Lou Piniella joins YES broadcast team

There was a time when having Lou Piniella in YES' broadcast booth might have been perceived as a potential threat to the Yankees' manager. That time is long past, Piniella insisted Wednesday upon joining the YES roster of analysts.

"C'mon, please," he said when asked, jokingly, whether Joe Girardi should be concerned. "I retired back in August of 2010, and I'm going to stay retired."

Piniella, 68, meant he is retired as a manager, not from baseball entirely. Working part-time on TV suits him as a way to stay involved with the sport, and to rejoin the "Yankees family." He also will serve as a spring-training instructor.

After 11 seasons as a player, he managed the Yankees in 1986 and '87 and part of '88 and served as an MSG analyst for Yankees games in 1989. (He also was a Fox analyst in 2006.)

John Filippelli, YES' president of production and programming, said Piniella would be a "special contributor" and make 20 to 30 appearances, ranging from game analysis to studio work to specials.

Piniella, who lives in the Tampa, Fla., area, will work the Yankees' opener against the Rays April 6.

"It's a thrill for me to be involved with the New York Yankees again, going back to my roots," he said.

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Like all Yankees managers, Piniella clashed at times with the late owner George Steinbrenner. But Wednesday he had nothing but nice things to say about The Boss and his family.

"I'll tell you what, I loved the man, I really did," he said.

He thanked Steinbrenner for taking a chance on him and launching a long managerial career that ended two summers ago with the Cubs. He spent last season as a consultant for the Giants.

Piniella said he hopes to be funny, informative and interesting, and to learn from the mistakes he made with Fox in 2006. He recalled his first game, between the Mets and Marlins.

"By the sixth inning I was out of material," he said. "I was sweating profusely, thinking, I can't wait for this game to finish."