Via BBTF comes a good piece from the New York Observer about Jason Giambi’s 2008 campaign. Giambi, 37, is trying to make a move few his age make with much success: He is trying to move to the field after being a full-time DH.

Giambi, according to Medgal, discovered running this off-season and with it, he hopes, a Fountain of Youth:

Since signing a seven-year, $120 million contract with the New York Yankees prior to the 2002 season, Giambi has been an increasingly irregular presence in the lineup, and seeing him in the field has been an even greater rarity. In his first two seasons with the Yankees, Giambi played in 313 of a possible 324 games, 97 percent, including 177 at first base. But in the past four seasons, Giambi played just 441 of 648 games, and just 211 of those at first base. Last year, Giambi appeared in just 18 games at first base, and often was replaced in the late innings for defense…

“I’d get hurt all the time, and I just took it as part of getting older,” Giambi said as he stood near his locker before yesterday’s game against Toronto, a bat leaning against his leg. “But when I worked toward getting back from the plantar fasciitis, I worked with a new doctor, who deals with—well—ballet dancers. And he told me that I had really high arches. I got these inserts”—he gestured toward prescription orthotics in his cleats—“and suddenly it didn’t hurt to run anymore.”

Giambi suffered knee and back pain so quickly, along with “dead legs,” when running in the past that it was never part of his offseason regimen. But this winter, he said, he ran every day. Giambi found a track near his Las Vegas home and learned how to run without pain for the first time, 60 yards at a time.

This winter was the first time in his career that Giambi went through a running program, and the Yanks are hoping that Giambi’s legs will stay fresher for it this year. While Giambi talks about regaining quickness, his apparent injury yesterday bodes ill for his legs.

Right now, the Yanks have to hope that this supposedly new and improved Jason Giambi is also willing to let himself heal. But at 37, it’s hard to roll back the baseball clock as it keeps on ticking ever forward.

Lineup
Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Melky Cabrera CF

Bench
Jose Molina C
Shelley Duncan 1B-RF-LF
Morgan Ensberg 1B-3B
Wilson Betemit 1B-2B-3B-SS

Starters
RHP Chien-Ming Wang
RHP Mike Mussina
RHP Phil Hughes
RHP Ian Kennedy

Relievers
RHP Mariano Rivera
RHP Joba Chamberlain
RHP LaTroy Hawkins
RHP Kyle Farnsworth
LHP Billy Traber
RHP Ross Ohlendorf
RHP Brian Bruney
RHP Jon Albaladejo

PeteAbe says that’s the roster, and there’s not much to complain about (keep your head up Scotty P., you’ll be up soon enough). The Yanks retroactively placed Pettitte on the 15-day DL (he’s eligible to come off on Saturday, Sean Henn was also DL’ed), and they eschewed a long reliever in favor of a whole lotta short relievers. Humberto Sanchez was placed on the 60-day DL, opening up a 40-man roster spot for a guy like Darrell Rasner when the time comes. I’m assuming Albaladejo’s the garbage time reliever for now, and will go down to Triple-A Scranton once Pettitte’s ready.

Don’t get too attached, the roster come September and October will look quite different.

The news on Wednesday surrounding Bob Sheppard’s health was sparse but promising. A few news outlets reported that Sheppard, while planning to miss Opening Day, would be back this season as soon as his health and wife allow it.

Well, George Vecsey of The Times went one step futher, and yesterday, he published an excellent column about the Voice of the Yankees. The lede is fantastic: Vecsey calls Sheppard’s house only to have Bob answer the phone. I would probably flip out if Bob Sheppard were to answer the phone in that very distinct voice.

Sheppard, Vecsey notes, was very sick last year. He couldn’t talk; he had to go the hopsital; and he eventually found himself down to 103 pounds. At 97 — Sheppard’s reported age — that is quite the health scare.

The Yankees say they believe Sheppard will return in July even though Bob’s aiming for June. The team may opt to keep him on the DL until the All Star Game just to make sure he’s healthy. As Vecsey writes, Bob Sheppard is Yankee Stadium:

Robert Leo Sheppard has been a highlight of any trip to the big ballyard in the Bronx since opening day, April 17, 1951, when he announced the name of Joe DiMaggio right after the youngster playing right field, Mickey Mantle. Roger or Reggie or Bernie might not hit a home run on any given day, but Sheppard would deliver the starting lineups, in a voice that would make everybody else in the joint sound like we were Archie or Edith Bunker speaking some other language…

The players want to make the majors just to hear Sheppard announce their names. Reggie Jackson still hasn’t gotten over hearing Sheppard, on a busman’s holiday, do a guest inning in Anaheim, Calif., back in the late ’70s. Reggie, in the on-deck circle, nearly flipped, hearing that voice 3,000 miles from home.

Lonn Trost, the Yanks’ COO, summed it up best: “If there was a scale of importance, Bob would be at the top. We feel uncomfortable without Bob and we hope he is with us for another 118 years.”

As the Red Sox and A’s duke it out in the late innings - good work, Huston Street - the Daily News checks in with everyone’s favorite third baseman, Alex Rodriguez. In an interview with John Harper, A-Rod talked about his past regrets and contract decisions.

The piece takes a different tone from others. Instead of rehashing that familiar territory of the opt-out saga, A-Rod talked about his 2000 decision to go with the money in Texas instead of his heart with the Mets. It’s a twist, but in light of this off-season’s events, it doesn’t ring totally true. Harper writes:

The conversation initially centered on A-Rod’s pursuit of a ring, but veered off into areas he has rarely discussed: The regret he suffered when he shunned the Mets in favor of the Rangers in 2000, and the .personal conflict that surrounded his decision to break away from agent Scott Boras this past offseason.

“I went for the contract when my true desire was to go play for the Mets,” Rodriguez said of his decision to ink his $252 million deal with Texas eight years ago.

As A-Rod looked back on the events of the past offseason, he seemed haunted by the idea that in breaking free of the Yankees he could have made another decision based strictly on money and wound up as unhappy as he was in Texas for three years.

The three-time MVP says that at some point after his opt-out decision in October, he realized he could have been heading for a similar scenario, with Boras dictating his next destination…”So to make the right decision just feels really good,” Rodriguez said, “versus being taken down a road where I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, where am I? Oh, $400 million to play in some place I hate? Great, I’ll blow my — head off.’ I wanted to remain a Yankee and for once I put my money where my mouth was.”

Of course, absent in this seemingly honest confession by A-Rod is any mention of the fact that he still managed to cash in to the tune of at least $275 million. He still managed to land the biggest contract in the history of baseball, and for all we know, the Yankees pulled a Tom Hicks and outbid themselves. Since A-Rod reconciled with the Yanks before fielding any other serious offers, we’ll never know if the Cubs or Angels were willing to hit that $300 million plateau.

As Opening Day approaches, the cynic in me wonders if A-Rod should just leave this past behind him. What’s done was done for whatever reasons. It’s hard to envision an altruistic A-Rod eschewing millions of potential dollars to play for the Yanks for just $275 million plus endorsement opportunities and those historic bonus clauses. Maybe for A-Rod, he viewed this as a decision to stay in New York, but he has hundreds of millions of reasons to forget his regret.

Yesterday afternoon, in Midtown Manhattan, a crane took a disastrous fall into some nearby buildings, crushing a Brownstone and destroying a restaurant. While four people died, the death toll could have been higher had it not been for a Yankees Spring Training game.

Manny Fernandez, writing in The Times, has more:

Fubar, the bar that was destroyed by the crane, was not open at the time. It opens at 4 p.m., and the owner, John P. LaGreco, said he had been on his way there early Saturday afternoon but had gotten wrapped up in the Yankees preseason game.

Jorge Posada had just driven in a run, the Yankees were down 2-1 in the fourth inning and the bases were loaded. He stayed in his apartment, blocks from the bar, to see what would happen. Then a neighbor, a bartender at Fubar, knocked on his door and told him what had happened. Mr. LaGreco’s heart raced. “If I wasn’t watching the game,” he said, “I would’ve been killed.”

John P. LaGreco will never again believe that Spring Training does not count.

Jonathan Papelbon should probably keep his mouth shut.

After Hank Steinbrenner criticized Red Sox Nation in The Times’ Play magazine a few weeks ago, Papelbon railed into Hank. “I don’t know if he’s trying to stir things up or not,” the Bosox closer said. “I sure as hell don’t care, because he sure as hell hasn’t stepped on a baseball field. He needs to just stick to pencil-pushing, I guess.”

Hank fired back in a Post article.

“Being insulted by Papelbon is like being attacked by a mouse,” Steinbrenner said. “John Henry and I traded a couple of jabs good-naturedly. So now, all of a sudden, this player, this 20-something kid who really doesn’t know his way in the world, comes out with a personal insult. There’s no excuse for that.”

I have a feeling that if you were to ask the Red Sox their thoughts on this, they’d probably tell Papelbon to stay out of this. Let the big boys argue; you play the game on the field.

Via a press release:

Shelley Duncan of the Yankees has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent and reckless actions, which incited the bench-clearing incident. Unless appealed, Duncan’s suspension is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st, when the Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays in their first game of the 2008 Championship Season.

Jonny Gomes of the Rays has been suspended for two games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent actions, which escalated the bench-clearing incident. Unless appealed, the suspension of Gomes is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st, when the Rays play at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore in their first game of the 2008 Championship Season.

Melky Cabrera of the Yankees has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent and aggressive actions during the incident. Unless appealed, Cabrera’s suspension is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st.

So Jonny Gomes gets two games for sprinting in from right field and escalating the incident while Duncan and Melky get three. That seems wrong to me.

In related news, Shelley Duncan says he will continue his aggressive play even while the Yankee veterans have asked him to tone it down. This could become an issue over the course of the season, and it will test Joe Girardi’s abilities to keep his players in line.

Speculation is that the Yanks will go with an outfield of Matsui in left and Damon in center with Giambi DHing on Opening Day. I have a feeling the Yanks may figure out a way to work Brett Gardner into that lineup instead, but we’ll see. Melky, have you ever heard of Wally Pipp? Careful out there with those punches.

From Ken Rosenthal: The Yanks are close to a four-year deal with Robinson Cano. This would buy out all of his arbitration years for $30 million. Rosenthal says that the contract will include an option or two that will allow the Yanks to buy out some of Cano’s free agency.

Why the man continues to be rewarded I’ll never understand. But the owners have spoken, and they’ve decided to extend Bud Selig’s reign as commissioner through 2012. I remember back in the early 90s when he became acting commissioner, my father said that the owners loved him because he was so easily manipulated.

George Steinbrenner weighed in on the success of Bud Selig:

“In my 35 years in the game, baseball has never had better leadership than it does right now,” Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner said. “Bud’s ability to bring people together has steered the game to remarkable popularity and prosperity, and I am very pleased that he will carry on as commissioner for the next five years.”

I wonder what his son has to say about it. Kat O’Brien, where art thou?

Two stories of note as the Jim Leyritz saga continues. None of the news is good for the former Yankee and one-time World Series hero.

Leo Standora at the Daily News notes that Leyritz’s BAC was twice the legal limit three hours after his fatal auto accident in December. The details are a bit chilling:

Fort Lauderdale cops said Wednesday a blood test taken nearly three hours after the 3:20 a.m. collision registered a .14 alcohol level. The legal limit in Florida is .08. The amount of alcohol in blood reaches its highest level about an hour after drinking.

A second blood test taken at 7:12 a.m., nearly four hours after the crash showed a .13 level…

Investigators who charged Leyritz with manslaughter said he was clearly drunk, citing his “red watery eyes, flushed face and the odor of an alcoholic beverage.” Leyritz stumbled, couldn’t follow instructions from cops, and missed three of six attempts to touch his nose with his finger, police said.

Still, his lawyer has said the case is “certainly not a slam dunk.” David Bogenschutz scoffed at the notion client had no defense.

I’m not a lawyer — yet, at least — but I have no idea what sort of defense Leyritz’s lawyers are going to conjure up here. It seems to me that they would be better off accepting a plea deal.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Fort Lauderdale police have said that Leyrtiz will face an additional manslaughter charge. Based on my reading of the Florida sentencing guidelines and the state’s definition of manslaughter as a felony of the second degree, Leyritz may be facing up to an additional 15 years in prison.