The First Step to a Ring: CC Sabathia and Co. Report to Camp

It was a nice mild day in Tampa, Fla., as pitchers and catchers reported for the New York Yankees to mark the official start of baseball.

All eyes were on the new acquisitions in CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett, who arrived at George M. Steinbrenner Field, formally known as Legends Field.

Both players fielded some questions and are really excited about the upcoming season.

"I'm definitely excited to be playing on this big stage," Sabathia said. "I'm definitely glad I've got a guy like AJ that we can walk into this together, and we can lean on each other. We just laugh about that stuff. It's good to have somebody to bounce that off."

AJ Burnett is coming off a nice campaign with his former team, the Toronto Blue Jays.  Last season, Burnett led the majors in strikeouts with 231 and also had 18 wins.  He could have a breakout season if he gets his ERA of 4.07 down.

"I'm 32 now, and that's old to me," Burnett said. "[I wanted] the chance to win for five years in a row and be in a place where it is baseball. I haven't really had that opportunity.

"I played for Florida and Toronto, and they're great ballclubs. But this is tradition, and if you think of baseball, you think of New York. I didn't want to pass that opportunity up."

CC Sabathia will be the number one starter, followed by AJ Burnett.  After that, Chien-Ming Wang will follow.  After that, it should be Andy Pettitte and Joba Chamberlain, which sets up a nice starting five for the Yankees.

Andy Pettitte humbly began a long spring of fielding Alex Rodriguez questions today.

"I'm just going to try to help him as a teammate any way that I possibly can, to help him get through it," Pettitte said. "It's a tough time for him right now going through it, I'm sure. But we'll be here. The team's going to be here. We're going to support him. We're like family in here."

The position players will report later next week and the Yankees will have their first game on Feb. 25, against the Toronto Blue Jays about 25 miles North in Dunedin, Fla.