All Is Quiet

Not much going out there in Yankeeland. Hal Steinbrenner has assumed control of the team, but other than that all is pretty quiet. As long as the person in the charge of the Yankees is named Steinbrenner, I'm happy. Hal and Hank definitely know what their father has meant for the team and for Major League Baseball. There's no way they do anything to change the way the ship is run. And even thought Hal is the control person, fear not Yankee fans, Big Bank Hank will still be in charge of baseball operations. Awesome. Hank isn't one to shy away from making some inane comment and I like that. You want a nice and crazy sound bite, Hank's your guy. He seems to be a lot more like his pops and I don't think he'll be afraid to let people know how he feels and what he wants. He might be a blowhard, but he'll do whatever he can to make sure the team wins.

Still no movement on the free agent front. CC remains unsigned. That makes me a little nervous. I'm beginning to think he'd prefer something else, even if it's at a lower salary. It's widely known that CC prefers playing in the National League. It's also widely know that he prefers to play on the west coast as that's where he was born and raised. Nobody is going to give CC as much money as the Yankees. Everyone knows this, including CC and his agent. If it was about the cash, he'd have signed already. At least that's what I think. What's really the difference between 6 years/$140 mill and 6 years/$120 million? Not much when you think about it. A few of us were talking about it at work and and extra $20 million wouldn't be enough for us to want to play out west if the scenario were reversed. $120 million is enough money for probably about 8 generations of Sabathia's to live rather comfortably. If he truly wants to play in the NL or play out west, the Yanks might need to dig a little deeper. I think he's going to slip through our fingers. Hopefully, CC does something soon so the Yankees can move on to other targets. What do you guys think? We going to land the big guy?

A.J. Burnett's agent wants a 5 year deal. If I'm the Yankees, I don't even bother. From what I've read, it sounds like they wouldn't even entertain the thought. They'll be tempted to if CC signs elsewhere and I hope they resist that temptation. I still think A.J. has the potential to be a huge bust. Five years is a long time and I don't think the risk would be worth the reward. Cashman is a creative guy. I'm sure he'll come up with something if need be.

As I said in my Say No Lowe post from a few days ago, I think the Yankees need to pass on Derek Lowe if the price tag is indeed $16 million per year. I'm just not a fan and I think his numbers will balloon if he comes back to the AL. $16 mill just isn't worth it to me. Hope it's not to the Yanks.

If the Yankees happen to swing and miss with the big 3, I have to think they'll make a huge push for Mark Teixeira. How can they not? I still think they should even if they sign all 3 of the above. Nick Swisher will be serviceable, but he's no Mark Teixeira. Adding Tex to the lineup would be preferred, but I understand they want to throw the $$ at the pitchers. I wonder what Cashman is really thinking?

I really thought something would have happened by now. I'm continuously hopping online to check for updates. I pretty much do this all throughout the hot stove. I pretty much live on MLBtraderumors.com. If you've never checked the site out, I highly recommend it. It's like a one-stop shop for pretty much all the news there is to print.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie