The LoHud Yankees Blog

Derek Jeter is confident that whenever he returns — which is expected to be sometime after the All-Star break — he will be the same player he was before he broke his left ankle twice. Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman want to think the quality will still be there when the healing process is over.

“I don’t think any of us are going to know until we get to that point,” Girardi said. “… He’s had a setback here and we have to deal with it. But hopefully we get him back and he’s the same player he was at the end of last year. …

“He hasn’t done anything in his career that would make me believe that he’s not going to be a good player when he comes back. Yeah, I know it’s nine months off, but players get four or five months off in the offseason and then come back and they’re fine.

“I don’t think the extra few months is necessarily going to hurt him. I don’t think he’s going to forget how to hit, forget how to do all the things he needs to do. I think some people will question how he’s going to move when he’s going to come back. That’s something that we hope won’t be a problem. We’re just going to have to wait and see.”

Cashman said: “Obviously Derek has never done anything but have success. So I would expect a successful player like we’ve always gotten from him. It’s hard to expect anything otherwise from a Hall of Famer like himself.”

Here’s the link to my story on Jeter believing he will come back as the same guy and not seeing the two fractures as a sign the end is near. Plus, here’s the link to my story on Hiroki Kuroda, Vernon Wells and Robinson Cano triple teaming to lead the Yankees past the Blue Jays last night.

How do you think Jeter will do when he returns at 39?

Derek Jeter wasn’t giving an inch at his press conference this afternoon. He believes he’ll return this season after his second ankle fracture, and be the player he used to be, and move the way he was moving when he was healthy last season.

His message to you: “To the fans, I’ll be back soon.”

Jeter was in good spirits at the press conference, but he had also received his get-out-of-Tampa card. He said he will be with the team for at least this homestand.

“I’ve been stuck in a training room pretty much for the last, when did the team leave (spring training)? I don’t even know how many weeks I’ve been going to the training room and doing physical therapy and rehab,” Jeter said. “This is the first time I’ve been out of there for quite some time. So I’m happy to be out of there. But, yeah, of course, I keep saying ‘frustrating.’ That’s probably the biggest thing.

“When I got it, it wasn’t good news. I thought I would go up there, when I went to see the doc (last week), I thought he would say it was something different. Tape it up. Let’s go. But it wasn’t the case. It didn’t feel too good for quite some time. I’m laughing and smiling and happy that I’m up here. But I’m still upset that I can’t play.”

The original fracture in the playoffs and the subsequent second fracture — he doesn’t know when he did it after reporting to Tampa — hasn’t made him ponder his baseball mortality.

“Me breaking my ankle wasn’t just because I was getting older,” Jeter said. “I played on something that I probably shouldn’t have played on and it ended up breaking. It wasn’t because of my ‘advanced’ age that my ankle broke. It would be a little different if my body started breaking down. Then you might think about, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this.’ But this was just a freak thing that happened. I have to deal with it. If I was 22 years old, I’m pretty sure it would’ve taken some time for it to heal then.”

Jeter wasn’t in a walking boot at the media gathering, but he said he has otherwise been wearing the boot even though he doesn’t think he needs to wear it. He just has to wait for the healing to take its course.

“Right now, there’s really not much I can do,” Jeter said. “I’ll just sort of play it by ear.”

When will he be back? “I have a date in my mind when I’m going to be back,” Jeter said. It’s up to us to guess. He wasn’t saying.

Also, Kevin Youkilis isn’t in the lineup for the fifth straight game because of lower back tightness.

“He tried to take some work in the cage,” Joe Girardi said. “He’s just not ready. I thought it would be today. So hopefully it’s tomorrow. We’ll just go day by day.”

Derek Jeter is gone until at least after the All-Star break after breaking his left ankle again. (My article today about the situation). The Yankees are getting used to bad injury news. They’ve had a lot of practice reacting so far this year.

“He’s our captain, leader,” Phil Hughes said. “It’s never good news when guys are going to be out longer than you expect. But we’ve got to continue to battle along like we have been.”

The Yankees have won seven of their last nine to move to 8-6.

“It’s tough, but we haven’t had him yet,” Brett Gardner said. “When you don’t have guys, you can’t really count on them to come back. You’ve just got to make do with what you’ve got. I feel like we’ve been playing pretty good baseball so far. We’ll try to keep it going.”

Of course, Eduardo Nunez becomes even more of a key figure as the main man replacing Jeter. Nunez made his first error of the season, on a bad throw to first, in Thursday night’s 12-inning, 6-2 setback to the Diamondbacks. He also missed a grounder he probably should have had. But his defense has been better overall so far than last year. Now he needs to stay consistent. And hit more. He’s batting .233 over his 11 games.

Before the game, and before the update came on Jeter, Nunez said, “I hope he comes back this year. I hope he comes back healthy. But I’m prepared to play all year. … This is what I’ve been working for all my life.”

After the game and the update, Nunez expressed mixed feelings, saying, “It’s good for me to keep playing, but it’s not what I’m looking for.”

Also, Phil Hughes was much improved Thursday night (here’s that story), so at least he can try to build off that. And in my Yankees notebook for today, I write about Travis Hafner’s good health being a key, have Brian Cashman explaining why it’s hard right now to bring in shortstop reinforcements and look ahead to the Toronto series that starts tonight.

Yankees lineup

1. Brett Gardner CF

2. Vernon Wells LF

3. Robinson Cano 2B

4. Kevin Youkilis 1B

5. Ben Francisco DH

6. Francisco Cervelli C

7. Ichiro Suzuki RF

8. Eduardo Nunez SS

9. Jayson Nix 3B

Phil Hughes RHP

Diamondbacks lineup

1. Gerardo Parra CF

2. Martin Prado 3B

3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B

4. Miguel Montero C

5. Cody Ross RF

6. Eric Chavez DH

7. A.J. Pollock LF

8. Didi Gregorius SS

9. Cliff Pennington 2B

Patrick Corbin LHP

Umpires: Ron Kulpa HP, Chris Guccione 1B, Tom Hallion 2B, Phil Cuzzi 3B

TV/radio: YES/WCBS 880

Weather: cloudy/chilly

.240, no errors: Those are Eduardo Nunez’s stats over his 10 games. Get used to him at short. Derek Jeter isn’t expected back until at least mid-July.

Brian Cashman on the CT discovery of Jeter’s new ankle fracture: “I don’t think it’s something that just occurred, that there was an episode that happened in the last 24 hours. I think it was just a combination of continuing to deal with discomfort in various spots and swelling and eventually trying to figure out and drill down on it further.” Cashman said Jeter took the bad news flash “like a pro.”

Update, 7:16: Hughes gets through the first with just a soft single allowed.

Update, 7:26: Corbin allows a walk to Cano in the first, and that’s it.

Update, 7:33: Another good inning for Hughes, two Ks, ends it by getting A.J. Pollock to wave at a 93 mph fastball.

Update, 7:42: Francisco gets the Yankees’ first hit, but then three straight outs. Corbin made Ichiro and Nunez look bad, swinging at off-speed stuff.

Update, 7:45: Didi Gregorius first MLB HR, 1-0. It wouldn’t be a regular Hughes start if he didn’t give up at homer. He has allowed at least one in 32 of his last 43 starts here and 26 over his last 18 home starts these last two seasons.

Update, 7:58: Yankees have one hit through three. Corbin is in his second major-league season. He was off to a 2-0 start and had outdueled the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw last time out, throwing six shutout innings.

Update, 8:05: An infield hit for Goldschmidt and then a 4-6-3 double-play ball. Hughes has yielded just the run and three hits through four.

Update, 8:12: Yankees getting nothing done against Corbin, one hit through four. More on Corbin. He’s a native New Yorker, Cicero-North Syracuse High Class of 2007. Second-round pick by the Angels in 2009.

Update, 8:24: Excellent job by Hughes to get out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fifth.

Update, 8:27: Ichiro looking 39 so far, weak grounder to first, now 7 for 39 on the season.

Update, 8:29: Yankees one hit through five off Corbin.

Update, 8:32: Hughes serves up solo shot to Martin Prado, high fastball, 2-0.

Update, 8:46: Finally, a Yankees run. Cano’s rocket lands in the Yankees’ bullpen, 2-1 after six.

Update, 8:58: Two runs, six hits, no walks allowed by Hughes over seven. Can’t really complain about that. Much better than his first two starts.

Update, 9:04: Ichiro lines into a double play to end the seventh.

Update, 9:05: Boone Logan comes on for the eighth.

Update, 9:10: Logan gets first two, now Joba’s turn.

Update, 9:15: Nunez bad throw, first error of the season. But Chamberlain strands the runner.

Update, 9:16: Yankees won’t miss Corbin, one run, two hits allowed over seven. David Hernandez is on for the eighth.

Update, 9:19: Hafner-Hernandez rematch with one out.

Update, 9:22: Hafner works count full and walks. Lyle Overbay pinch runs.

Update, 9:27: Bases loaded, one out, Cano up.

Update, 9:32: Don’t see that too often. Cano strikes out on a ball that hit him.

Update, 9:35: Youkilis goes down swinging, too.

Update, 9:54: Cervelli ties it, HR to the left-field seats off Putz.

Update, 10:03: Extra innings. Robertson comes on for the 10th.

Update, 10:15: Lefty Matt Reynolds comes on for the last of the 10th, still 2-2.

Update, 10:22: On to the 11th. David Phelps comes on.

Update, 10:36: Second and third, two outs for PH Eric Hinske.

Update, 10:38: Fly ball to left. Another escape for Yankees pitching. Heath Bell comes on for Arizona.

Update, 10:53: Nunez lines out to strand two, although he should’ve been called out on a check-swing attempt the pitch prior. 12th inning coming.

Update, 11:04: Cody Ross RBI single with the bases loaded. Chavez follows with three-run double, 6-2. The few people left here are starting to leave.

Update, 11:21: Yankees lose 6-2.

It’s been said that Joe Girardi has one of the easiest jobs in baseball: Just write down the names of a bunch of superstars, call it a lineup, and go win 95 games. Things are a bit different this season, and Girardi acknowledged that this Opening Day lineup took him a little longer than usual.

“It’s a little bit more,” he said. “You look at some of the positions that you’re going to do, and more about where you’re going to put guys in the lineup, in a sense, than maybe who’s playing. Trying to divide up your lefties a little bit against Lester, and having some new faces in Wells and Francisco, trying to figure out where to put them. So there was a little bit more thought.”

Girardi settled on moving Eduardo Nunez near the top of the lineup, strictly to split the lefties. Ichiro Suzuki is batting seventh today, but Girardi said Ichiro will move up to the No. 2 spot when the Yankees face right-hander Clay Buchholz on Wednesday.

“We’ve liked the way Nuney has swung the bat,” Girardi said. “I didn’t particularly want to put three lefties in a row against Lester to start the game. We’ve liked Gardy’s ability to get on base, so I put him in the leadoff spot. And without Jeet, I thought we should put a right-hander in there, and we’ve liked what Nuney has done.”

• Based on this spring’s catching matchups, I really assumed Chris Stewart would catch CC Sabathia today. Then again, I also thought Girardi would stick with Ichiro in the No. 2 spot even against a lefty, so what do I know? “I think the first month, it will be somewhat of a process of figuring out exactly how you’re going to (use the catchers),” Girardi said. “You can play spring training games, but playing in-season games is different. The things you have to handle are different. Your emotions are different. It was something that I thought about the last three or four days. Talked to my coaches about it, and right now it’s probably going to be a fairly even split.”

• It’s worth noting that Cervelli is actually a career .317/.414/.393 hitter against lefties.

• According to Brian Cashman, Derek Jeter is scheduled to play catch and undergo treatment today. “There is no exact schedule for Derek because it’s what his ankle allows him to do,” Girardi said. “And we’re really not going to know that until he goes out there.”

• Have not seen Alex Rodriguez, but apparently he’s here. It’s still unclear just how much of the pregame ceremonies he’ll be a part of. “Introductions are usually not the first thing on my mind when I come in here,” Girardi said. “I’m anxious to see him. I want to see how he’s moving around in a sense because I haven’t seen him since, probably the end of January when he was just starting to ride a bike. What he chooses to do today is his prerogative, and I’m fine with whatever he chooses to do.”

• Also no sign of Mark Teixeira, who’s supposed to visit the doctor this morning. I know he was expecting to be out of the checkup in time to be here for the ceremonies.

• A few observations from the clubhouse: Dave Robertson’s has been given a new locker, the one right next to Mariano Rivera. Eduardo Nunez also has a new locker in between Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez. Francisco Cervelli’s old locker now belongs to Chris Stewart, so he’s in Nick Swisher’s old locker. Joba Chamberlain moved to Robertson’s old locker, David Phelps move to Chamberlain’s old locker, Cody Eppley moved to Phelps’ old locker, and Adam Warren has Eppley’s old locker.

• Not great news for Brennan Boesch and Lyle Overbay: They have the lockers generally given to players who bounce back and forth from Triple-A.

• In case it didn’t go without saying, Girardi said the Yankees will stick with just one left-handed reliever for the time being. “You look at our eighth inning and our ninth inning, and that’s nailed down,” Girardi said. “My hope is Joba will nail down the seventh inning. If there’s a lefty we want Boone to face in the seventh inning, we might do that, and then have Joba go after the righties. But I figure, if you can nail down the seventh, eighth and ninth, you can use Boonie earlier.”

• Someone from a Japanese television station said during Girardi’s pregame press conference that Hideki Matsui has been given Japan’s highest civilian honor. “Congratulations to Hideki,” Girardi said. “I think everybody is aware of what this organization thinks of Hideki Matsui. He’s a wonderful man, he was a wonderful player. Did a lot for the New York Yankees in his time here, and represented us very, very well. I think from the Yankees standpoint, we’d like to congratulate him because he’s a man who deserves a great honor.”

• The Yankees will honor the Sandy Hook victims and first responders before today’s game. “I think it’s important to say thank you,” Girardi said. “The town of Newtown has went through so much during the last four or five months, six months, and you think about being a responder. Sometimes we don’t think about what they go through, and how important they are during a situation like that. I think it’s nice that we’re getting an opportunity to say thank you for all that you do, because they’re obviously going to do more as the future goes on.”

• The video above is Girardi’s opening comments from this morning’s pregame press conference.

Associated Press photo

When Derek Jeter sat behind the microphone this morning, there was a pause before anyone asked a question. That’s when Jeter joked that the press conference must have ended quickly. But with Jeter, there’s always plenty to talk about.

Jeter didn’t say anything about his contract — “My focus is only on getting back April 1,” he said. “I can’t think about what’s going to happen next year, or two years from now.” — and he wouldn’t comment on Alex Rodriguez’s latest PED controversy. Instead, he talked a lot about his ankle and his absolute belief that he’ll be back by April 1.

Here are some highlights, starting with video of Jeter answering a question about whether Opening Day is a realistic goal.

On his offseason
“My offseason was terrible. Absolutely terrible. … Physically. Mentally it was rough, too, but more physical. I was stuck on the couch for a good five, six weeks where I really couldn’t move around too much. From the point I had the injury I had to wait a week for the surgery and then the next three or four weeks I’m just basically sitting there with my leg elevated. So physically it was a challenge. I don’t want to make it seem more dramatic than it is, but you got to learn to walk again, so in that sense physically it was a challenge, and then mentally it’s a challenge when you sit on the couch and you can’t get anywhere. I had a little scooter I could to move around, but it was tough. It was not fun.”

On whether he knew he was running the risk of breaking his ankle
“No. I didn’t know that. Initially it was a bone bruise that progressed from there. After it was originally diagnosed, maybe four or five weeks after it happened, they told me it was a bone bruise. I’m not going to ask them to look at it again. You just keep playing. And then eventually it turned into a stress fracture and broke in half. But no, I wasn’t aware of that. If you can play, you play. Like I always told you before, I don’t think you ever really talk about injuries because then it’s an excuse. I was told I was able to play so I played. Unfortunately it broke, but I would do the same thing over again if I had to.”

On when he’ll run on the field for the first time
“I took the last few days off. I would assume tomorrow, but that’s just making an assumption. I haven’t spoken to the trainers. The last few days, I didn’t do anything. I pretty much do that every year before spring training starts. I’ve only been running on a treadmill up to this point, but I would have to assume if not tomorrow then the next couple days.”

On his range of motion with a plate and screws in his ankle
“The plate and screws, I guess you can take them out if you really want to take them out, but I’ve been told there’s no need to take them out, so they’re going to stay. Range of motion, I pretty much have all of it back now. We’ve tested it as compared to the other ankle, and we’ve kept the log of how it’s been progressing throughout the offseason, and it’s pretty much all the way back.”

On watching the end of the postseason
“It was tough. Was it Game 2 I didn’t see much of because I was at the hospital getting tests? I saw, I think, towards the end of the game. I have a problem watching games anyway, but it was rough to watch. It’s unfortunate. I tell you guys all the time, sometimes teams go hot, sometimes they go cold. It seems like our entire team went cold at the same time. So yeah, it was tough to watch, especially in the playoffs. I’ve never had to do that before.”

On the age of the Yankees
“We’re experienced. What can you say? We’ve got guys that are older than maybe some other teams, but sometimes you can use that to your advantage. That’s why I said the other day that we’re more experienced instead of saying we’re older. If you win then we’re experience. If you lose, we’re old. But I’d like to think the other guys are viewing it the same way. I don’t think you go out on the field thinking to yourself how old you are. It may sound corny, but we’re playing a kid’s game, so when you’re playing the game, you actually feel as though you’re a kid. That’s just always been the way I’ve looked at it.”

On whether he’s spoken to Mariano Rivera about the rehab process
“No. I’ve never worried about Mariano’s motivation. I don’t think he’s ever worried about mine. I reached out to him and he’d changed his number – he changes his number a lot – so I couldn’t get a hold of him. But he was working hard. We were able to see him last season in and out of the clubhouse, so you know that Mo’s going to work hard. No, we haven’t spoken about it at all. I saw him today. ‘How are you feeling?’ That was pretty much it in terms of the injury. We didn’t have any long conversations about it.”

I won’t get to Florida until this weekend, but obviously a few Yankees are already at the minor league complex getting a head start on spring training. Our friends Erik Boland and Anthony McCarron are already down there, so give them a follow on Twitter. Sounds like not much is going on today, but here’s the Associated Press with the latest from the complex.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Yankees captain Derek Jeter plans to wait until teammate Alex Rodriguez addresses his latest off-the-field controversy before commenting on the matter.

The Miami New Times reported last week that Rodriguez bought human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing substances during 2009-12 from Biogenesis of America LLC, a now-closed anti-aging clinic in Coral Cables, near Rodriguez’s offseason home.

The new public relations firm for the three-time AL MVP issued a statement denying the allegations.

“I don’t comment on anyone until they speak first,” Jeter said Monday. “Let him address his situation before I comment on it. Let him speak first and then we’ll talk about that.”

Rodriguez admitted four years ago that he used PEDs from 2001-03. He had hip surgery last month and is expected to be sidelined until after the All-Star break.

Jeter started his second week of workouts on a baseball field after breaking his left ankle last October. The 38-year-old fielded 55 grounders on the grass in front of the infield dirt at shortstop at the team’s minor league complex. He also hit in a batting cage.

The 13-time All-Star expects to start in New York’s opener against Boston on April 1. He plans to start running later this month at spring training.

“Everything’s been good,” Jeter said. “Everything’s right where it needs to be. The goal is April 1st, that’s when we start our season. I’m right where I need to be. I’ve been progressing just fine.”

Jeter broke the ankle lunging for a grounder in the AL championship series opener against Detroit on Oct. 13, and had surgery a week later.

Associated Press photo

From The Associated Press down in Tampa…

TAMPA, Fla. — Derek Jeter has worked out on a baseball field for the first time since breaking his left ankle last October.

The 38-year-old New York Yankees captain fielder 55 grounders on the grass in front of the infield dirt at shortstop Monday at the team’s minor league complex. He also hit in a batting cage.

“Everything went well,” Jeter says.

The 13-time All-Star expects to start in New York’s opener against Boston on April 1. This is the time of year Jeter usually starts his onfield pre-spring training routine.

Jeter broke the ankle lunging for a grounder in the AL championship series opener against Detroit on Oct. 13. He had surgery a week later, and the Yankees said recovery time would be four to five months.

Jeter has been walking on an underwater treadmill at the team’s facility since early January.

I feel like I’ve written this before, and it remains perfectly true: I rarely notice uniform numbers. I know that Jeter is No. 2, and Mariano is No. 42, but if you go too far beyond the obvious name-number combinations, I really have to think about it to put the two together.

Further proof that there are endless ways to enjoy this game.

This morning, Vincent wrote all about numbers. Not sabermetrics, but the numbers on the players’ backs, including Shelley Duncan wearing No. 17 when he made his big league debut in 2007. I covered Shelley in the minors that season, and I was paying quite a bit of attention when he got to the big leagues, but there’s no chance I could have told you what number he was wearing. None.

Some baseball fans want to see superstars, and some prefer on-the-rise prospects. Some have legitimate opinions on Class-A utility infielders, and some had never heard of Melky Mesa until he failed to step on third base last season. Some watch games on TV, some listen on radio, and some follow along online while they engage in conversations on forums and blogs (we like those folks!). Some study the game’s history, some worry about the future, and some just like the hats.

Baseball makes room for all types of fans. It’s one of the great things about the game.  

Another great thing about the game, at least in my position: Media guides. Thanks to my latest copy, here are some other obscure recent names who wore the numbers Vincent mentioned.

11 – Chris Widger, Morgan Ensberg
17 – Justin Christian, Kevin Cash, Chad Moeller
19 – Chris Basak, Kevin Thompson, Tyler Clippard
22 – Colin Curtis, Chad Huffman, Brian Gordon, Greg Golson
33 – Kelly Stinnett, Brian Bruney

• In an interview with MLB Network, Derek Jeter said he doesn’t expect to start running until spring training, but he still fully expects to be ready for Opening Day. “(The ankle) feels good now,” Jeter said. “Right where I feel it should be.”

• Brian Cashman creating a minor stir when he acknowledged on radio that Alex Rodriguez could miss the entire season if his recovery from hip surgery doesn’t go as expected. Also, the Daily News reported that a Rodriguez associate is being investigated in connection to performance enhancing drugs.

• The Yankees avoided arbitration with Dave Robertson, signing him to a one-year, $3.1-million deal. He was their last arbitration-eligible player without a contract.

• Joe Torre told reporters that there’s still a chance Andy Pettitte will pitch in the World Baseball Classic. According to Torre, Team USA wants Pettitte but the Yankees have expressed some discomfort in letting him play.

• The Yankees agreed to a minor league deal with left-handed first baseman Dan Johnson. He could have a chance to win regular at-bats as a designated hitter. The Yankees also signed right-handed outfielder Thomas Neal to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp.

• Speaking of minor leaguers coming to big league camp, Tyler Austin announced in an interview that he’s been invited to big league camp. The Yankees have yet to announce a full list of non-roster invitees.

• Yogi Berra and Joba Chamberlain were each honored at the annual B.A.T. dinner in New York.

• Several potential fits came off the board: Outfielder Justin Upton was traded to the Braves, catcher George Kottaras was claimed by the Royals, outfielder Jeff Baker signed a minor league deal with the Rangers, catcher Yorvit Torrealba signed a minor league deal with the Rockies, outfielder Scott Hairston signed a two-year deal with the Cubs and outfielder Delmon Young signed a one-year deal with the Phillies. Mark DeRosa, Ryan Raburn and Ben Francisco also signed last week.

Associated Press photos

Last night, MLB Network aired a one-on-one interview between Harold Reynolds and Derek Jeter. The video is embedded above — should be anyway, assuming I did this correctly — or you can follow this link to the MLB Network site.

A few highlights…

Jeter on the “Derek Eater” picture on the cover of the Post
“Somebody had sent me the picture. I thought, you know how sometimes they’ll take someone’s picture and they’ll say, ‘This is what they’re gonna look like 50 years from now.’ You know what I’m saying? So, I thought it was a joke, and then they said, ‘No, this is on the front page of the paper.’ So, that’s how I found out about it. … You start looking at yourself, you know, because everyone was telling me it looked like I had lost weight. Then you’re like, ‘Man, are they lying to me?’ But no, they had fun with it.”

Jeter on his broken ankle in October
“I felt it snap so I knew I wasn’t playing the next day. … Not this time. I knew this time something was wrong with it. It was two times in my career I knew I wasn’t playing, one was my shoulder, and this was the second time.”

Jeter on his recovery and his preparation for Opening Day
“It feels good now. Right where I feel it should be. … My target’s the season. My target’s always the season. Spring Training is so long. You start playing games. You don’t play all the games to begin with. You start playing a little bit more towards the end of Spring. I haven’t talked to our trainers, I don’t know what my schedule is like, but I’ll be ready for the regular season. … I’ll start running and doing all the other things in Spring Training. There’s no need to rush.”

Jeter on the Yankees fairly quiet winter
“I like when we bring teams back. We were pretty successful in the regular season last year. We won the most games in the American League, which didn’t translate into the playoffs, but we had a good team and we have an opportunity to bring a lot of guys back. We’re going to lose a few important parts of our team, but a lot of the guys are back and I’m always excited at this time of year.”

Jeter on how long he will continue to play
“I never have, ever in my career, sat around and thought about years from now. I always focus on one particular year and, right now, I’m focused on 2013. I’m rehabbing my ankle, getting ready for Opening Day. I can’t sit here and tell you. I take it one year at a time.”