Pitchers and catchers report to Legends Field on Tuesday with the first full-squad workout coming a week later.
As is tradition, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre will address the players first and stress the team's pursuit of a championship.
It might be appropriate to gather everybody together for a photograph once the speech is finished. Just in case.
Torre is in the final year of his contract and barely avoided being fired last fall when the Yankees were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the Detroit Tigers. Now 66, Torre said last spring that he wanted to manage into his 70s. But his vast reservoir of good will has run dry with the Yankees not having won the World Series since 2000.
At the very least, Torre needs another American League pennant to earn an extension, if not another World Series championship. With Don Mattingly on the coaching staff and reigning National League Manager of the Year Joe Girardi in the broadcast booth, viable replacements are plentiful.
The future is uncertain for several players as well. The $252 million contract Alex Rodriguez signed seven years ago includes a clause allowing him to void the deal after this season. Rodriguez would be leaving $81 million on the table were he to bolt, but he could get that back and more, given baseball's new economic climate.
It's a tactic agent Scott Boras used with success this winter when he had outfielder J.D. Drew leave the Dodgers in favor of a new contract with the Red Sox. Rodriguez has said on many occasions he does not want to leave New York, but he has never gone against the advice of Boras.
The Yankees also go into the season knowing that closer Mariano Rivera and catcher Jorge Posada are in the final years of their contracts. The team is expected to offer both players extensions, but those negotiations may not take place until after the season, as was the case with Mike Mussina in 2006.
"It's a little strange to be in that situation," the 37-year-old Rivera said recently. "But it's part of the game. They know how I feel and that I want to stay. I'm not worried about it."
"A lot can happen," said Posada, who turns 36 in August. "We'll see. That will take care of itself. I'm concentrating on what I have to do."
General manager Brian Cashman doesn't believe the contract situations will be a distraction.
"They shouldn't be, everybody has a contract for this season and a job to do," he said. "If we have the kind of season we're capable of and expect, those things tend to get settled."
Cashman is far more interested in the composure of the pitching staff. The Yankees bid $26 million to obtain the rights to Japanese left-hander Kei Igawa with the intention of using him as their fourth or fifth starter.
Cashman also has collected a group of young right-handers who have been invited to camp and could figure into the team's plans this season.
They include former first-round pick Phil Hughes, who is considered the best pitching prospect in the game by most scouts. The Yankees also have Humberto Sanchez and Ross Ohlendorf, who were among the prospects obtained when Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson were traded.
The Yankees even have Carl Pavano, who is finally healthy after missing 18 months with assorted injuries.
"There are options now and flexibility that we didn't necessarily have before," Cashman said. "That was my goal this winter, to give Joe more options. I have to think about pitching all the time because history says that is what will determine the season."
Much like Rivera, this is a no-brainer, Posada will get a nice package from the Yankees, considering he is the most consistent (surprise, isn't it?) offensive catcher in the league. At his age, he's still got a couple left in the tank, and they aren't much more solid than Jorge behind the plate. Until Venezuelan phenom Jesus Montero becomes old enough to play in the MLB (he's only 16 right now, but is projected to be a monster all-star catcher who can hit for power and play Gold Glove defense with a cannon arm), Posada will remain, and probably move to the backup role to usher in the era of Montero (widely considered the best Venezuelan prospect since Miguel Cabrera).
