TAMPA -- Ernesto Frieri hopes the truth lies in his own deception.
The Yankees signed the 31-year-old former closer to a minor-league deal earlier in the week to compete for a spot in the Opening Day big-league bullpen.
On Saturday, Frieri said he doesn't just believe he's as good as he was in 2013, when he saved 37 games for the Angels. No, the right-hander said, he's better.
"Before, I was a thrower," Frieri told reporters in the clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field, where outside there wasn't a cloud in the sky-.