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Joel Sherman breaks some new ground on the endless Santana rumors when he suggests in today's Post that it is Hal Steinbrenner and not Hank who is preventing the Yankees from completing the deal.

We haven't heard much at all about Hal, but we should remember that both Hank and Hal were supposed to take over for their father. The way Sherman has it, Hal is the guy in charge of the budget and he doesn't want to splurge on Santana at this point.

That's fine with me and if you look at the Yankees this offseason, they have tried to avoid throwing a lot of money around. When you add up the deals they have announced, (Pettitte, Posada, Rivera, A-Rod, Molina, Hawkins) they have added $7 million to the payroll from last season. Now, they will have to pay a lot more to Wang and Cano in arbitration, but it is also probably safe to assume that Clemens won't get a huge deal next May. That means that overall, spending should be down again in 2008. Subtract the $81 million coming off the books after 2008 and the Yankees are definitely heading in a different direction from the spending sprees of the past.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

The Rocket certainly sounds righteous in his statement, defending himself and chastising the court of public opinion- "I am disappointed that my 25 years in public life have apparently not earned me the benefit of the doubt...."

It all sounds good but it doesn't erase the fact that Clemens had a chance to talk to Mitchell and didn't. On page 175 of the report, Mitchell documents how he asked Clemens to talk to him about the allegations against him and Clemens refused his invitation.

Now, that alone doesn't make Clemens guilty, but instead of issuing statements, how about Roger stands up himself and tells us he is innocent? How about he explains how his name ended up in that report and why he didn't chose to do anything about it until now? Until then, I don't want to read anymore statements.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

It's official, the Yankees will end the 2008 season at Fenway Park and not at Yankee Stadium. Baseball couldn't figure out a way to have the Yankees at home for the final games of the regular season when it is the last year of Yankee Stadium?

BOOOOOOO....

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

This is quickly becoming the most bizarre day in Yankees' history. For some reason, the Yankees are currently announcing the A-Rod deal.

I have no clue why they chose today and considering the revelations of the last hour, the timing could not be worse. Anyway, it will be interesting to hear Alex's explanation for acting like he did, but it is going to get swallowed up in the Mitchell Report.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ESPN is reporting that Roger Clemens is going to be named in the Mitchell Report. In addition, the Bergen Record has a source that proclaims "It's going to be a rough day in the Bronx".

I am not going to indulge in speculation at this point, but I am hoping that we don't see names like Rivera, Jeter, Williams and Pettitte in the report. Either way, get ready for a sad day for baseball.

Back after the report comes out.

UPDATE- apparently, I am going to be disappointed.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Yankees tendered Brian Bruney and are letting TJ Beam, Darrell Rasner and Matt DeSalvo go. There is always a chance to sign them to minor league deals, but it may be the end for all of them with the Yankees.

As an interesting side note, the Cubs have non-tendered Mark Prior. If I am the Yankees, I at least make a call to see what he wants for a deal.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Tonight is the tender deadline which means that clubs have to offer contracts to their arbitration-eligible players or those players become free agents. For the Yankees there are four guys who fit that description: Chien-Ming Wang, Robinson Cano, Wilson Betemit and Brian Bruney.

Obviously, Wang, Cano and Betemit are going to be tendered and I will renew my plea that the Yankees talk to Cano and Wang about longterm contracts. The question is, what will they do with Bruney?

The Yankees face a numbers crunch right now because they have three players, Mariano, A-Rod and Hawkins, that they are finalizing deals with and 0 spots open on their 40-man roster. They have asked Carl Pavano to accept a minor league deal to help the crunch, but he doesn't seem thrilled by the idea.

I imagine the Yankees will just cut him if he doesn't accept because even if they lose some insurance money (and I am not sure if they would or not) they wouldn't want to lose a player who might help them in the future.

That's one spot and I think Bruney will be non-tendered tonight and offered a minor league deal as well. Bruney certainly has the arm, but I think his head just isn't there. With all of the other arms in the system, his loss won't be felt.

That leaves one more spot to open and I would guess Sean Henn is the most likely candidate to go. I will update later with the decisions.

On a side note, the Dodgers invited Tanyon Sturtze to Spring Training. If Torre can get Paul Quantrill to come out of retirement he will have all three of his favorite relievers to abuse next March.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Reportedly, the Yankees are very close to a deal with Hawkins. I have to admit, at first glance, I didn't see why. But, it is a one-year deal and it "only" costs $3.75 million, so it is worth a shot. Worst case, the Yankees can eat the salary in a heartbeat. Best case and Hawkins becomes this year's Vizcaino, a solid 7th inning guy.

This may be all the Yankees do with the bullpen. With reliever prices soaring, the Yankees are likely to stay out of the market. That may not be a bad thing as one of Joe Girardi's strengths is his ability to work with young players. But, heading into 2008 relying on Ohlendorf, Ramirez and Veras to be big parts of the bullpen is a risk.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Today's Rule 5 draft wrapped up the Winter Meetings and while the Yankees didn't have a major league pick (their 40 man roster was full) they did a minor league move and lost a player.

In the major league phase, the Yankees lost Michael Gardner to the Padres. Garnder had nice numbers in AA last year (2.88ERA 81.1 IP 66K's 33BB'S) but he will be 27 in May. The Padres will now have to keep him in the majors all year or offer him back to the Yankees. Not much of a loss and I think the Yankees are happy because they didn't lose Eric Duncan or Steven Jackson.

In the AAA phase, the Yankees selected Bo Hall from the Brewers. Hall averaged over a strikeout an inning last season at AA but also walked too many guys (3.46ERA in 54.2IP 56K's 33BB's) Like Gardner, he is old, 27 right now, but he will get a shot at Scranton next year and he fits the current Yankee thinking of grabbing a bunch of low-cost relievers and seeing what works.

The reports on the draft are still coming in, so I will update if anything more occurred.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)