The LoHud Yankees Blog

Curtis Granderson needs to chase some fly balls in the outfield and he needs to take some swings during batting practice, but moving from Detroit to New York requires one other bit of preseason preparation: He has to decide how to address the Bleacher Creatures during Roll Call.

“I’ve got to prepare for that,” Granderson said. “I’ve got to talk to these guys to understand the full logic and understanding and concept of it all to make sure I don’t mess it up.”

This is still a get-to-know-you period for Granderson — “It’s kind of like the first day of school all over again,” he said. “There are a bunch of names that, if you quiz me right now, I might forget them.” — but he’s come to camp with a well-documented reputation as a good guy, easy talk to and willing to work.

“Very pleasant, very hard worker,” Joe Girardi said. “We’ve heard all about his community efforts and all of the things that he does. He just seems like a real quality person.”

Here’s the audio from Granderson.

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First things first, feel free to call him Chris or Christian. He answers to both and doesn’t mind either, though he does introduce himself as Christian.

As for his elbow, Garcia said it tightened up the other day after he threw, not while he was throwing. To be on the safe side, the Yankees had him take yesterday off, and he played catch again this afternoon. Garcia plans to throw a bullpen tomorrow.

So far, this seems to be a minor scare for a pitcher who has gone through more than his share of injury problems.

“Everything feels great,” he said. “I just have to make sure it stays that way.”

For the past few days, Joe Girardi has talked about a loud clubhouse. He’s talked about the position players arriving in camp, settling into their lockers and bringing some noise to George M. Steinbrenner Field. There was only one problem with that plan.

“Swish, I think, forgot a cord, so he wasn’t able to plug his iPod in,” Girardi said. “He assured me that he would go get the cord today, and that we’d be OK tomorrow.”

Truth is, everything went smoothly today. Derek Jeter’s press conference was predictably calm, the first team batting practice went off without a hitch and a few pitchers got some work done in the bullpen. It was a perfectly productive, quiet day.

“A lot of times when things go wrong, you sit and talk about all the things that went wrong,” Girardi said. “Too many times, when you do a lot of right things, you don’t sit around and evaluate what we did right. So we talked about a lot of the things that we did right (last year). , It’s important that there are new faces here, there are new challenges in front of us, because every season is different whether you have the same faces or not.”

It finally feels like spring training around here with infielders taking grounders on two different fields.

In the stadium, on the main field, are Brandon Laird, Derek Jeter, Eduardo Nunez, Robinson Cano, Jorge Vazquez and Juan Miranda. Laird is at third, Nunez seems to be getting all of his time next to Jeter at short. Nothing out of the ordinary, just some double play flips and a few throws across the diamond.

On the back field, it’s the same thing: Alex Rodriguez and Kevin Russo at third, Ramiro Pena at short, Reegie Corona at second, Mark Teixeira and Nick Johnson at first.

Position players on one side of the outfield, pitchers on the other. The first full-squad workout is underway here at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Most pitchers are getting a day off to prepare for live batting practice tomorrow, but there will be five pitchers in the bullpen: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Javier Vazquez, Wilkin De La Rosa and Andrew Brackman. All four either started throwing a few days later than their teammates, or have been slowed down slightly because of injury concerns, that’s why their schedule is slightly different.

Batting practice is divided into eight groups:

Robinson Cano
Curtis Granderson
Derek Jeter
Francisco Cervelli

Brett Gardner
Jamie Hoffmann
Nick Swisher
Mike Rivera

Nick Johnson
Marcus Thames
Randy Winn
Jesus Montero

Greg Golson
Alex Rodriguez
Mark Teixeira
Jorge Posada

Brandon Laird
Jorge Vazquez
David Winfree
Kyle Higaschioka

Reegie Corona
Reid Gorecki
Ramiro Pena
Austin Romine

Juan Miranda
Eduardo Nunez
P.J. Piliterre

Colin Curtis
Kevin Russo
Jon Weber
Jose Gil

The media just moved into a tent behind the stadium. We’re waiting for Derek Jeter’s press conference, expecting a lot of questions about his contract. I’ll be back soon with some updates.

UPDATE, 9:11a.m.: First question was about the contract. “I’ve never gone into a season focused on the next season,” Jeter said.

UPDATE, 9:15 a.m.: “I’ve never put limitations on how long I will play… I want to play as long as I can, as long as I’m having fun, as long as I’m productive.”

UPDATE, 9:17 a.m.: “This is the only organization I want to play for. I think I can say it enough times. I’m not worried about what my legacy is at this point.”

UPDATE, 9:20 a.m.: On where last year’s championship ranks in the five titles he’s won: “I think it would be sort of like trying to rank which kid you like the most.”

UPDATE, 9:23 a.m.: “I want to play shortstop as long as I can.”

UPDATE, 9:44 a.m.: Here’s the full audio of the Jeter press conference. It went exactly as expected, with Jeter talking mostly about his contract, saying he wants to play only for the Yankees and doesn’t want to discuss the contract after today.

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Fourteen months ago, Brian Cashman convinced the Yankees ownership to sign Mark Teixeira to an eight-year deal, and one year into that contract, it looks like a good investment. “It doesn’t happen all that often when you can go to ownership and tell them about what a player is on every level: clubhouse, bat, field,” Cashman said.

On the mound yesterday, Andy Pettitte became the last of the Yankees starters to throw a bullpen session, having cut back his winter work at the request of Joe Girardi. The notebook also has items on Robinson Cano, Damaso Marte, Boone Logan and the upcoming plans for the Yankees pitchers.

Let me add a belated congratulations and good luck to Jack Curry, who’s joining the YES Network after more than two decades at the New York Times. I haven’t known Jack nearly as long as some of the other guys on the beat, but he’s always been terrific to me. Helpful. Friendly. Willing to point me in the right direction. He’ll be great for YES.

Also, former Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone is moving to television, retiring from baseball to take a job with ESPN. I don’t believe I’ve ever met Boone, but I’ve also never met a single person who didn’t think the world of him.

While we’re on the subject of television, Bronx Bombers Beat has a list of all the Yankees spring training games that will be televised on YES, MLB Network or ESPN.

Most of the position players were long gone by the time the writers got back into the clubhouse this afternoon. Joe Girardi said he will wait until tomorrow to deliver his spring training message to the team.

“To me, we start over,” Girardi said. “There was a good feeling in that clubhouse and we need to go back and get that good feeling. We have to work at it.”

Girardi once again said that he’s not concerned about the Yankees getting complacent after last year’s championship.

“I’ve said all along, there’s great character in that room and there are guys that are hungry every year,” he said. “…When you sign on here, you know there’s an expectation and you’re reminded of that daily, in a sense.”

Here’s the Girardi audio.

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• Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain each threw 40 pitches today. They won’t throw again until Friday, when they throw live batting practice to the Yankees position players.

• Not sure what happens with the pitchers tomorrow. Pitching coach Dave Eiland said Group 1 — the group that pitched yesterday — will throw live batting practice to hitters on Thursday.

• Girardi said he didn’t see Andy Pettitte’s bullpen session. Instead, he went to watch the catchers make throws to second base for the first time this spring. He wanted to see their arms, but he also wanted to make sure they didn’t overdo it. “I told them that was my sole reason for being there, make sure you take it easy,” he said.

• Damaso Marte had an ice pack on his left shoulder this afternoon. He still hasn’t thrown in he bullpen — next week, he said — but he did play catch off flat ground.

• Speaking of left-handed relievers, Boone Logan has decided to go back to using a changeup instead of a splitfinger as his third pitch. He works mostly with a fastball and a slider, but he experimented with a split in recent years. He said the changeup has come back to him fairly quickly.

• Girardi didn’t provide many details, but minor league right-hander Chris Garcia sat out today’s bullpen session because of some pain in his elbow. Good news is he’s expected to play catch tomorrow. I don’t really know Garcia at all, but I’d love to see him get through a healthy season just to show what he can do, for better or for worse.

• Big, power-hitting Double-A first baseman Jorge Vazquez was leaning back in his chair when we got into the clubhouse this morning. Alfredo Aceves said he faced Vazquez a few years ago when the two were playing in Mexico. “A long time ago,” Aceves said. “He got a home run.”

• Pitchers who threw today:
First group: Chamberlain, Hughes, Pettitte, Ramirez
Second group: Igawa, Melancon, Logan, Moseley
Third group: McAllister, Nova, Whelan
Fourth group: Bleich, Mitchell, Noesi

• First group pairings: Rivera caught Chamberlain, Cervelli caught Hughes, Posada caught Pettitte, Pilittere caught Ramirez.

That top picture is Dustin Moseley, Mark Melancon and Kei Igawa after their bullpen session. The second picture is a group of catchers waiting for a bullpen session to start. L to R: Romine, Higashioka, Montero and Gil.

Sergio Mitre is not the only fifth starter/long relief candidate with a non-guaranteed contract. Brian Cashman confirmed this afternoon that Chad Gaudin’s deal is also non-guaranteed.

That means the Yankees have alternatives for each of their multi-inning pitchers who could be affected by the Chan Ho Park signing.

Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves have options remaining, so they can be sent to Triple-A. Mitre and Gaudin could be released in spring training without the Yankees being responsible for their contracts.