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Johnny Damon and Vladimir Guerrero are notorious for signing late. Damon was twice picked up less than a month before Spring Training, inking one-year pacts with the Tigers in 2010 and Rays in 2011. Guerrero signed with the Rangers on January 9 of ’10 and the Orioles last February 18.

Here we are in February, and Damon and Guerrero remain free agents. The reason, tweeted Jayson Stark, is money with both players looking for deals around $5 million. The Yankees are looking for a DH, but on their terms, especially with players – like Hideki Matsui – essentially limited to DH roles at this stage of their respective careers. Raul Ibanez is also still out there and has been linked to the Bronx. He appeared in 134 games in left field last season and fits the Damon-Matsui mold

After digesting what the Yankees accomplished on Friday the 13^th, this is why the bold move was a good one: Potentially great pitchers are harder to find than potentially great hitters. For Jesus Montero, the Yankees acquired two that match the former in Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. The Yankees offense may have flamed out last October, but they were eliminated from the 2010 ALCS and won it all in 2009 by virtue of the quality of their pitching. Conceivably, their 2012 Opening Day rotation could read CC Sabathia, Pineda, Ivan Nova, and two of the three from Phil Hughes, Dellin Betances and Manny Banuelos. That’s a good group with all the potential in the world to be great.

Ironically, after fortifying their pitching, the Yankees are left looking for a hitter to fill the DH role.

Former Yankees have been in demand during this Hot Stove season. First there was Lance Berkman and Melky Cabrera. Now the biggest available name is close to landing in Oakland. The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that that the A's and free agent slugger Hideki Matsui are working to finalize a contract that would make Matsui the team's new designated hitter. Matsui, 36, batted .274 with 21 home runs and 84 RBIs last year with the Angels after the Yankees let him go following six seasons capped off by becoming a World Series MVP.

Dustin Moseley and the Padres have agreed to a deal worth a guaranteed $900,000. Wil Nieves is off to Milwaukee and Brian Bruney inked a Minor League pact with the White Sox.

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Hideki Matsui's first game against the Yankees wearing an Angels uniform, and the anticipated warm reception he'll receive when being handed his World Series ring, is a big storyline. Under the radar was the arrival of another key contributor to championship No. 27. Jerry Hairston Jr. caught a 9:30 p.m. flight from San Diego after the Padres' 17-2 win over the Braves and arrived at 6 a.m. this morning. He paid his own way and didn’t bother to look at the price of the ticket.

“When I look at that ring I’ll know it was all worth it,” Hairston said.

Hairston, actually, though the ring ceremony was this Sunday the 18th and if not for a text message from a friend in New York he would have had no idea that it was today, so he called Yankees traveling secretary Ben Tuliebitz

The field is ready and looking pretty. Yankees players attending today's optional workout will get their first glance at the prepped facility since celebrating world title No. 27 into the wee hours. And before Andy Pettitte fires his first pitch at roughly 1:08 p.m. there will be lots going on, including Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra handing the players and coaches their World Series rings.

George Steinbrenner will attend - and so will longtime and beloved trainer Gene Monahan, who has been on extended medical leave. Many in the organization are hoping Monahan will run out to the first base line. Likewise Hideki Matsui, who by coincidence will be in two with his L.A. Angels playing a three-game series to kick off the Yankees' home schedule. Seeing the World Series MVP trot across the field

Three new Yankees helped the Yankees take two of three in Boston: Curtis Granderson, Nick Johnson and Chan Ho Park. Tonight in St. Petersburg (YES HD, 7 p.m.) it’s Javier Vazquez’s turn. Beginning his second tenure in New York, the right-hander is determined to make a similar impact he did last year in Atlanta when he finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting.

And while he’s at it, make people finally stop asking him about his ill-fated first Bronx experience in 2004.

"That's in the past," Vazquez told reporters on Wednesday. "I talked about it a lot when I got traded and during Spring Training. It's a new year for me, a new year for the team and I just want to concentrate on the present."

In the five years since the Yankees traded him to the Diamondbacks as part

To prepare for his second tenure with the Yankees, and to hopefully take full advantage of Yankee Stadium's enticing right field fence, Nick Johnson took part in a two-day session with hitting coach Kevin Long in Arizona last week, reports The New York Post. Long focused on using the lower half of his body to keep from getting beat on inside pitches.

"I never used my legs in the past," Johnson told the paper. "It felt good to work on that."

Johnson, like Curtis Granderson with Johnny Damon, is replacing a popular player, Hideki Matsui, who slugged 28 home runs and 90 RBIs and was named World Series MVP to conclude his final season in the Bronx. Johnson's career-high in homers is just 23, and of course there's the slew of injuries that's nagged him his entire career. But when healthy he's

Just wondering while bracing for a wicked winter storm: Why the negative reaction over the Yankees' signing of Nick Johnson (pending a physical)?

Is Johnson Hideki Matsui or Johnny Damon? No. Could the Yankees have brought back Matsui at $1 million more? Certainly.

Is Johnson a good player (when healthy)? Sure is. Johnson will return to his original team with career numbers of .279-.477.-413. Damon and the Yankees are at an impasse (thank you Scott Boras), so the Yankees turn to a player who fits in perfectly as a No. 2 hitter who along with Nick Swisher can spell Mark Teixeira at first base.You also get a guy who in 2006 slugged 23 home runs with 77 RBIs while batting .290 in 147 games for the Nationals. One year at $5.5 million, plus incentives for plate appearances and a mutual option

Tyler Kepner broke this story early this evening: The Matsui deal is done. He's off to Southern California on a one-year pact worth $6.5 million. The Angels add a big bat to their lineup while giving what's been a bad offseason a boost. First Chone Figgins signed with the Mariners. They they apparently lose the Roy Halladay sweepstakes while seeing Cliff Lee go to Seattle in that same proposed three-way trade to tag-team with Felix Hernandez.

Matsui will be missed in New York. He remains a great player and with the Yankees was better person off the field as a teammate and a go-to guy for the American and Japanese media. The Yankees now get to utilize the designated hitter position to occasionally rest their older veterans. If Johnny Damon also leaves, there will be an even bigger opening