TAMPA — Alex Rodriguez is like a lot of other Yankees: He knows what Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui meant to the club.
Damon is now a Tiger and Matsui is with the Angels. Essentially, the Yankees replaced Damon with Curtis Granderson and Matsui with Nick Johnson.
“Johnny is a great player, he was an integral part of our world championship team and we are going to miss him dearly. He is also a great human being,” Rodriguez said. “Him and Matsui, not only are they great players but they are great people.
“But the one thing this organization does is they replace good players with good players and good people.”
And add Rodriguez to the long list of people who believe Derek Jeter will never play for another team.
“Derek Jeter was born to be a Yankee,” Rodriguez said. “He was born to wear pinstripes. I can’t envision him wearing any other uniform.”
⇒ Chan Ho Park took a Yankees physical yesterday and could arrive in camp today. Park was in South Korea on Sunday night when he agreed to a one-year, $1.2 million deal that includes $300,000 in incentives. He will be used in relief.
⇒ Rodriguez and the rest of the Yankees hitters stood in against live pitching yesterday. He saw 15 pitches from Sergio Mitre and Jonathan Albaladejo but didn’t take the bat off the shoulder.
Alfredo Aceves and David Robertson also threw to hitters.
Manager Joe Girardi is far more interested in what pitchers are doing in batting practice sessions than the hitters, who rarely swing.
“The one thing you want to see is that they are able to maintain their mechanics and throw strikes,” Girardi said. “For the most part we did that.”
Since Mitre, Albaladejo, Aceves and Robertson did not use the protective screen in front of them when throwing, Girardi was asked if he condoned that.
“I am OK without using the screen because sometimes you can alter mechanics,” Girardi said. “Then all of a sudden he alters something and he can’t throw strikes.”
⇒ Starters CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez will throw only one batting practice session. Pettitte threw a 36-pitch bullpen session in the morning. It was his second time throwing off the mound.
Girardi said he wasn’t ready to reveal who will start the first exhibition game against the Pirates on Wednesday, but he indicated Sabathia will start against the Phillies the next day. Girardi did say Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain will not start against the Pirates.
⇒ Girardi always looks for the good in things, so he found something positive about his team working out in 40-degree weather that was punctuated by a brisk breeze.
“It’s not bad to have days like this because we know we are going to have them in April and May,” Girardi said. “You got to get used to the cooler weather.”