BBWAA Awards Dinner

The baseball writers award dinner was held last night and a couple of Yankees recieved awards. Johnny Damon who wasn't present recieved the Ben Epstein-Dan Castellano "Good Guy" Award. Mike Mussina whose introduction spurred chants of one more year thanked writers after he won the Casey Stengel "You Could Look It Up" Award, bestowed upon a player not previously recognized by the chapter. Bernie Williams won an award for playing in the most games at the refurbished Yankee Stadium. Bernie also played an original version of Take Me Out To The Ballgame before serenading the crowd with a more traditional version of the song. Kay Mercer was in attendance, the widow of Bobby Murcer. His presence through his wife was palpable and will be for many more dinners to come. It will be intersting to see Bernie play in the World Baseball Classic if he does, he may also join the Yankees in spring training as a special instructor. I hope we see him and everything is forgotten about his exit from the Yankees after the 06 season.

Pettitte and Cash Conference Calls

The Yankees issued a press release regarding the signing. I am not going to post the whole text since it is long and can be read at http://yankees.com or at Peter Abrahams blog http://yankees.lhblogs.com. It basically stated his stats from last year and over his career. Andy said he "Let his agent negotiate,not really sure why it took so long." "I was at the end of the line and had to make a decision." "I waited for the yankees to say this is it make your decision and im happy to be back." He stated he has been hanging out with his family, him and 30 members of the family went to maui for 9 days after christmas. He said no other team ever entered the mix and he never changed his mind about the Yankees. He said that he was concerned a little after they signed Tex but he never felt he wouldn't work it out with the Yanks and was excited about the new additions. He said they have a great staff and he is ready for the year to begin. His pride was a little hurt by the paycut but he agreed to an incentive deal when Cash first met with him in December and at the end of the day he is where he wanted to be. He is taking it year by year and will see where he is at the end of the year. He will depend on family and how he feels to see about retirement or to keep pitching. He did also say he likes Arod a lot and never heard the A-fraud stuff in the clubhouse. Cash: He was happy he got the call from Joe Torre in Hawaii. He is comfortable with their relationship. He hasn't read the book yet and won't comment on it now. The negotiations with Pettitte got complicated with the payroll but they all wanted him back. He said do not expect any more significant moves. Joba is on an innings limit but he is a starter now and they will adjust as they go along if needed. They said Pettitte adds flexibility and gives guys like Kennedy,Hughes,Aceves,Coke time in AAA or the bullpen and they will be ready to step in if needed. Arod wanted Andy back and communicated that to Cash as well as Pettitte did when Arod was opting out. Pett did say he never heard the term Afraud used in the clubhouse. Cash also said that Posada was in NY today and is progressing well, Mo has not thrown yet and they will take it slow with him. They always take it slow with him in spring training though so no big shocker here. He said Matsui is also a rehab guy but he is not worried about him at all.

Andy is Dandy Again

The New York Yankees and LHP Andy Pettitte agreed to a 1 yr 5.5million dollar deal. The deal also includes incentives to reach 12million based on innings pitched and roster time. I think this is a great deal with the Yankees, it gives them that veteran pitcher at the back end of the rotation they know will give them innings and win games and also allows Phil Hughes,Kennedy,Aceves,Coke all to be in the minors and develop more or be in the bullpen. They will also have good depth and those guys will be ready to step in if needed. The rotation will look like this: CC AJ Wang Pettitte Joba This looks to be as strong as a pitching staff as there is in the division and maybe league. They also have a very good bullpen with Mo,Bruney,Marte,Coke,Veras,Ramirez,Melancon etc. The Yanks seem to be set now. Andy did admit his pride was hurt by the pay cut but in the end he wanted to return. Brian Cashman the yankees GM said not to expect any more significant moves. I hope to have some audio or at least some of the quotes from the conference call later on.

Say It Aint So Joe

Joe Torre has a new book coming out on February 3 called the Yankee Years. He wrote this book along with Tom Verducci of SI and the MLB Network. He also will be appearing at Yogis museaum and also on David Letterman that night. Why is this book a big topic you ask? In this book he blasts the Yankees, saying that Cashman never had his back that he betrayed him. He called many of his players prima donnas, saying that many of the players referred to Arod as Afraud and that he had a "Single White Female"-like obsession with team captain Derek Jeter and asked for a personal clubhouse assistant to run errands for him. The book also claims that during spring training in 1999 team doctors revealed to owner George Steinbrenner that Torre had prostate cancer even before the manager new himself. The book is a 477 page tell-all. I always thought Torre was a nice man but not a great manager, now im not so sure. He really is a jerk for doing this and that is being nice. He sounds like a man that is bitter he isn't the Yankees manager anymore no matter how much he says he wanted out. If the Yankees had given him the same salary he would of still been the manager so he has a big ego that was spurred on by winning with the Yankees. Joe Torre forgets that the Yankees made him, he was nothing but Clueless Joe before he became manager of the Yankees. It will be very interesting to see how the Yankees respond to this especially Arod and Cashman who were the two guys he went after most in this book. I know there is no love lost between Arod and Torre and im sure Cashman is not going to be too happy with this. If Torre wanted a second year and thought Cash was going to bring it up, why didn't he just do it himself in that meeting before he left and wasn't the manager anymore. I am sure we haven't heard the end of this and I look forward to some fireworks before spring training.

Cano focused on having a Big year

Robbie Cano has a renewed fitness regimen that is drawing rave reviews within the Yankees organization. He hopes that this winter hype will translate to season success. He struggled through a terrible 08 where he finished with a 271 batting avg,14hrs,72rbi. He said he has been preparing himself both mentally and physically for the upcoming year. "It is motivation for me this year," Cano said. "Now I know I have to start from the beginning this year, in april not in June. I have to start early now." Cano appeared friday in New Rochelle,NY at an event for Hillside Food Outreach supporting an annual event held by former yankee Bernie Williams. He was noticably trimmer and said he has shed 5 pounds from the end of last year. Robbie is excited about playing in the WBC and hopes it will jumpstart his year. He also has heard the rumors but doesn't pay attention to them, he has dealt with it since he has been a yankee. He is very happy about the new additions and thinks thats what they needed, that they just have to stay healthy now. I think this is a great sign, and I look for Cano to bounce back and have a big year. If he is back to normal the Yanks will be in very good shape with their offense. Cano may be the 7 hitter in this lineup and be putting up 300+ with 20+hr.