TAMPA, Fla. -- Just before 9:30 a.m., 64 players tilted their chairs toward the center of the Yankees' clubhouse and awaited Joe Torre's spring training address.
Congested, coughing, feverish, and feeling generally "washed out" since shortly after arriving at Legends Field, Torre stayed in bed on Saturday and left camp early on Monday -- in no condition to conduct any baseball business.
But Torre was in uniform Tuesday morning, notepad and folder in hand, as he entered the room for his 12th annual speech prior to the Yankees' first full-squad workout.
Even battling a bad cold, there was no way that Torre would skip this moment to lay the groundwork for another challenging year ahead.
Chief among Torre's topics is to limit any avoidable disruptions, and to prevent minor rifts from becoming gaping wounds.
"I always mention distractions," Torre said. "It's part of being here."
Minutes earlier, Torre's team captain sat in the Yankees' dugout and announced that, "This is the last time I'm going to address" anything related to his friendship with Alex Rodriguez.
Derek Jeter declined to analyze their damaged relationship, which A-Rod described Monday as having gone from "blood brothers" to something significantly less.
"I would characterize it as it doesn't make a difference," Jeter said of his friendship with A-Rod. "Has our relationship changed? I've had a lot of relationships that have changed over the years."
As to Rodriguez's troubles on the field, and with the fans' reactions, "me and Alex have talked about it," Jeter said. "Alex has never sensed a lack of support from me."
Torre offered that A-Rod's public admission to a damaged friendship "sort of made him feel better."
As Rodriguez later told The Associated Press, "That's as honest as I've been here since I've been here. ... and that part of it felt good.
"I just found myself trying to say always the right things and trying not to screw up," A-Rod said. "And I think that came across for some people as very disingenuous and phony, perhaps -- those are the things you hear.
"If you're going to get chopped up into pieces, you might as well be as honest as you can and get ripped for it."
Last week, Carl Pavano invited Mike Mussina into a room to discuss the growing clubhouse perception that Pavano was more disinterested than injured over the past two seasons.
Mussina exited with a more favorable impression of Pavano, and a fire had been stamped out.
But where Pavano only has to pitch and win games to avoid further scrutiny, the psychoanalysis of the Jeter-A-Rod relationship has a limitless fuel supply.
"I don't have a rift with Alex," said Jeter, who had no plans to seek out Rodriguez for a deep discussion. "It's annoying to hear about it all the time.
"Everyone assumes they know what our relationship is," Jeter said. "If one person gives another one a look, it's a story. If we're at opposite ends of the bench, people say it's a story."
Shortly before 11 a.m., Jeter and Rodriguez engaged in one of the most well-chronicled games of catch ever played.
As teammates, "We support each other," Jeter said. "In terms of what happened away from the field, I'm not going to get into that."
And once more, Jeter said the fans innately want A-Rod to succeed, but that "I don't think it's my job to tell the fans what to do."
That stance has left some to believe that Jeter's chill toward Rodriguez runs deep.
"I understand my job is public, but your private life is your private life," Jeter said. "Once you open that door, it doesn't stop."
