News and Notes from Tampa as the full squad reports

Position players reported today.  Derek Jeter arrived and had a press conference.  Robinson Cano spoke.  Alex Rodriguez will hold his press conference tomorrow.  Here are some of the other notes of what when on today down in Tampa.  Chad Jennings of the Journal News was there as always and provided some notes.

Our day was good today,” Joe Girardi said.
The Yankees day was also short. Pitchers went through their usual conditioning on the back field, but there were no bullpens, only a couple of live batting practice sessions in the morning. Position players checked in, but ultimately, this was the lightest day of the week.

Girardi said he wasn’t expecting any late arrivals this year. In fact, he was pretty sure he saw all of his guys face-to-face today. By the end of the day, Raul Ibanez was the only big leager I hadn’t seen, but his stuff was in his locker, so I’m sure he’s arrived. Perfect attendance. I guess that’s a good place to start.

 Of course, there is one person missing… “The first couple of days as I was watching catchers hit, it was just strange to not see Jorge in that first group,” Girardi said. “You’ve been watching it for so long, not to hear his voice and his mannerisms, it’s kind of strange. It seems like there’s always a player every year who goes to another team or retires. Whether it was Bernie, Paul, Tino, Coney. It just kind of happens, but I don’t think you ever really get used to it.”  It is going to start getting hard and weird but things are changing.  Posada is the first then maybe Mo after this year then Jeter in a couple of years or so.  Pettitte was the first but like Jeter said he did leave for three years in the middle of all those years so they got used to him not being there a little bit. 

Asked how his relationship with Posada will change now that Posada has retired, Derek Jeter turned sarcastic. “I probably won’t talk to him, probably won’t see him anymore,” Jeter said. “That’s about the end of it. No, we’re like brothers, all of us are like brothers, because we’ve had so many experiences together. I keep in touch with him all the time.”

As expected, Austin Romine sat out today. “He felt better today so that’s good,” Girardi said. “If they think he needs another day, he takes another day.”

 Seems early for live batting practice… “We have some guys that are ready for that because they’ve been here for a while and they have been throwing,” Girardi said. “We have some games that are fairly early so we’ve moved up their bullpens to try to prepare those guys for games.”

Robinson Cano on his offseason workouts: “Even harder than last year. Running, fielding, hitting, working out… I’m ready for wherever they put me in the lineup. I would say that I am going to play the game the same way I’ve played it, and not change anything.”