Down in Port St. Lucie

The New York Mets held their first official full squad workout today. Here are some of the highlights. The team had a meeting with the coaches this morning and then hit the field for the workout. The workout was focused on running the bases and defensive fundamentals. Johan Santana threw a side session and Oliver Perez, John Maine,Mike Pelfrey and Fernando Nieve all threw batting practice. Jerry Manuel talked about last year and how you have to move on. He said the team is more angry then embarrassed about last season but they have to put it behind them and move on. He said that K-rod has pink eye and is not with the team. Manuel spoke about David Wright and said he was impressed with his batting practice session today. Jerry Manuel said that Citi Field didn't have a negative impact on David Wrights power it was just one of those years. I don't buy that at all, I think he changed his swing because of the field and then got all out of whack and it just led to a down year. Jerry Manuel said he didn't get to see Oliver Perez bullpen but heard he was outstanding and this was his best yet. Jerry Manuel believes that Perez has made a concious effort to be mentally and physically ready this year. If you want to see some good pictures and some videos of the days events down in Port St. Lucie then go to http://metsblog.com This is Matthew Cerrones great Mets blog and he is down in Port St. Lucie with the team, he has videos and pictures and lots of good information so make sure you go and check it out.

Yankees Hold First Full Squad Workout

The New York Yankees held their first full squad workout today. The day started with Derek Jeter addressing the media. It went basically as expected with the majority of the questions being about him being in the last year of his contract. He said that this will be the only time he will talk about it all season, he won't mention it again until after the season is over. He stated this is always where he wanted to be and that is still the same. He said he can't worry about next year because he is worried about this year and what he has to do to help the team win. I know everyone wants to talk about it but it will never be an issue, the Yankees and Jeter will always be synonomous together and this will be taken care of very easily after the season is over. The workouts went pretty much as you would expect. There was 8 groups of players for batting practice, there was fielding practice and there were a few pitches who threw bullpens. Tomorrow live batting practice will begin. Joe Girardi said he expected it to get louder with the position players being around. The problem is Nick Swisher who may be the most rowdy and fun player forgot a plug to his IPOD, he said don't worry he will have it for tomorrow. Tomorrow A-rod will meet with the media in the morning. Curtis Granderson had a few things to say today. He said that he has to prepare for the roll call, " I have got to prepare for that, I 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." It is still a get to know you time for Granderson and he said " It is kind of like the first day of school all over again. There are a bunch of names that if you quiz me right now, I might forget them." Joe Girardi said he is very pleasant and a hard worker. He just seems like a real quality person. I will have more information later on tonight about the batting practice pairings and bullpens etc. so check back for more later. It is almost time for the games to begin and then we can really start getting into the baseball season.