MLB

Healthy Jeter: ‘No comparison’ to last year’s rushed return

TAMPA — The words that flowed from Yankees manager Joe Girardi Thursday should have the following disclaimer attached: what you see in spring training can break your heart.

Nevertheless, when it came to Derek Jeter’s first day of full-squad workouts Thursday, Girardi couldn’t ignore the pleasure of what he saw from the lighter shortstop at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

The Captain also said it’s not even close when comparing the initial day of camp this year to last February, when he was trying to rush his recovery from the fractured left ankle he suffered against the Tigers in the 2012 ALCS.

“There is no comparison,” said Jeter, who took grounders at short, batting practice against coach Tony Pena, stood in against Preston Claiborne, but didn’t swing during live BP and finished the day with a running program. “I was out of a boot in January [2013]. I was trying to play a game the first of March, so there is no comparison whatsoever.

“There is no comparison because I had four months to only strengthen my legs. You can’t compare last year and this year. Do the math in your head and I had more time to prepare.’’

Jeter is known for downplaying all injuries with the phrase, “I am fine,’’ and he didn’t deviate from that stance this time.

“I am always going to tell you I am fine. This year I mean it,’’ said Jeter, who explained the first full-squad workout didn’t feel any different, though this is his final spring training and he dropped five pounds and is down to 193, thanks to a better diet and the offseason conditioning program.

Of course one good day doesn’t guarantee Jeter, who will turn 40 in June, will return to being the player he was in 2012 when he led the American League in hits with 216.

Nevertheless, what Girardi saw Thursday was easy on the eyes compared to a year ago.

“Last year at times just going through what you might consider every day activity, a jog, running the bases, you would notice it,’’ Girardi said of Jeter’s surgically repaired left ankle that forced a limp. “Today, I noticed nothing. To me it looked like he never got hurt. Just watching the jogging and stretching and running. His running looked normal to me, what I was used to seeing in the past.’’

Girardi said he didn’t know if Jeter would play in the first spring training game or two. Considering the initial game on Tuesday is against Florida State at home and the second is in Bradenton against the Pirates the next day, even a 30-year-old Jeter — one not coming off multiple leg injuries — would not play in both those games.

“Besides that, we don’t have any restrictions on him,’’ Girardi said.

The third spring training game is next Thursday against the Pirates at home. It’s also the initial game televised by YES, so it’s a good bet Jeter will play.

Charles Wenzelberg

Jeter felt spry enough to go to the ground to field a grounder off coach Mick Kelleher’s fungo bat. Was he playing to the cameras? Did his legs go out from under him?

“No, I was making fun of the way Nuno [Eduardo Nunez] caught the ball before me,’’ Jeter said.

Girardi said he watched more of Jeter than usual and that will continue during the remainder of camp. What he sees will determine how Girardi plays him.
“The big thing is getting comfortable,” Girardi said. “Early on in spring training it’s pretty normal for him to play every other day and you get to the point where you play him two days in a row or three days in a row.

“I don’t know in the last five years if I ever played him three or four days in a row. That would be the normal thought process, so that is somewhere around 60 at-bats but I got to see.’’

Girardi only can hope what he sees going forward is as encouraging as what he saw Thursday.