The LoHud Yankees Blog

1. His manager likes his Gold Glove chances.
“You talk about plays to the right, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone make them better than him,” Joe Girardi said. “His ability to throw the ball on the money when he’s not looking and how he gets the ball, we were very pleased with his defense.”

Girardi said he finds it “hard to believe” anyone played a better second base last season, but he said Jim Leyland probably feels the same way about Placido Polanco.

2. He misses his friend Melky Cabrera.
“I was sad, I’m not going to lie, because he’s my buddy,” Cano said “Hanging out all the time and we go to dinner together, we are always around and it’s a good time. (I told him to) go there, keep your head up and keep playing the game hard. You never know what’s going to happen. He might be back, who knows?”

As for Cabrera’s reaction to the trade: “I spoke to him right after,” Cano said. “I can’t say he was good. He was OK. He didn’t want to be traded, but he said there’s nothing he could do.”

3. He wants to be better with runners in scoring position.
“That’s one of the things I’m going to work on with men on base, be patient and swing at a ball that I can drive,” Cano said.

Cano hit just .207 with runners in scoring position last year, but Girardi wasn’t upset with his approach in those situations. “There was a streak when he had made about 10 or 11 outs in a row with runners in scoring position, and he hit nine bullets,” Girardi said. “Over the long term that usually irons itself out, but when you don’t have 600,000 at-bats, it doesn’t iron out. His at-bats, a lot of times were very good with runners in scoring position. I didn’t think he had a lot of luck last year”

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Here’s the Cano audio.

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Andy Pettitte’s elbow is back to 100 percent, his shoulder feels perfectly healthy and he planned to go about his offseason just like every other year. Then he got a call from Joe Girardi, who asked him to start throwing a little later than usual.

Instead of playing catch on January 1, Pettitte started January 16.

“They wanted me to do that and I told them I would do it,” Pettitte said. “You’re kind of not crazy about it because I’m kind of a creature of habit, but other than that, everything was just normal.”

As you might expect, this was all part of the Yankees plan to very slightly cut down on their starting pitchers’ workload this spring. Although his routine was slightly altered, Pettitte said he trusted Girardi and Dave Eiland when they told him the plan for a tweaked offseason. He threw 30 pitches this morning, becoming the last of the Yankees’ four confirmed starters to get into the bullpen.

“I threw a couple of times before I got down here,” Pettitte said. “It’s been a couple of weeks since I got on there, so it was good. It was good to get on there and get going. I felt good. Arm feels good. Same old story, just part of the process.”

Here’s the audio. Pettitte was on his way out the door to play golf, which explains the early jokes about a tee time.

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Positions players filtered in and out of the Yankees clubhouse this morning. Their first official workout begins tomorrow, but most seemed to be getting a few swings in the cage after taking their morning physicals.

“You’re always kind of looking for something else and trying to figure out what we did wrong, what we can improve on, what we can change to make it all the way every spring training,” Mark Teixeira said. “For us I think it’s, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. That was kind of our motto all last year during the playoffs.”

Derek Jeter is meeting with the media on Wednesday, and Alex Rodriguez is talking on Thursday. Other than those two, I can’t think of anyone I didn’t see in the clubhouse this morning.

Robinson Cano said he wants to be better in RBI situations. Jamie Hoffmann said he’s excited to get an opportunity with a team like the Yankees. Nick Swisher just seemed happy to be in a clubhouse full of baseball players again

“We feel like we’re just as capable of defending our championship as we were winning it last year,” Teixeira said. “We have a great team. The core group of guys are back, and hopefully we get a little bit better this year.”

Here’s the Teixeira audio.

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While most of the Yankees were asleep, Chan Ho Park announced that he would be joining their bullpen. The Yankees already have multiple long relief options, but the Yankees have been impressed by Park’s work as a reliever and saw him first hand in the World Series.

Long after Park’s South Korea press conference, A.J. Burnett threw his first bullpen session of the spring, and he threw it with Jorge Posada behind the plate. The two are committed to working together this season. The notebook also has items on Dave Robertson, Jesus Montero and Andy Pettitte.

Position player physicals begin at 7:30 this morning.

Also, if you’re interested in a nicely written, non-baseball story, check out Sam’s column on Frankie Scarfone.

That’s the question Sam was asked in an interview with Pinstripe Alley.

PA: If you could only re-sign one of Jeter and Mo, who would it be?

Sam: Wow – tough question. I guess I’d say Rivera, but only because I think it’s more likely he’d end up accepting a contract that didn’t have the potential to be difficult to handle on the back end. I’m just not sure what Derek Jeter at 40-plus years old is going to look like, and I have a feeling Jeter’s going to want a deal that will take him into that neighborhood. With Rivera, I’m confident he’ll still be good for two or three more years (which is likely to be the length of his next deal); can I say the same for the length of Jeter’s next six seasons or so? I guess I could, but I have a lot less certainty about it. Ultimately, if I had to choose between the two of these guys I’d probably just tell Hank Steinbrenner that he had to make the call.

It’s pretty much an impossible-to-answer question. My initial reaction is to go the opposite way and choose Jeter over Rivera, but Sam makes a good point. There’s not a right or wrong answer here — and I doubt this becomes an either/or situation — but I thought it might make for a solid Monday night discussion.

• Here’s the Fangraphs, statistical take on the Chan Ho Park signing.

• The Yankees have re-signed minor league C/1B Brian Baisley. He’s been a .299 hitter in the lower levels of the minors.

• Feel free to read about how awesome Stephen Strasburg is, and when you get to the bottom of the story, you’ll read about former Yankees right-hander Tyler Clippard getting a hole-in-one during a recent golf outing. (thanks to Kevin for the link)

• I can’t help feeling bad for Khalil Greene, who won’t be reporting to Rangers camp.

Before today’s bullpen sessions, Dave Robertson stood in right field playing catch alongside all of the other pitchers. But Robertson wasn’t throwing to a teammate, he was throwing to Triple-A pitching coach Scott Aldred. And he wasn’t doing a simple long toss, he was throwing as if from the stretch, occasionally with Aldred crouched like a catcher.

He was trying to refine his changeup.

“That stupid thing,” Robertson said. “You have it one day and the next day you don’t. I want to have it every day. But, it’s getting better.”

Robertson works mostly with a fastball-curveball combination, but he can also throw the changeup effectively. The problem is, his delivery occasionally gives it away, which ruins the deception. He sometimes pushes the ball, or lets his hand drag just before the release. Those are small mechanical adjustments, and he’s trying to get them just right.

• Andy Pettitte throws his first bullpen tomorrow. Thirty pitches, fastballs and changeups.

• Toward the end of CC Sabathia’s bullpen session, Francisco Cervelli started calling for his slider down and in (to a right-handed hitter). Cervelli practically put his glove flat on the ground to give Sabathia a target, and Sabathia was nailing his spot, perfectly to the ghost hitter’s back foot. “No one can hit that pitch,” Cervelli said. 

• As indicated in the previous post, Joe Girardi expects to carry 12 pitchers on opening day. “Our guess is we’ll take 12,” he said. “That’s what I’ve thought we’ll do.”

• Brett Gardner on the versatility of the outfield: “You never know where one person might be playing,” Gardner said. “It could easily switch around on a daily basis. Just have to take balls everywhere. As we come together as a team, you work on communicating and where you’re playing and learning the different spots, get a feel for how everybody goes about things out there.”

• Position player physicals begin at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Girardi has said he’s excited about getting the full team together, but he said tomorrow doesn’t really count. “Tomorrow I’ve got to see them take physicals, that’s not really exciting,” he said. “I always think camp livens up. It gets louder up there, and I like it. I like for the noise level to go up.”

• Girardi said he expects everyone to report on time. He’s not aware of anyone who’s supposed to be late.

• Joba Chamberlain had a huge box full of smaller boxes in front of his locker today. It was his latest shipment of spikes. He said one pair lasts him only two or three starts.

• Pitchers who threw today:
First group: Aceves, Gaudin, Burnett, Sabathia
Second group: Albaladejo, Mitre, Robertson, Sanchez
Third group: De La Rosa, Pope, Ring, Segovia
Fourth group: Arias, Duff, Hirsh, Sanit

• First group pairings: Rivera caught Aceves, Romine caught Gaudin, Posada caught Burnett, Cervelli caught Sabathia.

• I double checked with director of player development Pat Roessler: Humberto Sanchez is not still in the organization. His name still gets mentioned in the comments and in emails from time to time, but he became a free agent this winter.

Joe Girardi has this spring said that: 1. He envisions either Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain pitching out of the bullpen rather than the Triple-A rotation, and 2. He would prefer to carry a second left-handed reliever. Add Chan Ho Park to that mix and six of the seven bullpen spots are already filled (Rivera, Marte, Robertson, Park, the second lefty, and Hughes/Chamberlain). Even if the Yankees elect not to carry the second lefty, it seems impossible that the Yankees will have room for all three of Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves, to say nothing of someone like Mark Melancon.

“We’ll make sure that we take what we feel are the 12 best arms,” Girardi said. “Having quality arms in your camp, and more quality arms in spots, is a luxury. It’s just our job to try and make the right decisions.”

The Park signing seems to especially impact Gaudin, Mitre and Aceves because they all serve basically the same role when they’re pitching in relief. I didn’t get a chance to ask Gaudin, but both Mitre and Aceves said they are thinking more about a rotation spot than worrying about a potential bullpen role.

“If I get put in the pen, I guess I have to pitch out of the pen,” Mitre said. “But I’m not shooting for a bullpen role.”

Not that I’m endorsing this, but the Yankees could — in theory – option Aceves back to Triple-A to work out of the rotation, giving the Yankees a sixth starter who’s stretched out and ready to spot start if necessary. Gaudin and Mitre are out of options.

“I was very impressed with Ace’s work last year,” Girardi said. “He was one of the guys we counted on last year, and we expect that to be the same.”

After what seemed to be a strong endorsement, Girardi added: “The thing about it is, every year you have to earn it. Some guys come into camp, you know they’re going with us, but you have to earn it every year.”

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Here’s the Girardi audio. He starts by talking about Jesus Montero, but gets into the situations with the bullpen and with Burnett/Posada. The recording stops when he went looking for which day pitchers start throwing live batting practice. The answer is, Thursday.

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A.J. Burnett blames himself for last season’s controversy about who should catch who.

“It all went back to when I was right,” Burnett said. “If Jorge was going to catch me or not, it would be irrelevant because when my mind’s right, then everything is a lot easier for Jorge.”

Burnett threw his first bullpen session this morning, and Posada caught him. Burnett threw nice and easy through most of the session, and when it was over, he stood in the middle of the bullpen grass to talk to his catcher for a few minutes.

“I think sometimes when people talk about the relationship, they make the relationship bigger than it is, like it’s what they do when they’re not in the game together,” manager Joe Girardi said. “To me, it’s just the understanding of the pitcher when he’s on the mound that day and what you need to do. That’s the relationship that you continue to learn.”

Burnett said he wants Posada to catch every game and every bullpen he throws this spring. The two have a good relationship, he said, they simply didn’t communicate well enough when they had a few rough games together last season.

“That’s what started it all,” Burnett said. “I never questioned Jorge. Never would, never did. I questioned myself, and then everybody thought I questioned Jorge. He’s caught in this league for a long time, and I can do nothing but learn from him, so I’m looking forward to it.”

UPDATE, 4:08 p.m.: Here’s the Burnett audio.

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Chan Ho Park held a press conference in South Korea, A.J. Burnett pitched to Jorge Posada in the bullpen and CC Sabathia snapped off sliders for the first time. It wasn’t exactly a slow day in spring training, but as camp was breaking up, much of the buzz centered on Jesus Montero.

Although I don’t think any reporters were there to see it, word is that Montero hit the top of the scoreboard in left field with a batting practice home run off Triple-A hitting coach Butch Wynegar.

“I didn’t turn around and look,” Wynegar said. “I made him look good today.”

Apparently the blast hit the M in George M. Steinbrenner Field. That’s a long, long way. Joe Girardi watched a lot of batting practice and called Montero, “very mature offensively.”

“I usually can’t see them go that far,” he said. “You the swing. You hear the sound. You have a good idea where it’s going.”

Montero said that he hasn’t been trying to hit big home runs this spring. He’s spent most of his batting practice sessions trying to get a good feel for his swing.

“Today, I found it a little bit,” Montero said. “… I tried to put a good swing on the ball. Put a good swing on the ball, and that’s what happened.”

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did not see Chan Ho Park’s early morning press conference in Korea.

“And he won’t see mine,” Cashman said.

As expected, Cashman could not publicly confirm that the Yankees have agreed to deal with Park, but he did admit to having been in talks with agent Jeff Borris “for quite some time.”

“At this particular point in time, I can admit that yes, I’ve had several conversations with Jeff Borris, who represents Chan Ho Park,” Cashman said. “That’s, at this particular point in time, as far as I can comment. The process of trying to sign a player, there are a lot of steps in that process.”

As for why Park makes sense for a team that already seems to be overflowing with long relief options, Cashman said, “The more the merrier. You can never have enough.”

The Yankees 40-man roster is full, mean Park will have to take someone’s place. Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre are out of options, but Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves can be sent to the minor leagues.

UPDATE, 10:44 a.m.: According to the Korea Times, Park announced that he will work out of the bullpen and that he will make $1.2 million.

“I wanted to play for a champion-caliber team this year again,” he said. “I am not certain how much longer I will play baseball, but it will be huge experience and memory to play with the Yankees.”

Here’s the full Korea Times story.