So Andy Pettitte wants to pitch for the Yankees next season, and he's happy to take another one-year deal. The Yankees have expressed a desire for starting pitching, yet appear content to let Pettitte seek offers elsewhere.
So what the heck is going on here? Well, here's how it breaks down …
Picture this as the Yankees' starting rotation in 2009, because this is probably what Hank Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman are envisioning:
1. CC Sabathia or A.J. Burnett
2. Chien-Ming Wang
3. Joba Chamberlain
4. Philip Hughes or Ian Kennedy
5. Mike Mussina
As you can see, under this scenario there is no room for Pettitte. If Sabathia goes to the Angels (he is thought to favor the West Coast), then Burnett would have bags of money thrown his way.
The wild card is Mussina, who even manager Joe Girardi expects to retire. If he does indeed hang 'em up, Pettitte is the next option.
ANYONE WANT A SUPERSTAR SLUGGER?
Who wants Matt Holliday? Seemingly everyone, and yet no one.
The Cardinals were after him, yet apparently have balked at giving up Ryan Ludwick, Skip Shumaker and Mitchell Boggs. Now, apparently a Rockies-Cardinals deal is dead.
The Phillies were interested, and might still be, but not if they have to surrender Shane Victorino.
The Mets, and even the Nats (yes, the Nats!) have been mentioned as possible trade partners for the Rockies.
One thing that might hurt the Rockies' effort to snag a pirate's ransom for Holliday is the perception that the slugger will falter away from Coors Field. But as Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal points out, if there is a dropoff, it will likely be minimal because Holliday, you know, is just really good.
One rival general manager who is interested in Holliday dismissed any suggestion that the slugger is a Coors creation, saying, "He's just a good player."
AT LEAST THE WEATHER IS NICE
The shine is off the new ballpark, the team's best player is about to be traded, and a nasty divorce is among the reasons the owner is slashing payroll.
And Hell's Bells, we may have seen the last of Trevor Hoffman in a Padres uniform.
ESPN's Buster Olney, a former Padres beat reporter, breaks down the grim news here.
Could it get any worse? Well yes, they could always bring back the old brown and yellow uniforms.
ANGELS TO MAKE SOME MOVES?
According to this report, the Angels are done with Francisco Rodriguez, and with Jose Arredondo waiting in the wings, it's hard to blame them.
Word is they'll spend their money elsewhere, planning to make an offer to Mark Teixeira this week for as much as 7-years, $140 million. Then maybe set their sites on CC Sabathia?
SCOTT BORAS IS HILARIOUS
"The idea of it is there aren't many players in the marketplace who lead a team like Jason Varitek can, and that's got to be his value."
The super-agent was speaking in reference to why his client, who hit .220/.313/.359 last season at age 36, deserved a Jorge Posada-like 4-year, $52.4 million contract.
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I think that Yankees rotation has about a 1% chance of looking like that. Mainly because Mike Mussina will retire and there is no way that the Yankees place their season in the hands of Hughes and Kennedy again.
I do think the Yanks will eventually bring back Pettitte, because one year of Pettitte is better than five of Burnett or four of Lowe for the type of money those two will want.
I think the Yanks will end up trading Kennedy, possibly for a temporary center field fix, a first baseman if they don't sign Tex, or a backup catcher who could handle 300-400 at bats of Posada can't return back behind the plate.
Also, if the Yanks bring back Abreu, I think they would be smart to shop Xavier Nady and/or Matsui as well. Nady would actually probably bring back more in return than Matsui at this point of their careers, since he's younger, cheaper, and can actually play the outfield.
But anyway, the Yanks need five starters not named Hughes or Kennedy to start the year.
Looks like the Yankees will slide into third again - too old - too slow.
OK I got you down for 1 percent. I'll take the over. :)
The creaky and oft-injured Yankees are desperate for pitching. I gotta believe we'll see a bunch of new names in pinstripes in April.
Give Andy his one year deal, however make him the "new " Dave Rigetti. Andy could become the Yanks long reliever. If someone goes down Andy moves up.
Who really cares about the Yanks,they are old and ruin baseball. The owners have overpriced the game and players. They deserve what that have made for themselves.
The Yankees are the only reason baseball is even as mildly popular as it is. They sell out stadiums wherever they go. They Make baseball money. If tightwad owners don't want to ante up to pay for their hobbies then they shouldn't own the teams.
The whole world. There are probably more Yankees caps floating around the globe than the whole NL's caps.
I hate them, so clearly I care about them.
Yep, the only team that draws better on the road is the Red Sox. And we wonder why ESPN shows every single Yankees-Red Sox game.
If the Yankees remain pitiful, how soon will the Sawks be the new team we love to hate.
Some people are already there, lining up to hate. Or at least hating the fans, if not the team.
The "10 Reasons to Hate" is a funny piece. The guy has a funny name also. Kind of a mix of presidential and assassin.
The only reason that is so is because of bad research and a misunderstanding of statistics.
The reason the Red Sox "draw better" than the Yankees on the road is because the Red Sox get to count the sell-outs of Yankee Stadium at 57,545 attendance, while the Yankees are stuck counting the sell-outs of Fenway Part with an attendance of only 37,400. That's an extra 20,000 a game the Red Sox get to count for their "drawing better".
If you exclude Yankee/Red Sox games, then the Yankees actually out draw the Red Sox against the teams they both actually get to play against.
I am a giant fan, so take that for what is worth. We had one of the worst teams this year. Now for you yankee fans you deserve what you get. You have priced ballplayers out of reach of the midlevel teams. Now you are getting old and a lot of us love it. You are the bums not the lovable bums {dodgers}.
The yankees will make the moves to get where they need to be. My only issue is their drafting. Seems to have been subpar lately. If they fix that most problems will fix themselves.
Yea, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Austin Jackson, Dellin Betances, Austin Romine and Zach McAllister are all subpar ;-)
So Jon Heyman of SI.com is reporting that the Oakland A's of all teams have just traded for Matt Holliday, though terms of the deal are not yet known.
It looks like the A's are giving up stud outfield prospect Carlos Gonzalez, plus relievers Huston Street and Greg Smith. There are some details here ...
That kinda seems like a pretty bad deal for the Rockies, too me at least. I'm not sold on Gonzalez at all, I don't think he has the batting eye to be a true stud. Houston Street has been on a downward career trend, having already lost his closer job to Brad Ziegler, which isn't good considering he's still only in his mid-twenties. And Smith is a middle reliever, nice, but also inconsistent.
This is an interesting move by Oakland though. Somehow I doubt they can match the field and sign Holliday long term, so I'm guessing they've decided that next year they will contend. This is interesting since they traded Joe Blaton and Rich Harden last season, when both players would have still been under their control this season. Billy Bean must really like Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez.
I think Adam Hobson hit the nail on the head with regard to the Yankees' rotation. I think the possible fifth is (gasp) Carl Pavano.