Pettitte not in Yankees' camp

When Andy Pettitte arrives at New York Yankees training camp, he will face intense media scrutiny.

Teammate Mike Mussina hopes Pettitte is up to the challenge of answering all the questions about Roger Clemens and human growth hormone.

"You know, this is a different animal than anything that he's had to deal with before," Mussina said Thursday, when pitchers and catchers reported for spring training. "Do I think he can deal with it? Sure, I think he can deal with it. But until you actually are put in the situation and have to deal with it, you really, really don't know. We'll just have to move forward and see how it plays out."

On Wednesday, Pettitte's sworn deposition and affidavit was made public during the congressional hearings on the Mitchell Report. In his testimony, Pettitte told congressional lawyers that Clemens informed him nearly a decade ago he had used human growth hormone. Pettitte also admitted his own use of HGH was not limited to 2002, as he previously said, but that he also took injections in 2004 after obtaining the substance from his ailing father.

He was given until Monday to report to the Yankees' complex in Tampa, Fla. -- the media's first chance to question the left-hander.

Mussina hopes Pettitte addresses the issue quickly and any controversy dissipates.

"Lay it out there in one or two sessions and then hopefully it eases a little from there," Mussina said. "I don't think he's going to be able to do his job properly if he has to answer questions about it all season long."

Sabathia ends contract talks: One thing's for sure about C.C. Sabathia's long-term future with the Cleveland Indians: It's up in the air. Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said Thursday that he doesn't expect to have any talks with the Cy Young winner until the 2008 season is over. He was reacting to a message Sabathia posted said on his Web site Wednesday night that said he and his agents have broken off negotiations on a contract extension with the club.

"The door is open, but I would say it's very unlikely we'll talk at any point before the end of the season," Shapiro told reporters at the Indians' spring training complex. "There's not enough common ground."

Bennett regrets using HGH: While catcher Gary Bennett was willing to try just about anything to help his aching right knee heal, he knew using human growth hormone during the 2003 season was a mistake. He did it anyway. Bennett, implicated in the Mitchell Report on drugs in baseball, spoke openly about his experience Thursday and acknowledged his regrets.

"With it all coming out, it was very embarrassing," he said on the day pitchers and catchers reported to the Los Angeles Dodgers' training camp. "Going into it, I knew it was wrong. It was a situation in '03 that I was on the DL for 6½ weeks with a partially torn MCL in my right knee. It got to a point where I was extremely frustrated, my knee was hurting. That led me to make a stupid decision."

The Mitchell Report said Bennett, playing for San Diego at the time, bought two kits of HGH from former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski.

"The Mitchell Report was accurate," Bennett said. "It was two, three months' worth of HGH. I don't remember the exact breakdown of how and when I took it. The biggest question I had was, 'Did it help me?' I have no idea. I have no way of knowing whether it did or didn't help. It still hurt after that. It got better as the season went along. Was what I did wrong? Absolutely. Do I regret it? Absolutely."

Schilling in camp to rehab: Curt Schilling's 21st season is starting with a spring training unlike any of his others -- with a long process of rehabilitating his shoulder after apparently patching up differences with the Red Sox over the best way to treat it. Schilling met with Boston general manager Theo Epstein, manager Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell after reporting to camp on Thursday. The right-hander didn't practice outdoors and is scheduled to began his rehab exercises on Friday.

"We just actually chatted with him," Epstein said, "and everyone seems to be on the same page."

Arbitration update: Chien-Ming Wang went to an arbitration hearing Thursday, the first for the New York Yankees since the team won its case against Mariano Rivera in 2000. Relievers Brian Fuentes of Colorado and Jose Valverde of Houston also went to arbitration.

Washington defeated infielder Felipe Lopez in the first arbitration hearing of the year when the infielder was awarded $4.9 million rather than the $5.2 million he asked for.