The LoHud Yankees Blog

Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes pitched side-by-side in the bullpen on Friday, unofficially beginning the competition for the final spot in the rotation. The Yankees say the real competition won’t begin until the exhibition schedule starts, but it’s like Chamberlain said, “what you do today is going to prepare you for the rest of the year.”

Andy Pettitte did not pitch on Friday, but the veteran left-hander said his body feels good and he’s ready to get started. The notebook also has items on the bullpen, two other pitchers taking this slowly, Jose Molina signing with Toronto and the arrival of Yogi Berra.

Baseball news continues to happen outside of the Yankees spring training complex in Tampa.

Just a few miles away in Dunedin, the Blue Jays have signed former Yankees backup catcher Jose Molina and will have him compete for a bench job against former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre catcher Raul Chavez.

The Yankees, meanwhile, seem ready to go with Francisco Cervelli on the big league bench. There are a total of seven catchers in camp, but veteran Mike Rivera seems to be Cervelli’s only real competition, and even he seems to be a long shot.

• The Johnny Damon saga continues. The White Sox are out of it, but they might not be totally out of it. The Tigers are on the verge of signing him, but might not actually be close at all. The Rays and Braves might be lingering, or they might be long gone.

• Chien-Ming Wang is officially with the Nationals. “I would like to do my best to make a contribution to this team’s tradition,” Wang said. The Nationals’ tradition? Sounds like Wang’s hoping to repeat last year’s numbers.

• Not what the Angels wanted to hear from Hideki Matsui: “To be honest, my knees aren’t 100 percent.”

• Nice job over at NoMaas, landing an interview with Brian Cashman. Nice answer by Cashman, explaining the decision to sign Randy Winn (and Marcus Thames) instead of Reed Johnson: “My 4th outfielder has to have a history of playing full seasons.”

• Count LeBron James among those expecting championship No. 28. “With the loss of Johnny Damon, it may hurt us, and also Matsui,” James told MTV.com, “But I think the guys are gonna come back.”

• The World Series trophy made it’s way up to Connecticut today (thanks to Tyler for passing along the link).

• Finally, a link that was emailed to me at least a half dozen times: Rumor has it that Ben Affleck — yes, that Ben Affleck, the one from Boston – might be making a movie about one of the more bizarre stories in Yankees history.

When reporters gathered around their lockers this afternoon, Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes each talked for about three minutes. Hughes joked that we need some sort of gauge to easily judge the competition. At some point, after I turned off my recorder, everyone began suggesting random ways to decide the whole thing. Hughes liked the idea of The Office trivia, probably because he used to watch that show on his laptop all the time.

Here’s the audio, first from Chamberlain, then Hughes.

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Finally, a few pictures. As you’ve seen, my phone’s camera can’t really take worthwhile pictures of guys on the bullpen mound. Instead, here’s a picture of Hughes running out of the bullpen after the session, a picture of Jorge Posada running into the bullpen to start the session and a picture of the crowd lingering overhead.

It was quite the media event, and Hughes had to dodge a photographer on his way out. Also the crowd was a little bigger while they were pitching. I took the picture when they finished. That’s Francisco Cervelli in the background of the Posada picture.

While Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes were throwing their first official bullpen of the spring, Andy Pettitte followed the lead of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez. He stayed off the mound on Friday and will wait a few days before he starts his spring training throwing schedule.

“My body’s feeling good,” Pettitte said. “Everything feels good coming into the spring. I feel real good about that.”

Pettitte said the extra workload of the playoffs shouldn’t bother him because the Yankees did a good job of keeping their three-man, postseason rotation well rested at the end of the regular season. He feels fresh, and he was happy to see the team add another durable arm in Javier Vazquez. Those two had never met another until this winter, but they’ve already played golf together.

“You can’t ever have enough pitching, and not only is he a great pitcher, he’s a quality human being,” Pettitte said. “He’s going to be great here.”

• Joe Girardi on whether he’ll carry two lefties in the bullpen: “In a perfect world, you’d like to have two lefties. Last year we went with one lefty most of the time, and we were able to do it. We believe that our right-handers get left-handers out very well. You look at what Robertson did down there getting left-handers out, he was very successful. But in a perfect world, you’d love to have two because it gives you so many more options.”

• What’s the first thing Girardi looks for in his pitchers during spring training? “To me early, I want to see command of the fastball,” he said. “That’s extremely important. And that you pitch inside effectively. That’s important to us with all of our pitchers.”

• Yogi Berra was in the clubhouse this morning.

• Add David Winfree to the list of outfielders who have popped into the clubhouse. I really wish I could have covered him in Scranton. I went to say hello and it turned into a five minute conversation. Very easy to talk to. Also, he’s a big dude. I have absolutely no trouble believing he can hit a few balls out of the park. And he’s really excited about being a Yankee. He talked about the prestige of wearing the pinstripes.

• Greg Golson was also around for a little bit this afternoon. He popped in and out a few days ago, but I wasn’t sure it was him. This time I said hello, and Golson said he has something to prove after two teams sent him elsewhere. He was a lot like Winfree, very easy to talk to, seems to be out to prove himself. This could be a good situation for him because of that spot on the 40-man.

• Kind of a funny line from Girardi, asked if anything jumped out this early in camp: “A lot of good arms in camp. You look at some of the sizes of these guys. Those are some pretty intimidating figures on the mound. I need a step stool to go talk to them.” He didn’t name names, but I’m thinking Jason Hirsh, Andrew Brackman, Grant Duff, Jonathan Albaladejo and Romulo Sanchez.

• Finally met Kyle Higashioka and Jeremy Bleich today. They’ve been around, but I hadn’t said hello. For the record, their names are  pronounce He-ga-she-oh-ka and Bly-sh.

• Pitchers who threw in the bullpen today:
First group: Chamberlain, Garcia, Hughes, Ramirez
Second group: Igawa, Melancon, Logan, Moseley
Third group: McAllister, Nova, Whelan
Fourth group: Bleich, De La Rosa, Mitchell, Noesi

• Like yesterday, I only wrote down the catchers for the first group: Posada caught Chamberlain, Rivera caught Garcia, Montero caught Hughes and Romine caught Ramirez.

• In the picture up top, Girardi and Dave Eiland are on the far left of the group of coaches watching pitchers get loose.

Both Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes threw 30 pitches today. They threw fastballs and changeups, with Joe Girardi watching and (officially) nothing on the line. The real competition doesn’t begin until the exhibition games, but there’s something to be said for a first impression.

“You kind of compare it to your first spring,” Hughes said. “You always want to impress people, prove you can at least throw strikes in your first pen.”

This is a competition, and these are competitive people, but neither pitcher said he felt compelled to over do it. They’ve both been here before. They know what the first week of spring training is about.

“My arm feels great,” Chamberlain said. “So it came out pretty easy.”

In keeping with the Yankees plan to rest their starters for the first few days of spring training, Andy Pettitte will not throw a bullpen this morning. But Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain will.

Hughes, Chamberlain, Chris Garcia and Edwar Ramirez will be the first group in the bullpen when the Yankees begin their workout in a few minutes. Pitching coach Dave Eiland said that when the exhibition games start, Hughes and Chamberlain will pitch both out of the rotation and out of the bullpen, because there aren’t enough games for every potential starter to work strictly out of the rotation.

Other than Pettitte, the only Group 2* pitchers who will not throw a bullpen this morning are Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte. Rivera always moves at a slower pace than the other pitchers, and Eiland said the Yankees want to take things slowly with Marte because he only needs 10 innings or so to be ready for the season, and because he’s coming off some shoulder problems last season.

“We’ll just ensure that he’s sound,” Eiland said. “There’s no sense getting him on a mound yet.”

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* The Yankees pitchers are divided into two groups. Group 1 threw bullpen sessions yesterday. Group 2 will throw bullpen sessions today. After today, every pitcher in camp — except Sabathia, Burnett, Vazquez, Pettitte, Rivera and Marte — will have thrown one official bullpen.

Mariano Rivera has arrived in spring training, and he’s in no rush. As always, he’ll move at his own pace toward the regular season, and he’s willing to wait until the offseason to negotiate a new contract.

The Yankees starters are also playing a waiting game, holding off on their bullpen sessions because of the extra innings they pitched last season. This notebook also has information about Jorge Posada, outfielders arriving early and some rotation candidates getting to work.

Back in New York, Sam talked to Brian Cashman about his offseason and the changes that were made to this championship roster. “We’ve been working real hard in New York,” Cashman said. “And now we’re going to be working real hard down in Florida.”

Before the Yankees left the clubhouse for their first official workout this morning, a guy with a San Francisco Giants bag walked past the clubhouse door. I had pitchers and catchers on my mind, so it took me a while to realize it was Randy Winn. He eventually settled into his locker at the back of the room, moved his stuff from the Giants bag into a Yankees bag, and left.

“He has a lot of experience,” Joe Girardi said. “He’s used to being an everyday player. We expect him to compete for that, and give us everything he’s got. As far as a role, he gives us depth. Last year, everyone talked about how are you going to play five guys in three positions? How are you going to get everyone time? (Xavier) Nady went down the first week of the season, and everything kind of ironed itself out.”

When the morning workout was over, more outfielders began filtering into the clubhouse to put some things away in their lockers. First Nick Swisher. Then Curtis Granderson. Then Brett Gardner. Swisher gave a big hug to Javier Vazquez, his old teammate in Chicago. He also seemed to have a good relationship with journeyman catcher Mike Rivera. Maybe Rivera also once played a supporting role on How I Met Your Mother.

• Girardi said Winn can play center field but, “I’ll probably play him in the corners.”

• The Yankees haven’t decided whether to keep Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes on the same schedule all spring. It kind of makes sense to keep them both lined up for the No. 5 spot, but the Yankees also want them both starting games this spring. We’ll see how it shakes out.

• So far so good on injuries and visa issues. Everyone has made it to camp without any problems, and Girardi said no one showed up with health problems. A few guys are running inside because of old back problems, and Girardi said the team is moving a little slower with some minor leaguers coming back from injuries, “but as far as real limitations, no.”

• Girardi’s expectation for how many games Jorge Posada will play at catcher: “I think anywhere between 100 and 120 would be great.”

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

• I only wrote down who caught who in the first group: Posada caught Aceves, Cervelli caught Gaudin, Rivera caught Mitre.

• Girardi said every pitcher is throwing only fastballs and changeups, though Robertson said he’s thrown a few curveballs on flat ground. “I’ll probably throw a handful next bullpen,” he said. “It’s about that time.”

• The Yankees announced that 1,528 fans entered George M. Steinbrenner Field to watch the first workout. That  numbers doesn’t count fans who didn’t enter the stadium and instead watched from the fence to see the workouts on the back field (although the number of fans who did only that without entering the stadium is probably pretty small).

A few pictures from the day. None of them is especially good, but they should give a general idea of what was happening in Tampa today.

Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves threw the first bullpen of the day with Chad Gaudin, who's on the right getting ready to throw.

Catchers who weren't in the bullpen were going through drills. Here's Jesus Montero catching, with P.J. Pilittere, Austin Romine and Kyle Higashioka watching. That's Butch Wynegar on the far right. Don't remember which other coach was doing this drill, but I don't think that's Tony Pena in the picture.

That's Andrew Brackman going through fielding practice. CC Sabathia is behind him in line.

Jorge Posada getting ready to catch a bullpen session.

That's Royce Ring throwing in the bullpen. I included it so you can see his arm angle.

It’s a terrible picture but trust me, that’s A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Javier Vazquez gathered with two coaches after taking fielding practice on one of the back fields here at the Yankees spring training complex.

In big league camp, all of the pitchers are divided into two groups. The first group threw bullpens today, the second group will throw tomorrow. Sabathia, Burnett and Vazquez are part of Group 1 – the group that threw today — but the three Yankees starters did not pitch.

The Yankees have slightly changed the plan for their starters and will line them up in the order that they will start games during the exhibition schedule. Sabathia will start the spring opener, and he’ll throw his first official bullpen on Saturday*. The rest of the rotation will fall in line behind him.

The Yankees are holding back their starters very slightly because of the extra workload in the postseason (Javier Vazquez is being held back as well after his highest innings total since 2003). Joe Girardi also decided it doesn’t make much sense to have his starters throw bullpens as a group when they’re never going to pitch as a group.

“We want to make sure that they are absolutely physically prepared to go out and have that same kind of workout,” Girardi said. “Really, the only difference is maybe one side session for each of them.”

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* Technically, Sabathia threw a light bullpen session yesterday, but the Yankees consider that part of his spring training preparation, not part of his spring training schedule.