Yankees Spring Training Notes: Day One

The Yankees held their first workout of the spring at Big Stein Field today. Peter Abraham was one of the many media members on hand and he had some notes today on his blog.

Hideki Matsui took his first swings of the offseason as he tested his knee fresh off surgery. Jorge Posada has been swinging since December and said that everything is going well and his swing has come along fine. Although, for now, his priority is getting to know pitchers CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett.

Girardi had some early ideas for his rotation. He doesn’t want the lefties to pitch back-to-back and also doesn’t want Joba Chamberlain and Burnett back-to-back either because he said they are too similar. According to Abraham that leaves the likely rotation as:

Sabathia
Burnett
Wang
Pettitte
Chamberlain

or

Sabathia
Wang
Burnett
Pettitte
Chamberlain

Looks good to me and also Sabathia, who responded with a big, “oh yeah,” when asked if this is the best rotation he’s been a part of.

The players also appear to be reporting to camp in pretty good shape. Abraham said that Andrew Brackman is a physical specimen, Phil Hughes added some bulk, Jose Molina dropped a few pounds in preparation to catch more, and Jonathan Albaladejo is also reported to have lost a few pounds.

All that and there is no Alex Rodriguez news. Looking forward to some games.