Brian Bruney Has Been Traded & Andy Pettitte Update

The winter meetings started today. This is always a fun time of year if you're a baseball fan. I pretty much live on MLBTradeRumors, checking about 40 times a day, as there's always some new rumor about a free agent signing or a potential trade. Joel Sherman, Jon Heyman, and Ken Rosenthal seem to always duke it out for who can get the big scoop. The winter meetings are fun and this week promises to be chock full of basebally goodness.

This morning I saw that the Atlanta Braves were interested in trading for Brian Bruney. I have a buddy I work with who is a big Braves fan and neither of us understood why the Braves had interest. It ended up being all for nothing as Bruney has been traded to the Washington Nationals for a PTBNL (player to be named later). I have no problem with the Yanks letting Bruney go for what will probably end up being nothing. He's good but he's too inconsistent to be anything more than a middle reliever. MRs are a dime a dozen and Bruney can easily be replaced and probably by an in-house candidate that won't cost as much money. The trade in my opinion was a salary dump, albeit not a large one as Bruney only made $1.25 million. I'm sure Cashman is probably looking to bolster the bullpen and this deal frees up that spot on the 40-man and also frees up a little cash. There was probably no room at the inn for BB, which is probably why he was dealt. Good luck Bru.

There was a rumor from Joel Sherman this morning that Andy Pettitte rejected a one-year offer from the Yanks. It came as no surprise to me, because I think Sherman makes a lot of stuff up that's loosely based on some small nugget of truth, that Mark Feinsand shot down that rumor, tweeting that the Yankees have made no official offer but will do so today. He also writes, "They don't intend to low-ball him." I think there is zero probability that AP pitches for anyone other than the Yankees. The question to me remains, "when will he sign?" I feel pretty confident that by the end of the week, Andy Pettitte will be officially back in Pinstripes. Stay tuned.

As of right now there's not a lot buzz out there about Roy Halladay. I thought there would be, but right now, all is pretty quiet on the Halladay front. We should learn soon though who's going to be a major player for Doc's services and what it's going to cost. I have to think the Yankees are going to be heavily in the mix. They definitely better be.

Stay tuned. The fun should just be starting.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie