Yankees offer Arbitration to No One

The New York Yankees offered arbitration to no one again this year. If they offered arbitration and that player signed elsewhere they would be awarded a draft pick as compensation but then they would also risk having that player sign and go to arbitration. This really wasn't a suprise as they will still try and retain Damon and Pettitte. I am almost certain Hideki Matsui will be gone. Joe Girardi was out at Jets camp today teaching Mark Sanchez how to slide. The Jets were worried about him not knowing how to do that well and contacted the Yankees to see if they could help. Today was the day that Joe Girardi was available to come out to Florham Park and help the Jets out. I read today that A.J. Burnett was pushing for Doc Halladay, that is no suprise but I don't think the Yankees will end up getting him. The Yankees would have to give up a lot in prospects and money to sign him to an extension and that is too much. John Henry the Red Sox owner had a interesting take on the revenue sharing system today. He did basically bash the Yankees but at the same time he kind of defended them. The website www.waswatching.com has all the information on that. Dustin Pedroia stated today that he would move to shortstop to help the Red Sox with that problem. I don't think that is going to happen though and they will end up signing Marco Scutaro away from the Blue Jays. Did the New York Mets really sign Alex Cora for 2 million?? They also signed Chris Coste and are thinking of adding Henry Blanco also. I know the bench was criticized last year but is Omar Minaya going to be short sighted again and not worry about LF, SP, 1B?? I really hope not because after last season the Mets have to do something to excite their fan base.

Yankees announce Spring Training Schedule

The New York Yankees will open their Spring Training schedule March 3rd at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This was announced this afternoon by the Yankees. They will play 33 spring training games with 16 at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The Yankees will complete the grapefruit league schedule on April 3rd against their minor league stars. Ticket prices for all of these home games will remain the same for the 2nd consecutive season. The Yankees will play the Phillies 5 times and face every one of their AL East foes except for the Boston Red Sox who they open and close the season with. They have 6 night games, pitchers and catchers will report on Feb 17th and the first workout will be Feb 18th. The first full squad workout will be Feb 24th. The Yankees also today recieved a record postseason share. They divided it up by awarding 46 full shares, 12 1/4 partial shares and 2 cash awards. The total amount they had to divide up was 365,052.73.

Some things I missed over the weekend

The Baseball Writers Of American announced the nominees for induction into the Baseball Hall Of Fame for 2010. The nominees are as follows: Bert Blyleven Andre Dawson Roberto Alomar Barry Larkin Pet Hentgen Fred McGriff Edgar Martinez Andres Galaraga Kevin Appier Mike Jackson Shane Reynolds Todd Zeile David Segui Robin Ventura Ellis Burks Ray Lankford Lee Smith Jack Morris Dale Murphy Dave Parker Tim Raines Don Mattingly Mark McGwire Alan Trammell Harold Baines There are 15 first timers on this list, the closest to getting in are Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven. In order to be eligible you have to be retired for 5 years and in order to stay on the ballot you need 5 percent of the vote and then you can stay on for up to 15 years. Results will be announced on Wed Jan 6, 2010. I am a tough grader and on this list I really don't see many Hall Of Famers, my favorite player of all time is Don Mattingly and I wish he could get in but he just doesn't have the numbers for long enough unfortunately. I can see Dawson and Blyleven and Jack Morris should probably get in. There are a lot of players on here that I say wow good solid players but that is different from Hall Of Famer. I think Hall of Fame as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, A-rod, Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente guys like that. I think it has been watered down and should be the best of the best. Rickey Henderson got in last year and that was a no brainer to me. Roy Halladay apparently on Friday said he would waive his no trade clause to go to the Yankees not suprisingly. This to me is not big news but intersting anyway. Alex Gonzalez signed with Toronto leaving the Red Sox scrambling again for a shortstop. They will probably end up signing Marco Scutaro away from the Jays. He had a career year last year with them. The New Jersey Nets tied the record by going 0-17, they can break the record with a loss Wed at home against the Dallas Mavericks. This actually happened officially today but was gaining steam over the weekend. Charlie Weis has been fired as Head Coach of Notre Dame.

Derek Jeter named SI Sportsman of the Year

Derek Jeter has been named SI Sportsman of the Year. I think this is better then winning MVP. Derek Jeter leads a charmed life that is for sure, he won the World Series is dating Minka Kelly and now is Sportsman of the Year. He unlike others has stayed out of trouble on and off the field. I think Derek Jeter is truly a guy you can look up to as in this time there really isn't many that kids can look up to and aspire to be like. I am sure we will have quotes from Jeter later on. Derek Jeter is the first Yankee to win the award and 56th winner overall. He had a spectacular year batting 334 and batting 344 in the postseason and 409 in the World Series living up to his clutch reputation. He also broke Lou Gehrigs team record for most hits during the season and is on his way to becoming the first Yankee to ever record 3000 hits for his career. He also won the Hank Aaron Award and Roberto Clemente award during the postseason. Terry Mcdonell SI's group editor had this to say about Jeter, " Derek Jeter has always presented himself with class, he does numerous good work for the community with his Turn 2 Foundation. The foundation is one of the most effective and efficient foundations of its kind. Derek Jeter is extremely generous not just with him money but his time, which in many cases is more valuable. He also had another signature year on the field." Derek Jeter is the first baseball player to solely win the award since Cal Ripken in 1995.

New York Giants and Thanksgiving

The thanksgiving holiday is over and now it is back to work. I didn't get to post reaction to the New York Giants pathetic performance on Thanksgiving. The Giants just didn't do anything right and as far as I am concerned are done for the season. They are 6-5 and of course have a mathematical chance of making the playoffs especially if they win the next couple of game against the Cowboys and Eagles but I just don't see that happening. The Giants didn't do anything offensively in the first half of thursday's game and got behind 16-0 before cutting it to 16-6. I thought at that point ok maybe they will get back into this game but of course when the defense needed a stop they couldn't do it. The Giants defense is just dreadful right now and Bill Sheridan has to take the blame. I don't think the Giants will do anything until after the season but they still have the players on the field and someone has to take the fall for this mess. I think maybe it is time for Bill Sheridan to go up in the booth like he wanted too and see what happens. It can't be any worse then it is now. As for the offense I don't think the play calling has been great this season but they usually do what they have to do on offense. The running game hasn't been there but Brandon Jacobs should never be running east to west, he is a big smashmouth type guy that should always be going north to south and running people over and getting his yards that way. Eli Manning has been good but he has a foot problem that seems to be getting worse. We found out yesterday that he has a stress reaction that with any wrong move it could become a stress fracture and he will be done for the season. The Giants right now have to take it one game at a time and worry about winning against the Cowboys on Sunday in the meadowlands. If they lose the offseason will have already begun and everyone will start reacting to what they should do.