Busy day in Baseball

It has been a rather uneventful couple of weeks around the baseball world. We are drawing ever closer to spring training and the start of the baseball season and today the baseball world was very busy. Here are some of the transactions and rumors that took place today. Ben Sheets signed a 1 yr contract with the Oakland Athletics for 10 million plus incentives. Jim Thome signed a one year 1.5 million dollar deal with the Minnesota Twins. It also includes up to 750,000 in incentives. Xavier Nady is close to a deal with the Chicago Cubs. His deal is for 3.3 million with 2.05 million more in incentives for games played. The deal is pending a physical which isn't a foregone conclusion for him since he is coming off the second Tommy John surgery of his career. This affects the Yankees as they are looking for a right handed bat to play the outfield. Johan Santana of the New York Mets threw off a mound today for the first time since leaving a game last August and undergoing elbow surgery. He threw 35 pitches in 6 minutes and came through it fine. He said he feels good and will just be building up for opening day. Chad Jennings of the Journal News and the Lohud Yankees blog had some Yankee news tonight. Joe Girardi was in Times Square receiving the Bobby Murcer award from B.A.T which is the Baseball assistance team. He spoke about Johnny Damon and said he never believes something is completely shut until it is completely shut. He did say though with that said he doesn't see it happening. He can see Gardner in center and Granderson in left, he said he does see them as interchangeable. Joe Girardi also said that he feels good about Francisco Cervelli being the backup catcher. He said that he played at a very high level for them last year and learned a lot. He thinks he can handle the job. Joe Girardi said that Bernie Williams hasn't asked him about coming to spring training as a instructor but if he does he will consider it. I don't think there is any doubt that if he asks he will be there and he said on the radio the other day he would like to be in spring training. Joe Girardi brought the World Series trophy today to his daughter school. I can only imagine that being the show and tell, how cool is that. Brian Cashman via Brian Hoch said that Johnny Damon does not fit into his budget and he is not going to discuss Damon any further. It sure sounded like the door is slammed shut on Johnny but I still don't believe it until he signs somewhere else which I don't see happening. I think eventually they will work this out. I think it is both sides being bitter at the negotiating and using the media for leverage. The Yankees did add some outfield depth today when they traded minor league infielder Mitch Hilligos to the Texas Rangers for minor league outfielder Greg Golson. He has had 7 at bats in the major leagues without a hit. He is 24 years old and is considered a very toolsy player.