MVN - Most Valuable Network

Spring Training Update 2/16

The Yankees won their arbitration battle with Chien-Ming Wang, with the arbitrator choosing the Yankees’ proposal of $4M over Wang’s $4.6M. Despite the loss, Wang will still earn the second highest salary of any pitcher in their first year of arbitration eligibility, second only to Dontrelle Willis’ $4.35M. And, as he puts it, “It’s not bad for me, because I’m still under contract.”

Joe Girardi threw a bit more confusion into the question of Joba Chamberlain’s role at the beginning of the season, saying, “Joba is competing for a spot in the starting rotation and preparing to be a starter.” However, Girardi’s definition of “competing” may be more loose than most, as he also said that Kei Igawa would be competing for a starting role.

Speaking of Igawa, Girardi spent about half an hour after workouts talking with the Japanese pitcher, talking about some of the things he had observed watching him from the YES booth in his rookie year. Cashman said that Igawa will also be seriously considered for a bullpen spot if he has a good spring.

Mike Mussina enjoys the presence of the young pitchers so much that he had Phil Hughes move his locker next to his, putting Moose right between Phil and Ian Kennedy. Peter Abraham says that Mussina wants to be able to talk to them every day throughout spring training.

Abraham also has a nice story about the energy that Joe Girardi has brought to Yankees camp already. He tells stories of Girardi running the bases with his kids, and has some quotes on the new Yankee skipper from various players.

On the other hand, Newsday has a list of some of the new rules Girardi has implemented this spring.

Finally, Peter Abraham has a pretty funny story about the lack of respect Carl Pavano receives from even the clubhouse attendants. He also reports that Jason Giambi is apparently set to report to camp in excellent shape.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 at 12:51 am and is filed under Spring Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.