Hank Steinbrenner thinks the New York Yankees are in a strong position to repeat as World Series champion due to the acquisition of pitcher Javier Vazquez and outfielder Curtis Granderson.

“The two trades that Brian did I was really pleased with and very proud of,” Steinbrenner. a team co-chairman, said Thursday. “I think that is going to make a big difference for us.”

“We needed another top-notch starter and got one,” Steinbrenner said.

Yankees captain Derek Jeter, who has started pre-spring training workouts at the team’s minor league complex, spent time Thursday with Hank Steinbrenner and his brother, managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner.

“I asked him his opinion, and he said, ’It’s all about pitching,’” Hank Steinbrenner said of Jeter.

Jeter is entering the final season of a $189 million, 10-year contract. The Yankees have a policy of not negotiating new deals until after a player’s previous contract.

“We’ll get into all of that eventually, ” Steinbrenner said. “Jeter’s place in Yankee history is obvious, so I think you can pretty much assume from there.”

There was no word in the report if Hank Steinbrenner saw his shadow while doing this interview – signaling six more weeks of winter…

Boston Red Sox owner John Henry renewed his call for a salary cap on Wednesday after an off-season in which the New York Yankees added three free agents for $423.5 million.

Or, as Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said, “the Yankees have spent like the U.S. Congress.” That drew a quick response from Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner.

“Along with a few other teams, we’re basically baseball’s stimulus package,” he said.

New York thinks it has the right to spend after paying at least $110 million in revenue sharing and luxury tax last year.

“As long as we’re doing that and giving all this money to other teams in revenue sharing, a staggering amount, we should be able to spend on salaries what we want to,” Steinbrenner said. “Because of revenue sharing and because of the popularity nationwide, the Yankees are critical to baseball.”

I doubt even those who are not too crazy about the Hankster can argue with that.

Hank Steinbrenner is not guaranteeing that his New York Yankees will win the 2009 World Series. Still, the team co-chairman is optimistic heading into the start of spring training next week.

“Much more so than last year,” Steinbrenner said on Thursday. “I feel real confident going into this season.”

“The entire team is fired up with what we’ve done,” Steinbrenner said.

“The American League East is by far the best division in baseball,” Steinbrenner said. “The players can’t be thinking, `Look how good we are on paper.’ They’ve got to earn it in our division.”

The Yankees have been a focal point off the field this week after the release of former manager Joe Torre’s book “The Yankee Years.”

“I haven’t read it yet,” Steinbrenner said. “I’ll read it.”

Joe Girardi said this week he’d enjoy showing free agents around the new Yankee Stadium. CC Sabathia is one of the players the New York manager has in mind for a tour of the spacious clubhouse, players lounge, indoor batting cage and underground hot tub.

Free-agent season opened Friday with the Yankees planning to give Sabathia a record offer for a pitcher.

Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner confirmed Friday night at the team’s spring training complex in Tampa, Fla., that an offer was made to Sabathia, and that proposals will be forthcoming for pitchers A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe.

“Yes,” Steinbrenner said when asked if an offer was made to Sabathia. “And we’re prepared to make offers to Burnett and Lowe.”

The Yankees formulated a proposal to the big lefty that would exceed Johan Santana’s $137.5 million, six-year contract with the New York Mets both in total and average, a baseball official familiar with the negotiations said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge details.

Steinbrenner declined to give details about the Sabathia offer.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and Greg Genske, one of Sabathia’s agents, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Steinbrenner said he felt the Yankees will be successful in the free-agent market.

“I’m starting to become very optimistic,” Steinbrenner said. “I think it’s going to be mutually beneficial to us and for these particular players that we’re after for them to join the Yankees.”

Ah, when the music’s over…

The image of Hank Stein wearing leather pants and proclaiming himself to be the Lizard King is somewhat disturbing , no?

In any event, what happens if Sabathia, Burnett and Lowe all pass on those Yankee dollars?

Let’s just hope that the Yankees braintrust’s answer to that is not: Ooh, I never thought of that.

Hank Steinbrenner said the Yankees will explore all options during the offseason, including the possibility of making an offer to free-agent slugger Manny Ramirez.

“There’s nothing we are not looking at,” Steinbrenner said today at the Yankees’ spring training complex. “And personally, I like Manny. He’s one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game. He’s a free spirit for sure, but he knows how to win. We like some of the other guys, too. We just don’t know yet.”

Ramirez was traded from Boston to the Dodgers on July 31, and Los Angeles is expected to attempt to re-sign the high-priced outfielder.

“I want to see who is the highest bidder,” Ramirez said when the Dodgers lost the NL championship series. “Gas is up and so am I.”

The Yankees’ priority is pitching, and CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett figure to be the top starters on the market.

“Every team in baseball wants Sabathia,” Steinbrenner said. “That’s the bottom line. It’s not a real secret. Pitching is in the forefront for everybody, not just us. That’s why starting pitching is at a premium.”

Hank’s throwing around more love than a 1981 version of Danny Elfman…

Hank Steinbrenner says Joba Chamberlain likely will return to the New York Yankees’ rotation at the beginning of the 2009 season.

“The plan as of right now is Chamberlain is going to be a starter,” the Yankees co-chairman said Thursday after five hours of organizational meetings at the team’s spring training complex. “Everybody’s pretty much in agreement with that.”

Chamberlain began this year in the bullpen, joined the rotation on June 3, then was sidelined after his Aug. 4 start because of rotator cuff tendinitis that caused him to go on the disabled list. When he returned Sept. 2, he went back to the bullpen.

Also attending the meetings was co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner, team president Randy Levine, chief operating officer Lonn Trost, general manager Brian Cashman, assistant general manager Jean Afterman, vice presidents Mark Newman, Gene Michael and Felix Lopez, and advisers Reggie Jackson and Tino Martinez.

“It was a productive day,” Hank Steinbrenner said. “We didn’t make any decisions today. We just covered all the things we need to fix. Everything is open. We’re willing to do anything that will improve us. It was more of a summary and quite a lot of discussion.”

What could Jean Afterman and Felix Lopez possibly have to offer at these meetings? It scares the bejesus out of me, as a Yankees fan, that these two could have any input, whatsoever, on player personnel decisions.

The New York Yankees will sort through their offseason plans when organizational meetings begin Thursday at the team’s spring training complex.

Co-chairmen Hank and Hal Steinbrenner were to participate in the sessions along with team president Randy Levine, chief operating officer Lonn Trost and general manager Brian Cashman.

“It’s to set our offseason priorities, certainly, and what we need to try and do,” Hank Steinbrenner said Wednesday. “This year, we definitely are all pretty much on the same page. We know what we have to do, and it’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of effort. Hopefully we can get as much done as we hope.”

Whether [Joba] Chamberlain will start 2009 in the rotation or bullpen will be discussed.

The Yankees are thought to be interested in free agent pitchers CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Ben Sheets, and first baseman Mark Teixeira. Also, exploring a trade for San Diego pitcher Jake Peavy is possible.

“Our goal is to win the World Series,” Steinbrenner said. “This year was a little strange because the American League East was so powerful. We finished third because of the division we’re in. But, is it acceptable for us to be with what we ended up with? No, it’s not. So we’re going to do what we can to correct that.”

…This year, we definitely are all pretty much on the same page…

Wow. Too bad they were a bifurcated bunch last year. I wonder what changed between then and now?

Sitting behind his desk at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Hank Steinbrenner yesterday spit on the notion he has taken a step back in running the Yankees.

“There is one very important point here,” Steinbrenner told The Post during an exclusive half-hour session. “The most important thing to remember is this: If you didn’t get it from me or my brother [Hal], it doesn’t mean [anything]. I don’t care about some piss-ant employee. If you don’t get it from me or Hal, it’s meaningless. I have a lot of things [in Tampa] and Hal is in New York, which is good.”

Asked if he has taken a step back, Steinbrenner emphatically said, “No.”

Since The Boss turned over the day-to-day operations to his sons, Hank has one regret.

“I should have pushed harder for the [Johan] Santana deal,” said Hank, who was talked out of signing Santana by Hal and GM Brian Cashman because they believed the Yankees’ talent (Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Melky Cabrera) and the money (Santana signed a six-year, $137.5 million extension with the Mets) was too costly.

“My dad wanted to do that,” Hank said. “But that doesn’t mean we would have won if we got into the playoffs, because [Chien-Ming] Wang was hurt.”

…I don’t care about some piss-ant employee. If you don’t get it from me or Hal, it’s meaningless…

Who’s Hank calling a piss-ant here?

“The biggest problem is the divisional setup in major league baseball. I didn’t like it in the 1970s, and I hate it now,” Steinbrenner wrote. “Baseball went to a multidivision setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement. But it isn’t fair. You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we’re not.

“This is by no means a knock on Torre – let me make that clear-but look at the division they’re in. If L.A. were in the AL East, it wouldn’t be in the playoff discussion. The AL East is never weak.”

“I’m happy for Joe, but you have to compare the divisions and the competition,” Steinbrenner wrote. “What if the Yankees finish the season with more wins than the Dodgers but the Dodgers make the playoffs? Does that make the Dodgers a better team? No.”

Steinbrenner also questioned the legitimacy of the Cardinals’ 2006 title, noting that their 83 regular-season victories were two less than the Phillies’ total, but because of the system, St. Louis reached the playoffs as NL Central champs while Philadelphia lost the wild card race to the Dodgers, who had 88 wins.

“People will say the Cardinals were the best team because they won the World Series,” Steinbrenner wrote. “Well, no, they weren’t. They just got hot at the right time. They didn’t even belong in the playoffs. And neither does a team from the N.L. West this season.”

Call me crazy, but, I’m guessing that Hank and Torre will not be exchanging X-mas cards this holiday season.

“Suffice to say, there’s not going to be any more, on my part, of trying to keep everybody happy. If I want somebody, I’m going to go after him,” [Hank] Steinbrenner told The Record by phone this afternoon.

“Just as my dad would have,” he said, adding that George Steinbrenner has equally been dismayed by the Yankees’ fourth-place standing. “It’s been a very disappointing year for both of us.

“Other people might tend to look at [the Yankees] more like a business, and as long as business-wise [the club is profitable] everybody’s happy. But we don’t see it like that.”

To restore the Yankees into a World Series contender, “We’ve got major work to do, there’s no question,” Hank Steinbrenner said.

Asked if general manager Brian Cashman would continue to spearhead the baseball operation beyond his contract expiration next month, Steinbrenner said, “I think both parties still have to decide.

“I don’t think any of us expected this to happen this year,” Steinbrenner said of a 77-69 club that — barring a baseball miracle — will become the first Yankees team to miss the playoffs since 1993.

“Even besides injuries, certain players didn’t perform. Certain things didn’t get done,” Steinbrenner said. “It was somewhat the result of things that had been done over the last five years, and now I plan on fixing them.

“I’m very disappointed in this team. But at the same time, there’s no question injuries were a huge factor.”

Because of those injuries, the major league roster “might not be as difficult to fix as you’d think,” said Steinbrenner, whose chief concern is at the root level.

“The biggest mission, for myself, is making sure the farm system is stronger than it’s been the last few years,” Steinbrenner said. When it comes to prospects, “I want more.”

“The Mets did it with Santana, and I came damn close to doing it with Santana,” Steinbrenner said of the trade he advocated last winter with Minnesota. “You look at it on a player-to-player basis, and you look at the market.”

“You look at what [Mussina] did, and if everybody else had been healthy … you get an idea of what we could have had,” Steinbrenner said.

A part of Steinbrenner still wonders whether he should’ve insisted on Santana, too.

“[Would] Santana have made enough of a difference with all our injuries [this year]? I don’t know,” Steinbrenner said. “It certainly would have made us a lot closer.”

No such thing as an off-day, in Yankeeland, is there?

Me? I don’t know what to make of all this…

On one hand, I like an owner who is invested in his team beyond the dollars and cents. However, on the other hand, you can’t do what Hank is saying that he will do, here, and be operating out of Tampa (when your team plays in New York). You’re going to need to be there, if you want to be on top of things and seeing things with your own eyes and hearing them with your own ears. And, this season, Hank has been to…what…two games? That’s not going to cut it…in my book.