Jeter to address contract and Pettitte's high expectations

Derek Jeter said a couple weeks ago that he was going to address the topic once, and only once, in spring training and that day comes Wednesday.

Before the Yankees' first full squad workout Jeter will speak with the media and address, presumably, his mindset of heading into the final year of his contract (the troubles of his favorite college football program likely won't be raised).

No one involved with the Yankees thinks Jeter will be bothered in 2010 by the situation.

“I think he’ll be fine,” Andy Pettitte said. “I don’t think he’ll pay a whole lot of attention to it. I think he knows the way it is here and as far as when it’s your contract year, the Yankees wait for you to become a free agent. I think he’s seen all of us kind of go through it.”

Joe Girardi said he did not plan to talk to Jeter, or Mariano Rivera, also in his walk year, about their contract status.

“If I think it does become a distraction I’ll say something to him but when you look at Derek, he’s handled everything with grace and professionalism and I don’t expect him to handle this any different,” Girardi said.

Said Pettitte:  "It’s probably a foregone conclusion he’s going to be a New York Yankee, it’s just a matter of getting the deal done whenever he’s a free agent next year. I wouldn’t think, and I haven’t talked to him about it at all so I wouldn’t know, but I wouldn’t think it would be too much of a distraction to him at all.”

*** Pettitte, like the rest of the starters, threw just fastballs and changeups in his first bullpen of the spring.

"It's been a couple weeks since I got on there so it was good to get on there and get going," Pettitte said. "I felt good, arm feels good. Same old story. Just part of the process, start building your arm strength up on the mound."

Girardi and Dave Eiland told Pettitte not to start throwing until mid-January (he normally starts Jan. 1) because of the long postseason run and extra work Pettitte, and all the starters, put in. Pettitte is glad to be "eased" into spring, as Girardi has put it, but like CC Sabathia, Pettitte said his arm didn't feel overused after 2009.

"I felt good, I really felt good," Pettitte said. "Obviously for me to be able to go on three days' rest that last game [Game 6 of the World Series] and to feel comfortable with that...and I've said it 100 times, we got so much rest at the end of the season last year, Joe was pulling us out of games 15 or 20 pitches earlier than we kind of all expected, I think it set us up to be able to do what we did."

So can Pettitte turn in anothe season like he did last year?

"Yeah," Pettitte said. "I wouldn't have come back if I didn't feel like I was going to put together a year like that for sure. You all know what I expect out of myself. When those [expecations] drop, that's when I know it's definitely time to not do this because I expect a lot out of myself. I'm not coming along for the ride. I expect to push myself, I expect to be successful, I expect to try to push the other guys on this rotation and us all just feed off each other and hopefully have another great year."  

*** And another reminder, we'll have a Live Chat, live (what else) from spring training Friday at 3 p.m.