MLB

Thornton ready to aid Yankees bullpen

TAMPA — Matt Thornton won a World Series last season, but it didn’t go exactly as he would have planned.

The new Yankee lefty struggled with the Red Sox after an August oblique injury and was left off the postseason roster. He now regrets taking just three weeks to recover from the injury before returning later that month.

“It wasn’t fun,’’ Thornton said Monday at Steinbrenner Field. “You work your whole career and to get into that situation is disappointing.”

He’d like to have another opportunity this season after signing with Yankees as Boone Logan’s replacement out of the bullpen.

“They were the one team at the top of my list going into free agency,” Thornton said of the Yankees.

When it became clear Logan would sign with the Rockies, the former White Sox teammates chatted about pitching in The Bronx.

“I knew once Boone was leaving, there was a good chance I’d be in New York,” Thornton said. “He told me what it was like to pitch here.”

It figures to be considerably easier for him if he bounces back from a rough 2013.

Over his career, Thornton has been fairly consistent against both lefties and righties, surrendering an OPS of .685 to right-handed hitters and .647 against lefties. Last season, while he still had success against lefty hitters (.638 OPS), right-handed hitters had a .827 OPS against him.

“I don’t know if that’s because I didn’t feel right for some of the season even before the oblique injury,” said Thornton, who also had hamstring issues. “But I worked a lot this offseason on getting back to getting right-handers out so I can do whatever they ask me to do.”

Brian Roberts, Kelly Johnson and Brendan Ryan surfaced in the Yankees’ clubhouse to drop equipment off. Position players report Wednesday and the first full-squad workout is Thursday.

Jose Campos, the other pitcher acquired from the Mariners in the Jesus Montero trade, threw a bullpen session at the same time Michael Pineda did Monday morning. Since the right-handed Campos, 22, was limited to 87 innings in 26 games last year for Charleston (Single-A) due to a rib cage problem, he likely will open the season at Tampa (Single-A).

Pineda’s command of the English language is much improved from a year ago.

“I am practicing with American people,’’ the Dominican Republic native said. “Before I was always scared of doing something wrong.’’

David Phelps, Adam Warren, Vidal Nuno and Preston Claiborne threw the first batting practice sessions of camp Monday.