News and Notes. What did we learn this Spring?

April 4, 2010 by Kevin Rozell

I thought I would wrap up Spring Training before the game starts tonight. Here are some things you might have missed:

Hank Steinbrenner loves little kids…who knew?
Girardi officially chose Curtis Granderson as the center fielder for the ball club.
Yankees Release Mike Rivera and sign Chad Moeller
After talk, MLB ‘very happy’ with A-Rod: “Although Alex Rodriguez never had an opportunity during Spring Training to meet with the feds investigation Anthony Galea, the Yanks’ third baseman did speak with Major League Baseball’s own investigators late last week.”
George M. Steinbrenner III will be attending the Yankees Home Opener: “Yankees co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner told The Associated Press that “the plan” is for his father to attend the home opener against the Angels on April 13, the first game played in the Bronx since Game 6 of the Fall Classic against the Phillies.”
Cashman stated that he still thinks Joba is a starter: “He’s a starter in the bullpen,” Cashman said in a telephone interview. “He can do both. He’s a starter who was just beaten out in the competition. That’s what we honestly believe, but we only had one spot.”
Kevin Towers officially joined the Yankees organization
The Yankees may have a leg up in recruiting Werth, as Reggie Jackson is connected with his family.
Boxing is returning to Yankee Stadium. Yuri Foreman will battle Miguel Cotto on June 5th
Pinstripe Bowl: “Yankee Stadium will host the inaugural New Era Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 30, 2010, the Yankees announced at a news conference on Tuesday morning, held in conjunction with the Big 12 Conference, the Big East Conference, ESPN and New Era.”
Alan Horne will miss all of the 2010 season with a rotator cuff tear.
Yanks might be called upon in McNamee case: “Brian McNamee’s defense attorneys might call on Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera to testify about their former New York Yankees teammate Roger Clemens as the ex-pitcher attempts to appeal a judge’s decision to dismiss his defamation suit against his former trainer.”
Gaudin was unconditionally released by the Yanks. A few days after the Yankees released him, he joined the Oakland Athletics.
A-Rod Staying out of trouble: When the championship came and he’d done more than his share, Rodriguez kept it that way. “Saturday Night Live” asked him to host. People from Letterman and Leno asked him to appear. Major magazines asked to do the story of A-Rod’s rebirth. He turned them all down. “I learned a lesson last year,” he said. “Going into a season with no expectations was a new experience. Now I’m in a really good place. As good as I’ve been in my career, that’s for sure, if not the best.”
Future GMs may come from scouting ranks. “Damon Oppenheimer, scouting director, New York Yankees. Oppenheimer went from catching Randy Johnson at USC to a year in the Milwaukee farm system to scouting at the age of 24. He worked with San Diego, where his mother was the longtime minor-league administrator, and Texas before joining the Yankees in 1993, becoming the director of player personnel in 2001 and assuming the scouting director role in 2005. He is part of the inner circle of Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. He’s not much in terms of self-promoting, so his name rarely shows up in rumors.”
A-Rod and Jeter are close friends again