TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees offered infielder Juan Uribe a minor-league deal before he took a one-year, $5-million pact from the Indians, according to a report from the New York Post's Joel Sherman.

Uribe, who turns 37 in March, would likely have been the front runner for the 25th spot on the Yankees' roster and third baseman Chase Headley's primary backup.

On Wednesday, Headley said he didn't think of the Yankees' decision not to add a clear backup third baseman was necessarily a vote of confidence for him. Headley played the most games out of any Yankees player last season with 156, but made a career-high 23 errors. He hit .259 with 11 homers.

"I didn't really think about it that way," he said. "I think from just talking to the coaches, talking to the front office, I think they understand that last year was hopefully an outlier. And certainly again, we're not just passing it off, saying it was nothing. But at the same token we don't expect it to happen again and I felt that way even when I was going through it. I felt like they keep confidence in me and they were positive about it. I didn't look at any moves they made this offseason as a vote of confidence, but maybe it is. But just the way that they handled it last year and we handled it together led me to believe they still thought I could do that job."

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.