NEW YORK -- If you had been in Miami in 1992, watching Westminster Christian School race to a Class 2A football title, you would have seen high school quarterback Alex Rodriguez firing passes to a tight end named Doug Mientkiewicz.
Fifteen years later, very similar actions will be on display in New York, as A-Rod and Mientkiewicz again link as teammates in the Yankees infield. And like before, it'll be Mientkiewicz's job to grab those throws from Rodriguez.
"I'm looking forward to sharing the same uniform again," said Mientkiewicz, who finalized a one-year contract with the Yankees on Jan. 5. "He's going to help me a lot more than I'm going to help him."
Having watched Rodriguez morph from the gridiron to a No. 1 draft pick on his way to baseball superstardom, Mientkiewicz is qualified to help analyze a situation that grew especially trying for Rodriguez last season.
The 31-year-old third baseman batted .290 with 35 home runs and 121 RBIs in yet another All-Star campaign, but it was a year that will be remembered more for Rodriguez's prolonged slumps and postseason struggles.
As Yankee Stadium fans cooled on Rodriguez, speculation of trade talk began to heat up. Rodriguez went 1-for-14 with an error in the American League Division Series against the Tigers, including batting eighth in the deciding Game 4.
Rodriguez insisted that he continued to fit in the puzzle and would be part of the solution, and the Yankees later issued a vote of confidence that Rodriguez would not be traded.
Mientkiewicz said that much of Rodriguez's troubles had likely stemmed from pressing.
"Alex is such a perfectionist," Mientkiewicz said. "He realizes the talent that he has. You're talking about, probably, the guy who's going to go down as the best baseball player to ever play the game. I think sometimes people have a perception of him to be perfect all the time.
"Trust me, no one is harder on themselves than Alex is on himself. He's always been that way since the day I met him -- always been working his butt off, to the point that it's almost a detriment and he doesn't allow his abilities to take over."
Much of the logic in importing Mientkiewicz centers on defense, though the 32-year-old had a bounceback offensive season in 2006. He batted .283 in 314 at-bats for the Royals before his campaign ended with August back surgery.
Now reportedly healthy and on track for Spring Training, the 2001 Gold Glove Award winner was brought back to New York, where he spent 2005 with the Mets. Mientkiewicz's main task will be to help the Yankees' infield glovework while engaging in part of a platoon at first base.
Since making his Major League debut in 1998, Mientkiewicz ranks second among all first basemen (behind Travis Lee) with a .996 career fielding percentage, and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said, "I'm not sure if there's anybody better defensively than him."
"I know sometimes as an infielder you don't feel very comfortable with your release and where the ball may go," Mientkiewicz said. "To know that someone on the other end is going to do their best to catch it -- it sounds pretty simple, but it goes a long way."
With Jason Giambi now slotted as a designated hitter after appearing in 68 games at first base in 2006, the left-handed-batting Mientkiewicz will garner the bulk of first-base at-bats against right-handed pitching, against whom Mientkiewicz has batted .259 over the past three years.
That leaves Andy Phillips and Josh Phelps, a selection in December's Rule 5 Draft, to battle it out in Spring Training for the right-handed portion of manager Joe Torre's first-base mix.
Phillips, who will turn 30 in the first week of the regular season, had a disappointing 2006 season in his first extended taste of big-league action, batting .240 with seven home runs and 29 RBIs in 246 at-bats.
Though Phillips has punished left-handed pitching in the Minor Leagues, batting .365 against them for Triple-A Columbus in 2005, he hit just .195 (16-for-82) against big-league southpaws last year.
Phelps, 28, was selected in the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft from the Orioles, meaning that the Yankees must keep him on their roster for the entire season or offer him back to Baltimore for $25,000, half the selection cost.
"For $50,000, I thought it was worth the free look to see what he can do," Cashman said in December.
Having last played in the Major Leagues in 2005, Phelps spent all of last season with Triple-A Toledo in the Tigers system, batting .308 with 24 home runs and 90 RBIs, numbers which placed him among the International League's offensive leaders.
Utility infielder Miguel Cairo, who recently agreed to terms on a one-year, $750,000 contract to return to the Yankees, should see some action at both corners.
The 32-year-old Cairo started at all four infield positions, plus one game in left field, while batting .239 last season for New York.
