GLENDALE, Arizona (AP) ― Sandy Koufax wasn’t wearing a Dodgers uniform when he walked around the practice fields Monday at the team’s spring training camp.

“That’s not my job,” he said.

Even without the famed No. 32 on his back, players and fans alike knew who he was. At 78, the Hall of Famer is the face of Dodger tradition and represents what Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig and their current Los Angeles teammates hope to achieve.

In his second year as a special adviser to team chairman Mark Walter, Koufax arrived at camp Sunday to work with the pitchers. He will also serve as a consultant throughout the season.

Koufax also is an autograph magnet. He signed for plenty of crowds that lined up along the fences that surround the complex of fields at Camelback Ranch.

Koufax likes what he sees from a Dodgers club that reached the NL championship series last year before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in six games.

“This is a great team if it stays healthy,” he said after signing autographs for fans who lined up along the fences that surround the complex of fields at Camelback Ranch.

Koufax is enthused by the Dodgers’ good mix of experience and youth. He was as excited as anyone by what he saw last year in rookie outfielder Yasiel Puig.

“It was crazy,” Koufax said. “It was just fun to watch. This was exciting because the team was struggling. He came up and kind of ignited what eventually happened. It looked like in May that they were going to be having a really dismal year. He and a couple of other things turned it around.”

Puig’s confidence and aggressiveness sometimes led to mistakes in the field and on the base paths.

“He’s so physically talented,” he said. “Everybody makes the comparison to Bo Jackson. The Cardinals had a guy who played football and baseball, Brian Jordan. These guys are so strong and so fast. Big, strong and fast. A combination you don’t always see.”

“If the showmanship doesn’t involve a bad decision, it’s fine. People love it. You have a great arm, you want to show it off. But I’d like to see him throw it to the right place all the time,” Koufax said.

The 23-year-old Cuban hit .319 with 19 home runs and 42 RBIs in 104 games.

“He’s young. The biggest thing is he’s not played against competition as good as he is. So you’re always able to have your physical ability make up for whatever else you do. He’s learning. I’m sure it’s going to happen. He has too much talent,” Koufax said.

Dodger left-hander Clayton Kershaw, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, has been compared to Koufax. But Koufax, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, is uncomfortable with that link between the left-handed aces. 



Beltran hopes to earn Series ring with Yankees

TAMPA, Florida (AP) ― Carlos Beltran is excited to play alongside Derek Jeter on the New York Yankees.

“I know he has a lot of championships, but I have none,” Beltran said. “Hopefully I can win one.”

Now 36 and still in search of his first World Series title, Beltran left the St. Louis Cardinals for a $45 million, three-year deal with the Yankees, his sixth major league team in 17 seasons.

Beltran hit .296 last season with 24 home runs and 84 RBIs, reaching the World Series for the first time. Now he’s on a team that expects to be in the World Series every year.

“Of course we have to win,” the eight-time All-Star outfielder said Monday after his first workout at the team’s minor league complex. “I don’t know how far we will go, but at least we have to do something positive, and better than what they did last year, no doubt about that.”

After missing the playoffs for just the second time in 19 years, New York embarked on a spending spree of nearly half-a-billion dollars, adding four marquee free agents in Beltran, Masahiro Tanaka, Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury.

“They went out and spent a lot money on players to try to improve the ballclub,” Beltran said. “You want to be around an organization like that, where every year they’re trying to improve, they’re trying to get better.”

Second baseman Robinson Cano ― the Yankees’ top hitter ― did leave for a $240 million, 10-year deal with Seattle, while Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte both retired.

“I think we have a real good team,” Beltran said. “I believe the lineup that we have, we have a pretty good lineup.”

Beltran joined Brian Roberts, Kelly Johnson and Eduardo Nunez three days before the first full-squad workout. After batting practice, instead of taking fly balls, Beltran fielded grounders at second with Roberts, signed as Cano’s replacement.