Tex Arrives, Continues To Say All The Right Things

The new Yankees first baseman arrived in camp today. He introduced himself to his new teammates and then spoke to the media. Here's some of what he had to say from Kat O'Brien:

"I'm excited. This is the first offseason I'll get to go to a new team in spring training."

(surprised to not be the top story) "The goal here is to win a championship, and it's not about one player."

(any inkling Rodriguez was using something?) "When I was a rookie, I had a one-track mind, and that was to try to learn the big leagues."

(reaction to hearing the news?) "It was sad because I know that Alex will be a good friend of mine for a long time."

(rumors you and Alex aren't close?) "I don't know where that came from. Alex and I had a great relationship. Right after I signed the contract in Texas, Alex took my wife -- my fiancee at the time -- out to dinner in Dallas. ... I learned a lot from Alex."

(on using/not using steroids) "I grew up in a family with zero tolerance. ... (Steroids are) drugs in my mind. I never messed with them."

He also told MLB.com's Bryan Hoch that he will be on hand for A-Rod's press conference tomorrow. Apparently Sabathia and Burnett will also be there. Great to see that kind of team unity this early in spring, especially from the new guys. Remember, last year only Posada, Mo, and Jeter were at Pettitte's press conference. In that same Bryan Hoch article Brian Bruney had this to say about the makeup of this team:

"This team," Bruney was saying later, "is going to be the best one, personality-wise, since I've been here. These are all good guys we've brought in."

From what I've seen so far I'd have to agree.

UPDATE 6:04 p.m.: Anthony DiComo had some more quotes from Teixeira:

"The only thing I can say is I expect more out of me than any of you guys do," Teixeira said. "I'll be honest with you: I expect to have the best year in my career. That's why I worked in the offseason; that's why I signed with the Yankees. That's what I want to do."

Relatively speaking, Teixeira's first days in camp will be easy ones. The Yankees also shelled out tens of millions to fellow celebrities CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, a complete remodeling of their team through the free-agent market. And though Teixeira received more money than either of them, he'll receive a minimal amount of attention.

"That's one of the things that drew me to the Yankees is I'm not going to be the biggest story," Teixeira said. "I hope to have a couple big hits and make some nice plays, but the goal here is to win a championship, and that's bigger than one player.

"There's always a bigger story than one player or a few players. Every day, it's something different, and it's interesting and fun -- and tough sometimes at the same time."

He also expects to have a great start:

"I expect to have a great start," Teixeira said. "I expect to go out there and open the season with a bunch of wins and playing great baseball. If it doesn't happen, then I know I'm going to make up for it later in the season. But I expect to have a great start."

And thinks the team will unify behind A-Rod: "He's not on an island, you know? A lot of people think that this is going to tear the team apart. I think it's going to bring the team together. It's a family in here, and we're just going to be there for our friend."