New York Yankees notes: It's all about the bench now

General Manager Brian Cashman told NorthJersey.com's Pete Caldera Tuesday that his focus the remainder of the off-season is to improve the New York Yankee bench. Specifically, to find a right-handed hitter for that bench.

"Our team is, for the most part, set," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday by phone from his office at Yankee Stadium.

Unless there is a reversal by the Yankees’ ownership to add payroll, Cashman — having improved the starting pitching, upgraded in center, and filled the DH vacancy left by Hideki Matsui’s departure — is concentrating on role players.

"With the money we had to spend, we chose to spend it in those spots," Cashman said. "We’re just playing with the bench right now."

Still, the Yankees have room for another outfielder – preferably a right-handed bat; Cashman acknowledged that he’s searching for a right-handed hitter.

That likely means, of course, familiar names if you have been following the off-season rumor mill -- Xavier Nady, Reed Johnson, Jerry Hairston Jr. Personally, I would prefer Nady or Hairston.

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