The LoHud Yankees Blog

Not exactly the news I was expecting when I woke up this morning. It seems the Yankees have signed Chan-Ho Park to a one-year deal to work out of the bullpen. A news agency in Korea broke the news early this morning. Looks like this is what the morning will be about at Steinbrenner Field.

Meanwhile, already in camp, another veteran is waiting to prove the Yankees were right to believe in him this winter. Damaso Marte is the only proven left-hander in the Yankees bullpen, and he’s hoping a healthy left shoulder will lead to results more like last year’s postseason than regular season.

The Yankees biggest pitching addition of the winter, Javier Vazquez, got on the mound on Sunday, a few days earlier than planned. The notebook also has items on Johnny Damon going to Detroit, Andrew Brackman making a good impression and a young lefty sitting out yesterday’s bullpen sessions.

You might have expected Johnny Damon to be a hot topic of discussion at Steinbrenner Field today, but his name wasn’t brought up very often. By the time he signed with the Tigers on Saturday, it seems the Yankees had resigned themselves to the fact he wasn’t coming back.

“Once spring training starts, I think it’s real,” Jorge Posada said. “Your team is set and you pretty much know he’s not coming back. We’re going to miss the guy in the clubhouse and on the field. Professional guy, and a guy that really was key for us throughout the years, especially last year.”

Those who did talk about Damon, wished him well. With very few exceptions — many of them in the Yankees clubhouse — players come and go. That’s the reality of the game, something Joe Girardi called “the hard part of the game.”

“I am happy for him that he has found out where he’s going to go,” Girardi said. “I think for players, that’s an anxious time trying to figure out where you’re going to be. Usually it doesn’t go on this long, so I’m sure he was curious. I wish Johnny luck. Johnny was good for us here, and we all miss Johnny. This is the hard part of the game, when those relationships change a little bit. I’ll root for Johnny, except when he’s playing against us.”

Here’s the Girardi audio.

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• At this point, almost every pitcher in camp has thrown two bullpens. With few exceptions, bullpen sessions today and Saturday included breaking balls. Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes threw 35 pitches this morning, but pretty much everyone else is up to 40 pitches.

• Heard a lot of good things about Andrew Brackman today. Pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras said Brackman has been throwing his fastball and curveball for strikes, and now he’s trying to refine his changeup. “Brackman’s fastball is great,” Contreras said. “Command. He’s downhill. Throwing the ball really well.” Even Girardi watched Brackman a little bit today. “He looked good,” Girardi said. “He was down in the zone all day today, which is encouraging. I think his mechanics are cleaner.”

• I believe I mentioned it this morning, but just in case: Wilkin De La Rosa sat out today’s bullpen sessions. Right now, he’s limited to two bullpens a week because he’s coming back from an elbow injury. He’ll throw on Tuesdays and Fridays.

• Brett Gardner was in the clubhouse for a little while this afternoon. He sat talking to Kevin Whelan for a long time. I have absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but if I had to guess, I’d say it had something to do with hunting.

• Good stuff from Anthony McCarron at the Daily News, writing about Derek Jeter’s improvement at shortstop. 

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

• First group matchups: Cervelli caught Chamberlain, Rivera caught Hughes, Montero caught Ramirez, Posada caught Vazquez.

Here’s a shot of Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes after their morning bullpen session.

This winter, Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland came up with a plan to slightly cut back on the spring training workload of their starting pitchers. But that plan was subject to change. Javier Vazquez was scheduled to begin his throwing schedule on Wednesday, but Vazquez asked if he could get some light work in today instead.

“I’ve been throwing in Puerto Rico, a few bullpens, and it’s been like a week and a half since I threw my last bullpen so I wanted to get a feel for it again,” Vazquez said. “They had us for a week without throwing, and they said if you want to throw one of these days, it’s no big deal. I told them I would love to throw today.”

Girardi has stressed that he values communication, especially early in spring training. Vazquez told Eiland that he wanted to pitch today, and the staff had no problem with the decision.

“What works for one guy is not necessarily going to work for everyone else,” Girardi said. “We’re all made up different, so you have to be able to adapt to a guy’s physical personality and his mental personality. I think it’s important. I don’t expect our guys to be robots. You have new guys who come in and their program in the past might have been different and they might have had a lot of success and been comfortable with that. You don’t want to take a guy out of his successful regimen.”

Vazquez threw only fastballs and changeups today, 30 in all, but when he starts throwing breaking balls, he’ll show a slight difference from the pitcher he was during his previous stint with the Yankees.

“I think he’s adding and subtracting from his curveball and his changeup, and he wasn’t able to do that in ’04 here, so that tells you that he’s doing a little more with his repertoire,” said Jorge Posada, who caught Vazquez this morning. “The slider has been something new. He had it but never used it much (in ’04).”

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UPDATE, 3:44 p.m.: Here’s the audio from Vazquez.

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And here’s the audio from Posada, who talked about Vazquez but also answered a question about Zach McAllister — Posada caught McAllister today – and talked about Johnny Damon going to Detroit. 

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The picture is of the four catcher’s during this morning’s first bullpen session. From left to right: Posada, Rivera, Montero, Cervelli.

Phil Hughes was bamboozled this morning when he was handed a certificate and folded American flag, both elegantly framed, as an apparent birthday gift from someone Hughes doesn’t know. 

“This flag was flown for Phil Hughes in honor of his birthday,” the inscription said.

According to the text, the flag was flown above the U.S. Capitol on June 24, 2008 — Hughes’ 22nd birthday – at the request of Bill Pascrell Jr., the U.S. Congressman from New Jersey’s 8th District. The certificate was signed by Stephen T. Ayers, the acting Architect of the Capitol.

As you might expect, the gift prompted a series of questions from both reporters and teammates, but Hughes had no answers. He seemed happy to have gotten it — some joked that Brian Bruney might have sent it as a memento from D.C. — but Hughes was thoroughly confused as to how and why it came to be in his possession. It’s not especially hard to request a flag be flown over the Capitol, so it might have been a fan that started this ball rolling.

These are the things that happen on slow spring training mornings in the middle of February.

• Although Joe Girardi indicated yesterday that the next starting pitcher to throw a bullpen session would be A.J. Burnett on Monday, Javier Vazquez is listed on the bullpen schedule this morning. Looks like he’s throw to Jorge Posada, in a group that includes Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Edwar Ramirez.

• Just like he said would happen, Andrew Brackman is listed among the pitchers scheduled to throw a bullpen this morning. He skipped yesterday’s bullpen session because of a small cut on his finger.

• No bullpen today for Wilkin De La Rosa. Pitching coach Dave Eiland said De La Rosa is scheduled to throw only two bullpens a week – Tuesdays and Fridays – because he’s coming back from an elbow injury that cost him the last few weeks of last season.

Jorge Posada will need to take regular days off this season, but the Yankees let Jose Molina leave through free agency and left the role of backup catcher in the hands of Francisco Cervelli. He has a track record of defensive success, but the Yankees believe Cervelli’s bat will develop enough to have an impact at the plate as well as behind it.

Then again, CC Sabathia might start every game this season if the Yankees would let him. The team’s ace threw his first bullpen session on Saturday and felt strong, despite the added workload of last year’s playoffs. Today’s notebook also has news on Hal Steinbrenner, A.J. Burnett and the decision to start a fifth-starter candidate in the spring opener.

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Make sure you check the previous post to see Ron’s message about the next LoHud Yankees Blog group outing to see my friends in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

This message brought to you by our good friend Ron.

If enough people are interested, I’m willing to organize the third LoHud Yankees Blog group outing for a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees game this spring/summer at PNC Field, just off I-81 in Moosic, PA. Last year we had over 80 blog readers, family and friends attend the outing. I think everyone would agree it was a great time!

For those who are unfamiliar, PNC Field is about 60 miles from Binghamton, 100 miles from Newark, 110 miles from Philadelphia, 120 miles from NYC and 130 miles from State College.

Group outing venue availability to reserve an area for a weekend date is quickly filling up. A basic package would cost about $30 providing each person a game ticket, all the food you can eat (hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, pasta salad, cole slaw, baked beans, cookies), soda, water and an SWB Yankees cap or program. Adult beverages are also available at extra cost.

Group reservations for a private area require a group of at least 50. The available dates are as follows:

Sunday, 5/16, 1:05, Charlotte Knights
Sunday, 6/13, 5:05, Indianapolis Indians
Saturday, 7/17, 7:05, Toledo Mud Hens

Please note a few things. At this point, Chad Jennings and Sam Borden hope to attend the outing. I want to be sure everyone, especially the out of town travelers, know that the 6/13 date is a Sunday 5:05 start.

Reserving a hospitality area requires commitment to purchase all 50 tickets which I am willing to do but only if it seems enough people are interested in having the outing. I’d ask anyone interested to e-mail me AS SOON AS POSSIBLE at yankslifer@yahoo.com with the date(s) best for them and number of tickets they would want. Once I seem to have a consensus I’ll e-mail those interested before I reserve a date and direct everyone how payment can be made. The past two years I sent those attending an invoice through PayPal and that seemed to work well for everyone.
In the past, a number of people from New York, New Jersey, Maryland and even Virginia came to the outing. Later I’ll provide driving directions and links to hotels and restaurants in the area for those attending.

Thanks to Chad and Sam for posting this.

Ron

Mark those calendars. The Yankees play the Tigers on March 10, and Johnny Damon will be there. The saga finally ends with a one-year deal worth roughly $8 million. Meanwhile, in Tampa… 

There were a few Steinbrenner sightings at the Yankees spring training complex today. Hal Steinbrenner and Felix Lopez met with Joe Girardi before the morning workout, then George Steinbrenner himself stopped by the stadium to watch his grandson’s high school team play a game. The Daily News has a picture of The Boss sitting in his private box.

As for the morning meeting between the manager and the managing general partner, Girardi didn’t go into specifics, but said they talked about last season, the coming season and some of the new players in camp.

“When Hal comes down, conversations are very meaningful and right to the point,” Girardi said. “We talk a lot of baseball. It’s great. I feel like we’re always on the same page. He’s very open, and conversations are usually very constructive.” 

• No plans for personal, postseason catchers this time around. “Jorge (Posada) is going to catch (A.J. Burnett) in spring training,” Girardi said. “We’re going to do that. There are times, I know for me personally, it took me longer to learn some pitchers than others… We’re going to put them together and we’ll approach it as Jorge is going to catch every day in the season.”

• Andrew Brackman did not pitch today because of a small cut on the pointer finger of his right hand. Brackman said it’s no big deal, and he’s planning to throw his bullpen tomorrow instead.

• The plan to hold the Yankees starters back at the beginning of camp came after a series of discussions, beginning in December, between Girardi and Dave Eiland. They talked about having them make one less start, but decided that was too drastic, and finally settled on this plan. “This wasn’t something that we formulated in one day,” Girardi said.

• Francisco Cervelli said it feels “special” to be in camp as the favorite for a big league job. “I felt really comfortable last year,” he said. “I think the key was my teammates. They always said, you can do it. Just worry about catching, don’t worry about hitting. We’re going to hit for you. The only thing we need is for you to control the pitcher and play your game… (But) you want to be like them. You want to be a part of the festival.”

• Former Yankees beat writer Ed Price posted a picture of Melky Cabrera on Twitter. Cabrera’s sporting a bit of a beard now that he’s playing for the Braves.

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

• First group pairings: Cervelli caught Aceves, Rivera caught Gaudin, Romine caught Mitre, Posada caught Sabathia. New addition Jose Gil caught Segovia and Hirsh.

• After today’s workout, there was a letter from Major League Baseball posted in the clubhouse. It listed 12 new performance enhancing substances and 30 new stimulants now banned by the league. One of the stimulants was Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a 29-letter word for “50-game suspension.”

Finally, it was pretty cool to see Yogi Berra standing in the doorway to watch the bullpen sessions this morning. Most of the catchers would shyly move past him, but Jorge Posada had several conversations with him.

After the World Series, CC Sabathia waited only three weeks to begin throwing off flat ground. Nothing heavy, but he was playing catch three days a week in early December.

“I can’t take too much time off or my arm just gets in a funk,” he said.

Counting the playoffs, Sabathia pitched more than 240 innings for a third straight season, but he said it’s too early in his career to think about cutting back to save his arm. Sabathia doesn’t mind pitching a lot, doesn’t mind pitching on short rest and wouldn’t mind pitching into November again.

“I’ll do it every year,” he said. “I’ve got no problem with that.”

As for how his ace manages such a workload every season, Joe Girardi compared Sabathia to Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

“He’s very efficient,” Girardi said. “When he’s throwing 100 pitches to 110 pitches, it’s usually 10 to 1 an inning He’s not throwing 20 to 22 pitches an inning. He’s not laboring out there. Quick and crisp innings.”

Here’s the Sabathia audio from this afternoon.

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Joe Girardi was careful to point out that these plans can change between now and opening day, but as of right now, the Yankees plan to go with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez – in that order — as their first four starters of the regular season.

Because the Yankees have an off day between their first game in Boston and their second game in Boston, Burnett will throw his first spring training bullpen on Monday. None of the top four starters will throw a bullpen on Sunday.

Also, slight change to the exhibition schedule rotation.

Sabathia will start the second game of spring training, March 4 against the Phillies. The spring opener on March 3 will likely go to one of the starters battling for the fifth spot in the rotation.

“Very possible that we could get those guys in there,” Girardi said. “One of the five, or two of the five.”

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The picture is of Girardi in the bullpen with director of player development, Pat Roessler.

Things are pretty quiet here at George M. Steinbrenner Field, but there was almost some excitement. 

Hal Steinbrenner stopped by Joe Girardi’s office this morning. All of the writers waited in the hallway, thinking he might come out for an interview, but Steinbrenner must have found another way out. He left the stadium, and as far as I know, no reporters talked to him.

Instead, the buzz of the day will happen in about a half hour when CC Sabathia throws his first official bullpen of the spring. He’ll be throwing to Jorge Posada, in a group that includes Alfredo Aceves, Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre. As planned, A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez will sit out today’s bullpen session.

Andrew Brackman is also sitting this one out. He pitched on Thursday, but Girardi mentioned yesterday that some of the younger players who have had injury issues will be moving along more slowly than everyone else. It seems Brackman falls into that category.

UPDATE: 11:04 a.m.: Sorry, forgot to mention that the Yankees have added a player to camp. Jose Gil gives the Yankees eight catchers. He’s wearing No. 99. I can’t help wondering if this makes him the favorite to open as the starting catcher in High-A Tampa, where the position seems wide open. Gil bounced around the system last season, including some time in Triple-A where I’m pretty sure he never actually got in a game.

By the way, when I looked at the list posted in the clubhouse and said outloud, “Oh, Jose Gil must be here,” people looked at me like I had five heads. He’s not exactly a big name.