– The Associated Press

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Charlie Manuel is tired of talking about his contract.

The deal for the Philadelphia Phillies’ manager expires at the end of this season, along with the deals for Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz, and probably also the agreement for Roy Halladay

“This is the last time I’ll answer about my deal, OK?” Manuel said Saturday. “I’m very satisfied with the way it is.”

Ryne Sandberg, the Phillies’ Triple-A manager for the last two seasons, earned a promotion to major league third base coach and appears to be the manager in waiting.

Manuel hopes to manage beyond this year and said he’s tired of having to explain why he should be worthy of another deal.

“I shouldn’t have to explain it to anybody, the team or President Obama or anybody. Seriously,” Manuel said. “That’s kind of how I look at it. I’m not worried about my contract. I’ve been in baseball 51 years, and right now I definitely plan on staying in baseball and I plan on managing.”

Before the Phillies worked out on a brisk, windy morning, Manuel spoke to the entire team in the clubhouse, which he does every year before the opening full-squad workout.

Manuel said he reminded players the season is long and to play the right way. The Phillies went 81-81 last year, ending their streak of nine consecutive winning seasons and five straight division titles.

“We’re definitely planning on being real competitive in our league and having a chance to win at the end,” Manuel said. “Our goal is to win our division, go to the World Series and win. Same as always.”

Utley, Halladay and Ryan Howard appear healthy after missing significant portions of last season. Utley and Halladay changed their offseason regimens, and Howard focused on strengthening the Achilles tendon he tore at the end of the 2011 season.

“We have a whole lot of talent,” Manuel said. “We still have a good team with our veteran players. Of course everyone will say they have to stay healthy and they have age on them. We’ll see.”

Philadelphia added setup reliever Mike Adams and center fielder Ben Revere.

“I look in there and we got a lot of options,” Manuel said. “We got some competitions going. Usually there’s ifs on teams every year. You’ve got to turn those ifs into exclamation points. That’s how I look at it.”

YANKEES: CC Sabathia threw off a mound for the first time since having had arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur from his left elbow last October.

He threw 29 pitches and said he felt good.

Sabathia had two trips to the disabled list last year — a strained left groin that kept him out from June 24 to July 17 and an inflamed left elbow that sidelined him from Aug. 8-24. He was 15-6 during the season last year and 2-1 in three playoff starts.

Also, closer Mariano Rivera, who had surgery June 12 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, had his second spring-training bullpen session.

Both are expected to ready for opening day.

PADRES: Reading from a prepared statement, catcher Yasmani Grandal apologized for a second time following his 50-game suspension for a positive test for testosterone.

Grandal was suspended Nov. 7 and issued a statement then through the Major League Baseball Players Association. He read a statement at the Padres’ spring-training camp but didn’t take questions.

TWINS: Chris Parmelee spent the past two seasons shuttling back and forth between the big leagues and the minors. Following the offseason trades of Denard Span and Ben Revere, Parmelee hopes to become the starting right fielder.

“I’m not worried about Chris Parmelee at all right now,” Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Parmelee is fine. He’s been around with us enough. I think he’s totally comfortable. I’m looking forward to watching him play. I think he’s going to have a really good year for us.”

DODGERS: Clayton Kershaw was selected as the opening-day starter and will become the team’s first pitcher to start three straight openers since Derek Lowe from 2005-07.

Kershaw will take the mound April 1 against San Francisco at Dodger Stadium.

ARBITRATION: Right-hander Homer Bailey and Cincinnati agreed to a $5.35 million, one-year contract, ensuring baseball will set a record low for salary arbitration hearings.

No cases have been argued before three-person panels this year among the 133 players who filed for arbitration last month and just two remain scheduled for hearings next week: San Diego left-hander Clayton Richard and Baltimore reliever Darren O’Day.

Baseball’s previous record low was three hearings set in 2005, and matched in 2009 and 2011. The high was 35 in 1986.

REDS: Aroldis Chapman was one of baseball’s best closers in his first try at it, helping Cincinnati win the NL Central.

He’s getting a chance to win a spot in the rotation this spring, but Manager Dusty Baker is keeping an open mind about moving Chapman back to the bullpen in an emergency.

Chapman saved 38 games last season in his first experience as a closer. He was getting ready to be a starter during spring training last year when closer Ryan Madson got hurt, forcing Baker to scramble. He eased Chapman into a setup role, then promoted him to closer.

General Manager Walt Jocketty would like to have a left-hander in the rotation.

“I would like to start a season and throw as many innings as I can, but that’s up to the team,” said Chapman.