Strawberry will begin the year working in the extended spring training program to keep his swing sharp until he is finished with chemotherapy treatments.
TAMPA – Darryl Strawberry’s heart-warming story of making it back from colon cancer in time for Opening Day won’t be written: The Post has learned that Strawberry won’t start the season with the Yankees.
Instead, Strawberry will begin the year in Tampa, working in the extended spring training program to keep his swing sharp until he is finished with chemotherapy treatments. At that time, the Yankees will take a look at their needs and decided if Strawberry can help.
From the time Strawberry arrived in camp, he vowed to be ready by Opening Day and last week he guaranteed it. However, two talks with Joe Torre have convinced Strawberry that he will be part of the Yankees’ plans no matter when he joins the club. Until talking to Torre by phone Tuesday night, Strawberry was confused.
And he admitted yesterday that his chemotherapy treatments had him feeling depressed and hostile at times, fueling his mistake of questioning who is running the Yankees while Torre is out battling prostate cancer.
Torre and Strawberry met briefly in Torre’s Legends Field office prior to yesterday’s 8-5 loss to the Devil Rays.
“Nothing much,” Strawberry said when asked about the meeting. “I don’t want to get into it. I really would rather have them tell you.”
After a post-game, closed-door meeting that included George Steinbrenner, GM Brian Cashman, interim manager Don Zimmer and the coaches broke up, Cashman labeled the get-together an informal chat.
And while the 25-man roster was certainly discussed, Cashman wasn’t ready to go into details about Strawberry’s plight.
“We have time to make decisions. April 5 is the date we need to know what the 25 are, so every day we get closer to making the decisions or have in mind what we think we are going to do,” Cashman said. “At this time I am not prepared to give you an educated guess as to what we are going to do. We have a plan that is formulated, but we are not ready to share it at this stage.”
In eight spring games – two starts in left field – Strawberry is hitting .308 (8-for-26) with two homers and 10 RBIs. He didn’t get an at-bat in yesterday’s action after playing five innings in Saturday’s game against the Phillies.
“I feel good, not sore or anything,” Strawberry said yesterday morning.
The decision to leave the 37-year-old Strawberry behind isn’t being based on his left knee, which even he admits isn’t at full strength just yet. Instead, the Yankees – Torre especially – want to make sure he is done with chemotherapy treatments before they put him on the roster.
While Strawberry won’t be going to Oakland with the Yankees to open the season on April 5, he will be leaving Tampa Thursday with the Yankees when they fly to LA.
“I have to see my doctor and he will tell me what I have left on my chemo,” said Strawberry, who will receive a treatment in Palm Springs Friday. It will be his third of four scheduled treatments since he resumed chemo after a two-week layoff. “We will see what he says. It could be, ‘Take two weeks off and then maybe take chemo only two weeks after that.'”
Since Strawberry is in camp on a minor league contract that guarantees him $2.5 million, there was speculation that the Yankees not putting him on the roster at the start of the season was a move to save on paying 33 percent in luxury tax. However, the club insists that never entered its thinking.
As for making other decisions such as where Andy Pettitte starts the season – the DL is a possibility – Cashman was vague when a meeting to finalize the plans will be held.
“When we have a full-fledged meeting, I couldn’t tell you,” Cashman said.
