Winter Meetings Day 1

There has been no real action but a lot of talking and rumors are running rampant. The New York Yankees though did make some noise, they have traded right handed relief pitcher Brian Bruney to the Washington Nationals for a player to be named later. He was a pretty good relief pitcher for the team but in the playoffs he lost his setup role and they have more guys just like him in the organization so I don't think this is that big of a deal. He was due for arbitration so maybe the Yankees save a few bucks here. The New York Mets have stepped up their efforts to aquire catcher Bengie Molina. The Mets are also said to be interested in Adam Kennedy for second base if they can get someone to take Luis Castillo off of their hands. Mark Feinsand of the Daily News is reporting that he believes the player to be named later in the Bruney trade will be the Nationals first Rule 5 pick. There was a lot of stuff coming out with the media meeting with Red Sox manager Terry Francona earlier and the media will be meeting with Yankees GM Brian Cashman shortly. I will be back later with the news and notes from those sessions.

Baseball Winter Meetings

The annual Baseball Winter Meetings will start tomorrow and run through Thursday. I thought I should do a little preview especially focusing on the Mets and Yankees and what their needs are and what they may do. I am going to start with the New York Mets since they have more holes to fill. The New York Mets are looking for: Catcher Starting Pitcher Left Fielder 1st baseman The Mets have been stockpiling catchers with the signings of Henry Blanco and Chris Coste to go with Omir Santos but they are still looking to sign Bengie Molina who would become their starting catcher. I personally think finding a #2 starter to put behind Johan Santana should be their main priority and really they should get in on the Roy Halladay sweepstakes and see if they can make that work. If they were able to get Roy Halladay to put with Johan Santana right there they would have something and it would energize their fan base. If they can't get Halladay I think they should look at John Lackey which I am sure they are going to check in on. I do think the Mets need to find a leftfielder, I saw last week where they were requesting medical records on Hideki Matsui but I just don't see that being a fit with him not playing the outfield in a year and a half. I think Marlon Byrd would be good but if the Mets want to really do something big they should sign Matt Holliday. I don't think they are going to be in on Holliday but we will see. The Mets are claiming they are going to take a look at bringing back Carlos Delgado for a year if he is healthy but I am not so sure about that, i can see them platooning someone like a Mark DeRosa with Daniel Murphy. The Mets feel that top prospect Ike Davis who is the son of Ron Davis who played with the Yankees is going to be ready next year. They don't want to sign someone big for first base since he will be taking over their as early as next season. I really don't know what to expect from the Mets as we still don't know what they are willing or able to spend. I think we may get a good idea of what is possible for them this week. The New York Yankees are coming off a World Championship but they do have a couple of needs. Their main priority is going to be resigning their #3 starter Andy Pettitte which I think may get done this week. They are sure to check in with the Blue Jays about Roy Halladay but I think they are skeptical of trading prospects and giving him big money for an extension. I wouldn't rule out the Yankees for anything though so it will be interesting to see if they are serious or just trying to stop the Red Sox from getting him. I could see the Yankees signing a Joel Piniero for the 4th spot in their rotation and then using Phil Hughes as a 5th and having Joba go back to the bullpen. The Yankees right now need a leftfielder and I think they will try to resign Johnny Damon but they will not go more then 2 years with him. If he thinks he can get more then 2 years he will leave but I am not so sure anyone is going to give it to him. I can see him resigning for 2 years and between 16-18 million. If the Yankees don't resign him then I can see them jumping in for Jason Bay or Matt Holliday but I don't think that will happen. They may try to resign World Series MVP Hideki Matsui to a 1 year deal where he will get less then he was making this past season but I don't think he will come back. I think the Yankees will really like to use a revolving door with the DH position. They could use Posada, Damon, A-rod, Jeter, Tex as DH's giving them rest in the field. I think Francisco Cervelli will be the backup and catch from 50-60 games leaving Jorge Posada to catch no more then 110 games. This free agent class is considered weak and the big names are John Lackey, Jason Bay and Matt Holliday. I am not so sure anything major will get done this week but teams will put things in motion and I am sure you will get a flurry of activity with the middle tier guys. It should be a fun week of rumors and stories and hopefully some activity to talk about.

New York Giants come up Giant

The New York Giants rose to the occasion and defeated the Dallas Cowboys this afternoon in a game they had to win. The final score was 31-24, the Giants defense was much better today and played with a passion and intensity we haven't seen since early in the season. There were some changes on the defense at least with the starters and it seemed to have worked. Dallas running game got nothing going after torching the Giants defense in their first meeting earlier in the season. The Giants offense looked much better especially running the ball, they just seemed to have an extra jump in their steps and this is how they should be playing every week. Eli Manning wasn't great but also his receivers did drop a few passes, when the weather gets cold usually the passing game isn't as good but the offense did a good job. Hakeem Nicks had a touchdown catch and Brandon Jacobs had a huge touchdown run after getting a short pass in the 4th quarter. The Giants will remain at home and play another divisional foe next week in the Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants are now 7-5 and one game behind the Eagles and Cowboys who are both 8-4, if the Giants defeat the Eagles next week and the Cowboys lose things will really get interesting in the NFC East with all three teams having the same record. I think the Giants defense learned a lot from this game and they should be able to keep up this intensity for the rest of the season and hopefully the postseason.

NFL Week 12

The New York Giants will play the Dallas Cowboys at home tomorrow afternoon at 4. This is the Giants season, the way they have played especially their defense any Giants fan can't be too confident. There may be some changes according to published reports Osi Umenyora and Fred Robbins may be benched in favor of Chris Canty and Mathias Kiwanuka. We already know that middle linebacker Chase Blackburn is being replaced by Jonathan Goff. The one piece of good news on the injury front the Giants received is that it looks like running back Ahmad Bradshaw will be able to play of course who knows how effective he will be. I think the Giants are going to come out with a lot of passion and this will be a very good game but I don't see the Giants defense being able to stop the Cowboys. I think the Cowboys are going to win this game 31-28. I am going to pick Atlanta to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles at home. I just don't think the NFC East is that good this season and I think the Falcons need a big win as they have been slumping lately and have had some injuries. I think they will win this game by the score of 21-17.

Hot Stove action

It looks like the Seattle Mariners will be getting speedy leadoff man Chone Figgons. The preliminary figure is for 4 years and 36 million. This is a good move for them getting a player like this and also taking him away from their divisional rival. The New York Mets have stockpiled catchers signing Chris Coste and Henry Blanco and still looking to sign Bengie Molina, why they are doing all of this doesn't really make much sense but it is the Mets. I don't want to jump to conclusions because maybe they will still get a John Lackey or Matt Holliday or someone like that. The Boston Red Sox today did aquire Marco Scuttaro who said he signed with them because they have the team with the best chance of winning a title for him. The big news today was coming from Jon Heyman of SI.com who tweeted that the Yankees are going to make an offer for Roy Halladay, he does believe the Red Sox have the best chance of getting him though. The Jays want some combination of Jesus Montero, Austin Jackson, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain from the Yankees. It does look like it will be a battle between the two ancient rivals for Doc Halladay and the Jays do seems intent on unloading him now when they can get something rather then waiting and have his value decrease or lose him to free agency and get nothing.

Hot Stove starting to heat up

The baseball Winter Meetings are scheduled to being on Monday from Indianapolis but the hot stove has started heating up. Roy Halladay of course is a big topic as everyone awaits to see if he will be traded and to whom with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees at the top of the list. The Seattle Mariners are on the verge of signing Chone Figgons according to multiple sources. It looks like he will sign for 4 years and around 32 million or so. This would be a great move for seattle and deal a huge blog to their divisional foes the Anaheim Angels. The Brewers signed veteran catcher Gregg Zaun today and yesterday Placido Polanco signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. There is talk that the Mets are trying to unload Luis Castillo but that still remains to be seen. It will get really interesting next week as all 30 clubs will be together in one place looking to shape their rosters for the spring. The Boston Red Sox signed SS Marco Scutaro today also as they look to play catch up with the Yankees who went on their big splurge last offseason signing CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. Boston apparantly will be pushing hard for Roy Halladay according to some although others believe they will stay away from him and go after John Lackey who is the biggest name pitching free agent. It sure looks like it will be a fun week so stay tuned.

Jets Staying Alive, Staying Alive

The New York Jets defeated the Buffalo Bills by the score of 19-13. The Jets defense was good once again and the running game did most of the work. The last 2 wins came by running and good defense with Mark Sanchez not having to do much. Darel Revis once again shut down a top flight receiver with this week being TO. The New York Jets pretty much have to win out to make the playoffs but right now they are in the picture at 6-6 and can only worry about one game at a time. The Jets play Tampa which is a winnable game and then they will play Atlanta, Indianapolis and Cincinatti the last 3 games so it will get more difficult but maybe by then the Jets will have some swagger back and build on that. The least they want to do is at least finish strong and feel good going into next season. The only blemish on the game was Mark Sanchez spraining his knee, he may be able to play on Sunday though so we will wait and see on that.

New York Yankees News

There isn't any news coming out of Yankee Land. The Yankees will be holding organizational meetings tomorrow and Friday. GM Brian Cashman, Manager Joe Girardi, Owners Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, President Randy Levine and others. They will be discussing possibly trading for Roy Halladay which I am hearing they are leaning towards maybe trading for him for one year without an extension then letting him go and getting the draft picks. They will also discuss how much they want and want to offer Damon, Matsui and Pettitte. I am thinking Pettitte comes back. Joe Girardi certainly thinks he will be back. I don't think Matsui will be back and I do think Damon is iffy but I think he will end up coming back on a 2 year deal. I think ultimately the Yankees will shy away from Roy Halladay and have Joba and Hughes in the rotation with David Robertson and Damaso Marte as main set up guys with Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves as other guys in the pen. They also still have guys like Mark Melancon and Mike Dunn, Albaladejo etc. Ian Kennedy, Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin will also be backups for long men or starters. Brian Cashman did a breakfast with Mike Francesa and WFAN listeners yesterday. You can find a writeup about it on http://www.riveraveblues.com. Brian Cashman really told a lot, some of the highlights were him calling Joe Torre's book garbage, him saying that some of his coaches were lying to him. Cashman had told some of the coaches it sounds like maybe Larry Bowa to go talk to Jeter about his defense and they kept telling Cash, we did it. Brian Cashman didn't see any difference so finally he went to him in the offseason and Jeter said no one had told him anything. Brian Cashman also said he is back to trying to get the payroll somewhat like it used to be where he doesn't go crazy spending and does things wisely.

New Jersey Nets set record they don't want

The New Jersey Nets set the NBA record tonight for most losses to start a season. They are now 0-18. The GM Kiki Vandeweghe will take over coaching duties starting tomorrow. I know they weren't supposed to be good this year but this is really embarrassing. The New York Knicks aren't much better and the local football teams are pretty much done. When does spring training start?? Since I mentioned the Giants if it couldn't get any worse for them well it did. It looks like Brandon Jacobs will be the only healthy running back Sunday against the Cowboys. Danny Ware and Ahmad Bradshaw are both hurt and it doesn't look like either will play. I think if the Giants lose this game they should just shut down QB Eli Manning also as he has been dealing with a foot issue for most of the season and it could lead to a stress fracture.

RIP-Tommy Henrich

The oldest living Yankee died early this morning in Ohio. Tommy Henrich who was nicknamed Old Reliable played only for the Yankees from 1937-1950. He served in WWII and missed 3 years due to his service. He was 96 years old, Tommy was a great teammate and a good ballplayer. The New York Yankees released a statement which can be read on www.yankees.com. Chad Jennings of the Journal News and the lohud Yankees Blog wrote a nice piece on him also at http://yankees.lhblogs.com.

Yankees offer Arbitration to No One

The New York Yankees offered arbitration to no one again this year. If they offered arbitration and that player signed elsewhere they would be awarded a draft pick as compensation but then they would also risk having that player sign and go to arbitration. This really wasn't a suprise as they will still try and retain Damon and Pettitte. I am almost certain Hideki Matsui will be gone. Joe Girardi was out at Jets camp today teaching Mark Sanchez how to slide. The Jets were worried about him not knowing how to do that well and contacted the Yankees to see if they could help. Today was the day that Joe Girardi was available to come out to Florham Park and help the Jets out. I read today that A.J. Burnett was pushing for Doc Halladay, that is no suprise but I don't think the Yankees will end up getting him. The Yankees would have to give up a lot in prospects and money to sign him to an extension and that is too much. John Henry the Red Sox owner had a interesting take on the revenue sharing system today. He did basically bash the Yankees but at the same time he kind of defended them. The website www.waswatching.com has all the information on that. Dustin Pedroia stated today that he would move to shortstop to help the Red Sox with that problem. I don't think that is going to happen though and they will end up signing Marco Scutaro away from the Blue Jays. Did the New York Mets really sign Alex Cora for 2 million?? They also signed Chris Coste and are thinking of adding Henry Blanco also. I know the bench was criticized last year but is Omar Minaya going to be short sighted again and not worry about LF, SP, 1B?? I really hope not because after last season the Mets have to do something to excite their fan base.