Super Bowl Sunday

It was a rather boring two weeks leading up to the big game. The matchup is interesting but I don't think it will be as heavily rated as usual. The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the glamour franchises in the NFL and the Arizona Cardinals are one of the perennial doormats of the league. I think the Steelers are the better team and think they would win but the way its been going this year the Cardinals will probably end up winning. I just hope its a good game and the refs stay out of the way. The highlight of the game may be the Boss performing at halftime, not sure what to think of the commercials this year as they have had to cut back also. This is the last game of the NFL season and as soon as this game is over we can start transitioning to baseball season and that is the best thing of this game. I hope everyone enjoys, has some fun and maybe win a little money.

Big names still out there

We are 12 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting and there are still many big names left out there. I am going to list some of the bigger ones here. Adam Dunn Orlando Hudson Manny Ramirez Ben Sheets Oliver Perez Nomar Garciaparra Bobby Abreu Pudge Rodriguez Ken Griffey Jr. Frank Thomas Juan Cruz Tom Glavine Randy Wolf Braden Looper Joe Crede Andrew Jones Jim Edmonds Garrett Anderson This is the longest this many quality guys have been left out there, obviously the economy is affecting everything. I wonder if these guys are just going to start settling this week for 1 yr deals hoping to get back out there next year and the market will be bette or will they just wait and hope more opens up during spring training? I just can't believe all these guys out there, its amazing that a lot of these guys turned down arbitration,they totally misread the market and lost a lot of money.

Larry King and Joe Torre

I sat through the entire Joe Torre interview on CNN with Larry King. I have to say he didn't ask the worst questions but no follow ups. I was writing in questions on the live blog along with some others, probably some of you im sure. The thing is they weren't asking the good questions online from us the real fans. It was ridiculous the things they were asking him on air, where were the good questions like Hey joe how does it feel to ruin countless bullpen arms? Hey Joe how does it feel to be up for so long, keep drinking that green tea in LA. I hope to see you in the world series where the Yankees can beat your brains in. Hey Joe thanks for ending the curse of the bambino. What were you thinking when you batted arod 8th? Hey Joe what happened to what happens in the clubhouse stays there?? Good job letting Joba get eaten up by the midges. How about the great strategy of playing the infield in in game 7 against arizona in 01 and losing the series for us. Should I continue, i am sure i have a lot more to say. How about I hear from you guys, please chime in and comment on this, how we really feel about Joe Torre, keep it clean of course but post your true feelings. Please also check out larry king lives blog to see some of my comments under Gary and also what is being discussed on http://yankees.lhblogs.com

Jeters souvenir

Here is the souvenir that Derek Jeter ended up with from the Old Yankee Stadium. I had a feeling he was going to come away with this, i wonder where he is keeping it? I wonder what ARod got, maybe a Joe Torre signed photo to throw darts at? Speaking of Joe Torre the fraud he is will be on Larry King tonight at 9:00PM. I am sure we won't get anything good out of this but I am curious to see what Torre has to say. He will also be on Regis and Kelly and David Letterman next week and will be on Mike Francessa Tuesday at 4.

Can they or Can't they

It was reported earlier today on mlb.com that the Yankees couldn't sign Manny or Sheets or whoever even if they wanted too because they already signed 3 type A free agents and that is the limit. It came out later today that this is not accurate and the Yankees could sign more if they wanted too. According to Cashman the Yankees could sign 8 if they want. I don't think the Yankees are going to do anything else major anyway so it won't matter but it is interesting. Brian Bruney has agreed to a 1 yr $1.25 million deal thus avoiding arbitration. The Yankees are all done now and it looks like the roster is what it will be when they hit the field in Tampa in 2 weeks for spring training. It is possible that they trade Nady or Swisher but that doesn't seem likely right now.

CC

It is good to read that CC is trying to fit in with his new teammates right away. Nick Swisher and him are buddies, we hear that him and Joba went out to dinner in December and have talked often since then. We know that Damon befriended him during the recruiting process and now we hear he went down to Florida to participate in Jeters golf tournament to benefit his Turn 2 Foundation. I think CC is going to be just fine, he is a great pitcher but also a great guy. He should be a lot of fun and we all know he has a burning desire to win. To have him and Joba in the same rotation should be fun, with all the intensity they bring and also AJ but hopefully now he will bring that to all his starts not just the big games. Chad Jennings of the Scranton Wilkes Barre blog had a interesting read about how the minor league pitchers line up. It is very interesting to see how many good pitching prospects the Yankees do have, if you don't follow the minor leagues at all you should definitely check it out. There are plenty of Yankee prospects to watch for this year. I think this is going to be a very exciting year in lots of ways.

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is almost here, as Sunday draws near. The hype week has been pretty quiet. I hope to see a good game, it is interesting the big defensive team in pittsburgh vs the high flying Arizona Cardinals. This will be the game for all the world to see how great Larry Fitzgerald is. The Giants will be keeping their eye on Anquan Boldin who could come to them in a trade in the offseason. Kurt Warner is going for his second super bowl victory, he would only be the second player to win with 2 different teams. If he does win is he a hall of famer? It is a good question, i would have to say that he is as this would be his second victory but also his third appearance. I can't help but think the NFL season ends in Tampa and that is where the Yankees will be opening up in a couple of weeks with the start of spring training and it is right across the street from the super bowl. I just hope for a good game, and a good performance from the Jersey Boy, Bruce Springsteen. Who has some good bets going on this game?? Any prop bets of interest?

More Joe Torre

I don't want to keep pouncing on this, but it is the big topic right now. The more I hear about Joe Torres book the more sick I get. This guy is nothing but a phony a total hypocrite. How can he go against Wells for writing a book and then he goes and does the same thing. How does he think his players now will trust him. I saw an interesting interview with Jeff Nelson on the MLB networks hot stove show tonight. He said he can't believe that Joe would do this when its known what is in the clubhouse stays there. He said he has plenty to say but he would never write a book like that. He also said the Yankees let him go after 2000 when he helped them win 4 world series and he wasn't really bitter, he figured hey I won 4 titles with them and it was great. Tyler Kepner of the NY times bats blog has some interesting stuff about the book http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/ Have fun reading this and let me know what you think in the comments under the post. I hope this may be the end of me writing about this subject but the way its going who knows.

Baseball News

Aaron Heilman the former Met is on the move again. He was traded from the Mariners today to the Cubs for Garrett Olson and Ronny Cedeno. It looks like Heilman will compete for the fifth spot in the rotation but can also be used in relief which we know he wants no part of. The Arizona Diamondbacks signed pitcher Jon Garland to a one year deal worth $6.25million guaranteed and a option for the second year. If the diamondbacks decline his option he will recieve a 2.5 million buyout bringing the total value of the deal to $8.75million. If the team exercises his option and he opts for free agency he will get a 1 million buyout making the total value $7.25 million. The Red Sox offer to Catcher and team captain Jason Varitek has a friday deadline for him to accept. I find the fact that he hasn't accepted very interesting, it looks like he may go elsewhere but we will see on friday. The Colorado Rockies and pitcher Ubaldo Jiminez agreed Tuesday to a 4 yr contract that guarantees him $10 million. The deal contains options for 2013 and 2014 that could raise the value to $22 million. The 25 year old went 12-12 with a 3.99 era last year his first full year in the majors. The Reds and David Weathers avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $3.9 million deal. The Reds have a club option for 2010 that calls for $3.7 million. If they decline the option they must pay a $400,000 buyout. He made $3.3 million last year.

Joba raring to go

Joba Chamberlain was at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut tonight. Jon Lester was also on hand with him. Joba is headed down to tampa tomorrow and will begin throwing off a mound. "Twenty five fastballs, im feeling great," he said. The Yankees he said told him in November he would be a starter and he is preparing for that. "It is a relief to have it all settled." he said. Joba had dinner with CC in December and spoke highly of him. He said he is a tremendous guy and "people are going to love him." Joba should be better off by knowing what he is doing and sticking to one thing. He looks good in the pictures and lets hope he learned his lesson with the DUI.

More Torres Book

Here it is the now famous book. We got some reaction out of the Arod camp today. He said how can he be upset when he never really had a relationship with Torre anyway. Arod said all he needed to know about how Torre felt about him he found out in the 06 playoffs when he batted Arod 8th. He was shocked that Torre would do this because Joe would always tell the team the clubhouse and bond with teammates was sacred and not to be broken in this way.

I think personally that Joe is a fraud himself, he isn't St. Joe like people made him out to be and he definately is a hypocrite and that is the biggest thing he will have to answer too. I can't wait to hear him try and spin this starting on friday night when he is on Larry King Live.

Hal on Mike Francessa

Yankees co-chairperson Hal Steinbrenner was on Mike Francessa radio show on WFAN earlier today. He said that he hasn't read Torres book yet and won't comment until he does so. He also said he was dissappointed with last year but thinks they are better this year and expects them to compete for the World Series Title. He also said he thinks they can get back to winning like in the 90's and expects that. He said Hank and him are together and if they don't agree on something they just won't do it. Hal said his father is doing well and looking forward to spring training and the start of the new season. The interview lasted 20 minutes and you can hear audio of it on WFAN.com.

Chase Wright designated

I thank Peter Abraham of the Journal News and http://yankees.lhblogs.com for this information. Chase Wright has been designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for Andy Pettitte. It is a shame we had to take a young pretty good lefty off of the roster because we still have Kei "Cy Young" Igawa on the roster. I guess with the emergence of Phil Coke they felt that Wright was the one to go but it is a shame. I wish we could just sell Igawa back to Japan for a bag of balls but they don't even want him.

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.