New York Yankees News - February 15, 2012

As Travis G initially wrote last night, Michael Pineda has indeed reported to spring training a tad on the early side. And it appears he's already found a friend in all-star second baseman Robinson Cano.

According to the Daily News, Pineda confided that he was extremely nervous to be pitching in the bright spotlight of New York.

Cano's response: "Don't worry, man. I'll take care of you."

It's good to know that a current Yankee who has faced the spotlight, embraced it and thrived in it is taking Pineda under his wing. After all, that's really the way it should be.

Pineda's sense of humor was on-par yesterday afternoon as well.

At one point, Pineda said he was self-conscious about speaking English, but he was easily understood and cracked several jokes. He had a low-key throwing session — nothing more than a game of catch — and when someone asked how his fastball was, he replied with a grin, "About 65 (miles per hour)."

He would go on to talk about how he and Cano have had a flourishing friendship since last season as well as his mother making her first trip to the United States. Very nice article by Anthony McCarron and I suggest perusing through it.

Morning news wouldn't be complete without A.J. Burnett coverage.

Here's what we think we know:

1) The Yankees don't seem to want A.J. Burnett and the team that has shown the most interest thus far is the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh has reportedly offered to eat up to $10 million of his two-year, $33 million deal, but the Yankees want a little bit more plus a decent enough prospect.

2) The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Cleveland Indians have reportedly shown interest, but talks have allegedly died down. Burnett has a no-trade clause with the Angels and the Yankees apparently want Travis Hafner from the Indians, but talks have "fizzled".

3) Training camp could be awkward if the trade doesn't happen. Using rational thought-process or not, many Yankee fans have had it with Burnett and likely won't show a tremendous outpouring of support if he dons pinstripes in 2012. I suppose we'll see what happens in the next week or so...