A little taste of spring today on a warm March morning in New York. Down in Florida, Chad Jennings recaps Hiroki Kuroda’s first start and some worrisome news about Dave Robertson.

Here’s the latest Yankeeness from around the web:

Kevin Kernan on Mariano Rivera:

He revealed to The Post yesterday he will announce his decision before midseason.

“I have to fight for my salvation,’’ Rivera said. “I have to work for that. That is what makes a real closer. That is the game I would love to close. That is what drives me.

“These are only games, now we are talking about lives. There is nothing better than that. That’s closing the deal.

“There is definitely a higher calling. I’m not a man to talk about fame or what I have accomplished, none of that stuff. To me that is good, but it is not important.

“If I can get hold of a teenager and tell him, ‘You know what, Jesus loves you, He cares about you and your family,’ that is the message. That’s what I want to do.’’

Rivera, 42, appears to be preparing himself mentally to move on and is savoring each baseball day. He wants to make sure his final decision is the correct one, and that’s why he has yet to announce it.

“I think maybe it will be before the All-Star break,’’ Rivera said of when he will make that announcement.

Chad Jennings on yesterday’s action (and this post on Hiroki Kuroda who will pitch today). Wallace Matthews has more on Kuroda over at ESPN.

Anthony McCarron on C.C. Sabathia.

Mike Axisa looks at regression candidates for 2012 at Rivera Ave.

Gabe Lezra crunches pitching numbers at IIATMS.

SG looks at what we might expect out of Alex Rodriguez at Replacement Level.

And finally, check out this great old news clip on Sparky Lyle dug up by Steve Lombari over at Was Watching.

Chad Jennings on Michael Pineda’s first outing as a Yankee.

[Photo Credit: Corey Sipkin/ New York Daily News]

Alex Rodriguez had a great spring training last year and it didn’t carry over to the regular season because of injuries. He’s not going to be too happy about having a good game yesterday, according to Chad Jennings. Here’s more from Wallace Matthews.

According to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, Alex Rodriguez addressed the team for 10 minutes.

Yanks and Phil are on the MLB Network this afternoon. Wallace Matthews at ESPN New York has the lineups.

Enjoy, y’all.

[Photo Credit: MrBrnMkg]

Prince Hal:

“I’m a finance geek,” Steinbrenner said Thursday. “I just feel that if you do well on the player development side, and you have a good farm system, you don’t need a $220 million payroll. You don’t. You can field every bit as good a team with young talent.”

To which our friend William Juliano tweeted:

Here’s what I heard Hal S’brenner say: “We don’t have to pay lux tax to win”. I would have problem if he said: “We won’t pay lux tax to win”

[Photo Credit: Volcalo89.5]

Diane Firstman hipped me to this little feature by Andrew Marchand on Francisco Cervelli.

[Photo Credit: Matt Slocum/AP]

From George King III in the Post: Hiroki Kuroda has been given a spot in the starting rotation. C.C. Sabathia, of course, is the ace. But nothing is a lock for the rest of the fellas:

Barring an injury, Girardi is going to have put somebody in the bullpen — Hughes, who has 49 relief appearances, and Garcia are the favorites — or send a pitcher to SWB.

“I am not trying to cause a stir,’’ Girardi said. “I am making sure that when we leave spring training we are taking the five best. And to be fair, there are no guarantees.’’

Girardi recalled Don Zimmer offering advice and is reminded of it every day.

“Don’t guarantee spots in spring training,’’ Zimmer told Girardi.

Around Yankeeland:

IIATMS runs down their list of the top 30 Yankee prospects.

Mike Axisa looks at the Russell Martin situation over at River Ave.

Rebecca Glass writes about Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira while Steve Goldman fights off paranoid nightmare blues about the Yankees’ offense over at the Pinstriped Bible.

And over at Lo-Hud, Chad Jennings provides the notes of the day.

Via Pete Abe in the Boston Globe, Joe Girardi had some nice words for Jason Varitek who recently announced his retirement. Meanwhile, right on time, Bobby V is lobbing verbal grenades across enemy lines.

[Photo Credit: New York Times, from their amazing new tumblr site: The Lively Morgue]

Andy Pettitte showed up at the Yankees spring training camp yesterday. Chad Jennings has the skinny.

And here’s Pettitte’s take on Manny Banuelos.

[AP Photo, swiped from Lo-Hud]

Alex Rodriguez spoke with reporters over the weekend. Chad Jennings has the highlights:

“I’ve always felt that more is better. It’s just the way I’ve always done it. It’s the way I saw my Mom work when I grew up. I just felt that I needed to get up early and do the work, and stay up late and do the work. It’s been a hard lesson to learn, but over the past two or three years I understand that doing my corrective exercises, focusing a lot more on recovery (is best). When you’re in your 20s, you think about training and (then) you think about recovery, and at this point in your career it’s actually the exact opposite. To your point, yeah, I think I learned that lesson… The one thing Philippon told me many years ago when he did (the hip surgery) is that less is more, but I didn’t listen to him then. I went back to see him this winter and he’s very happy with the range of motion and how it looks. He reiterated the importance of less is more. I’m on board now.”

[Photo Credit: Matt Slocum/AP]

Here’s DJ, via Chad Jennings:

“If I didn’t’ think I was still capable of doing everything, I wouldn’t be playing,” Jeter said. “If I didn’t think I was capable of playing the game at a high level, I would go home. If I wasn’t enjoying myself, enjoying the competition, then it’d be time to go home. Right now, I think I’m capable, and I’m enjoying myself. I can’t comment on what would force me to retire, go home, stop playing. But I have a lot of confidence. I’ve always had a lot of confidence. If that starts to waver, then I wouldn’t do it.”

For more Jetes, here’s Andrew Marchand at ESPN, New York.

And hey, congrats to River Ave Blues who just celebrated their five-year anniversary.

[The Photo I swiped from Lo-Hud. Credit goes to AP]

Now that A.J Burnett has been forced to walk the plank, the 2012 Yankees’ starting rotation has begun to take its final shape. Although Joe Girardi has promised a battle between the veteran Freddy Garcia and one-time top prospect Phil Hughes for the fifth slot, the young right hander seems to have the inside track. Then again, Hughes isn’t really that young any more, at least not by the standards of the Yankees’ 2012 rotation.

If Phil Hughes breaks camp as the fifth starter, he’ll no longer be the baby of the staff. Along with Ivan Nova (25) and Michael Pineda (23), Hughes would give the Yankees three starters no older than 26, providing a youthful complement to the 31-year old CC Sabathia and 37-year old Hiroki Kuroda. At an average age of 28.4, the 2012 rotation would represent the team’s youngest starting staff since 1995 and fourth youngest in the last 30 seasons.

Average Age* of New York Yankees’ Starters, 1901-2011

*A weighted average based on the number of innings pitched as a starter only.
Note: Red data points indicate years the Yankees won the World Series.
Source: Baseball-reference.com

Sometimes the best laid plans go astray, so there’s no guarantee that the Yankees’ rotation will retain its youthful appearance throughout the entire season. After all, in 111 years, the Yankees have only had 25 pitchers start at least 30 games before their age-27 season, so, it would be remarkable if the team had three in 2012. Should Pineda, Hughes, and Nova all reach that plateau, however, it would be only the second time in franchise history that a trio of young pitchers accomplished the feat. The only other occasion took place in 1966, when Al Downing, Fritz Peterson, and Mel Stottlemyre combined to start 97 games. However, that group went a dismal 34-42, and the team lost 89 games. So, needless to say, Brian Cashman is probably banking on greater success from his trio of young starters.

Total Number of Starts by Yankees’ Pitchers Age-26 and Under, 1901-2011

Note: Red data points indicate years the Yankees won the World Series.
Source: Baseball-reference.com

The chance of Hughes, Nova, and Pineda all surpassing 30 games started is probably slim, but even if the barometer is lowered to 25, the 2012 rotation would still become only the sixth in franchise history to have three pitchers age-26 or younger qualify. What’s more, with at least 75 starts from the baby faced trio, you’d have to go all the way back to 1982 to find another season in which more games were started by pitchers no older than 26 years.

For most of the past decade, the advanced age of the Yankees’ rotation has been looked upon as a concern, but the team has enjoyed considerable success with older starting pitchers. In fact, in 2008, the only recent season in which the Yankees failed to make the playoffs, the team tried to inject youth into the rotation with Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy (Joba Chamberlain joined the starting staff in June), but a combination of injuries and ineffectiveness limited the trio to only 29 starts. That’s why there should be at least a little trepidation about entering this season with such an inexperienced rotation. Although the potential in the Yankees’ young starting staff is encouraging (not only for this season, but beyond), the promise of youth is often broken. Besides, at the end of the season, the only stat that will count is the number of wins, not how games are started by the youngest members of the rotation.

Sweet Lou will join the Cavalcade of Stars in the YES booth this year. Wonder if they’ll pair him up with Paulie O? That’d be worth watching.

[Photo Credit: New Jersey Star-Ledger]

Take a trip back to the Yankees spring training camp in 1986 with our man William Juliano.

Eric Chavez is back.

[Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images]

Man, Chad Jennings does a good job at Lo-Hud. Here’s some highlights from yesterday’s Yankee camp, including this bit from Russell Martin on A.J. Burnett:

“I think sometimes he would let negative thoughts get into his mind and they would affect him a little bit. It wasn’t the fact that he didn’t care or anything; he probably cared more than anybody. He’s just very hard on himself and sometimes over-critical, and when you do that, sometimes you just go the wrong way. That’s what happened with him sometimes; he was over-critical of himself instead of just simplifying the game. He would listen to everybody trying to help him out, and when you do that, it becomes chaotic. I think that’s what was happening in his mind.”

I wasn’t sorry to see Burnett go. He was frustrating to watch but I never hated him. Yeah, the pie thing was silly, but Burnett didn’t seem like a punk. Guy wasn’t Carl Pavano. He was exactly the dude they signed,  fine in 2009 but I don’t think anyone was surprised how he performed the last two years. I don’t have any hard feelings, do you?

[Photo Credit: Matt Slocum/AP]

Will this be Mariano Rivera’s final season? Marc Carig thinks it just might be.

[Drawing by Francesco Francavilla]

According to two reports (Buster Olney, Joel Sherman) that I found via Craig Calcaterra at Hardball Talk, the Yankees have agreed to a 1-year, $1 million deal with Raul Ibanez. He’ll be the left-handed DH presumably and will be able to play the field if the need arises. I haven’t heard any Yankee fan or analyst that likes the move and perhaps they are right. I just can’t get myself too worked-up over the part-time DH. If he’s a bust, they cut him and make a move later in the season, cause that’s how they roll in Chinatown, Jake.

Pitchers and catchers report today. Chad Jennings has some notes already. The intrepid Marc Carig has more.

It’s gunna be a fun season, for sure.

Meanwhile, the Knicks host the defending World Champs at the Garden this afternoon.

Happy Sunday, y’all.

[Photo Credit: Attimi Rubati]

Via Hardball Talk, C.C. Sabathia is in good shape; Hideki Okajima is not.

Oh, and according to Buster Olney, A.J. Burnett is this close to being a Pirate.

And Jon Heyman reports that Ibanez and Chavez are going to play in the Bronx this year.