YANKEE NOTES

TAMPA – If Jason Giambi’s surgically repaired left knee holds up he wants to be a full-time first baseman again.

With the signing of Travis Lee, Joe Torre has a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman that the manager says is improving as a hitter and Giambi, who is coming off surgery.

The addition of Lee, which won’t become official until the contract language is finalized even though Lee worked out yesterday, gives Torre the option of playing Lee and using Giambi as DH. That would mean Bernie Williams is the full-time center fielder and turns Kenny Lofton into a bench player.

Giambi played 85 games at first base last year when he battled the knee problem and often told Torre he would DH when given the choice. Now, the knee is better and he wants to be on the field.

“I like playing first. You see my career stats and I hit better when I play first,” said Giambi, who batted .277 with 25 homers and 66 RBIs at first last year compared to .220 with 16 homers and 41 RBIs in 71 games as DH. “I was brought here to be an offensive player. It’s harder to DH.”

Torre didn’t count out using Lee at first.

“[Lee] gives us an option,” Torre said of the 28-year-old left-handed hitting first baseman who signed a one-year $2.25 million deal. “But we still have Kenny Lofton and Bernie Williams. It’s a good problem to have.”

* Torre was encouraged that Jon Lieber was able to play catch even if it’s not known when Lieber will be able to return to a pitching mound due to a right groin problem.

* Brian Cashman said, “maybe” when asked if his club had an interest in free agent hurler Pedro Astacio.

Astacio was 3-2 with a 7.36 ERA in seven games (seven starts) for the Mets last year and underwent labrum repair surgery.