TAMPA, Fla. -- Welcome to the Land of Opportunity, formerly known as George M. Steinbrenner Field.
"I felt like it was a good chance for me," Mark Prior said Friday.
"I think I picked the right spot, man," Freddy Garcia said a few minutes later.
"They gave me the opportunity to pitch again," Bartolo Colon said.
It didn't used to be this way. When a veteran player had to go to camp as a non-roster invitee, Tampa was usually the last place he would want to be. The big-money Yankees would have superstars penciled in at every position and almost no roster spots up for grabs -- at least, not significant ones.
But these are the 2011 Yankees, who for the moment have a Swiss cheese rotation. Which is why Prior, Garcia and Colon are here on minor-league contracts, with their combined 328-219 record, five All-Star appearances, four top-five finishes in Cy Young Award voting and 29 years of big-league service time.
The Yankees' pitching predicament has been well-documented, caused by Cliff Lee's decision to take less money from the Phillies and Andy Pettitte's decision to take none.
So the Yankees were interested in assembling rotation candidates, and pitchers sensed a chance to land a spot on a contender.
"We have a big need in the rotation," general manager Brian Cashman said, "and since pitching's the name of the game, there's more of an urgency than, 'Eh, let's take a flier on this guy who's still on the job-seeking list.' "
It's not just in the rotation. Prior is a bullpen candidate (although it will be hard for him to get a spot unless Sergio Mitre makes the rotation or Joba Chamberlain is so bad in spring training he gets sent to the minors). Eric Chavez and Ronnie Belliard -- with 2,804 combined big-league games -- are vying for backup-infield spots. And the Yankees grabbed a player non-tendered by the Dodgers to be their primary catcher, Russell Martin.
But the focus will be on the starting pitchers, since the Yankees have no idea who gets the ball after CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett.
It would surprise no one if the Yankees traded for an established starter any time between now and July 31. In the meantime, though, Garcia, Colon, Mitre and Ivan Nova are candidates for two rotation spots.
"These spots are going to have to be earned," manager Joe Girardi said.
Maybe that's why the sign over the door from the Tampa clubhouse to the field reads "COMPETE."
The most intriguing possibility is Garcia, 34. He had a 4.64 ERA last year for the White Sox but was 12-6 and had 18 quality starts -- as many as Lee (!), Matt Garza and Chad Billingsley and more than James Shields, Yovani Gallardo, Dallas Braden, Edwin Jackson, Jorge de la Rosa or Burnett.
Garcia felt he deserved a major-league contract somewhere, but when none surfaced, he picked the Yankees. He didn't last more than seven innings in any 2010 start, but with the Yankees' offense and bullpen, he could get double-digit wins again.
Asked if he is the favorite for a rotation spot, Garcia said, "I don't worry about anybody else. I have to worry about myself. ... If I don't worry about myself, I'm (screwed)."
While Garcia has learned to pitch with a fastball around 90 mph -- he claimed he added the split-finger pitch to his repertoire during an August 2006 start against the Yankees, getting a strikeout of Bobby Abreu -- one adjustment he has to make is pitching well in spring training in order to secure a job.
Garcia's spring ERAs since 2000: 9.69, 6.75, 4.50, 6.30, 4.98, 6.41, 4.80, 11.42, 16.71 and 10.38 (he sat out spring '08).
"Hopefully this year I pitch better than I used to in spring training," he said. "You never see a baseball card with numbers from spring training, right? ... I never really thought before, you have to pitch good (in the spring). In the past, I didn't really concentrate on spring-training games, but this year, I have to be different."
The Yankees are aware of Garcia's past Marches.
"We'll factor that in," Girardi said.
Garcia is one of two AL pitchers who won 12 or more games in 1999 and is still active. The other is Colon.
OK, "active" is a bit of a stretch for Colon; since making 12 starts for the White Sox in 1999, he has pitched only in winter ball.
" Everybody understands the situation here, the way their offseason went with pitching. I think everybody knows, it's no secret, they wanted (Cliff) Lee and didn't get him. They brought in a lot of guys with quote-unquote question marks in some arena, and we all know that. So, just go out and pitch. "
-- Mark Prior "I'm not throwing hard like I used to," he said through interpreter Roman Rodriguez, "but I know I'm throwing a lot of strikes."
Colon, 37, said he weighs 267 pounds has to get down to about 250 but admitted he can't reach that goal by the time spring training ends. Then again, Colon said he's been at least 250 since 2002, and he did lead the majors in wins over 2002-05.
"The problem is not the weight, it's the arm," said Colon, who has battled shoulder trouble since Game 5 of the 2005 AL Division Series against the Yankees and had bone chips removed from his elbow before the 2009 season.
Colon threw 89-94 mph in the Dominican Winter League, which was enough to pique the Yankees' interest.
"Everybody understands the situation here, the way their offseason went with pitching," Prior said. "I think everybody knows, it's no secret, they wanted Lee and didn't get him.
"They brought in a lot of guys with quote-unquote question marks in some arena, and we all know that. So just go out and pitch."
Said Cashman, "People come for opportunities, and there's certainly opportunities here."
After all, it's in New York Harbor that one can read the following words at the base of the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
And have them don pinstripes.
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