The Yankees haven't made any move to clear a roster spot for free agent Bernie Williams, but the longtime outfielder still isn't making plans to retire, or join another team.

Bernie Williams
Williams

"He's not even talking about [retiring]," Yankees catcher Jorge Posada told New York reporters after receiving an award in Manahttan on Tuesday night. "He said he wants to play one more year."

Although Williams has told Posada that other teams have called, the five-time All-Star and 1998 batting champion isn't ready to leave New York.

"He wants to be a Yankee forever," Posada said. "Hopefully, he gets a chance to do that."

With Hideki Matsui in left, Johnny Damon in center, Bobby Abreu in right and up-and-coming Melky Cabrera assuming the fourth outfielder role, Williams doesn't really have a spot. Designated hitter may also be too crowded.

"It looks like there's not a spot for him," Lee Mazzilli, the former Yankees coach, told reporters. "It's hard to see that with Bernie. He's a player who stands for all that baseball's about and all that the Yankees are about. I'm not too sure anyone out there doesn't pull for Bernie."

Williams batted .281 with 12 home runs and 61 RBIs last season. Posada indicated that Williams could ask the Yankees for a minor league contract and then retire with the team, but he might prefer to stay in shape and see if the Yanks have a need later in the season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2740803

If Bernie doesn't want to retire, and realizes he has to leave the NYY, I think he would be perfect for us.

Bernie is older but is still versatile. He played 98 games in the OF 58 in LF, 28 in CF and 5 in RF but only committed 1 error. He also is a switch hitter so off the bench he is ideal. His production was very good last season for a role player, he hit .281 (.323 RH, .264 LH) on 118 hits (43 RH, 75 LH) with 12 HRS ( 7 RH 5 LH), 61 RBI's (26 RH 35 LH). Plus in 420 AB he only struck out 53 times.

If we could get him to agree to be a role player I think it'd be great. He could be the lefty bat we've been looking for. That would probably leave Thames as the odd man out, though, and I would hate to see him go.