Hot Stove season wrapping up and spring training is drawing near

This has been a very busy off-season for many MLB teams.  There has been free agency as always but there have  been many trades, more then I can ever remember in one offseason.  It is now about a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting which means that for the most part all of the heavy lifting is done.  This year though it is still pretty active.  I take a look at the latest and what may come next. 

Max Scherzer signs a 7 year 210 million dollar deal with the Washington Nationals.  It is actually half deferred which means he gets half of that in seven years and then the other half for the next seven years.  It is actually a 14 year deal where he will only play for the team for seven years though.  This is a crazy deal and I guess we can say Scott Boras does it again.  The Nationals right now look to be loaded with pitching and are an instant favorite for the World Series. 

James Shields is the only big name left out on the open market and who knows where that is going.  We have heard some things here and there but nothing major regarding Shields.  I would expect his situation to be resolved though in the next couple of weeks. 

The Houston Astros signed Colby Rasmus to a one year deal and were close to acquiring Ryan Vogelsong but that appeared to fall apart and now he may be close to rejoining the San Francisco Giants on a one year deal.  Yovani Gallardo was traded to the Texas Rangers for prospects.  The Red Sox signed Dana Eveland to a minor league deal. 

The Braves have signed former Brave Kelly Johnson and also now on Thursday night have agreed to a one year contract with Jhonny Gomes.  The Cincinnati Reds have signed pitcher Jason Marquis to a minor league deal.  Dontrelle Willis is back in baseball signing a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. 

I wouldn't expect anything really major to happen the rest of the way.  Shields will be signed by someone and there may be a couple of more trades.  It is looking more likely now though that the Philadelphia Phillies will hold on to Cole Hamels until the trade deadline and that the Washington Nationals may hold onto all of their pitchers for right now also.  There is a chance that anything can happen at anytime  though as it already has been a crazy off-season. 

New York Mets weekend notes

The big news of the weekend would have to be that Jon Niese left Sunday's start with left elbow

discomfort.  He had been bothered by shoulder soreness earlier in the spring.  He is heading back to

NY for an MRI.  This is what he said though "It's the back of the elbow, which is good.  I'm almost

100 percent sure it's nothing serious like Tommy John or anything.  It's just a little discomfort .  I

wanted to go back out there.  It's something that I could definitely pitch through." 

The Mets are considering putting Rafael Montero in their bullpen and having him break camp with the team.  He is not being considered to replace Niese.  Jennry Mejia and John Lannan are considered the front runners to take Niese spot in the rotation if need be.  Mejia, Lannan and Matsuzaka are competing for the fifth spot in the rotation. 

Ike Davis and Lucas Duda got at-bats in a minor league intrasquad game on Saturday.  It was at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie.  The Mets are hoping to have Duda in a major league game by Monday or Tuesday.  Stephen Drew is still out there and Boras says that he and the Mets have talked but he is still looking for a multi-year deal and the Mets are only looking at one year.  I think the Mets should just sign him for two or three years.  They can say it will be less then what he would get for one year.  What do they have to lose, it will look good for them and bolster their shortstop position. 

New York Yankees Tuesday notes

Brian Cashman shot down Johnny Damon today. He said it isn’t going to be something we pursue. He said he text Scott Boras and told him. He said we love Damon but he played with us a while ago and he can’t play the field every day and that is what we need. He also reiterated although he won’t rule out a deal entirely most likely the options will come from what they already have. 
Cashman said Nunez isn’t an option because he doesn’t feel his bat profiles as an outfielder. I personally think it is too much to keep moving him around. He is a good offensive player but bad defensively and I think he just needs to stick at short and hope he gets better defensively.

Hughes did more pool work today but there was no update on him. There could be an update tomorrow on him. Kevin Youkilis is a little sore and most likely won’t play again tomorrow. He says he is fine though and could play if it was during the season. The Yankees are usually extra cautious and there is no reason not to be at this point.

Joba Chamberlain created a little bit of a stir today when he talked about still being a starter. He said he could do it and would like to try it again. The Yankees joked about it but I am sure they aren’t too happy. He can become a free agent after next year. I personally think he would be better off taking over for MO and being the closer but we will see what happens. I don’t think the Yankees will ever put him back as a starter. Jose Ramirez made a good first impression pitching today. The Yankees liked what they saw and said he has a live arm.

Yankees Notes from the GM Meetings

Here is some notes from the GM meetings courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog.  I put my own thoughts mixed in there.  It really is laying the groundwork because no real trades or anything get done but this will set up the Winter meetings where most of the action takes place. 

Surrounded by media standing four or five deep, Scott Boras just spoke in the hotel lobby and left little doubt that his client, Rafael Soriano, will decline the Yankees qualifying offer.

“Most qualifying offers are really for players of the highest value,” Boras said. “When teams make them, they’re acknowledging the value and other teams know that, as well. I don’t anticipate many players accepting single-year contracts that are in that arena.”
  I would agree that for the most part they won't take the offer.  I don't think the Yankees want him too take it though, they just wanted to protect themselves from him leaving. 
As for current value, Boras made the case that Soriano might have been the difference in some teams making or missing the playoffs this season, and he played up the idea that the Yankees shouldn’t easily let go of such late-inning comfort.

“If you look at the Angels, Dodgers, White Sox, Milwaukee; those teams would have been in the playoffs if they had a closer that had the efficiency rating of Soriano,” Boras said. “The Yankees took advantage of that. If that was a really good business decision for the Yankees two years ago, and it proved to be so valued today, it certainly would be a wiser decision when (Mariano) Rivera is older and coming off an injury.”  It sounds wise but the Yankees are trying to get under the cap and also Soriano wants to close and he won't be a closer with the Yankees unless Rivera gets hurt. 

Brian Cashman said he hasn’t heard and hasn’t asked whether Soriano, Nick Swisher or Hiroki Kuroda will accept or decline their qualifying offers — “We’d be very happy (if they accept), let’s put it that way,” Cashman said — but it’s becoming clear that the Yankees are setting priorities this offseason. One-year deals are one thing, but with $189 million in mind for next year, the Yankees have to pick and choose where they allocate funds.  It sounds like tonight that Swisher and Soriano will definitely decline, Kuroda is still up in the air. 

That alone might be enough to keep the Yankees out of the Soriano bidding should he hit the open market.

“It would be great if we had them both (Soriano and Rivera),” Cashman said. “The only bad side to having them both — and I don’t have Mo, and I don’t have Soriano (right now) — but obviously it would affect dollars to be spent elsewhere. But bullpens are big time, so do I have to replace him? I think it’s relative to how that would impact the other side of it.”

Boras certainly sounded as if he’s not expecting to come to terms on a contract extension for Robinson Cano any time soon. “He’s there for another year,” Boras said. “I talked to Randy (Levine) a few times this week. I talked to Cash. These are things that, I’m sure as time goes forward, we’ll continue to talk about. But nothing current.”

Just to be clear, Cashman said that if Soriano does happen to accept the qualifying offer, he has no problem with paying both Soriano and Rivera closer money next season. “That would happen,” Cashman said. “If he accepts, yeah, absolutely. We made that decision when we tendered the offer.”

Because Tino Martinez was serving as a senior advisor in the Yankees organization, he had to receive permission to interview for the Marlins hitting coach job. “You combine the great player with that type of experience in seeing how things get done, and I think he’s got a tremendous amount to offer,” Cashman said.  I am sure they are happy he went to Miami and not Boston. 

The Yankees never talked about making Martinez their hitting coach. “We didn’t have any vacancies,” Cashman said. “The Yankees, we’ve been blessed to have some tremendous hitting coaches, from Don Mattingly to Kevin Long, so it’s not an area that’s needed to be addressed at all.”

Although he hasn’t asked whether Kuroda will accept a qualifying offer, Cashman said he has spoken to Kuroda’s agent. “Yes,” Cashman said. “I wouldn’t say, and I couldn’t say (what exactly the conversation was about).”  I have a feeling Kuroda will come back but if he gets a two year offer somewhere and it is pretty significant money you never know he could go there. 

Just something to keep in mind: Ken Davidoff brought up that the $189 million luxury tax threshold includes more than player salary. There’s a certain amount of money — something around $10-12 million, Cashman said — that’s automatically factored in for things like travel expenses. So in terms of player contracts, the Yankees have to get closer to $177 million to stay below the luxury tax.

Cashman dismissed the idea that the Yankees can’t get better while also working to control spending. “Didn’t we get better this year?” he said. “Ninety-five wins. Won the American League East. Went farther in the playoffs (than the year before). Got older, probably. … Improved flexibility. Kept financial costs in check. Lined ourselves up for the long term going that route in certain areas, and we’re better.”  I agree with him, pitching is the most important, they still have a lot of good players and if they get good bench players and have good pitching they will be fine. 

5 days until Pitchers and Catchers

This is the worst time of the year, there isn't much going on and pitchers and catchers are about to report. It feels like 5 days is 5 months and it can't come soon enough. Pitchers and catchers is just a symbolic thing and then they work out for about a week or so before the other players show up. There still won't be any actual games until the first week of March but still it is something, baseball is back. Here is some baseball news to hold you over until next week. It looks like the Johnny Damon saga could be ending soon. It appears it is down to the Tigers and White Sox. I would guess he ends up with Detroit by Monday or Tuesday. Brian Cashman was speaking at a university yesterday and had some interesting things to say. He said he told Scott Boras and Johnny Damon he wouldn't fight for a contract to Hal Steinbrenner unless he knew they would sign it. He then said that he was expecting Johnny to get a Bobby Abreu type contract and if he didn't he should of been a Yankee and that isn't the Yankees fault. A really interesting thing Cashman said is prior to one of the World Series games he was talking to the Tigers GM. This is where the root of the Granderson trade came from, Dave Dombrowski was like dude you have a game at 8 and Cash said yeah but my work is done I have to start thinking about next season. Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News is already down in Tampa and has been blogging about the workouts at the minor leage complex. He wrote in his blog today that Brett Gardner has shown up and has long hair, at least for him. Joba Chamberlain, Francisco Cervelli, Boone Logan, Dave Robertson, Alfredo Aceves and some minor leaguers are all there.

Baseball News

I am back, i took the day off yesterday due to me and my family having some kind of stomach virus. I didn't get to talk about the Yankees inviting 20 non roster players to spring training. I am not going to go through the whole list but basically you know most of them. The Yankees have announced some of the signings in the past few weeks. Reid Gorecki, Royce Ring, Marcus Thames etc got the invites and minor league deals with incentives if they make the roster. The 2 top catchers Austin Romine and Jesus Montero got invites along with Kei Igawa. If you forget who Igawa is he is the Japanese pitcher the signed a fews yrs ago that has become a bust. I am thinking the Yankees will give him the chance to be the 2nd lefty out of the pen but I doubt that will happen. The Yankees currently have Damaso Marte but they have other guys who will try and win that job. Wilkens Arias and Jeremy Bleich are 2 left handers to keep an eye on. Arias is 29 so not much of a prospect but held lefties to a sub 200 batting avg last year in the minors. Bleich spent his first year in pro ball last season and is a starting pitcher that could move quickly. It is always good to see some of the prospects and guys fighting for jobs in spring training. It appears that Chien-Ming Wang will be heading to Washington. He is expected to sign a minor league deal for 2 million with the chance to make the team when healthy. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reported this morning that he already chose the Nationals. The Atlanta Braves offered Johnny Damon a one year deal today for 4 million with deferred money that could double it. He apparently turned it down still seeking a 2 yr deal. The Tigers and Rays are still said to have interest but may also want to keep it at a one year deal.

The Calm before the Storm

The title says it all, as we all wait for the snow up here in the Tristate area we can start thinking of spring training. The Yankees truck day will be on Monday. That is the day where all the equipment and stuff needed for spring training is loaded up and heads down to Tampa. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training in 13 days. Derek Jeter is already down there working out and Joba Chamberlain will be heading there on Monday. I am sure there may be some others. It has been a long cold winter and I am sure we will be getting hammered with snow this month but at least we can think spring with pitchers and catchers about to report to spring training. It is time to get excited and feel the warmth of spring. It has been quiet for a couple of weeks now but we will be geared up now to bring all the news and notes from spring training. I will be posting pictures of spring training as well so come back and check it out once spring training begins. The Minnesota Twins signed Orlando Cabrera. The Toronto Blue Jays signed reliever Kevin Gregg. Melvin Mora signed with the Colorado Rockies for 1 yr and 1.275 million. There aren't many free agents left out there but one notable is Johnny Damon. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. His agent Scott Boras is still claiming there are 3 or 4 teams out there. I haven't seen one that has offered him anything. Detroit has been the chatter lately but they were clearing money off of their books so who knows.

Where will the Damon story end?

The New York Yankees and Johnny Damon seemingly came to a bitter end with a painful divorce the other day. The Yankees signed Randy Winn and confirmed that Damon would not be coming back. The thing is usually when you have a bitter parting of ways there is anger, resentment, talking bad about each other etc. GM Brian Cashman was on the Yankees Hot Stove Show last night on the Yes Network and said that he wanted Damon back but it just didn't work out, he said he just hopes wherever he winds up it isn't for what he could of stayed a Yankee for. Johnny Damon was on WFAN this afternoon with Mike Francessa and said his heart is in NY and even floated the idea of returning to the Yankees in midseason via a trade. He said if not by a trade then maybe resigning with them at a later date. I just don't understand this whole thing. If both sides really wanted each other then they should of made it work. I am not one of those that thinks this is devestating for the Yankees. I like Johnny Damon a lot, I always have but they have gotten younger and they are much better defensively. Damon was not a good outfielder, had a terrible arm and runners took the extra base on him constantly. The good of Damon was he is a clutch player, he is fast and his swing was ideal for the New Yankee Stadium. He will not be the same player on another team, you watch and see his power numbers go down. I think the Yankees with Granderson in left and Gardner in center and Winn as the 4th outfielder are much better defensively. The Yankees are more versatile also as Winn can play all 3 outfield positions. He doesn't have any power compared to Damon but last year was his worst year and in other areas like speed and batting avg he is pretty comparable. He is a much better defender then Damon especially in the corner outfield positions. The comments on sports talk radio today and also on the internet are amazing. There are people so upset over this that they are threatening to not renew their season tickets. I think this is going a little overboard, I undertand that fans are upset but the Yankees are probably a better team right now then last season even without Johnnny Damon. This is a team that will be fine offensively and be better pitching wise and defensively. I know it is hard to say a World Championship team can get any better but in my mind they are and will be tough to beat next year. The Yankees know what they are doing and are going to be fine, they actually had a budget for once and stuck to it and you can't fault them for that. It will be interesting to see where Johnny Damon ends up, in the end best of luck to him and hopefully he won't regret his decision.

Yankees appear to say bye bye Johnny

The New York Yankees signed outfielder Randy Winn today to a 1 yr deal to be worth 2 million. The Yankees in doing this ended the marriage with Johnny Damon. His bat, professionalism and clubhouse presence will all be missed. He is a good player that is getting older and in the end it just didn't work out. The Yankees will be getting someone in Winn who had his worst year last year but he is a 286 career hitter and plays good defense. He can also play all 3 outfield positions. I personally think that Gardner will be the CF and Granderson the LF with Winn being the 4th outfielder who will spell them all out in the outfield and be a good guy off the bench. He is still a fast runner who can steal a base when he needs too. The Yankees outfield defense will be significantly better this year even though they will lose some offensive firepower. The Yankees figure they will be better in pitching and defense and that does go a long way. The Yankees and Johnny Damon were both wrong in this negotiation. Tyler Kepner tweeted earlier that Scott Boras said that Cashman never even made him an offer and Cashman responded by saying that he was told dont give a penny less then 13 million a year and if you do then don't even bother making an offer. Cashman believed Boras and therefore did what he said and moved on and Boras apparently didn't like that Cash called his bluff. I think Boras really did Johnny wrong and I wonder where he may end up. It looks like the Rays are jumping in the mix and the A's may still be interested. There just doesn't seem to be too much interest for Damon for what he wants.

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.

The Saga of Johnny Damon

The saga of Johnny Damon continues, today there was information coming from Jon Heyman of SI. He tweeted that the Yankees have offered Damon a deal believed to be no more then 5 million in base and maybe incentives. The Yankees told Damon they want an answer by the end of the weekend and if it is no they will be signing another LF shortly. The other options the Yankees have are Reed Johnson, Jermaine Dye, Jim Edmonds, Xavier Nady, Randy Winn. Johnny Damon has said all along he wants to remain a Yankees so then he should show it and take the deal. The thing that gets me in all of this is that both sides like each other so why are they playing this game. They should have just got together and hammered it out. The main reason is the agent Scott Boras who overestimated the market for Damon and his other main client Matt Holliday. Johnny Damon has no other suitors at this point unless there is a mystery team. He wrote in a text message today that he would have a team this week, so that adds to the speculation even more. I am going to say at this point he comes back to the Yankees, Bobby Abreu did the same thing with the Angels last year and turned it into a 2 yr 19 million dollar deal this season. Nick Johnson is a high OBP guy and a good player but Johnny Damon fits this team as it's #2 hitter and there first four with him in the lineup is the best in baseball. Jeter, Damon,Tex,A-rod is unstoppable and then you can have other guys hit further down in the lineup like Granderson and Nick Johnson, making the lineup that more dangerous. It will be interesting to see what happens but it appears this will finally play out this weekend.

Nick Johnson and Johnny Damon

The story goes that on Thursday the Yankees said to Johnny Damon we will go to 2 yrs and roughly 20 million and agent Scott Boras said no 2 yrs 26 million. The Yankees said time is running out this is your last chance and they didn't take it so the Yankees went and signed Nick Johnson and then a couple of hours later Scott Boras called back the Yankees and said he will take 2 yrs 22 million and the Yankees said sorry we can't take the Nick Johnson deal back now it is too late. This is coming from Ken Davidoff of Newsday. I am suprised Johnny Damon did this because if he really wanted to come back so bad why didn't he just say 2 yrs 22 million to start with and they could of worked it out. I think the Yankees are better off with Johnson and Granderson as they will be younger and more athletic and they save some money also. I think the Yankees as presently constructed have a very good defense to go along with their pitching. They really only need to sign one more starter and they should be ready to go. Nick Johnson brings a high OBP to the show and will fit really well in the Yankees patient lineup. He was averaging about 4.1 pitches per plate appearance last year and has always been a high OBP guy. His career on base is over 400. He should fit into the #2 spot well, the only knock is that he is slow but that is ok if he is getting on base for the guys behind him to have a chance to knock him in. I think the Yankees will end up signing Ben Sheets on a cheap incentive laden deal but that may take a while, I think Phil Hughes will be the 5th starter and Joba will end up back in the pen. A interesting trade from baseball today was the Seattle Mariners obtaining Milton Bradley from the Chicago Cubs for Curtis Silva. It really was two bad deals exchanging hands. I think Seattle got the better deal because Bradley is a good player if he can behave himself. Seattle is really going for it with all the moves they have made. I am also starting to wonder if Jason Bay really wants to come to the Mets. It doesn't look like anyone else wants him but he is waiting for a better deal. If he really wanted to come to the Mets why didn't he just except the deal already. It has been a week and why don't the Mets just up the offer and get if over with?

Johnny Damon and the Yankees

Johnny Damon was at the Empire State Building with his wife and Nascar driver Jimmie Johnson yesterday. He reiterated the same message he has had for several months now and that is he wants to remain a Yankee but he is listening to other offers. " I would love to come back to New York but I also know other teams are calling to have me go and help them win a championship," he said. " I have loved my time here. Hopefully, it is not over, but we just have to wait and see what New York comes to offer. We are listening to anybody out there." Damon stated that he has not heard from the Yankees GM Brian Cashman yet and he and agent Scott Boras are waiting. He said he feels fine physically even though he turned 36 earlier this month. I feel like I can play another 10 years he said. He said he feels great now and has during the season. Johnny Damon has to be realistic here he has been breaking down, he is pretty durable and tough but defensively he is not the same player, he has to rest more and be used as the DH more to keep his legs fresh. If he really wants to stay in New York then he should prove it by taking a pay cut but of course no player can do that. Paul O'neill did it and others in the past have but that doesn't happen anymore. Johnny also said " I know what is here in New York, the New Stadium, the great coaches, the great players. You guys tell Cash to get things going with me. I am up for it." The Yankees have told everyone they are not even meeting until the end of next week to formulate their plans. The Winter Meetings begin Dec 7th and that is when things should really heat up with the hotstove. This news came from the NY Post but was everywhere on the news and internet since he was in a public place. There was a article out of the NY Daily News today that the Red Sox are really heating up talks with the Blue Jays for Roy Halladay and speculating about the Yankees jumping in. The article said it would start with Clay Bucholz and Casey Kelley a 20 yr old prospect that Theo Epstein is said to love and that may be a sticking point in negotiations. The Yankees would have to give up Joba or Phil Hughes and Austin Jackson or Jesus Montero. If I was the Yankees I would really have to think about giving up Joba and Austin Jackson. I know this is tough but if the Yankees have a rotation of CC, Halladay, A.J. Andy and Phil Hughes that will be very very tough to beat. They can use Dave Robertson, Damaso Marte, Phil Coke as the setup guys. The other benefit of course is that the Red Sox wouldn't get him. It is very tough because the Yankees as World Champs could just have Joba and Phil Hughes as the 4th and 5th starters and hope they fulfill thier potential and have a great rotation like that anyway. They also save a lot of money by doing this but that isn't a guarantee, it is a guarantee that Roy Halladay will pitch well for another couple of years at least. The article said the Red Sox hope to land him within the next couple of weeks so this could get interesting quickly.

Hot Stove action

The New York Yankees did make their first couple of moves this offseason. They were nothing to get too excited about but they removed Josh Towers and Freddy Guzman from the 40 man rosters and allowed them to become free agents. This news came from Chad Jennings of the Journal News who was out in Chicago for the GM meetings. The Yankees are going to try and sign their own guys but are in no rush, i am sure they will be in on Aroldis Chapman but not so sure they will sign any other free agents other then their own. If you don't know how Aroldis Chapman is he is a cuban defector. He is a 21 year old lefty who throws 100mph, they say he is the real deal but his control is erractic. Scott Boras today came out and tried and make the case for Damon getting 3 or 4 years. The Yankees just can't do it, 2 years is the most they should go and if he goes then they can look at another outfielder. Jason Varitek exercised his option for 3 million to stay with the Red Sox. He is their captain and has been with them 13 years but has been declining steadily. He will be the backup now behind Victor Martinez who is a really good hitter even though he is not a great defensive catcher. The Mariners resigned Ken Griffey Jr. to a 1 year deal. It is sad to see how much he has declined also but there is some sentimental value here since he started his career with the M's and is adored there. Jim Riggleman was named the manager of the Washington Nationals today. He finished ahead of Bobby Valentine.

MLB Draft today

Today is the MLB amateur draft. The Washington Nationals select first and will pick Steven Strasburg, the only concern is negotiating with Scott Boras who has already floated 50 million around. It will be interesting to see what happens there. The Yankees pick 27th and it looks like they may go with an outfielder from CAL. The draft will be live on MLB network, at least the first round. The thing about the baseball draft is that unlike the other sports you usually don't know about guys for at least a couple years, even longer for some, for every Joba Chamberlain there could be a CJ Henry or Eric Duncan. It is very hard to know in baseball, so enjoy the draft but really don't get too crazy, just watch to see where they may end up and have fun following them in the minors and hopefully one day they will be playing in the major leagues. I know the Yankees have gotten criticized but lately they have done a much better job, does anyone notice Robinson Cano, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Dave Robertson, Phil Coke, Alfredo Aceves, yes some are international signings but hey they have a lot of guys. What about Brett Gardner, Melky Cabrera, Ramiro Pena and Francisco Cervelli, all of these guys have had some impact on this season and it is fun to watch.

Baseball News

Manny Ramirez rejected the Dodgers latest offer yesterday which was for 2 yrs 45 million and a player option in the second year. Today Scott Boras is saying he will accept that offer but only if it is a real offer, it is thought that the Dodgers are trying to get sneaky and not really pay him that but spread it out over a few years. It will be interesting to see what happens here but they need him and he apparently needs them as he has had no other offers. The Mets got a bit of a scare yesterday when their Ace Johan Santana was scratched from a start with elbow stiffness, he will take the weekend off and try again on Tuesday. Hopefully it is nothing serious but you always worry when a pitcher has an elbow or shoulder issue. The WBC starts next week and players will start leaving their teams this weekend.