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• I received a Tweet from Jonathan Chaimberg, a noted MMA trainer who has worked with Russell Martin the past two seasons. To put it mildly, he has high hopes for the Yankees catcher.

• The dreaded oblique injury bug has bitten the Yankees again. Last spring, four players (Curtis Granderson, Joba Chamberlain, Greg Golson and Sergio Mitre) were felled by the damage. This year, three days in, young pitcher George Kontos could miss a couple of weeks.

• The Yankees haven’t re-signed Eric Chavez, but when Joe Girardi broke down some lineup options with reporters he spoke like Chavez is already part of the equation.

“If you

Speaking to reporters while at the Times Square Modell's in New York to donate Giants NFC Championship hats to Children's Alopecia Project kids, Yankees manager Joe Girardi expressed a preference for a left-handed hitter to fill the DH role vacated by the Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda trade.

"I think it's important to our club that you add that other bat," Girardi said. "Because of our ballpark, it makes some sense that it would be a lefty."

Out of the name free agent hitters available, Raul Ibanez, Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon are lefty hitters.

"There have been a bunch of names that have been talked about," he said.

In addition, Girardi said he will be exploring Robinson Cano batting in the three hole, an alignment he unveiled late last season. In 27 at-bats, Cano was .296-1-5, .355/.444/.799.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi finished fifth in AL Manager of the Year voting with three second-place votes. While Girardi led the Yankees to 97 wins and the AL East title, Joe Maddon capped a remarkable season with the Rays by guiding the team to its third playoff appearance in four years -- punctuated when they rallied from nine games back in the Wild Card.

Diamondbacks skipper Kirk Gibson took home NL honors. Here's the BBWAA announcement:

Joe Maddon, who guided Tampa Bay from a nine-game deficit in the wild-card standings on Sept. 3 to the Rays’ third playoff appearance in four seasons, was named the American League Manager of the Year for the second time in his career.

Maddon, 57, was listed first on 26 of the 28 ballots, cast by two writers in each league city, and second on one

Joe Girardi spoke with reporters Friday at Yankee Stadium for the first time since his season-ending news conference. The big story around the Yankees this week was Jorge Posada revealing he will not be back with the team next season and will take up until the beginning of 2012 to decide his next move.

If Posada decides to retire, Girardi believes he has serious credentials for the Hall of Fame.

“When you look at the catchers over the last 15 years, Jorge has been one of the dominant catchers with what he's done behind the plate, and what he's done with his bat,” Girardi said. “So, I think he has a very good chance.”

Posada won five World Series championships in pinstripes. If he does retire he’d also leave with a career .273 batting average, 275 home runs

Joe Girardi held his season-ending press conference Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. You can watch it in its entirety below, during which he discussed a variety of topics while looking ahead to 2012.

Atop the list is re-signing general manager Brian Cashman, finishing a three-year, $6 million contract. A source told the New York Daily News that Cashman will sit with the team next week to hammer out a new deal.

Once (assuming) Cashman is back in the fold, the Yankees will construct their offseason blueprint. Jay Jaffe writes about the four players with contract options: CC Sabathia, Rafael Soriano, Robinson Cano, and Nick Swisher. Sabathia is expected to opt-out and become a free agent, and the Yankees will obviously do everything in their power to ensure the Big Lefty

Joe Girardi is conducting his season-ending press conference. Among the bullet points:

• On falling short of World Series title No. 28: “We didn’t reach our goal here. That’s the bottom line.”

• On possible life without CC: “He’s extremely important to our rotation. We rely on him heavily. I can’t imagine life without him. I don't want to imagine what it would be like without him. Time will tell what’s going to happen.”

• Pitching will be a top priority. "The one need we're going to have to address again is our rotation."

• Girardi is open to reconfiguring the lineup, which could include Robinson Cano in the three hole full time, though a lot will depend on who could be added during the offseason.

• On Mark

Joe Girardi was asked before Game 1 about the speculation regarding Terry Francona's future in Boston.

"These jobs are precious," Girardi said. "There's extremely high expectations in certain towns. But high expectations are better than no expectations. You enjoy it and you enjoy your time there. I'm not sure what's gonna happen but Tito has done a great job."

A short time later, the Red Sox announced Francona will not return as manager, ending a seven-year stint that brought two World Championships to Boston, the first in 2004 that ended an 86-year hex.

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On the surface the Yankees struggled through a 4-10 road trip, but the bottom line is they gained two games on their AL East lead thanks to the high alert status around the Red Sox.

When you think about it, the Yankees’ standing is remarkable. They completed a 10-game, 11-day road trip that started with a rainout makeup in Baltimore on what was supposed to be an off day. More evidence that Mother Nature hasn’t been too kind to the Bronx Bombers, they have another makeup Monday afternoon (another previously scheduled off day) against the Twins and a day-night doubleheader versus the Rays on Wednesday. That gives them 33 games over the season’s final 32 days and without the benefit of a day off until after they conclude the campaign in St. Petersburg on September 28 –

Joe Girardi said before Sunday’s 9-3 win over the Blue Jays he had made a decision on a five-man rotation and that an announcement of which starter would be moved to the bullpen was coming after the game.

Suspense built over social media: Would it be Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett or perhaps Bartolo Colon?

The answer turned out to be the status quo. The Starting Six remains intact, and Hughes and Burnett will follow Freddy Garcia on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, against the Orioles.

“We liked what we saw from our guys in Boston,” Girardi said. “We thought Hughes threw the ball better than the numbers indicated. We liked what A.J. did and I want to see him build on that, another time through with the different mechanics and see what happens. There’s no