He thanked many in and outside the Yankees organization, including his wife, Laura, whom he called his “rock.” When he got to his teammates, he briefly cried as he spoke about his best friend, shortstop Derek Jeter.

“Hopefully, you won’t miss me that much,” Posada said to Jeter, who was in attendance.

With the Yankees not showing interest in re-signing him, Posada said he didn’t consider signing with any other teams.

“I knew in my heart and I knew in my head I didn’t want to play anymore,” Posada said.

Posada recounted how he entered Yankee Stadium each day with the same thought in his head.

“I quoted Joe DiMaggio’s (famous quote), ‘I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee,’ ” Posada said.

Posada sat at a dais flanked by his wife and his children, Jorge Jr. and Paulina. To his right were five world championship trophies, four of which Posada helped the Yankees win. Jeter, closer Mariano Rivera, ace CC Sabathia and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner were among those in attendance.

After Posada finished his opening statement, Diana Munson, the widow of Yankees great Thurman Munson, spoke. She credited Posada for inspiring her to watch baseball again. Posada had considered Thurman Munson, who died in 1979 when the plane he was piloting crashed in Ohio, a hero.

Read the entire story on espn.com

This kid is getting a lot of hype for the small things. I think he will be a great player but the media is currently giving him way too much love.

He will be headed to the minors this year and if he plays well, he could potentially end up in the bigs by the end of the year.

The interesting thing about his first RBI is that his favorite team growing up was the New York Yankees. Very ironic to get his first RBI against the Yankees.

This will have some interesting ramifications with who wil be the Yankees starting catcher for opening day and throughout the first few weeks of the regular season.

We know that Jorge Posada will not be behind the plate come opening day. He is getting older and they are going to save his knees and use him only as a DH this year.

This will give room for one of the back-ups to step into the big show and see what they can get done. From the looks of who they currently have on the roster, Russell Martin will look to get the start and receive most of the innings behind the dish. However, if he gets injured it will be interesting to see who they will throw in out of Jesus Montero or Austin Romine.

Both are solid players and are exciting to watch.

Regardless, this injury shouldn’t be too detrimental for the Yankees. They have enough bats in the lineup and none of the pitchers are super set on having a specific catcher.

This was quite an interesting acquisition for the Yankees. 1- They have an awesome closer in Mariano Rivera. 2- They really don’t need an 8th inning set up man. Mariano Rivera can handle the 8th inning if the game is ever close.

I am not the only Yankee fan that feels this way. Apparently Brian Cashman in the Yankees front office had similar thoughts. Here are his words:

We are better with Soriano, there’s no doubt about that. It’s all the other stuff wrapped around the deal – the money, allocating closer money to an 8th-inning situation. I didn’t recommend it…. I just didn’t think it was an efficient way to allocate the resources we had.

Overall it seems like the Yanks will benefit from this acquisition.

I guess a few years back the Yankee nation was able to cheer for David Justice without to much animosity. That is the great thing about America and sports, we as fans are always willing to forgive.

Andruw Jones will be a solid addition to the batting lineup for the Yankees if they can land him.

This has got to be a main focus for the Yankees. If the Yankees want to be able to compete in the AL East next season, they will need a veteran like Andy Pettitte in the rotation.

Will somebody please let me know why Brian Cashman is acting so weird with the public when it comes to Pettitte’s future? If you know something that we don’t, please make it public. Don’t string it our forever and leave us all guessing. We may call you the next Lebron James.

What does this mean?

The Yankees need to make a move and do it quickly. If they don’t get a veteran in the rotation to compliment CC and AJ, this could be a non-playoff appearance year….just sayin.

That amount?….$30 million is all!

I tell you what, I am sure glad that the Yankees were able to bring him back. I am also positive that he isn’t too upset about the fact that he will be averaging nearly $125,000 for every inning that he throws next year.

If you want to break it down into saves, Mariano is worth roughly $454,000 per save. That is the right business to be in!

Either way, I am glad that Mo and the Yankees front office were able to come to terms on the deal.

It will be great to keep Mariano Rivera in pinstripes for the rest of his career…hopefully.

Vazquez’s scheduled start at Boston has been pushed back to Monday at Detroit, giving the right-hander more time to work on his stuff after a rough beginning this year. Vazquez is 1-3 with a 9.78 ERA in his second stint with New York.

Girardi says he thinks Vazquez’s problems have affected him mentally and physically.

Rodriguez rested during New York’s 12-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. He says he felt some cramping in his right leg Saturday but is fine now.

Honestly, I would like someone to argue this point with me. He is one of the best pitchers in the game. That is a fact. Not only the number of wins he has under his belt, but the number of wins he has in big games that really matter.

Last year, Pettitte was one of the huge reasons that the Yankees did as well as they did in the postseason. He was lights out practically every time he took the mound. We all know that the money that he is receiving is no where near the checks that CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett are cashing, however, Andy Pettitte has a mental game that can rattle any hitter.

The following huge wins for Pettitte are my evidence that he will come through in the clutch yet again:

• Last Game in Yankee Stadium in 2008. Talk about pressure. The last game ever to be played in the house that Ruth built. Led the Yanks to a 7-3 victory.
• Game 6 of last years ALCS. Pettitte lead the Yankees to a much needed win over the Angels to clinch the series.
• Game 3 of last years World Series. Pettitte not only did the job from the mound, but he also got a huge RBI up the middle.
• Game 6 of last years World Series. Pettitte was the man. He threw this game on only 3 days rest. Experts and physicians were skeptical, but Pettitte proved otherwise.

Again, I will say it loud and clear. Pettitte will be the reason that the Yankees win #28 this year!

Teixeira threw down his helmet and tromped around before walking off the field with trainer Steve Donohue. The Yankees said Teixeira sustained a right elbow contusion and would be re-evaluated Tuesday.

Tim Johnson, the Orioles team physician, examined Teixeira, who did not go for X-rays.

“It looks pretty nasty,” said Teixeira, who expects to be out a couple of days. “Tomorrow is going to be a very long treatment day.”