Girardi's job is to turn six into five

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees, to the consternation of their lefthanded ace, went with a six-man rotation during the latter part of 2011.

This spring training, Girardi again finds himself with six capable starters, but CC Sabathia need not worry. His manager will cut that number to five.

"We have 6½ weeks to iron that out," Girardi said Monday in his spring training kickoff news conference, delayed by a day because of travel issues Sunday. "The best-case scenario for us is that everyone's throwing well and there are no injuries and there are no setbacks and you have to make a tough decision. Sometimes a rotation has a way of just ironing itself out, as ours kind of did last year."

There were too few starters in spring training last year, leaving the door open for Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia to grab spots. This year, Garcia is joined by Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda, Hiroki Kuroda and Phil Hughes.

"I can tell you CC's going to start Opening Day and then we go from there and try and figure out how everyone else lines up and who our five starters are," Girardi said. "You sign Kuroda to be a starter and you sign Pineda to be a starter, but all these guys we expect to be starters. We do have some guys . . . You do have a Phil Hughes that has pitched well in both areas, but we envision him as a starter and we just have to go from there. And I envision Freddy as a starter, so once again we have a six-man rotation and I have to whittle it down to five."

Girardi likes his team's depth across the board and hopes that pool soon gets deeper with Eric Chavez brought back as a reserve infielder. The bullpen was one of baseball's best last season and Girardi sees no reason to tinker with the successful mix that included Rafael Soriano, when healthy, as his seventh-inning pitcher, followed by David Robertson setting up Mariano Rivera.

Girardi did say there are a couple of bullpen spots open. His preference is to find another lefthander -- perhaps Rule 5 pickup Cesar Cabral -- to go with Boone Logan.

SEE PHOTOSYankees Opening Day starters

As far as the lineup goes, Girardi said, if the season started now, his inclination would be to continue having Derek Jeter bat leadoff, followed by Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano -- put in the No. 3 spot late last season -- Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, who had been batting third.

He did leave open the possibility of tinkering but came back to Cano as the man batting in the three-hole.

"I envision Robbie hitting third and going from there," Girardi said.

A-Rod is coming off an injury-filled season, and though word is he'll be coming to camp in top condition, that was the case last spring training, too.

Girardi acknowledged that the days of the 36-year-old hitting 45-plus homers probably are in the past, but he also said, "I expect him to put up a big season."

Overall, Girardi likes the hand he's been dealt.

"I do like the talent we've brought in," he said. "I'm excited about Pineda and Kuroda added to the mix. I like what we've added."