Some New York Yankees news and notes

Some New York Yankees news and notes


Spring training is quickly approaching in less then a month now. February 14th is the official report date for pitchers and catcher with all position players reporting about a week later. The early work and reporting is boring but at least we will be talking about real baseball action.

The Yankees came to terms with all five of their arbitration eligible players. Brett Gardner, Shawn Kelley, Ivan Nova, Francisco Cervelli and David Robertson. They now can add those guys to the payroll status and see where they are in regards to 189 million. If you trust the NY Post who has had a running total they are at about 169 so there is still some room to go. They of course could sign Tanaka, which is what they want.

There are reports coming out of Japan on Saturday that the Yankees along with the Dodgers, Cubs, White Sox and Diamondbacks all made formal offers for Tanaka on Thursday. Mlbtraderumors.com has some of the report on their site. They state that the Diamondbacks made an offer to be around six years and 120 million. The Yankees and Dodgers are said to be around that same amount and it isn’t known what the two Chicago teams bid. This whole process has been a big mystery even before he got posted. You can take just about any of this with a grain of salt but one way or another we will know by Friday which is the deadline. He has to be signed by then so I expect to hear something pretty substantial on Thursday.

Derek Jeter had a pretty lengthy sit down interview with Harold Reynolds of MLB network the other day. Here are some highlights of what he had to say.

He spoke about Arod and called it sad, he said that he has a long history with him and is saddened. He also called it messy and stated he doesn’t really have any advice because he can’t relate. He did say that he had messaged Arod. He stated that he feels really good and has been working hard since November. He stated that last year he did rush himself but it was his entire fault and that is probably why he got hurt and had such a miserable year. He said he set the goal to be back by opening day and that may have been unrealistic but he set it and there is nothing you can do.

Derek stated that it would probably be strange playing for the first time with not at least one of the other core four members. He stated he would see when that time comes but he has never had to do it before. He had a funny comment about recruiting Tanaka. Jeter said I don’t speak Japanese and the very little that I do know is from Hideki Matsui and it is bad words. He said about Cano taking the 240 million and bolting for Seattle that he wasn’t surprised and he probably would of done the same thing. If you get a chance to see it on mlb.com it is worth it. I thought he was really honest and revealing. He looked to be very relaxed and he isn’t usually like this interviews so it was good to see.

The Yankees and the rest of baseball released their schedules with most of the scheduled times. If you go to Yankees.com it is all there. The Yankees open in Houston with three night games in a row and then their fourth game of the season in Toronto is also at night before having a string of day games. They have the Sat and Sunday game during the day, which is pretty normal, and then their first few home games are mostly day games. The Yankees will close out the season in Boston. They will also play the NL central this season in interleague play. There are games with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals as well as the four in a row with the NY Mets.

Grapefruit League Game 2-Yankees at Phillies

The New York Yankees are taking on the Philadelphia Phillies this afternoon at 1:00PM in clearwarter. This is a rematch of this past seasons World Series in which the Yankees won their 27th World Title in 6 games. Roy Halladay will take on CC Sabathia but they will only be pitching 2 innings or so in this game. Here are the notes and starting lineups for the game. Derek Jeter, A-rod and Mark Tiexiera aren't making the trip so we will get to see some of the younger infielders try and make a impression. Placido Polanco is the Phillies new third baseman and longtime teammate of Marcus Thames and Curtis Granderson in Detroit. Thames and Granderson aren't on the trip of course though. Zach McAllister and Austin Romine were named the Kevin Lawn Minor league pitcher and player of the year for 2009. Austin Romine is with Jesus Montero as one of the top catching prospects for the Yankees. He is better defensively but doesn't have the power that Montero has. Zach McAllister has become one of the Yankees best young arms and may be the first in line for a callup if it is needed. Kevin Russo feels better but is getting another day off from the Yankees. Joe Girardi laughed at all the coverage the CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay matchup today is getting. "It's getting a lot of coverage like it's a regular-season game" The late inning replacements for today's game are C Austin Romine, 1B Jose Gil, 2B Eduardo Nunez, SS Reegie Corona, 3B Jorge Vazquez,LF Colin Curtis, CF Reid Gorecki,RF David Winfree,DH Jesus Montero. I am anxious to see Montero and Romine, these guys really seem to be the real deal and I could see them being a catching tandem in the big leagues. The game will be on tape delay tonight at 7 on the MLB network but not televised live at all. If you want to follow you can check out http://mlb.com/ for the boxscore and live updates. I will be back on later for some postgame reaction and the notes from the game. Yankees Lineup: Gardner(CF) Johnson(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Winn(LF) Miranda(1B) Pena(SS) Laird(3B) Phillies Lineup: Rollins(SS) Polanco(3B) Francisco(CF) Werth(RF) Mayberry(LF) Ransom(1B) Castro(2B) Bocock(DH) Ruiz(C)

Derek Jeters Contract Status

The New York Yankees will come to a interesting place at the end of this season. Derek Jeters contract is up and they have will have to pay him. He will be 36 yrs old and is a shortstop which is a story for another day. Derek Jeter is the Yankees and will be for the next 50 or 60 years. He will eventually retire but will still be the one that comes out last at the Old Timers Days and will be the best known and most popular Yankee. The Yankees could never let him wear another uniform and he doesn't want to either. The debate will be how much will he get and how much should he get. Derek Jeter may want to act tough with the Yankees although I doubt he will and if he does then what happens. The reason I have brough all this up is because Derek Jeter had a one on one interview with Harold Reynolds. The interview ran on MLB Network last night and if you haven't seen it, it is a good one. Here is the video, enjoy it. Hank Steinbrenner after missing for months now resurfaced today. He had this to say: He like the Yankees move so far and thinks they have a good chance of repeating. Here is what he had to say about Derek Jeter and his contract situation " We will get into all of that eventually. Jeters place in Yankees history is obvious, so I think you can pretty much assume from there." A little side not to this, Jeter is already down in Tampa working out. Those quotes from Steinbrenner came courtesy of the AP and were posted on the great Lohud Yankees Blog by Chad Jennings and Sam Borden.

Some random baseball notes

Congratulations go out to the Big Unit Randy Johnson who won his 300th game tonight. There were a couple of good articles on Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero the 2 top yankees prospects. It is worth reading at nytimes.com or the Bats blog by Tyler Kepner. Austin Jackson is tearing up AAA and it will be interesting to see if he is given a real chance next year to make the team and if he gets a September callup this year. Jesus Montero was just promoted to AA-Trenton yesterday and I hope to get out there to check him out, it would definitely be worth the trip. I will be going to AAA-Scranton over the 4th of July weekend and will get to see Austin Jackson which I am looking forward too. Cody Ransom just started rehabbing in Scranton and had a homerun tonight in his first game. The MLB draft is coming up later this month and for the first time will be fully broadcast on the MLB Network. The Nationals have the first pick and will draft Steven Strasburg but the money he is looking for is ridiculous. The thing is there are no trades in the baseball draft and he doesn't have much leverage unless he wants to go to Japan for a year and then come back as a free agent but I doubt it. The Mets are really resembling a AAA team with all their injuries and illnesses. It doesn't look good for Jose Reyes as he may have a tear in his calf. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball, wouldn't it be something to have Yankees/Dodgers in the World Series the way it used to be and Joe vs Joe and Manny/A-rod the two tainted sluggers. Nate McClouth getting traded to the Braves should setoff a flurry of trades in the next month or so, it will be interesting to see if Peavy, Heath Bell, Matt Holliday, Victor Martinez etc get traded and to who, how this can really change the races.

Baseball 2009 almost here

The baseball season is set to kick off tonight with the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies hosting the Atlanta Braves. Brett Myers will get the start going against Derek Lowe. The game will be on ESPN sunday night baseball. It will be interesting to see how the MLB network will be during the season, I think they have done a great job so far and it should be fun to watch. They will have the nightly show beginning at 7 and not ending till the last pitch of the last game. They will have live look ins, highlights, analysis. The New York Yankees are in Baltimore now taking batting practice and working out. You can see some pictures over on Peter Abrahams blog http://yankees.lhblogs.com Joba Chamberlain made his final start of the spring down in Tampa pitching for AA Trenton against AAA Scranton. He threw 75 pitches going 5 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits. He was so good though that he faced 5 additional batters with 3 outs. He started out giving up 2 hits and a walk but then retired 16 straight, he had 5 strikeouts. He said he was working on fastball command and his changeup. He said it was good, one of his best days as far as consistency goes, He said he is excited to get going.

Spring Game 16: Yankees at Red Sox

The first game of the season between the Sox and Yanks but don't get all worked up, for all the media and people that like to hype it, there is NO Teixera, Cano, Jeter, Arod, Matsui, Posada. The Red Sox don't have Pedroia or Youkilis. Damaso Marte and Robinson Cano came back from the WBC a little sore and will be checked out by the Drs tomorrow. I don't think its a big deal and hopefully Cano will be in there in a couple of days. I would hold Marte out until next week just to be safe. The game is being broadcast on MLB network through the NESN feed but will be blacked out in NY thanks to the Yankees who have the right to black it out, they aren't showing it on YES so I don't know why they have to black it out other then being scared of what the NESN announcers might say but who cares, they are going to say it anyway and Yankees fans aren't going to be swayed by it. Wang gets his third start and will probably go 4 innings or maybe 5 if his pitch count is low. Spring Game 16: Yankees at Red Sox Posted using ShareThis

Other News from around the sports world

I forgot to mention this earlier but if anyone cares Team USA takes on Team Canada today at 2:00pm in the World Baseball Classic, the game is on MLB network. Manny gets to be Manny for at least another year with Joe Torre, I don't know about anyone else but the Dodgers are definitely in the mix to make the World Series with him back, anyone thinking Yankees Dodgers in the Series?? How about the Jets and Giants jumping right into the free agent pool right away. The Jets getting a couple of the new coaches ex players, the big problem for them is as good as the moves are who is the quarterback?? The Giants on the other hand have a ton of depth on that defensive line, remember they are also getting Osi back who missed the whole year last year, if Plaxico doesn't go to jail he will be back also, does anyone think the Giants aren't the best team in the NFC and have a great shot at getting back to the Super Bowl?? That story about the NFL players who went missing on a fishing trip and only one survived. This is just a sad tragic story. I can't imagine being that one who survived and watching my friends float away to their deaths. The Rangers seem to have a lot more life since they fired their old coach, made a couple of trades adn brought NHL badboy Sean Avery back, could they make a run in the playoffs if they get there.