Could the Yankees spend any more money?

Have you ever seen a team spend this much money for just 3 players?

The New York Yankees spent a combined $322MM on 1st baseman Mark Teixeira, left-hander C.C. Sabathia and right-hander A.J. Burnett.

How much?! Now, I know the Yankees are desperate to end their 8-year World Series drought, but is this really the way to go about it? This is a team that went through 27 pitchers during their 2008 season and needed to replace Mike Mussina (retirement) and Andy Pettitte (free agent) and may be without Chien-Ming Wang to start the 2009 season with a torn tendon in his right foot. With Sabathia and Burnett in the fold, the Yankees may start the 2009 season with young pitchers Ian Kennedy, Philip Hughes and Joba Chamberlain as part of their starting rotation, though it may be more likely that Chamberlain could start the year as Mariano Rivera's setup man as Chamberlain showed flashes of brilliance in that role.

Whether or not Burnett, Sabathia and Teixiera can handle the pressure that is the New York media is yet to be seen, can they get the Yankees back to the post season and back to the World Series? They'll have to deal with a Tampa Bay squad that could be stronger than the ALCS Championship team from 2008 and you know Boston isn't going to hand either team anything.

So, did the Yankees spend too much? Personally, I think they'll end up regretting at least one of the contracts, I think it might be Burnett's but we'll see.

Game Recaps

For those of you who decided to call in sick today, and for that I'm proud of you, to watch Opening Day because you were having baseball withdrawals, I'll be posting game recaps for most if not all of the games today.

Today did not get off to a good start, however, for the Yankees and Blue Jays. The game has been postponed due to rain and a new date should be set soon for the makeup game.

Two other games are also being delayed due to weather. Arizona is in Cincinnati to take on the Reds and Milwaukee is in Chicago to face the Cubs, both are being delayed due to rain.

A game that is already underway, the Detroit Tigers are hosting the Kansas City Royals, the game is currently in the top half of the 7th. Detroit got the scoring started in the 2nd inning. After a Carlos Guillen double to lead off the home half of the 2nd, both Pudge Rodriguez and Jacque Jones would strike out. After a Bradon Inge walk, Edgar Renteria would single, scoring Guillen from 2nd.

In the 4th inning, after Pudge Rodriguez led off the inning with a walk, Brandon Inge would hit a 1-out double to left and Renteria would be walked to load the bases. When it looked like the Royals would get out of the inning unscathed after Placido Polanco lined out to right field, Gary Sheffield would work a bases loaded walk which scored Pudge Rodriguez to make it a 2-0 game.

The very next inning, new Tigers' acquisition Miguel Cabrera would make his presence felt, lauching a solo HR to left to push the Tigers up 3-0 after 5 innings, but back came the Royals.

In the top half of the 6th, Mark Grudzielanek would hit a 1-out single, then Alex Gordon would pull the Royals within 1 after a 2-run HR to right off Justin Verlander, his first of the season and it was 3-2 in favor of the Tigers.

In the 7th, with Verlander still in the game, Mark Teahan would work a lead off walk followed by a Ross Gload single to put 2 men on and noone out, which signaled the end of the day for Tigers' starter Justin Verlander. Jason Grilli would be brought in to replace Verlander who promptly gave up an RBI single to Jack Buck, scoring Mark Teahan from 2nd to tie the game 3-3. Grilli would be pulled in favor of Bobby Seay who got Joey Gathright to line out to short. Seay was quickly pulled after 1 batter and replaced with Acquilino Lopez to face Mark Grudzielanek. Grudzielanek would untie the game with an RBI single to right scoring Ross Gload.

After 7 innings, the Royals lead 4-3 in Detroit.

Yankees Make a Signing.

According to Peter Abraham, of the Journal News and http://yankees.lhblogs.com/, The New York Yankees will be signing Billy Crystal, yes, THAT Billy Crystal, to a contract and he will be taking part in Thursday’s spring training game. The comedian is known best for roles in movies such as City Slickers, Analyze This (and the sequel Analyze That) and when Harry Met Sally. He is also a life long Yankees fan who directed the acclaimed movie 61* for HBO.

According to the press release, Which can also be found at Peter Abrahams blog, he will be signing a one day contract and join the team at spring training camp on Wednesday to work out, and will play in the game on Thursday, one day short of his 60th birthday. Billy will wear a Number 60 in the game.

Billy Crystal was a standout High School baseball player in Long Beach, New York. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig approved this signing of the contract. After fifty years of waiting, Billy Crystal will get to wear the uniform and play in a game with the team life long hero Mickey Mantle played for. A Dream come true.

Wang has rough outing, Reds win 12-8

The Yankees 19-game winner didn't exactly have the kind of game he would like to have, but then again, it's only Spring right?

Right-hander Chien-Ming Wang failed to get out of the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds, giving up 6 runs on 6 hits in a 12-8 Yankees loss on Thursday afternoon.

Edwin Encarnacion had the big day, hitting a grand slam and a 2-run single for the Reds. Pitcher Aaron Harang went 3 innings today, giving up 2 hits and striking out 2.

If you're a Yankees fan, tomorrow should be exciting. Closer Mariano Rivera will make his spring debut tomorrow against the Houston Astros.

Looking Foward to 2008: New York Yankees

The New York Yankees once again go into a season without the title of "defending World Series Champions. After failing to win the American League East for the first time since 1997, they finished the season as the ALWild-Card winner. However another postseason birth ended in a third straight first round exit, this time at the hands of the Cleveland Indians. The continued playoff failure finally brought an end to the Joe Torre era. Torre never failed to make the playoffs in his 12 years as Yankee Skipper, but he could never recover after game 3 of the 2004 ALCS. Since their 19-8 win in Fenway Park the Yankees have won four post-season games in total over the past 3 years. For the first time in over a decade the Yankees would have a new manager and they again turned to a catcher. Former Yankee and three time World Series champion Joe Girardi will take the reigns and hope to guide the Yankees to the World Series for the first time since 2003 and to their first title since the turn of the century in 2000.


Much of the off-season chatter revolved around the opt-out of Alex Rodriguez and the possible acquisition of Johan Santana. In the end, A-Rod remained a Yankee and Santana landed in New York, but in Queens rather than the Bronx. The rest of the Yankees Off-season was geared around keeping their aging veteran core intact. Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera were each given multiyear contracts and Andy Pettitte signed on for at least one more year. Bryan Cashman's refusal to part with young talent such as Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in a deal for Santana, could put his job security in jeopardy should the youngsters struggle in their first full year in the Majors.


Arrivals:INF Morgan Ensberg
IN Chris Woodward
INF Nick Green
OF Jason lane
RHP Latroy Hawkins
RHP Jonathan Albaladejo
Re-Arrivals:
3B Alex Rodriguez
C Jorge Posada
RHP Mariano Rivera
LHP Andy Pettitte
C Jose Molina

Departures:RHP Tyler Clippard
RHP Roger Clemens
1B Doug Mientkiewicz
1B Andy Phillips
OF Bronson Sardinha
LHP Mike Myers
LHP Ron Villone
RHP Luis Vizcaino


Offense: The Yankees still have one of the most lethal lineups in baseball. Alex Rodriguez won his third MVP in five years with a monster season. With solid bats like Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui throughout the line-up and Youngsters like Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan coming into their own, the Yankees appear to be strong one through nine. Former MVP Jason Giambi is in the final year of his contract with the Yankees, will have to fight for plate appearances with Matsui, Damon and Duncan. If he can stay healthy, Giambi could be a big force in the middle of the line-up, but that is a big If. With more flexibility off the bench with potential bats like Ensberg, Lane, Betemit and Duncan, Girardi figures to be able to change and adapt his team as the season progresses.


Pitching: With a deal for Johan Santana never materializing, the Yankees will rely heavily on youngsters in their rotation. Chine-Ming Wang will again anchor the staff followed by Andy Pettitte, from there it's anybody’s guess. Phil Hughes pitched well down the stretch coming off of a hamstring and ankle injury that sidelined him for half the season. His playoff performance was outstanding, picking up the team’s only win in game 3. Mike Mussina hopes to bounce back after a very poor year posting the highest ERA in his 17 year career. The 5th starter role will come down to whether young flamethrower Joba Chamberlain will be in the rotation or the bullpen. Should new manager Joe Girardi return Joba to the pen where he dominated down the stretch after his promotion to the majors, Ian Kennedy would be the likely candidate to round out the rotation. The bullpen figures to be the area of concern for this Yankee team. With Joba and Rivera a the back end, the task to bridge the gap will fall to Latroy Hawkins, Kyle Farnsworth and a cast of youngsters and non-roster invitee's who will compete in spring training.

Prediction Time:

With the Boston red Sox winning their second World Series in four years and no signs of slowing down, the Yankees may spend another year looking up at the defending champs. Much of the Yankees success will rely of how well the young pitchers develop and succeed at the big league level. If Hughes and Kennedy and deliver on the promise they shower in September and October, and in Joba stays dominant in either the set-up role or as a starter they have a chance to catch-up with the sox. Scoring runs shouldn’t be a problem but keeping runs off the board might be, if the kids run into growing pains they will find themselves again on the outside looking in come late October.


Yankees: 91-71

Sheffield pulls no punches about former agent

Gary Sheffield is known for being outspoken, so when he was asked about his former agent Scott Boras, that outspoken nature continued.

Because of the grievance between the two, stemming from Sheffield's 3-year deal with the Yankees in 2003, has not yet been settled, Sheffield wouldn't talk about specifics but that didn't mean he wouldn't take his shots at Boras.

“It ain’t going to be pretty,” he said. “No fine is going to be big enough. No suspension is going to be long enough.”

“Nothing happens. Then, he comes back, `I want some more money.’ That’s basically the way he’s acting,” Sheffield said. “I don’t know why. It’s probably personal with him. But when it’s done, it’s going to be personal with me.”

Steve Goldman of YES Network

Steve Goldman, a noted Yankee historian and author of the Pinstriped Bible on YESNetwork.com, was nice enough to give me a few minutes on the Yankees and their upcoming 2008 season.


Baseball-Rumors: Let's start with Alex Rodriguez. Did Alex not want to opt out of his contract at the end of the 2007 season and how strained is his relationship now with his agent Scott Boras?

Steve Goldman: I think only Alex Rodriguez can tell you that for sure. It seems doubtful that Boras went cowboy and opted out all by himself. It may be that Alex wanted to stay and found that he had overplayed his hand to some degree, that the market wasn't going to top the Yankees or top them by enough to really want to make a change. Add in the botched announcement during the World Series and you had a complete disaster. It could be that Boras is just taking one for his player so that Rodriguez doesn't have to spend another year answering questions after they decided to stage a general retreat.


Baseball-Rumors: Fans had heard the name Ian Kennedy mentioned in the Johan Santana trade rumors, but the Yankees were unwilling to part with him. What do the Yankees like so much about Kennedy and what should Yankee fans look forward to about him?

Steve Goldman: It's a cliche, but he knows how to pitch. Kennedy's stuff is unexceptional, but he knows what to do with it. You hear about these polished college pitchers with a low ceiling--they are what they are. Teams draft them because they're guaranteed a certain minimum level of competency. But what if the player doesn't get even to that low ceiling, if he gets only 75% of the way there. Then you have, I dunno, a back-end guy, someone qualified to pitch for the O's or the Royals. Kennedy, as my Baseball Prospectus colleague Kevin Goldstein put it, has nailed that ceiling. It will be interesting to see if big league hitters figure himout, if he can keep making adjustments.


Baseball-Rumors: When do you expect the deal to be finalized with Robinson Cano?

Steve Goldman: Done, and not a moment too soon. The Yankees did themselves a favor by locking Cano in at a set cost rather than dragging through arbitration and all that jazz. He's really grown these last couple of years, and if he has just a little more of that coming he's going to be something quite special. Maybe he's already there.


Baseball-Rumors: Do you expect Joba Chamberlain to be in the starting rotation or will he be coming out of the bullpen?

Steve Goldman: They seem to be fluctuating on this somewhat. I don't think it matters so much so long as he's ultimately a starter. If a pitcher has his stuff and can sustain a starter's workload there isn't much of an argument for putting him in the pen. Unless you get 100 innings, all crucially timed, I don't think the contributions are equal, and of course most relievers don't throw 100 innings and most managers don't get the timing right, throwing away the best pitchers on some fairly safe game situations.


Baseball-Rumors: I understand there's going to be quite a battle for 1st base during Spring Training. Is there one guy that you think is the front runner going into camp?

Steve Goldman: It's hard to describe it as "quite a battle" when the players involved are such minor chess pieces as the pawn, the other pawn, the jester, and thejanitor. The Yankees decided to punt on the position again, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and maybe keep things empty for Mark Teixeira a year from now. Jason Giambi is an amazingly productive hitter even batting .250, but that's if he's healthy and you can tolerate his defense, and both criteria haven't been met in some time. You have to hope Joe Girardi feels differently about these things than Joe Torre did. Failing that, a Wilson Betemit/Shelley Duncan platoon might be adequate.


Baseball-Rumors: What are you expectations for this team going into 2008?

Steve Goldman: I think it's going to be a very interesting year, with the young pitchers coming on line. There isn't much of a safety net and the Red Sox are going to continue to be very good... There isn't a whole lot of middle ground given that even if you label this a rebuilding year, because it's the Yankees it will be called a failure if they don't make the playoffs. As such, the youth movement will either succeed gloriously or fail gloriously. Either way, it was the right thing to do.

Joba Chamberlain to open season in the bullpen

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports, the Yankees say young right-hander Joba Chamberlain will work up to being a starter by starting the 2008 season in the bullpen.

With Joba only being 22 years of age, there's a higher risk of damage to his arm if he pitches a lot more than his 112.1 IP in 2007. The Yankees are counting on the rotation of Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy to stay healthy before sliding Joba into the mix, plus, he's an almost untouchable setup man to Mariano Rivera.

Yankees way over budget on new stadium

In an article from Karen Matthews of the AP, the Yankees have gone over budget on the construction of the new Yankee Stadium.

The estimated cost was originally $1B, but the total cost is now at $1.3B. Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost told media members during a tour of the new ballpark the cost overruns included $150 million in such enhancements as the giant video screen, $138 million in food and beverage costs not included in the original estimate and $50 million from delays due to a lawsuit by community groups that sought to halt construction of the stadium.

Yankees Showing Interest in Kevin Mench.

The Newark Star-Ledger is reporting that the New York Yankees have interest in signing Kevin Mench to a minor league contract. Mench has spent the past season and a half in Milwaukee after getting traded by the Texas Rangers as part of the package for Carlos Lee.

Mench would serve as the 5th outfielder for the Yankees and give them a right-handed bat with pop in an outfield filled with lefties Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu and switch hitter Melky Cabrera.

If signed, Mench will give new manager Joe Girardi another bench option with the newly signed Morgan Ensberg and Jason Lane. Previous Manager Joe Torre was notorious for playing favorites and refusing to use bench players in certain situations. With Girardi at the helm Cashman is giving the new skipper more options and a more diverse bench to use throughout the season.

David Cone to join YES Network

Former Yankee right-hander, and 4 time World Series Champion, David Cone will join the Yankees YES Network as an analyst in the final season at Yankee Stadium.

Not only will he be in the broadcast booth, but Cone will also host the "Yankees on Deck" series as well as participating in weekly chats on YESnetwork.com.

Ensberg signs minor league deal with Yanks

The New York Yankees have signed 3rd baseman Morgan Ensberg to a minor league deal on Wednesday.

Although Ensberg is a 3rd baseman, he will challenge for the 1st base job during spring training.

Yankees, Cano close to 4-year deal

According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, the New York Yankees are close to signing 2nd baseman Robinson Cano to a 4-year $30M extension plus 2 club options on years 5 and 6.

Dodgers sign Proctor to 1-year deal

According to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed right-hander Scott Proctor to a 1-year $1.115M deal on Sunday.

Proctor was 3-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 31 games for the Dodgers after being traded from the Yankees in July.

Clemens, Pettitte asked to testify before Congress

According to an AP Report, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte as well as ex-trainer Brian McNamee and former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, have been asked to testify before the a congressional committee on January 16th.

Also asked to speak in front of Congress was former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch.


If you didn't think stuff was going to hit the fan before, this should change your mind. Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee Round 1...this should be fun.

Yankees will not sign Clemens in 2008

Not that this is comes as a surprise to a lot of people, but during a telephone interview yesterday with NY Daily News writer Anthony McCarron, Yankees' Senior VP Hank Steinbrenner says the Yankees will not sign Roger Clemens if he plays in 2008.

I can't imagine that Clemens would attempt to play in 2008, especially with the Mitchell Report hanging over him. I think it's time for him to step away from the playing stage and begin his 2nd career in the Houston Astros' organization.

Mets interested in Lieber?

According to New York Daily News, the Mets have apparently shown interest in veteran free agent right-hander Jon Lieber.

Lieber's agent, Rex Gary, confirmed that the Mets have contacted him about the right-hander but added "As we sit here today it'd be wrong to suggest something is imminent. There has been a lot of interest in him from other teams. ... But he has absolutely no problem with the idea of pitching in New York. He liked pitching in New York with the Yankees and he likes to win."

Leyritz arrested for DUI Manslaughter

In a story that has really shocked the baseball world, former major leaguer and Yankee, Jim Leyritz has been arrested for DUI Manslaughter after a fatal car accident early Friday morning.

According to police reports, Leyritz was driving a 2006 Ford Expedition when he collided at an intersection with a 30-year-old female, who was driving a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero. The victim was taken to Broward Medical Center where she was later pronounced dead.

If this isn't an example of why you don't drink and drive, I don't know what is. It's a sad story on both sides because a young woman lost her life and all because someone made a HUGE error in judgement.

Twins looking to sign Santana?

After all the trade talks between Minnesota, Boston, New York and various other teams, are the Twins now going to call off any trade for Johan Santana and, instead, try to sign him long term?

According to Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press, Twins' President David St. Peter is serious about signing Santana. "That remains our goal, our first choice, and I'm not going to veer from that," St. Peter said. "We are comfortable with that scenario if that's the best thing for the Twins' organization."

Prior to this article Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, a close friend of Santana's, told the New York Daily News that the Twins do not want to let [Santana] go.

Schilling speaks on Roger Clemens

If I'm Curt Schilling, I'd be careful of what dog I choose to mess with, especially if that dog is Roger Clemens.

Schilling, posting on his website 38pitches.com, believes that if Clemens did in fact take performance enhancing drugs, that his 4 Cy Young Awards should be stripped and given to the rightful winner.

"From that point on the numbers were attained through using [performance-enhancing drugs]. Just like I stated about Jose Canseco, if that is the case with Roger, the four Cy Youngs should go to the rightful winners, and the numbers should go away if he cannot refute the accusations."

Clemens said yesterday, in a statement through his agent, that he didn't want people rushing to judgement....I guess Schill missed that part of the statement.