"Joe Girardi likes the winter work the Yankees have done already, adding starters Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda to shore up the rotation. But if the Yanks' manager has his way, the team is not finished, even though spring training starts later this month.

Girardi wants another hitter, preferably a lefty, to suck up some of the at-bats at designated hitter that were left on the table when the Yanks shipped Jesus Montero to Seattle in the Pineda deal.

"I think it's important to our club that you add that other bat," Girardi said Friday at a charity appearance at the Modell's Sporting Goods store in Times Square. "The American League is tough."

Girardi acknowledged that the Yankees have considered several hitters, including free agents Johnny Damon, Raul Ibanez and Hideki Matsui as potential solutions. GM Brian Cashman has said several times this winter that the Yanks could use a surplus of starting pitchers – A.J. Burnett, Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia will all vie for the No. 5 slot – as a trade chip for a hitter, too.

"Johnny's been a great player for a long time," Girardi said when a reporter brought up Damon, a Yankee from 2006-09. "There have been a bunch of names that have been talked about and they're all good players. Ibanez's name has been brought up and he's had a great career, Matsui's name has been brought up and he's had a great career."