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.

Some random notes for a quiet Saturday

I can't believe I forgot about this yesterday but the San Francisco Giants and Tim Lincecum avoided arbitration. He signed a 2 year deal for 23 million. It would of been really interesting to see what would of happened in arbitration and coming out of it. It is good they settled though for him and the team. The Yankees apparently have targeted a cuban defector as the successor to Derek Jeter at shortstop. Here is the story from George King of the New York Post. The Yankees have gone down this road before with El Duque who had great success with the Yankees. They also had Jose Contreras who was not as good as they thought and Juan Miranda who has been good in the minors but has not made it to the majors regularly yet. They also bombed out with Adrian Hernandez and Andy Morales. We will see what happens but usually if the Yankees want someone they will get him. Scott Richmond of the Toronto Blue Jays suffered a shoulder injury while preparing for spring training. He was hoping to make the rotation, he will now be behind the other pitchers due to this injury. The Washington Nationals have interest in veteran right hander Kris Benson. He hasn't pitched a full season since 2006 when he was with the Orioles. His wife is the more famous one, Anna Benson who once said that if she caught him cheating she would sleep with the whole team he was on. His agent is saying he is now 100 percent healthy and had a good workout in front of several teams. This will probably be the extent of the blogging today as it is really quiet. We will get heated up though starting on Wednesday with pitchers and catchers. Everyone take a deep breath and relax and then lets get going with the Baseball season finally. I hope everyone will comment and start discussions on here as we go through spring training and then the season. I welcome any and all suggestions even if they are against me or a criticism. Just remember to keep it clean and I will get back to everyone. I almost forgot to I had a article published on www.numberonebaseball.com this morning. It is a 2010 season preview for the Yankees. I also did one for the New York Mets but I am not sure when that will be published. Please check it out and also read me on that website and keep coming back here for more news and insight, I thank you for all the support and continued support.

Yanks avoid arbitration

The New York Yankees have come to terms with Chad Gaudin and Boone Logan. They settled and won't have to go to arbitration with these 2 players. Boone Logan got $590,000 and Chad Gaudin got 2.9 million. Chad Gaudin could have a role on this team, i think as a longman or maybe even 5th starter. I think the Yankees would like Phil Hughes to be the 5th starter and Joba in the pen but you never know how it shakes out. It is also possible that Gaudin gets traded, having him and Mitre is basically having 2 similar guys for one role. Boone Logan will compete for the second left hander out of the bullpen, I would say he is the frontrunner to make the team with Damaso Marte right now but we will see how the spring goes and if any of the youngsters make a good impression.

Yankee News

There really isn't much going on in the hotstove league as teams still have the right to negotiate with their own free agents. Thursday will start the real hotstove as free agents then have the right to negotiate and sign with any team they wish. I am going to start looking at the Yankees and Mets and then baseball in general at that time. Here are a couple of items with the Yankees though regarding arbitration. The Yankees officially declined the option on Sergio Mitre for 2010, he is still under the Yankees control and is arbitration eligible. The Yankees want to have as many arms as possible stocked up and because he will be cheap I am sure they will keep him. I am guessing they do the same with Chad Guadin to go along with Ian Kennedy and Alfredo Aceves if he isn't in the bullpen as the extra guys in case of injury or need in the starting rotation. The Yankees do have 4 other arbitration decisions to make and they are Melky Cabrera- he will get offered something. Brian Bruney I am sure will be offered because he does have a good arm and if Hughes and Chamberlain are going to be in the rotation well then they need more bullpen guys. Chad Guadin I spoke about above and the trickiest one is going to be Chien-Ming Wang. I am guessing they will not offer him arbitration as he will then at least get 5 million but I do think they will work something out to see if he can get healthy and back to form. If he is able to come back and be close to what he was then that is the biggest pickup the Yankees can make. They can then put Hughes or Joba in the pen and have the other one as the 5th starter and have plenty of reserve options for injury or ineffectiveness.

Yanks Avoid Arbitration with Nady

The New York Yankees and OF Xavier Nady have agreed to a 1 yr 6.55 million dollar deal. They have avoided arbitration by agreeing to this deal. The X-man was making 3.5 last year. The Yankees still have Melky and Bruney as arbitrating eligible players.