MLB

Yankees respond to ‘getting older’ comment from Phillies’ Lee

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TAMPA — To hear Cliff Lee tell it on the radio last week, you’d expect to see walkers, denture cups and Depends all around the Yankees clubhouse while the Phillies’ features rattles, pacifiers and Pampers.

Three months after jolting them with his decision to sign with Philadelphia, Lee hit the Yankees hard again by saying on WIP Radio that one of the reasons he picked the Phillies is because the Yankees are “getting older.

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The remark touches a nerve with the Yanks organization, which has prided itself adding younger players the last few years.

“Some of our core guys that we have relied on have gotten up there, but we have a group of young players that we’re excited about,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said.

“All we care about is being called champions. You can say anything else you want about us. When you call us old, that’s fine.”

Lee is not the only one who believes the Yankees are old. But if you look at their roster closely, you’ll see that, while several key pieces are aging, they do have plenty of talent either in the prime of their careers or just about to enter them.

The perception likely comes from the fact that the “faces of the franchise” have some wrinkles — Derek Jeter is 36, Alex Rodriguez 35, Mariano Rivera 41 and Jorge Posada 39.

Jeter and Rodriguez do occupy important places both in the field and the lineup, but the rest of the Yankees starting fielders are all 30 or younger.

The Yankees have stars in their prime like Robinson Cano (28), Mark Teixeira (30) and CC Sabathia (30).

If Ivan Nova wins one of the starting spots in the rotation, the Yankees will have two 24-year-old starting pitchers in Nova and Phil Hughes.

Posada said no one on the Yankees is joining AARP.

“Not in our mind, not in here,” Posada said about the thought the team is old.

“I think we’ve got a lot of veterans and we’ve got a lot of young guys. You look around the infield — Tex is pretty young, Cano is pretty young, and you’ve got Russell [Martin] is pretty young still.

“You’re going to see some veterans, but that’s every team.

“I think you look at the nine guys on the field and you’ve got five young guys, and the pitching staff is pretty young.”

The Yankees have shifted away from adding older players in the last few years. In the middle of the decade, the Yankees added over-the-hill pieces such as Kevin Brown (39), Randy Johnson (41), Gary Sheffield (35) and Kenny Lofton (37).

But Cashman has focused on younger free agents in recent years, signing Sabathia and Teixeira (both 28 at the time) in 2008 and trading for Granderson, who was also 28, in 2009.

At the same time, Cashman has let sentimental favorites who were getting older, such as Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon, walk.

“Clearly I’ve made an effort to make the team younger,” Cashman said.

One of the first decisions the Yankees made after last season was to move Posada to full-time DH. They signed Martin (28) in December to take over catching duties. Martin said he feels the team has a good group of experienced players and younger guys.

“I think there’s a good balance on this team,” Martin said. “You have some veteran leadership, guys that have been around that can lead the way. It doesn’t feel like it’s an old team.”

Cashman said Lee never raised the age issue.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Cashman said. “It was a marriage that was not meant to be. That’s life.”

brian.costello@nypost.com