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.

5 days until Pitchers and Catchers

This is the worst time of the year, there isn't much going on and pitchers and catchers are about to report. It feels like 5 days is 5 months and it can't come soon enough. Pitchers and catchers is just a symbolic thing and then they work out for about a week or so before the other players show up. There still won't be any actual games until the first week of March but still it is something, baseball is back. Here is some baseball news to hold you over until next week. It looks like the Johnny Damon saga could be ending soon. It appears it is down to the Tigers and White Sox. I would guess he ends up with Detroit by Monday or Tuesday. Brian Cashman was speaking at a university yesterday and had some interesting things to say. He said he told Scott Boras and Johnny Damon he wouldn't fight for a contract to Hal Steinbrenner unless he knew they would sign it. He then said that he was expecting Johnny to get a Bobby Abreu type contract and if he didn't he should of been a Yankee and that isn't the Yankees fault. A really interesting thing Cashman said is prior to one of the World Series games he was talking to the Tigers GM. This is where the root of the Granderson trade came from, Dave Dombrowski was like dude you have a game at 8 and Cash said yeah but my work is done I have to start thinking about next season. Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News is already down in Tampa and has been blogging about the workouts at the minor leage complex. He wrote in his blog today that Brett Gardner has shown up and has long hair, at least for him. Joba Chamberlain, Francisco Cervelli, Boone Logan, Dave Robertson, Alfredo Aceves and some minor leaguers are all there.

One last long weekend without baseball

I will be enjoying a nice 4 day Presidents Day weekend and this will be the last weekend without baseball. Pitchers and Catchers will begin reporting next week, with the Yankees reporting on Thursday. I know the games don't start until March 1st but still there will be plenty to write about from the workouts and then eventually the exhibition games. It is a very exciting time of the year and it means that spring is drawing near which is always a good thing. Here are some things to keep an eye out for this weekend. It appears that the Johnny Damon saga may be coming to an end. The Detroit Tigers have apparently offered him a 2 yr deal for 14 million. If he does end up signing that, isn't it what he was offered by the Yankees and didn't he say he wanted to stay a Yankee?? The Atlanta Braves have offered him a one year deal and appear that they are still taking with him. It was being reported earlier today that the Chigago White Sox were trying to make a late push for him. I would guess he is going to sign with the Tigers by the end of this weekend. The New York Mets signed catcher Josh Riggans to a minor league deal today along with veteran Japanese lefty Hisanora Takahashi. My question is are the Mets playing a game of lets see how many catchers we can sign, they have an insane amount on their roster right now. Frank Thomas and Tom Glavine officially retired today. Tom Glavine will be joining the Braves front office. Tim Lincecum's arbitration hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. The Giants have offered him a long term deal for 3 years and 37 million. He is seeking 13 million for the one year and the Giants offered 8 million. It looks like he will go to the hearing and not sign the long term deal.

Daniel Murphy and Keith Hernandez

The New York Mets are committed to having Daniel Murphy play first base with Fernando Tatis being his caddy. The Mets made a good decision as they have now enlisted Keith Hernandez to tutor him. Keith Hernandez is arguably the best fielding first baseman ever. I would argue it because my favorite player of all time is Don Mattingly, that was the great debate of the 1980's. Those of us who grew up in that time would go back and forth on it if you were on opposite sides of the fence. The New York Mets should of got him to help last year but it is better late then never. The other good thing is that Keith Hernandez is a broadcaster for the team so he sees what is going on from upstairs and definitely has an eye for what can be done. I think Daniel Murphy actually did a pretty good job at first base after just bombing out in the outfield. I don't know if he will ever be a legitimate first baseman but at this point it is best to try and find out and get as much help as possible for the young man. Mookie Wilson who is one of the most beloved Mets of all time is back with the organization. He excepted a position as the minor league outfield and base running coordinator. The Mets avoided arbitration with Angel Pagan who most likely will be the opening day centerfielder. He agreed to a one year deal worth 1.45 million. The Mets also are close to a minor league deal with Mike Jacobs who played with the Royals last season. He batted 228 with 19 homeruns and 61 rbi's last season.

Baseball News

I am back, i took the day off yesterday due to me and my family having some kind of stomach virus. I didn't get to talk about the Yankees inviting 20 non roster players to spring training. I am not going to go through the whole list but basically you know most of them. The Yankees have announced some of the signings in the past few weeks. Reid Gorecki, Royce Ring, Marcus Thames etc got the invites and minor league deals with incentives if they make the roster. The 2 top catchers Austin Romine and Jesus Montero got invites along with Kei Igawa. If you forget who Igawa is he is the Japanese pitcher the signed a fews yrs ago that has become a bust. I am thinking the Yankees will give him the chance to be the 2nd lefty out of the pen but I doubt that will happen. The Yankees currently have Damaso Marte but they have other guys who will try and win that job. Wilkens Arias and Jeremy Bleich are 2 left handers to keep an eye on. Arias is 29 so not much of a prospect but held lefties to a sub 200 batting avg last year in the minors. Bleich spent his first year in pro ball last season and is a starting pitcher that could move quickly. It is always good to see some of the prospects and guys fighting for jobs in spring training. It appears that Chien-Ming Wang will be heading to Washington. He is expected to sign a minor league deal for 2 million with the chance to make the team when healthy. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reported this morning that he already chose the Nationals. The Atlanta Braves offered Johnny Damon a one year deal today for 4 million with deferred money that could double it. He apparently turned it down still seeking a 2 yr deal. The Tigers and Rays are still said to have interest but may also want to keep it at a one year deal.

Yanks add a couple of Leftfielders

We all knew about Randy Winn but today the signing became official. Jon Heyman of SI.com also reported today that the Yankees signed Marcus Thames to a minor league deal. Chad Jennings of the Journal News and also the Lohud Yankees blog confirmed this on his blog. He had spoken to GM Brian Cashman this afternoon. The deal is a minor league deal that if he makes the 25 man roster out of spring training he will make 900,000. Marcus Thames started his career with the Yankees and only appeared in 7 games with them. He made a name for himself in Detroit where he averaged 23 homeruns and 58 rbi's in 3 season with them. He will compete with Winn and Gardner in spring training for the leftfield job. I think this is a good risk to take especially since they wanted a right handed hitting outfielder.

The Saints go Marching In

That was a pretty exciting Super Bowl, it started off kind of boring. The game really got crazy in the second half. I can't believe the Saints won by 14 points especially after being down 10-0 early. It was a offensive game like everyone thought but the big play of the game was an interception return for a touchdown by Porter of the Saints that esentially sealed the game. Peyton Manning had over 300 yds passing but that interception is what he will be remembered for in this game. The Colts had one last chance to score a touchdown with just under 2 minutes remaining but decided to run it which I don't get and were stopped and then the celebration really began. The final score was Saints 31 Colts 17, the game was really closer then it would seem. How did everyone like the game?? What are your thoughts on the outcome?? How about the commercials, I liked the Coke one with the Simpsons and the Tim Tebow ad turned out to be a dud for what it was being hyped up to be. I really didn't see any problem with that ad. I would like to hear everyones thoughts on the commercials also, if you didn't see all of them or can't remember they have them all up on youtube to view. I thought Carrie Underwood did a good job with the National Anthem and The Who was pretty good with their light show. It wasn't much of a coincidence that they played all the CSI songs considering they were on CBS which is the channel the show is on. I would love to hear everyones thoughts on the Super Bowl and anything else to do with it. The Super Bowl is over so lets close out football with this today and then it is on to Baseball. Today is Truck Day for the New York Yankees and on Thursday Pitchers and Catchers will report.