Rogers to Start Season in Yankee Bullpen

After spending $20 million to get Kenny Rogers, the New York Yankees are sending him the bullpen.

Rogers, who left Texas as a free agent to sign a four-year deal with the Yankees, was relegated to the bullpen Saturday.

“It’s not something we want to do,� Manager Joe Torre said. “With the arms we have available, we feel he is probably the best equipped to handle it.

“I don’t think he pitched himself out of the rotation. It’s not that he didn’t do something, it was more or less the arms available to start the year. We’re looking at this as a short term situation.�

Rogers has struggled after being hit by a line drive Feb. 25 while throwing batting practice. He was 1-3 with an 8.40 earned-run average before throwing five shutout innings against the New York Mets on Saturday. He was 17-7 last season with Texas.

“It’s a shock. I didn’t know I was trying to win a job,� Rogers said. “Somebody has to be the odd man out and it’s me.�

Andy Pettitte, Jimmy Key, Dwight Gooden and Melido Perez will join opening day starter David Cone in the rotation.

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The Atlanta Braves put third baseman Chipper Jones on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 22, after arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone chip from his right knee. He will be eligible to play April 6. . . . Rick Aguilera, the former reliever who was scheduled to start Tuesday for the Minnesota Twins, will not pitch at least until next weekend because of tendinitis in his right wrist.