Warming up: Mark Teixeira says "we're back to being the Yankees"

The Yankees may have lost Robinson Cano this winter, but they spent almost $500 million to get Masahiro Tanaka, Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran.

And Mark Teixeira approves of those moves.

"We're back to being the Yankees again." said Teixeira, who missed almost the entire 2013 season because of a wrist injury. "Last year, we weren't the Yankees. We had so many injuries and we had so many guys that should have been in there to be lots of anchors [in the lineup.] That's back."

The Yankees are hoping that Teixeira can get back to full health by the end of the spring, because right now Kelly Johnson, who is expected to spend a lot of time at third base this year, is slated to be his backup, according to manager Joe Girardi.

He said Sunday that he expects to play in at least 150 game this season, and be the 30 homerun, 100 RBI hitter that the Yankees signed in 2009.

"I know when I'm out there and healthy, my team is a better team and that is no different this year," said Teixeira, who turns 34 in April.

"We had a great offseason," Teixeira said. "It was fun to watch. I was texting Cash every two weeks, telling him congrats on another great signing, great offseason. I basically told him, 'You did your job. Now, it is time for us to do ours.' No excuses this year, we have a team that can compete for a world championship."

The Yankees haven't really been the Yankees since winning the World Series in 2009. They had spent the last couple of offseasons trying to save money in hopes of getting under the luxury-tax mark by 2014, but after missing the playoffs last season, they couldn't risk missing October for a second straight year, forcing them to go back to their old ways, signing every big star they could.

Yankees links worth sharing:

* Ten years ago yesterday, Bud Selig approved a trade that sent Alex Rodriguez from the Texas Rangers to the Yankees. But it wasn't that simple. In a story very similar to "The Deal," an ESPN 30for30 that aired on ESPN Sunday night, Joel Sherman dove deeper into everything surrounding the trade, including how the Rangers almosted ended up with a double play duo of Robinson Cano and Jose Reyes, and how A-Rod's opt-out clause of seven-years was actually to help get him in a New York Mets uniform.

* Major League Baseball officially announced Thursday that the Yankees would play a two-game exhibition series against the Miami Marlins in Panama on March 15th and the 16th. But as of right now, the Yankees have no idea of who might be making the trip to mostly honor Mariano Rivera, a Panama native.

* Derek Jeter is retiring, leaving the Yankees without their face of the franchise. Five years from now, how might the new face be? McCann or Ellsbury? It'll most likely be Tanaka, as Wallace Matthews writes.

* A pair of players that hope to make the Yankees' Opening Day roster, Dean Anna and Vidal Nuno were both signed with Major League deals with the Yankees on Sunday, according to Joel Sherman of the NY Post, and Yanks Go Yard has the story.

* The Yankees already have a four person cast of pitchers battling for the fifth spot in the rotation this spring, with Michael Pineda, David Phelps, Adam Warren and Nuno in the mix, but Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe thinks that the Yankees could "intensify" their efforts in him with his price quickly dropping.

Today's warm-up song: "House of gold" by Twenty-one Pilots. I really like this one from an underrated band.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (below).

Follow @GavinEwbank