Mark Feinsand posed five questions heading into Spring Training, starting with: Who'll be the 5th starter?
- Brian Cashman used Jeremy Lin to inspire some of the Yankees' farm hands (specifically David Phelps, Adam Warren and D.J. Mitchell), telling them anyone could turn into a sensation overnight in New York.
- Joe Girardi is counting on A-Rod to have a comeback season. 2011 was the worst of his career since 1995 (when he only played 48 games).
- CC Sabathia reported to camp at "only" 290 lbs., which he said was 10-15 lbs. less than at the end of last year.
- Hiroki Kuroda showed up early to camp and is happy to be wearing pinstripes -
It's obviously one of the prominent teams, not just in baseball but in all of sports worldwide. This is a team of tradition and a lot of heritage, and a lot of players came out of it. I wanted to be on a team with a lot of pride, and I wanted to be able to win a championship. This has been my goal since I came from Japan, and I thought this would be the chance that I would get, and that's why I joined the Yankees.
We're all there with you, Hiroki.
- A.J. Burnett said part of his Yankee problems stemmed from letting "a few too many people tinker with me." And that in 2009, "nobody messed with me." He also said going back to the NL would "get the joy back into the game." I guess that World Series title was no fun at all, huh A.J.?
- Manny Ramirez is back in baseball. He agreed to a $500K minor league deal with Oakland yesterday. But since he never served his 50-game PED suspension last year, he won't be eligible to join the A's until at least May 30.
- RHP Koji Uehara rejected a trade to Toronto because "the weather is an issue."