In an update on some Yankee farmhands, Chad Jennings lands a great quote from LaTroy Hawkins. When asked about how his Spring Training, Hawkins, who’s thrown eight scoreless innings, said, “Spring don’t mean shit, dude.” While rabid Yankee fans and bloggers alike fixate on spring numbers, we seem to care more than the players. They know it doesn’t count until Monday. We should take a lesson.

While Spring Training stats are, by and large, meaningless, if I’m in charge of giving out the rest of the $105 million owed to Barry Zito, I am alarmed by his spring numbers. In 12.2 spring innings, Zito has surrendered 21 H and 24 ER. He’s walked 10 hitters while striking out 0. That’s not a typo, and I sure am glad the Yanks didn’t sign him when they had the chance.

The Yanks are taking on the Rays this afternoon, and both Evan Longoria and David Price made the trip for Tampa. You can catch the action on YES. Lineups courtesy of PeteAbe:

Yanks
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A-Rod DH (Posada to follow)
The Big G 1B
Cano 2B
Cody Ransom 3B
Molina C
Melky CF

Moose, Karstens, Farnsworth, Albaladejo, Ohlendorf on the mound.

Rays
Iwamura 2B
Crawford LF
Pena 1B
Bossman Jr CF
Floyd DH
Gomes RF
Longoria 3B
Riggans C
Bartlett SS

Garza, Dohmann, Anderson, Birkins, Munter, Price on the bump. Comment here on the action.

FYI: Patrick is looking for a few more Yankee bloggers for the YanksBlog.com Fantasy League. If you run a Yankee-focused blog and are interested in joining the league (I’m in it), head over there and sign up.

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that David Price, the first overall pick in the 2007 draft, will take the mound for the first game action of his professional career this Saturday when the Rays visit Legends Field. The big lanky southpaw reminds me a bit of Andy Pettitte, but he’s got much better pure stuff (low-90s heat, wipeout slider and sinking changeup). The game is on YES, and should be fun to watch regardless of who’s throwing for the Bombers.

(hat tip to Jason at My Baseball Bias)

Two good stories today in the New York papers about some of the lesser-known names vying for spots in the Yankees pen. Peter Abraham takes a look at Dan McCutchen, the pitcher who handed Joba Chamberlain his first college loss. Abraham’s story details McCutchen’s 50-game suspension that came about as a result of a paperwork snafu over an Adderall prescription. Mark Feinsand sat down with Ross Ohlendorf.

Mike’s Sunday-night Picture Day post showed that, hey, for all the talk of the off-season, there’s nothing like seeing some baseball players. The posed photos were often hilarious, often awkward, and all in front of some nondescript background.

So how about some practice photos instead? Via an e-mail from loyal reader and frequent commenter Brian comes the New York Yankees photos from Daylife.

• Everyone loves a good run except for maybe Jason Giambi.
• Derek uses Spring Training to practice his patented fist-pump. It takes a weeks of reps for him to get into in-season form.
• A-Rod is just asking for a funny caption.
• Bobby Abreu looks like he’s bulked up a bit.
• Shelley!

Soon, very soon, the games start, and then it’s just a short jaunt until Opening Day. I’m ready.

Via Pinstripes PA, Getty Images has the “photo day” pics available. You should definitely check ‘em out, but here are the highlights:

• Joba must have that Thinner disease. Dude’s downright skinny.
• Jason Giambi definitely avoided the In-N-Out burgers this winter. Wait, didn’t he say that a few years back?
• Here are your top two position prospects.
• Jesus!
• Andrew Brackman is one big dude.
• Brian Bruney lost a ton of weight. Hopefully he practiced throwing strikes with the empty cans of Slim Fast.
• The Fat Relievers™ aren’t so fat anymore; I’d say … husky.
• Check out Ross Ohlendorf. Tell me that kid doesn’t look like he was born to wear pinstripes.

Make sure you take a look at all the photos. Good stuff. Some of ‘em remind me of yearbook picture day.

As Cal Ripken neared the twilight years of his Big League career, he grew to recognize his defensive limitations. A career short stop, in 1996, during his age 35 season, he played a handful of games at third base before moving there permanently the next season. He moved over with the recognition that 23-year-olds are better equipped to handle the demands of short stop than 36-year-olds.

In the Bronx, the Yanks’ short stop will soon undergo similar growing pains. Derek Jeter has played 13 years at short, and during an injury-plagued 2007, it seemed that he had lost a bit from his already slow first step. The rumblings, as we’ve discussed over the last few days, for Jeter to move from short have grown louder over the last few seasons.

Derek, however, will have none of that talk quite yet. As Mark Feinsand from the Daily News reports, Derek wants to stick it out at short:

he plans on playing shortstop through the final three years of his current contract, and on remaining there for however many years he plays beyond 2010.

“That’s the plan,” Jeter said. “I haven’t really thought about how long I’m playing. I take it one year at a time; I don’t sit down and say, ‘Well, I hope I’m playing in two-thousand whatever.’ It’s a tough question, because I haven’t really thought about it much.”

Could Jeter, who has been named to eight American League All-Star teams in his 12 big-league seasons - four as the league’s starting shortstop - ever see himself playing another position?

“Right now?” Jeter said, “No.”

Now, Yankee fans will be up in arms over Jeter’s quotes. “He’s being selfish,” they’ll say. It’s not for the good of the team for him to stick it out at short.

But that’s just silly. No baseball player will ever admit to the media that they’re losing a step or two at their natural position. No one will say that age is catching up to them, that they’re slowing down and that, yeah, they probably shouldn’t be playing short stop. It just doesn’t happen.

Right now, the Yanks need Derek Jeter as short stop. While people can fantasize about A-Rod’s moving back to short, in reality, he hasn’t played there in 2003, and there’s no guarantee that he would still be a solid short stop.

When the time comes, I believe Derek will take a page from the Cal Ripken book and recognize when it’s time to move from the demands of short. It’s not going to happen yet, but it will.

Is it just me, or has the first few days of Spring Training set the expectations for the Yankees rather high? Sure, many of us can see through the media spin on the events of the past week or so. But even at that point, we’re seeing players do things, rather than just saying them. It’s a careful balance that the Yankees have executed perfectly so far. And I have to say, it has me more excited about this season than I have been in any year I can remember — though I’m fairly certain I say that every year.

First, we heard about the pitchers who showed up early. Joba, Phil, and IPK in particular were there before they required to, which is always reassuring. We also heard about Shelley Duncan showing up to work on his first base skills with Tino Martinez. And, Cap’n Jetes was there early, too. But he resides in Tampa, so it only makes sense for him to be around.

Then we heard about Brian Bruney losing weight. Good news, for sure. If anything, it shows that he’s at least a bit motivated. It’s certainly better than him showing up in the same physical shape as last year, and spouting off lines about his determination to make the team. PeteAbe also noted that Mike Mussina checked in lighter, which spoke to his off-season conditioning. We also heard about Kyle Farnsworth being less bulky, but then it was revealed that he dealt with a rather nasty staph infection last month.

(more…)

Via Baseball Musings comes a complementary piece to my farewell to Joe Torre: According to reports out of Yankee camp, Joe Girardi is really cracking the whip this year, and so far, both the veterans and young kids in camp in Tampa are responding well.

As John Harper writes in the Daily News, the Yanks went with Girardi over Mattingly to bring some discipline to what the Front Office had viewed as a lax team:

That was part of the reasoning for choosing Girardi over Don Mattingly as the new manager. After all the years of Joe Torre’s calming influence, Cashman and the Yankee brass wanted someone who would be a little tougher on players.

And although Girardi has downplayed it, his first camp has included considerably more running for the pitchers and catchers than Torre’s camps, and the same is expected today for the first full-squad workout.

Meanwhile, in a piece in The Post, Jason Giambi talks about how Girardi’s demands made him work harder this offseason. Girardi, as Pinto at Musings points out, knows that a good offense will outweigh the benefits of a good defense and wants Jason Giambi at first base. Giambi responded in turn, and it seems that, right now, the players are willing to show deference and respect to someone who isn’t much older than they are and has their attention. This can only be good news for the Yankees.