropped to seventh on the all-time list. You may, however, have noticed an interesting trend among the top ten (or perhaps deduced the theme of this article). When we control for players who have tested positive for steroids, have admitted to using steroids or have heads the size of a watermelon, the list takes on a different shape:

*1) Roger Maris, 61 (1961)
*2) Babe Ruth, 60 (1927)
3) Babe Ruth, 59 (1921)
T-4) Jimmie Fox, 58 (1932)
T-4) Hank Greenberg, 58 (1938)
T-4) Ryan Howard, 58 (2006)
7) Luis Gonzalez, 57 (2001) (this is a generous inclusion)
T-8) Ken Griffey, Jr., 56 (1997)
T-8) Ken Griffey, Jr., 56 (1998)
T-8) Hack Wilson, 56 (1930)

The point here is simple. Maris’ 1961 season still stands unmatched by any clean sluggers. Despite remarkable advances in technology, training and medicine, despite the gradual shrinking of ballparks, despite the furious attempts of thousands of would-be heroes, Maris /still/ stands alone. This mark, now 49 years old, is truly one of the most treasured achievements in the history of sport.

Will Roger Maris make the Hall of Fame? No. Will he ever again wear the single-season home run crown? No. But to all true fans of sport, we will always know. We will always remember that the power of a record comes not from a silly number but from a shared memory—the memory of a boy (my father) scrambling through the morning paper to read a box score; the memory of a hero toppling baseball’s greatest giant; the memory of a legacy that will never die in the hearts of true baseball fans.

Was doing some reading this afternoon and came upon a nice piece by good buddy Bob Klapisch, who wrote about Joe Girardi’s spring training opening address to the Yankees. Klap is right in that some of the best advice Joe Torre ever gave his teams came in these speeches, and I can remember talking to one rookie shortly after the speech one spring and the kid giving me the widest-eyed look you’d ever seen; it wasn’t because Torre was fired up  (Torre was usually very understated, as you’d expect) but because of the difficulty of the message: Simple as Torre might have made filtering out the distractions sound, the notion that it had to be a point of emphasis on the first day of spring hammered home the idea that playing for the Yankees is something different.

We talk all the time about chemistry and, as I’ve said before, I’m of the belief that chemistry is much like a team’s manager – it gets too much credit when the team wins and too much blame when it loses. That said, in New York – especially on a team like the Yankees (and even more especially when George Steinbrenner was at his peak) – the vibe in the clubhouse matters. There’s too much pressure for it not to make a difference.

Many of you emailed after Melky Cabrera was traded to ask about how his departure would affect Robinson Cano, who was his best friend on the team. There were also questions about how Hideki Matsui’s departure would affect team chemistry since Matsui was an established veteran. In neither case did I think the player leaving would make all that much of a difference; Cano will miss Cabrera, but he’ll be fine and Matsui was a rock, to be sure, but not necessarily a vocal leader.

Johnny Damon, though, is a slightly different story. Assuming Damon does, in fact, sign elsewhere it will be interesting to see just how the clubhouse is affected. A few years ago, I would have said his departure could have caused a much bigger change; with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher now on the team, there are others who can provide the “light” element that the core four doesn’t necessarily offer. Damon was also a stand-up spokesman, someone who would not hesitate to speak about big-picture team issues on tough days – a role which is important because it allowed his teammates to avoid the stresses of the media on days when emotions were high. In a market like New York, that’s important.

Girardi (deservedly) got a lot of credit for improving his clubhouse tenor last year and it will be tested again this year. Without Damon, can he find the right balance again? As he tries to lead the Yankees to repeat, it may be one of the biggest challenges he’ll face.

Extra-special birthday wishes go out to the spirit of Babe Ruth today, who is no doubt looking down somewhere and wondering what all the fuss over Johnny Damon wanting millions of dollars is all about. The Babe, who passed away in 1948, would be turning 115 today.

Earlier this week we debated the greatest Yankee of all time (which, probably, isn’t Derek Jeter) and obviously Ruth is the clubhouse leader. If you’ve got a minute, take a look at his baseball-reference page; it’s ridiculous! Although it’s very difficult to compare players from different generations, I think we can all agree that Ruth’s career OPS+ of 207 – which is still the all-time record – is pretty darn impressive.

So happy birthday, Babe. There’s never been another one quite like you.

———

Also, wanted to take a minute to thank all the blog readers who came up and said hello at today’s World Series trophy showing in Westchester. It’s always an honor to be recognized and it means a lot to hear from so many folks who enjoy what we do here. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and say hi.

(By the way, for those who asked: There are actually two Commissioner’s Trophies that the Yankees use to commemorate the World Series win. Unlike, say, the Stanley Cup, a new trophy (or two) is made each year for that year’s champion. So, while one trophy has been in Asia this past week, the other is here in America. I asked Tony Amelio, the Yankees security manager who escorted the trophy today, which one this one was and he said he wasn’t sure but believed that it was the one on the field after the Game 6 clincher.)