Yankees Open to Extension for Cashman

By TYLER KEPNER

Published: February 26, 2008

TAMPA, Fla. — Hank Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ senior vice president, said Monday that he was open to discussing a contract extension for General Manager Brian Cashman.
洋基資深副總裁Hank Steinbrenner在星期一的時候表示，他對於與現金人談論續約的事情保持樂觀的態度。

“It will happen eventually,” Steinbrenner said, referring to a meeting with Cashman. “It might be during the season, it might be after. We could just be talking at a game. It will happen when the time is right.”
＂這（指的是現金人的延長合約）早晚都是會達成的。＂小老闆在與現金人開會之後這麼說。＂續約可能會發生在球季中，也可能會在之後。我們可能會在某一場比賽當中談論此事。只要當時間點對了，這件事情隨時都會發生。＂

Steinbrenner wanted to trade for pitcher Johan Santana this winter, but Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ general partner, did not. That decision could haunt Cashman if the Yankees stumble and Santana thrives with the Mets. Yet Hank Steinbrenner said he supported the direction the Yankees had taken under Cashman, who has been in his job for 10 years.
小老闆在去年（2007）冬天的時候希望將山大王交易過來，但是現金人和另一位小老闆Hal Steinbrenner則不同意這麼做。假如之後洋基表現不佳，而梅子隊因為山大王的加入，球隊表現因此突飛猛進的話，那麼這樣的決定可能會成為現金人揮之不去的夢魘。雖然小老闆曾說他支持現金人所做的決定。

“As far as me wanting him to stay, I don’t see why not,” Steinbrenner said. “He’s been with us a long time, and I like what he’s done with the organization.”
＂對我而言，我希望他（指現金人）能夠留下，我看不出為什麼不這麼做。＂小老闆說。＂他已經與我們相處了很長的一段時間，而且我欣賞他為球團所做的貢獻。＂

Cashman assumed greater control over the baseball operations department in October 2005, when he signed a three-year contract extension. Steinbrenner praised the team’s scouting director, Damon Oppenheimer, and the senior vice president for baseball operations, Mark Newman, for reviving the Yankees’ farm system since then.
現金人在2005年10月的時候，接管了大部分洋基棒球營運的事務，當時他簽下了3年的延長合約。小老闆對於球隊球探部門的負責人Damon Oppenheimer和棒球營運部門的資深副總裁Mark Newman這兩人對於洋基農場的振興工作都讚譽有加。

Steinbrenner stressed that Cashman would have to want to return, adding that Cashman, who makes about $1.8 million a season, was well paid. Steinbrenner said he would not “beg anybody to stay” and did not know what Cashman wanted.
小老闆強調現金人會希望繼續留下來的，並且表示現金人一個球季180萬美金的待遇是相當不錯的。小老闆還說他不會＂乞求任何人留下來＂，而他也不知道現金人想要的是什麼。

Cashman would not answer directly when asked if he wanted to come back. But he said he did not need to resolve his future soon.
對於被問到是否想要再回到洋基球團，現金人沒有直接回答這個問題。但是他說他不需要急著去解決有關未來的事情。

“I’m not a big believer that things have to happen now,” Cashman said. “I have a contract I’m currently on. I’m not one that needs to have any feeling of security a year in advance. I’m more than happy to go through the season like so many players and coaches do. That’s part of our industry, and I’ve done it before. My topic is a topic for another day. The topic now is to get the team ready.”
＂我不相信這些事情現在就馬上會發生。＂現金人說。＂我有合約的保障，而且合約尚未到期。我不是那種在一年前就事先需要擁有任何安全感的人。就像許多球員和教練一樣，我很高興可以一起共渡這個球季。這是生意的一部份，我以前就經歷過了。關於我個人的事情是一個往後隨時可以談的事情。而現在的注意力應該是放在讓球隊能夠一切都上軌道。＂

News source：http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/sports/baseball/26hank.html?ref=baseball

Today in Yankees camp

Most of the pitchers who threw batting practice today threw two sets of 20 pitches, resting for seven minutes in between.

Chien-Ming Wang lost command of a fastball while facing Derek Jeter and the ball went high over the catcher’s head. Standing next to the cage, Johnny Damon pretended he was about to charge the mound.

“My bad,” Wang said later, tapping his chest. “That would have been a big deal.”

Yes, a very big deal.

Jeter laughed it off. “It wasn’t close,” he said. “Wang and I are still friends.”

Joe Girardi said he has been impressed with LaTroy Hawkins, who has gotten away from using primarily a four-seam fastball and a curveball and is now more of a sinkerball pitcher. “The thing that I’ve seen in all his bullpens is everything is down. He’s a different guy than we saw a couple of years ago,” Girardi said.

The manager also has praise for Billy Traber and Jon Albeladejo. I asked him what young pitchers have caught his eye beyond the Big Three and he mentioned Dan McCutchen, Mark Melancon and Steven White.

I usually try and stay in the clubhouse when it’s open to the media. But I bailed out to watch Melancon pitch BP. He’s aggressive with his fastball and has a big curveball, the kind you usually don’t see from power pitchers. He’s a big, broad-shouldered guy and seems to have that attack mentality. He looked like a linebacker coming off the mound.

You hear from a lot of Yankees officials that Melancon could be the next Joba. But he has thrown only six pro innings and had Tommy John surgery 15 months ago. The Yankees will probably start him with Class A Tampa and see what he can do from there.

News source：http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/02/24/today-in-yankees-camp/

With Chamberlain Around, Yanks Find Little Peace

Pitcher Joba Chamberlain has played only two months in the major leagues but has already made an impact.

By JOE LAPOINTE

Published: February 24, 2008

TAMPA, Fla. — Joba Chamberlain recently tried to involve his fellow pitcher Mike Mussina in some postpractice recreation in the Yankees’ clubhouse.

Addressing Mussina by his nickname, Moose, Chamberlain asked if he wanted to join in playing video games. No, the 39-year-old Mussina told the 22-year-old Chamberlain; he does not play video games.

Want to watch me play video games? Chamberlain asked. No thanks, Mussina said. Well, Chamberlain continued, would Mussina like to play Ping-Pong? Without answering, Mussina kept walking out the door and turned left down the corridor.

So Chamberlain added in a loud voice, “Hey, is the hearing the first thing to go when you get old?”

Suddenly, Mussina reappeared in the doorway and replied, “I hear everything!” in a way that made Chamberlain smile and onlookers chuckle. It was one of those Joba moments that have helped to enliven what for years had been one of baseball’s most dour clubhouses, where young players always knew their place.

With only two months in the majors, Chamberlain has become a key performer for a top team and a significant component of its personality. It does not hurt that his fastball can reach 100 miles an hour and intimidate hitters.

Last season, he used that pitch to roar like a prairie fire from his native Nebraska through every level of the minors to an August debut in Yankee Stadium, where he finished the regular season with a 2-0 record, an 0.38 earned run average and 34 strikeouts in 24 innings.

Few Yankees fans were offended when he was ejected from a game against Boston for throwing two fastballs over Kevin Youkilis. For that, Chamberlain was suspended two games.

“He’s kind of really burst onto the scene,” Joe Girardi, the first-year manager of the Yankees, said. “Just a good old-fashioned power arm. Just explosive stuff.”

Girardi, a former catcher, noted the visceral appeal of Chamberlain’s talent. “When you hear the pop of the mitt, it’s a little bit of a different sound,” he said. “You know you’re in for a battle.”

When Chamberlain threw batting practice under the high noon sun Friday, Girardi said, “I noticed he got the loudest cheer” from the fans at Legends Field, louder than the ovation for Chien-Ming Wang, who has won 38 games in two seasons.

When Chamberlain began to pitch, veterans like Derek Jeter, in a group behind a screen at second base, paused their conversation to watch his action on the ball. Behind the scenes, Chamberlain also draws attention.

He walks among the lockers bare-chested, displaying his big tattoos and his little gold nipple rings. One morning he strode past 37-year-old Jason Giambi. Without breaking stride, Chamberlain reached out from behind and ran his fingers through Giambi’s long hair while Giambi was conversing with reporters. Giambi looked up and said, “What’s up, kid?”

Across the room, reliever LaTroy Hawkins wore a blue shirt that bore the words “Joba Rules,” referring to the team’s limitations on the workload for Chamberlain’s young arm and suggesting that he may become a dominant performer.

“Joba’s like a big kid,” Jeter said. “He’s sort of wide-eyed. But he’s not overwhelmed, and he’s not lacking in confidence at all.”

Mussina added: “He’s fun and he doesn’t seem to rub anybody the wrong way. That’s a unique quality. But we all know he’s got talent.”

Will Chamberlain be used as a one-inning reliever to set up Mariano Rivera, as he did with the Yankees, or will he start, as he did in the minors? Hank Steinbrenner, the team’s senior vice president, suggested Chamberlain would begin in the bullpen.

“We’ve got to build up his innings,” he said. “He didn’t have many innings last year. Baseball history is littered with 22- and 23-year-old pitchers that were thrown into the mix as full-time starters, had arm trouble and never pitched again. We don’t want that.”

Chamberlain said either role would be fine. “Just to be thrown in the mix is definitely an honor,” he said. “It makes you want to work hard. You’ve got to earn the respect of your teammates.”

But he also said “you’ve got to take your licks as a rookie,” and recalled the way the veterans made him dress as the Cowardly Lion on a late-season trip in 2007. “Definitely a hot get-up,” he said.

A more public hazing was the strange playoff episode in Cleveland, where Chamberlain was swarmed by tiny bugs. He threw two wild pitches and squandered a lead as the Yankees lost the game, and later the series.

It is now part of Joba lore; some things about him seem like parts of a movie script.

“I could be remembered for worse things in baseball,” he said of the insects. “It prepared me for anything. So a little bug situation ain’t going to do no wrong.”

Chamberlain really speaks this way, and knows how to play the rube. But he also has a college background, at Nebraska. His father, Harlan, a Winnebago Indian, worked at a prison and raised him and a sister alone.

One of his father’s favorite movies is “Pride of the Yankees.” In describing his son, Harlan Chamberlain has said: “He’s a clown. He’s a ham.” Chamberlain has requested songs like “Indian Outlaw” and “Shout at the Devil” to be played on the stadium speakers as he warms up.

When asked about his role, Chamberlain said, “Everything’s uncertain in life, isn’t it?” Last spring, he was a prospect on the lowest level of the minor leagues.

Now, he is one of the most intriguing athletes on one of the best-known teams in sports.

“It’s weird to think about what a difference a year makes,” Chamberlain said.

INSIDE PITCH

Joe Girardi said that Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain would pitch Friday in the Yankees’ first exhibition, against the University of South Florida. Chien-Ming Wang will start on Saturday in their first major league exhibition, against the Phillies.

News source：http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/sports/baseball/24yankees.html?_r=1&ref=baseball&oref=slogin

At first glance, Giambi is first of many options

BY KAT O'BRIEN |kat.obrien@newsday.com

February 24, 2008

TAMPA, Fla. - Even the Yankees' Web site has Jason Giambi listed as a designated hitter. That's how bad his reputation as a first baseman is.

But the Yankees and Giambi are optimistic that he can return to being primarily a first baseman this season. The domino effect from Melky Cabrera's taking over the centerfield spot full-time means Johnny Damon is a leftfielder and Hideki Matsui primarily must be a DH. Thus, Giambi needs to spend the bulk of his time at first base if he is to be in the lineup.

Giambi will never be mistaken for a Gold Glove winner, but he must avoid being a major liability at first base for the Yankees to be comfortable using him regularly at the position, barring a serious injury to one of the first three dominoes.

They have a host of other first base options in Shelley Duncan, Morgan Ensberg, Wilson Betemit and, to a lesser extent, Chris Woodward, Juan Miranda, Eric Duncan and Jason Lane. As Yankees manager Joe Girardi put it Friday: "Everybody's in the first base mix. That's the bottom line."

Giambi probably has a leg up on everyone else. He's being paid $21 million this season, and even though he's 37, the offensive upside from a former Most Valuable Player remains greater than that of most others. Plus, Girardi flat-out said he expects Giambi to be at first base regularly.

"I'd like to see Jason be a very productive offensive and defensive player," Girardi said. "Jason knows what's at stake. There are some interesting decisions to be made. Jason has done everything we've asked. He came in in great shape, his mobility is better, and his feet aren't bothering him."

Said Giambi: "This is the best I've felt in a really long time. I love to play first, and one of the big things Joe told me when we talked this offseason was, 'I really need you to be ready to play first base.' Last year, Joe [Torre] told me he wanted me at DH. So that was my mind-set going in."

During spring training last year, Giambi barely picked up a first baseman's glove. Now he's there daily.

Giambi was badly hampered in 2007 by plantar fasciitis, and eventually suffered a torn plantar fascia that sidelined him for two months. Giambi is convinced that condition had been growing steadily worse in the previous couple of years. He tried to play through it, but it was a factor in his poor defense and his being used in fewer than 80 games at first each of the last four years.

The other leading options at first base are Shelley Duncan and Ensberg. Even if Giambi winds up being the primary first baseman, somebody else is likely to get significant playing time. Giambi has tended to break down when in the field day-in and day-out, so even if he is in better shape, he won't be playing 140 games at first base.

Duncan caught fire in his brief time as a major-leaguer. He batted .257 but had seven home runs and 17 RBIs in 34 games and 74 at-bats. An outfielder for much of his time as a pro, Duncan is getting extra help at first base from Tino Martinez.

"What I want more than anything is this team to be successful," Duncan said. "We're more likely to be successful if the first baseman is outstanding offensively and defensively. What I need to do is make myself capable of being that person."

The righthanded-hitting Ensberg, 32, is two seasons removed from being a high-end player. He batted only .235 in 2006 and .230 in 2007, but in 2005, he hit .283 with 36 homers and 101 RBIs for the Astros. He signed a minor-league contract with a non-roster invitation to spring training. In Houston, he was a third baseman, but the Yankees think he can play first.

"There were other options to take with other teams that would have been guaranteed," Ensberg said. "I felt like being in this lineup was the best option for me. I feel that competition's really good. Hopefully, it brings out the best in you."

News source：http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spyanks245590057feb24,0,2841161.story

Hughes hitting glove with more force

Young right-hander's comfort, velocity have increased

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com
02/22/2008 8:35 AM ET

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees' catching tandem was ready to hit the streets after another early afternoon at camp when Jose Molina dropped by with a tidbit for Jorge Posada.

Having just completed receiving Phil Hughes' latest bullpen session, an impressed Molina told Posada, "You know what? Phil looks like he has more pop."

Posada concurred, and the backstops aren't the only ones who have noticed.

Said manager Joe Girardi: "You watch him and he leads the groups in running. He just looks like an athlete, a thoroughbred and a leader."

After Hughes' debut season was interrupted by a pop of a different kind -- his left hamstring giving out in the middle of a no-hitter -- the 21-year-old Hughes has set out to keep only positive things on his plate in 2008.

Hughes confirms he's hitting the glove with more force than in his debut season, when he won five games for New York, plus one more in the playoffs. But more importantly, he has confidence that nothing else will go wrong.

"It's not so much the velocity," Hughes said. "It's really the fact that I've felt more comfortable and I've been able to trust my body. I don't have any inklings or thoughts in the back of my head that something will flare up again. I think that's the key, to trust all my pitches and finish everything."

If nothing else, Hughes should feel at home in Tampa. This offseason, Hughes reported regularly to the Yankees' training facility on Himes Avenue, even while general manager Brian Cashman was fielding calls from Twins counterpart Bill Smith, dabbling with a potential deal for Johan Santana.

You can still imagine how the Yankees would look with Santana atop their rotation, and it can be a tantalizing thought, even for fans ecstatic about the way New York's future lines up.

But it's not reality, and Hughes hopes that fairness can prevail over fantasy. Some may still judge his career as one of the guys the Yankees wouldn't trade for a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner.

"I think there are probably a few fans who will think that," Hughes said. "It really doesn't affect me at all, as much as people think it might. It's just something that's really not an issue for me. I don't understand the point of why they would [compare Hughes to Santana].

"We're such different pitchers and at different points in our careers. He's obviously done a lot over his career and he's one of the best in the game. I'm just trying to break into my career and be successful, not trying to be like anybody else."

Even as he attempts to carve his own identity, Hughes is receiving plenty of assistance. Mike Mussina suggested to a clubhouse manager early in Spring Training that Hughes' locker be moved to neighbor his, so the veteran could loop Hughes in with Ian Kennedy if any impromptu pitching discussions broke out.

Then, when Andy Pettitte reported to Tampa, he took it upon himself to walk Hughes, Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain through the same intense workouts Pettitte used to attack with Roger Clemens. Even with so much scrutiny upon the Rocket, his lifting and running regimen still draws admiration.

It helps, of course, that Hughes heeded the call for better fitness. Girardi let it be known that Spring Training '08 would not be a country club, and Hughes showed up ready to go. Spending weeks over at the Minor League complex under the supervision of pitching coach Dave Eiland have been paying dividends early.

"He's in great shape," Girardi said. "All the reports on him that I saw from when he was working down at Himes said he was different. He'd worked really hard.

"... He knows what to expect a little bit more going through."

That sort of personal experience served Hughes well during the Santana rumors. Holed up in a RV outside his parents' California home while remodeling work was taking place, Hughes had no access to cable television, which was probably a good thing.

Robinson Cano said that Melky Cabrera, also included in the Santana deal, was disturbed when Dominican Republic newspapers kept trumpeting a trade to Minnesota was close.

But out on the West Coast, when someone mentioned the Twins in an off-the-cuff remark, Hughes said he was able to keep his composure. That's just what the Yankees needed to hear.

"You learn to handle it," Hughes said. "My name has come up ever since I could be traded, and I've been either going here or going there, even when I was in A-ball. You just try and put it aside and concentrate on what you need to do.

"I know what I expect out of myself and what my goals are this year. There are no guarantees. You have to go out and earn every bit of what you want."

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

News source：http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080222&content_id=2383953&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

Yankee brass feel duped after giving Andy Pettitte $16 million

Sunday, February 17th 2008, 4:00 AM

PORT ST. LUCIE - Monday, the man in whom the Yankees placed all their eggs in one basket last December, arrives in camp carrying far more baggage than anyone anticipated and, because of this, Hank Steinbrenner and the rest of the high command can only hope and pray Andy Pettitte isn't in fact a basket case.

While Pettitte might be acclaimed as "St. Andy" by the blathering bureaucrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for what they feel was the forthrightness in the sworn testimony he gave them regarding his involvement with human growth hormone, I can assure you he is now regarded as something else by Yankee officials. How about disingenuous for starters? Or duplicitous?

The fact is, Hank Steinbrenner has a right to feel Pettitte duped him when on the eve of the winter meetings in Nashville, the quiet and sensitive 35-year old lefty called GM Brian Cashman to inform him he was ready to accept the Yankees' standing one-year, $16 million offer. At the time, there was elation all around, especially from Cashman, who used Pettitte's "I shall return" proclamation as the incentive for walking away from a deal for the Twins' Johan Santana - a deal he never wanted to make. With Pettitte taking up $16 million in payroll, the Yankees could no longer afford Santana, Cashman argued, and Hal Steinbrenner, Hank's partner and the primary financial expert in the business, agreed.

"Take your choice, guys," Hal reportedly told the group of Yankee higher-ups in a meeting on the Santana deal prior to Cashman's departure for the winter meetings. "Pettitte or Santana?"

I'm told that in addition to Hank, VP of scouting "Stick" Michael and team president Randy Levine, who handles all the big contracts, wanted to go ahead with the Santana deal anyway. In the end, Hank reluctantly deferred to his brother and Cashman and the baseball people. But when he did, he had no idea of the scope of Pettitte's involvement in baseball's steroids scandal. He knew Pettitte was going to be mentioned in the Mitchell Report, but he had no reason to believe it was going to be any more than in the context of using the same trainer as Roger Clemens. He didn't know Pettitte was going to admit to having taken HGH at least three times and that the last time he took it, he got it from his father, Tom, who got it from a trainer at a gym in Pasadena, Tex., near Pettitte's home in Deer Park called 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness.

Hank Steinbrenner didn't know that Pettitte had had conversations with Roger Clemens, his close friend and former teammate, about using HGH and that he would offer this up as part of his testimony to the House committee. Hank didn't know that the trainer at the local gym who dispensed the illegal HGH to Tom Pettitte was a relative of Pettitte's wife, Laura, who herself became involved in this mess when she offered corroborating testimony about Andy's account of those conversations with Clemens.

In short, Hank Steinbrenner didn't know Andy Pettitte, whom he welcomed back for $16 million last December at the expense of pursuing a deal for Santana. He didn't know he was this much of a participant in the baseball steroids investigation and was this much involved in a gym that could become a part of a federal investigation now that this is all coming out. He didn't know any of this because Andy Pettitte didn't tell him.

Had Hank known this, do you think he would have been so willing and eager to bring Pettitte back?

"I'm not going to comment on that right now," Hank said to me in a phone conversation. "All I know is, we never had that conversation."

In grabbing the $16 million, conveniently at the time the Yankees were getting ready to make their offer for Santana, didn't Pettitte have an obligation to at least tell them about the HGH injections and his father's role in helping him get the drug? You can make the case that maybe Cashman should have pressed Pettitte about what might be forthcoming in the Mitchell Report, especially since everyone around the Yankees knew the fragile nature of Pettitte's persona and how any tinge of controversy and scandal might affect him mentally.

Just look at his pleadings to the committee interrogators at the end of his deposition, when he asked to be excused from testifying at the hearing because he couldn't bear having to talk on national TV about his father's involvement in getting him the HGH. It's all out there now and it's not going to go away. If anything, if there is a probe of the gym and the people who frequent it, it's going to get worse. And those who know Pettitte best wonder how this is all going to affect him.

"I feel for Andy," Joe Torre was saying the other day in Vero Beach, "and I know in the past he's always enjoyed the fact that we always had someone else the press could talk to other than him. Now it's all him and I know that's going to be very uncomfortable for him."

Mike Mussina went even farther the other day in Yankee camp when he said: "I don't know how Andy is going to handle this. However it all happens, he's still got to go out there and pitch and I don't think he's going to be able to go out there and do his job if he has to answer to these questions all season long."

Who knows? Maybe in these extra few days the Yankees have allowed him to take before reporting to camp the sensitive Pettitte has decided to retire rather than have to publicly answer any more questions about his family and their involvement in the "1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness" gym. Even if he were to walk away from the $16 million, however, it will be of no consolation to Hank Steinbrenner, who is finding out all of these things about Andy Pettitte two months too late.

News source：http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/02/17/2008-02-17_yankee_brass_feel_duped_after_giving_and.html?page=0

Steinbrenner encourages Girardi, who hopes to guide Yankees to 27th title

Updated: February 17, 2008, 8:47 PM ET

TAMPA, Fla. -- Joe Girardi was summoned upstairs for the first time.

The new manager of the New York Yankees met Sunday with owner George Steinbrenner, who hadn't spoken with Girardi since the former catcher interviewed for the job last October.

"It was great to see him. He was doing well," Girardi said after Sunday's session at Legends Field.

Girardi was accompanied by spring training instructors Goose Gossage and Ron Guidry, coach Rob Thomson and general manager Brian Cashman. The Yankees haven't lost any games since Girardi was hired, so the atmosphere was jovial as Gossage and Guidry told old stories.

"We were joking a little bit and we were laughing, so it was good," Girardi said. "He's just encouraging us to do what we always do here. So, Mr. Steinbrenner was great."

Steinbrenner's walk was shaky when he got out of his golf cart with "GMS" on the front. The 77-year-old has relinquished day-to-day oversight of the team to sons Hank and Hal, but Girardi plans to have regular contact with the owner.

Girardi chose "27" as his number -- not the "25" he wore during most of his time playing with the Yankees -- a message that the goal is to win the Yankees' 27th World Series title.

"I'm thankful for what he allowed me to do, not just sitting in this chair but as a player, as a broadcaster with the club, as a coach," Girardi said. "Obviously you'd love to be able to repay for what he's done for my life."

Making a rare weekend appearance at Legends Field, Steinbrenner congratulated Gossage for his election last month to the Hall of Fame. According to Cashman, he asked Girardi about "G.I. Joe" headlines, referring to strenuous running early in spring training.

As Girardi discussed the meeting in his post-workout interview, he was a bit surprised when his office phone rang -- the same phone Joe Torre picked up so often when Steinbrenner called.

"That's the first time the phone's rang, that I know of," Girardi said. "I wouldn't really know how to answer it."

Notes: For the second straight bullpen session, RHP Joba Chamberlain made a majority of his pitches from the set position, another indication he could start the season as a reliever. ... LHP Kei Igawa was out on the field throwing early before his bullpen session. "Kei is used to something different than most of the pitchers that have pitched here, so we are trying to be flexible in the way we handle Kei Igawa," Girardi said. "Kei asked to throw a little bit more, and we're trying to adapt to his ways a little bit, as well as him adapting to our ways." ... RHPs Humberto Sanchez and Andrew Brackman are making progress in their throwing programs after elbow ligament replacement surgery last year. Sanchez made 50 throws at 90 feet, and will increase his distance to 120 feet next week. He could be ready for minor league games in May. Brackman, the Yankees' first round pick in the 2007 amateur draft, will make 50 throws at 90 feet for the first time Monday. The 6-foot-10, 240-pound right-hander from North Carolina State will not pitch this season. ... A video on a phone of Brackman being dunked on when he played college basketball made the rounds in the clubhouse. "It isn't fair," Brackman said with a smile.

News source：http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2008/news/story?id=3250745

Posada believes Clemens told Congress the truth

Updated: February 17, 2008, 4:34 PM ET

After Wednesday's congressional hearing where Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte seemed at odds over the Rocket's alleged steroid use, Yankees catcher Jorge Posada supports Clemens without casting aside his current New York teammate.

Posada, who said he didn't watch any of the hearing that included former Clemens and Pettitte trainer Brian McNamee, thinks Clemens is being honest about not taking steroids or HGH.

"He sounded real truthful the other day and that's all I wanted to hear," Posada told reporters Friday at the Yankees spring training complex. "I believe Roger. That's the guy I believe."

Posada went on to discuss the crucial conversation where Pettitte claims Clemens said he used steroids.

"It's been so long ago that they talked about it, so I don't know," Posada told reporters. "Andy said that they talked about it, and right now, I don't know much about it. It's going to keep going on. Rocket said it was a miscommunication or whatever, and I believe Rocket."

News source：http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3248947

Report: Pettitte's father obtained HGH from son's ex-classmate

Updated: February 17, 2008, 8:18 PM ET

NEW YORK -- Andy Pettitte's father obtained the human growth hormone he supplied his son from a trainer who attended high school with the New York Yankees pitcher.

Kelly Blair, who owns a gym in Pasadena, Texas, was the source of the substance, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

Pettitte, who has admitted using HGH in 2004, told congressional attorneys that he received it from his father, Tom Pettitte, who has had serious health problems. In his deposition, Pettitte said his father got the drugs from a trainer at a gym where he worked out but did not identify the trainer.

The Daily News reported that Blair sold HGH and steroids to customers at 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness. Blair did not respond to the newspaper's requests for comment.

Pettitte, who is scheduled to report to spring training Monday, and Blair attended nearby Deer Park High School, east of Houston, at the same time.

Pettitte planned to make his first public comments since telling a congressional committee that Roger Clemens had spoken with him about using performance-enhancing drugs.

"The sooner he gets here, the better it will be, to get it over, and just do what he has to do," Mariano Rivera said Sunday.

Pettitte was excused from testifying publicly in Washington last week after he gave a deposition and an affidavit. In addition to his December admission that he used human growth hormone for two days in 2002 while with the Yankees, he said he injected himself with HGH for one day in 2004 while with the Houston Astros after obtaining two syringes from his father.

Pettitte also said Roger Clemens, his friend and former teammate, had discussed nearly a decade ago using HGH. In addition, Pettitte testified Brian McNamee, the former personal trainer for Clemens and Pettitte, had spoken in 2003 or 2004 about steroids use by Clemens.

"There's just necessary steps on this ladder as he climbs back, obviously, up on that mound starting every fifth day for us," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "So tomorrow is step one in that process."

Cashman has spoken on the phone with Pettitte, who planned to travel Monday morning from his home in suburban Houston, but Cashman wouldn't detail those talks. Pettitte was given permission to report to spring training four days after other Yankees pitchers because of what new manager Joe Girardi said were "loose ends that he had to tie up."

"I think he wants to get his life back to normal. I don't think Andy is a guy who goes into hiding," said Girardi, who planned to attend the news conference. "I think he wants to get back to doing what he wants to do, and that's pitch for the New York Yankees."

Pettitte, who will be accompanied by lawyer Jay Reisinger, does not appear to be at risk of a suspension for his admissions. HGH was not banned by players and owners until January 2005.

But he could remain ensnared between McNamee and Clemens, who denies allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Dealing with his first controversy since he was hired to replace Joe Torre, Girardi said it was too soon to tell whether the matter will end soon for Pettitte.

"I think a lot of that depends on what happens with Roger and what he continues to do. If that was to all die down, I think it would pretty much go away," Girardi said. "But, obviously, there's some litigation there that Andy might be a part of, so from that standpoint, it could linger."

Clemens has filed a civil suit against McNamee claiming defamation, and there could be a criminal investigation of the conflicting accounts given Congress by Clemens and McNamee.

Girardi understands any additional admissions of drug use by Pettitte "would become a huge story."

"But my thought is Andy has probably told everything that there is," Girardi said.

During the season, spectators on the road are likely to remind Pettitte of HGH use.

"You know how the fans are. They're going to say anything to distract the pitcher," Rivera said. "Hopefully, it's not too bad, because it always happens."

A 35-year-old left-hander with 201 regular-season wins, Pettitte debated retiring after going 15-9 with a 4.05 ERA in his first season back with New York following three years on the Astros. He announced Dec. 3 that he would accept the Yankees' $16 million standing offer to return for another year. That was two days before McNamee called Jim Murray, an employee of the agency that represents Clemens and Pettitte, and said the two players would be in the Mitchell Report.

While disapproving of Pettitte's HGH use, Cashman said it didn't diminish Pettitte in his view.

"Whatever took place, Andy is a good person. Obviously he's admitted to some mistakes, but he's a good man. He really is," Cashman said. "I say Roger is a good guy, too. One is admitting to things -- there's denials on Roger's case. But the Roger Clemens I also know is an extremely good person who's done a lot for a lot of people and was a good teammate."

News source：http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3250456