Jeter Returns to Practice Determined to Play TAMPA, Fla. - One day after the Yankees said they were shutting down shortstop Derek Jeter from playing in any more major league spring training games, he announced Friday that nobody should rule out anything. "Listen, when I'm ready to play, I'll play here," Jeter said after a 45-minute workout Friday morning at Steinbrenner Field. I'll play anywhere. It's a day-to-day thing. Today is here. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Jeter, 38, last played in a game Saturday. He took two days off before complaining of right ankle stiffness Tuesday, just before a scheduled game against Philadelphia in Clearwater. Normal postsurgery inflammation was diagnosed, and he received a cortisone shot Wednesday. Because of concerns that Jeter may still need to be placed on the 15-day disabled list, General Manager Brian Cashman said Thursday that the club would play Jeter only in minor league games for the remainder of spring. That way, he could backdate him on the disabled list to March 22, meaning he would miss only the first four games of the regular season, making him available on April 6. According to the collective bargaining agreement, clubs can backdate players up to nine days before opening day, providing they do not appear in any major league games. "I understand it," Jeter said about the team's logic. I also understand plans change sometimes. Today was here. Tomorrow we'll see what happens and we'll move forward from there. Even Cashman backpedaled a bit Friday, acquiescing to the force of Jeter's will to get back on the field, and do so in a major league game. But if Jeter does see any action Saturday, Cashman said it would be in the team's minor league game and not in Lakeland, where the Yankees will play the Detroit Tigers. "He likes to fight it," Cashman said, referring to Jeter's aversion to missing any playing time, anywhere, because of injury. I'm open to everything and anything. But it's probably not in our best interest for that to happen. You always want to be in the position to preserve the opportunity, if he has to go on the disabled list, to backdate it. Jeter fractured the ankle in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 13 and had surgery a week later. During his workout Friday Jeter hit in five rounds of batting practice and took light infield at shortstop, smiling and loudly grunting as he threw balls to first base. He did not do any running. He seemed in good spirits. He joked with Ichiro Suzuki about Kevin Youkilis's unorthodox batting style. Afterward, in typical Jeter fashion, he said his ankle felt fine. "Everything is good," he said. Like I've told you, there's nothing broke, there's nothing wrong with tendons. It's soreness you have to deal with. It's not the first time I've had to deal with it. If it's just soreness, big deal. So there's really not much to discuss in terms of the condition of my ankle. He did say that his ankle felt much better than it did Tuesday, when he was scratched from the lineup. The Yankees played Minnesota in Fort Myers, Fla., later Friday, and Jeter said that if he had to play, he could have. He said he did not know when the Yankees might play him in a game next, while reiterating that although the club said he would not see any more action this spring in Grapefruit League games, he personally was not counting himself out. I'm always encouraged. I'm optimistic," he said. I'm encouraged that there is nothing wrong with it. He added: "The soreness is going to be there for a while. That's what I've been told. So you just deal with it. I wish it was completely gone. I wished I'd never felt it. I wish I could just wake up and it's gone. But that's not the case. It's not going to be the case. But as long as structurally everything is fine, I'm O.K. with it. I do what I'm told. But I don't know what tomorrow will bring. My goal is to get back and play as soon as I can. Notebook Outfielder Brennan Boesch was scratched from Friday afternoon's game against the Minnesota Twins after complaining of oblique soreness. He also had oblique tightness at the start of spring training, when he was with the Detroit Tigers, though, General Manager Brian Cashman said it was in a different area. The Yankees will keep Boesch out of any game activities through Saturday. ... Pitcher Phil Hughes, who has been slowed this spring with a bulging disk, pitched in a minor league game Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates" Class A team, and was roughed up by them. Hughes threw 57 pitches over three innings, yielding six hits, three runs, two of them earned, while striking out three and walking none. ... Cashman said left-handed reliever Clay Rapada, who has had shoulder bursitis, will go on the disabled list.