MLB

YES! CONE BACK ON NETWORK

David Cone officially returned to the Yankees organization yesterday as a member of the YES Network.

The Post’s Joel Sherman first reported the possibility of the former hurler returning to YES last week. Cone, 45, will fill the gaps at the Yankees’ network left by Joe Girardi and David Justice.

Girardi left to become the Yankees’ manager. Justice decided to take a step back after allegations in the Mitchell Report said he was involved in steroid and HGH use. Justice also said he needed to work on rebuilding his home that was destroyed in the Southern California wildfires.

Cone, who was on the Players’ Association negotiating team during the 1994-95 strike when management proposed drug testing, expressed regret about the steroid era.

“Certainly in retrospect, I think there’s plenty of blame to go around. Certainly I share some of that blame as being involved with the players’ association at that time,” Cone said yesterday. “It’s something I’m not proud of. It’s humbling. It’s embarrassing.”

Cone plans to do between 50 and 75 appearances as a booth and studio analyst. He wants to believe the allegations against Clemens aren’t true.

“We played on championship teams together. It affects our era,” Cone said. “And certainly I’m in a position to want to defend that era. But at the same time I understand how people may look back a little differently depending on how history is going to be written on this particular issue.”

Another question mark at YES is the health of color analyst Bobby Murcer, who continues to recover from brain-tumor surgery. Murcer worked some games last year, but how often he will be available this season is still up in the air.

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Tino Martinez, working as a special instructor, joined the Yankees yesterday at the team’s minor league complex in Tampa, working with first baseman Shelley Duncan, who is competing for playing time this season. . . . The Yankees got back the results of Robinson Cano’s physical and are likely to finalize the second baseman’s $30 million, four-year contract today. Cano’s contract is potentially worth $57 million over six seasons.

With AP.

justin.terranova@nypost.com