A-Rod's day

The news of the day, other than some of the pitchers throwing live BP, was Alex Rodriguez's "state of A-Rod" news conference, which took place in the party tent, the same location where he said he was at "rock bottom" a little more than a year ago.

“This is definitely a much different day, that’s very clear,” Rodriguez said. “Last year obviously was a very embarrassing day and something that I wouldn’t want to go back and do. But looking back, I certainly thought it was a very important day.”

But a day, he said, that helped launch him to a regular season manager Joe Girardi called “astonishing.”

What happened after regular season was maybe even more so, as Rodriguez shined in the postseason, hitting .365 with six home runs and 18 RBI during the Yankees’ march to title No. 27. 

The talk of the Yankees never winning a WS with Rodriguez was gone.

“It was a humongous gorilla that came off my back and I felt that,” Rodriguez said. “It was a heavy gorilla, and now I have an opportunity to just come out and play baseball and have fun and really continue to focus on what I did in ’09.”

Like the rest of his teammates this week, Rodriguez said complacency after winning a championship won't be a problem.

Rodriguez had lunch Wednesday with Mark Teixeira and said the two talked about their expectations for this season.

“We both talked about what an amazing feeling it was to be world champs and how badly we want to do it again,” Rodriguez said. “Then it becomes an addiction, you want to just keep winning.”

Overall, Rodriguez couldn't seem to believe where he is now compared to where he was a little more than a year ago. 

"It was a year I’ll probably understand 20, 30 years from now, all the things that transpired in one year," Rodriguez said. "That’s from as low as any person or athlete can probably be to where we ended in early November is something that, again, I’m in awe of. I couldn’t believe it was us, it was me it was happening to. Looking forward, I expect to be in the postseason every year. And there might be a postseason or two where I don’t hit four or five or six home runs. I know the way it goes, I’m going to get crushed and that’s just part of it. But the thing that no one can take away is what happened in 2009 with our team with the way we came together like a family. Everyone checking their egos at the door and winning a world championship, that’s something that…the feeling, the satisfaction I got from that was [unbelievable].”

There was also, of course, a question about Derek Jeter's contract.

“As far as contracts, it’s not my place to comment on that but Derek Jeter was born to be a Yankee and he was born to wear pinstripes," Rodriguez said. "He’s our captain, we need him here and I envision he’ll finish his career here. When you think of Derek, I can’t envision him wearing any other uniform.”

*** And our daily reminder, we'll have a Live Chat here Friday at 3 p.m. as we move closer to the start of games here.