Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira scanned a clubhouse with several new and established faces and was convinced his team had improved in every area.
Brian McCann was a few feet away, holding court with media. Jacoby Ellsbury wasn't far away, settling into new surroundings after a career with rival Boston. Japanese reporters were waiting for Masahiro Tanaka to say or do anything.
Because of these, and other, newcomers, the Yankees are ready to distance themselves from a 2013 season dominated by Alex Rodriguez's Biogenics scandal and injuries to Teixeira, Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson that left the on-field product with no identity — and the team in third place.
"You look at our lineup, we're back to being the Yankees again,'' Teixeira said. "Last year we weren't the Yankees.''
The Yankees' 85 victories last season were their fewest in a full season since 1992. They finished tied for third, a depth they have reached only one other time since '92. All you need to know about last year's broken-down baseball machine is that the Yankees scored 650 runs — only 36 runs more than the Twins. And we all know how the Twins did.
It was enough to send lefthander CC Sabathia to the gym during the offseason, and the staff ace reportedly lost 40 pounds. Now he must find his fastball, which averaged around 91 miles per hour last season after years at around 94.
"Nobody wants to go through that again," Sabathia said. "It sticks with me a lot — just being disappointed in not being able to help this team win. I feel like if I could have been a little better we might have made the playoffs. I blamed myself for a long time in the offseason.''
Did the Yankees do enough — spend enough — to return to prominence in a beast of an AL East? The Red Sox are baseball's defending champs and the pesky Rays and surging Orioles are on the rise, making the Yankees' challenge daunting.
