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A relief. That was how general manager Brian Cashman described the signing of Hiroki Kuroda to a one-year, $15 million contract with the Yankees yesterday. It was the perfect description. Kuroda was a smooth, confident and low-maintenance pitcher last season. He was also the Yankees’ best pitcher so it was definitely a relief for them to know that he will return in 2013.

The relationship between Kuroda and the Yankees is an appropriate one. The Yankees strongly prefer to sign any starting pitchers to one-year deals because they are insistent on keeping their payroll under $189 million for 2014. Kuroda prefers to sign one-year deals because, eventually, he wants to return to Japan and finish his career in his native country. So, in pursuit of these goals, the pitcher and the team

Maybe the Yankees can sneak up on some teams this season. CC Sabathia knew it sounded illogical to say that, but he said it anyway. Then he repeated it.

The Yankees, who are usually viewed as the big, bad bullies on the block, aren’t being given much of a chance in the skirmish for neighborhood supremacy in 2011. That is how Sabathia sees it. The Red Sox improved by adding Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, so the Yankees have been ignored. That seemed absurd, but it was Sabathia’s hasty summation of how the teams have been analyzed.

“As crazy as it sounds with the talent we have in here,” Sabathia said, “nobody seems to believe in us.”

If teams need additional motivation, it is always convenient to mention the doubters. Even if those doubters aren’t