NFL Week 15

The New York Jets are home to the Buffalo Bills. After losses to Denver and San Francisco, they have to win this game at home. The Jets have to probably win all 3 left to make the playoffs and even then they may not make it. I expect them to beat the Bills at home. The New York Giants play Dallas in Sunday night football at Dallas. Jacobs is out with a knee injury, it will be interesting to see how the Giants bounce back but let me caution this isn't a must win for the Giants it is for Dallas. The Giants only have to win the next game against Carolina for the 1 seed the other 2 games dont matter. They would love to win this game to knock out Dallas but we will see how they respond. I think the Giants will win a real tough game. Tampa plays at Atlanta in another key NFC game. I hope Atlanta wins with Dallas losing and that could be it for the Boys. Miami is playing the niners at home, they should win so the Jets have to keep pace and the Patriots are playing at Oakland where they should win. The Steelers are playing the Ravens in Baltimore in a great matchup. Lets go NY football

Bern Baby Bern

I should of been on this earlier but Bernie is going to join a team in the Puerto Rico Winter League next week. He hopes to make the Puerto Rico team and play in the WBC. If I was the Yankees I think i would see how he does and offer him a 1 million 1 yr contract and see what he can do and then he can also train Gardner. I would save the money on Cameron and use it towards Texiera. Mark Texiera by the way has now recieved an offer from the Angels for 8 yrs and believed to be at least 150 million. If the Yanks are not going to get him then I just hope he doesn't end up in Beantown. If I was the Yanks i would still spend the money and get him but lets see what happens. Lets all root for Bernie Williams, i will enjoy watching him play in the WBC if he makes it.

Yanks trim 2

The Yankees have decided to non tender Chris Britton and Justin Christian. They had to do this to get the 40 man roster down to 38 so they can add CC and AJ. The Yankees will have to do this again if they sign anyone else. By the way what is taking Andy so long, i mean if he wants to come back then just do it already. In a interesting little tidbit, the Mets traded Scott Showenweis to Arizona for Conner Robertson who is the Brother of Yankee Dave Robertson. If they both make the team they can share an apartment in the city, very neat story-have to root for them.

Yanks add another one who's next?

The Yankees and AJ Burnett have agreed to a 5 yr deal worth 82.5 million. The Yankees now have CC,AJ,Wang,Joba and hopefully Petitte will come back and be the 5th starter otherwise they may be moving on to somewhere else. I know everyone is worried about AJ staying healthy and that is a legit concern but my question to you is this, are the Yankees better with CC and AJ then they were with Ponson and Rasner? I think we all know the answer to that. AJ Burnett cant beat us anymore so thats a plus and he always beats the Red Sux so thats another plus and when he is healthy he is a dominant pitcher. He may get hurt but he will give us innings unlike Pavano. Joba as a 4th starter, that is scary. The Yankees also have a great bullpen. They may not get Manny or Tex now although i wouldn't be suprised. If they dont though, this reminds me of the old Yanks, Pitching,D and find a way to score some runs with little ball.

MLB Rule 5 Draft

I dont know if everyone knows about the Rule 5 draft, but that was held today in Vegas at the winter meetings. Anyone that was left unprotected meaning not on the 40 man roster can be chosen. The Yankees did not make any picks and they lost 6 picks today, the most of any major league team. It looks like the Yankees system is pretty good after all. The guys that were chosen were Reegie Corona who played for the AA Trenton Thunder,Zach Kroenke who played with them also,Jason Jones who also played for Trenton,Ivan Nova who played for the A Tampa Yankees. They also lost Andres Santos and Josue Selenes in the minor league portion of the draft. I dont know anything about the last two picks. Jason Jones has been a very good pitcher for Trenton the last couple of yrs but IPK,Hughes,Brackman,Betances,Chase Wright,Aceves,Garcia are all ahead of him. The Yankees are stacked with pitching. Zach Groenke was a very good reliever for Trenton last year but once again they have Melancon,Cox,Robertson,Ramirez,Veras,Britton,Albedejo,Sanchez amongst others. Update:It looks like the Cameron for Melky trade is back on, look for that to be finalized tomorrow and also expect Burnett to decide tonight or tommorrow most likely.

Cash on the move again

Brian Cashman the Yankees GM flew from Vegas not home to NY but to Texas to meet with Andy Petitte. Apparently he is going to try and get him to take the 1yr 10 million offer and if not he will move on. It looks like the Yankees could be locking up AJ Burnett also either later on tonight or maybe tomorrow. A rotation of CC,Wang,AJ,Joba,Petitte looks very good to me but i dont know that i would of went after AJ, i would of signed sheets for 2 yrs instead, same risk and probably same high end potential but they do have Hughes to back him up if and when he gets hurt as usual. I hope the Yankees put something in to the contract to have to reach performance bonuses to get all the money. Even with Joba not in the Pen they still have Mo,Marte,Coke,Bruney and i am telling everyone now watch for Mark Melancon this year he could be the next Joba to be groomed as that late inning stopper and maybe successor to MO. The Yankees appeared to have traded Melky for Cameron earlier today but that is being stalled over money, the Yanks want the Brewers to pay some of the 10million he is owed and they dont want to do that, cant blame them after being outbid by the Yankees by 60million on CC. This should get done eventually though. Jon Heyman also reported today that the Yanks are back in on the Tex thing, a lot of people feel that is just to drive the price up on the Sox. I would never count the Yanks out on anything and besides they haven't offered him anything yet and where is Mike Lowell going?? The Nats and O's are the only bidders so far. If i was the Yanks i would offer him 8-176 take it or leave it. The Mets made a lot of noise by getting JJ Putz,Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green. Endy Chavez and Heilman are gone as well as 4 minor leaguers.

Winter Meetings Updates

It looks like the Yankees may be close to getting Derek Lowe, if that happens they will drop out on AJ Burnett. I think they may also get sheets then and bring back Petitte. If they have CC,Wang,Lowe,Sheets,Petitte they could put Joba back in the pen also. That could be one of the best rotations and would be the best pen in baseball. The Yankees may be getting Nick Punto to fill the utility role. Kerry Wood appears headed to the Indians. The Cubs are still talking to Peavy but that doesn't look close and nothing new on Texiera. The Mets are trying to get a setup man for Krod but got shot down on Heilman for Street. I think the Mets should get someone for setup and then Ibanez.

CC and the Yanks

The Yankees finally got their man. After several weeks of waiting and worrying, CC got a 7 yr deal for 160 million and a opt out clause after 3 years. The yankees now appear to be closing in on Derek Lowe for 4 yrs and 64 million. The Yankees seem to be the only team in on Sheets and may lock him up also for 2 yrs and 26 million. Andy Pettitte will most likely resign and then i expect Joba to be back in the pen. I personally would love to see sheets and then the Yanks go and get Texiera and they will be set, arguably the best team out there. Hopefully we will have more news later on today.

CC inching towards Yanks

New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman blew off his media session today for what was described as a off hotel property situation. It has been confirmed now by Newsday.com as well as Peter Abraham of the Journal News and lohudblogs.com that CC jetted off to California to meet with CC. This seems like a very good sign for the Yanks and hopefully after that he comes back with CC in pinstripes. Remember out on the West Coast it is only going on 8 so i am sure more will be coming out over the next couple of hours as most of us are sleeping, i think i may be keeping an eye on this tonight. Joe Girardi did meet with the Media and was very impressed with his meetings with CC and Ben Sheets who I think is a better risk then AJ Burnett since they can get him on the cheap now and he has the same upside maybe even more so. It looks like the Mets are trying to now land Raul Ibanez which would be another good move for them but I cant help to think no matter what they do if they play in Citifield they will crash and burn sooner or later. If anything breaks i will check back later.

Baseballs Winter Meetings

CC is still out there waiting it would seem for any California team to make their move. There were unconfirmed reports tonight that turned out to be not true that CC turned down the Yanks offer. Sooner or later though something has to give with him,there is a report that he wont sign by the time the meetings are over on Thursday,that he is meeting with the Giants this weekend. It is time for the Yanks to pull the offer,redo the offer adding more money or give him a deadline. They should sign Sheets who Joe Girardi was very impressed with when they met him and his agent yesterday and it is believed that the Yanks are going to offer 2 yrs 26 million to him if not already done. I would really start talking to Tex if Cash already isn't doing so and not let him get to the Red Sox if possible and of course resign Pett and maybe Lowe or AJ Burnett. The New York Mets have gotten what they needed in landing Mr K-rod for 3 yrs and 37 million. It appears that the Indians are going to sign reliever Kerry Wood and that the Orioles have traded Ramon Hernandez to the Reds for Ryan Freel and minor leaguers Justin Turner and Brandon Waring. If I am the Yankees as crazy as it might seem I think i might have to at least speak with Manny especially if CC goes elsewhere, could you imagine him in Pinstripes going back to Boston or him and Arod back to back, that would be fearsome-or just him and Joe Girardi now that would be an odd pair even more so then him and Torre. It may not be that crazy if CC heads elsewhere.

Bloody Sunday for NY Football

The New York Giants definitely looked distracted as they played a terrible game. They were out of synch on offense all day and just couldn't get anything started. The Eagles stayed alive for now but they need a lot of help. The Giants just basically kept Carolina and Tampa breathing for that 1 seed but its still a long shot unless the Giants totally collapse here which i dont see happening. The Jets well what can I say, they are the Jets and lost on the west coast once again and now find themselves in a three way tie for first with Miami and New England. It wasn't all bad though as the Dallas Cowboys lost in Pittsburgh in a furious rally in the last 7 minutes of the game and therefore the Giants are NFC East champions. It is going to be an interesting final 3 weeks now to see where everyone ends up and who is in or out of the playoffs. Next week the Giants play at Dallas and that will be an interesting game as Dallas will be desperate and the Giants will be angry.