Girardi Happy With Roster

Yankees manager Joe Girardi spent his Saturday with Bernie Williams at the Greentree Country Club in New Rochelle, N.Y., at a charity event to benefit the Hillside Food Outreach. He spoke about the current state of his team, here's some of what he said from Bryan Hoch:

"I like what we've done, but I'm going to miss the players that we had," Girardi said. "Whenever you win as a group, you're going to miss not only what they did on the field, but their personalities.

"I'm going to miss Melky [Cabrera]. We're all going to miss Melky and [Hideki] Matsui and Johnny and [Phil] Coke. We're going to miss them, but we've gotten younger, we've added rotation depth, and our young relievers have another year of experience. Are we better? I don't know, but I like our club again."

...

"The thing is, everyone's going to play," Girardi said. "That's the bottom line. I believe that sometimes guys need days off. We had the situation last year where everybody thought we had too many outfielders and [Xavier] Nady got hurt [in April]. I don't think we can have too much depth. Having four guys gives us good depth, and that's important, because you never know what's going to happen."

He also spoke about Johnny Damon, specifically the chances he could return at the trade deadline:

"You never say never," Girardi said. "The possibilities in baseball are endless. I don't think anyone is quite sure from our standpoint where Johnny is going to end up. But Johnny was a great Yankee, we loved having him, and we're going to miss him."

Girardi on Granderson and the outfield allignment:

"Curtis is the type of player that would do anything that you ask of him," Girardi said. "I've talked to our outfielders. We're going to see what happens in Spring Training. We're not necessarily going to nail down one position and tell a guy, 'This is where you're going to be.' We might have to make some adjustments with the players that we have. All of our outfielders are versatile, and I really believe that."

And Winn:

"I think he can be a good player for us," Girardi said. "I know people have talked about Randy Winn replacing Johnny Damon, and that wasn't why we signed Randy Winn. We signed Randy Winn so we'd have depth to make sure we have depth and make sure that we have competition. If someone gets hurt, we have enough people to fill the spot. Randy Winn has been an everyday player for a long time. We're comfortable with him in that spot."

Starting with the first few comments he made, I feel the same way. I like what they've done, but I'm going to miss the guys that left. Honestly, I don't think there are many Yankees fans out there who won't miss Matsui, Damon, and Melky.

I'm not even going to touch the idea of Damon coming back at the deadline. Like I said the other day that's way too far ahead to start considering.

I continue to love everything I hear about Curtis Granderson. He seems to have the perfect attitude for the situation, which will only help this team in the long run. And I see the Winn signing the same way Girardi does. Sorry to those who believe he's Damon's replacement (The Daily News), but he's not. He's simply here to add depth to the roster, that's it.

The roster itself is pretty much built for a manager like Girardi. A lot of spots to give guys off, a good amount of speed, and good depth. He'll be able to mix and match throughout the year and keep everyone fresh like he did so well in 2009.