Yankees Spring Notes

Despite it being 60 degrees on Monday, it's now snowing like it's the middle of December. After 21 years I shouldn't be surprised, but it still somehow manages to shock me. So why not dive into some Yankees Spring Training to get my mind off of it?

I've been hearing a lot of good things coming out of the newly-christened Steinbrenner Field over the past week. Joe Girardi is running a boot-camp that has been leaving even vets like Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera gasping for air. I like this style; you should train like you play, and perhaps Torre (in all due respect) was losing his touch. There's a fear that a tough start may exhaust the team come July, but I find that hard to believe about professional athletes. Let's get the mood started as quickly as possible.

Johnny Damon also revealed why he got off to a painfully slow start last year. He was seriously considering retirement, and as such, needed time off. Of course, this made him miss the beginnings of Spring Training, had him sluggish during the first half, and was only worsened by the broken bone in his foot. Luckily, Damon claims that things are different this year--he's committed 100% to the team and won't be leaving anytime soon. If this means we'll be seeing second-half Damon in April 2008, then bring it on.

New York's favorite Alex Rodriguez made a prediction today, claiming that captain Derek Jeter is going to win the MVP at the end of the season. A legitimate sentiment or a promo stunt? Jeter doesn't care either way--his primary goal, as usual, is to bring a World Series Championship back to the Bronx. And while we're talking about the Cap'n, he claims that he "did a lot of speed, agility and lateral movement [workouts over the offseason] -- a lot of explosive stuff to try and get quicker and move around a little better." Perhaps he's been reading up on his numerical ratings as a shortstop and is trying to improve? But hell, if he pulls his fielding together, perhaps Arod should consider switching careers to fortune-telling...

As for the young guns? Phil Hughes, warned ahead of time of the new Spring regiment, prepared accordingly over the winter. "He's in great shape," Girardi says. "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." That's awesome to hear--my congrats to Mr. Hughes. Even more, Molina and Posada claim that his velocity is up. How's that for a treat? Speaking of treats, Joba Chamberlain's been working on a changeup to add to his arsenal of fastballs, sliders, and curveballs. The quicker he adds newer weapons, the earlier he'll be able to rip apart the American League.

And of course, all training with no play doesn't build team unity:

Joba Chamberlain yelled across the clubhouse to Mike Mussina asking if he wanted to meet up later to play video games:

"I don't play video games" Mussina said.
"Want to watch me play video games?" Chamberlain yelled.
Mussina walked out of the clubhouse without responding.
"Is hearing the first thing to go?" Chamberlain yelled.
Mussina walked back from the corridor into the clubhouse.
"I heard you" he said.

And, courtesy of Peter Abraham:

To say Pavano is a pariah is an understatement. He asked one of the clubhouse kids for a small box today to store some things he had in his locker. The kid went over to a garbage pail, fished out an orange Nike shoebox, dumped a half-eaten sandwich out of it and handed it to Pavano. None the wiser, the “American Idle” (as the Post calls him), put it in his locker.

When the clubbies hand you garbage, that’s a sign your team has had enough of you.

I'll do a Twins and general MLB rundown tomorrow. But I gotta tell you--all of this news is making me extremely restless. I need baseball to start now.