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Still nothing major Yankee news lately. The Arizona Fall league wraps up soon. Hughes is looking good and has developed a cutter. Whelan still cannot find the strike zone and until he does, he will never make it to the bigs. Sanchez was wild but coming back from 2 years of injuries, it is expected. Russo may be a super utility guy in the near future. Jackson played ok, still needs to cut down on the strikeouts. Miranda may get a shot at making the big league club although the Swisher acquisition made that tougher unless the team trades a corner outfielder and Swisher moves to left field.

Affeldt signed with the Giants which is a good move for them. They still need to get younger and is a team still trying to shed the image of Binds but they may contend in a weak NL West next year.

Dempster signed a 4 year deal with the Cubbies. 13 million a year after one good season. He will be a bust.

Hopefully Moose will make up his mind soon and the team resigns Pettitte to a 1 year, 12 million deal. Then sign CC and hopefully Lowe. A rotation of CC, Wang, Pettitte, Lowe and Joba/Hughes will not be that bad.

Check out mlbtraderumors.com for a lot of hot stove league news.

OK, not such a big move but Rasner was sold to a Japanese team today. I believe he was on the 40 man roster so this deal opens a spot for the Yankees and add a million dollars into the Yankees coffers. Rasner was not in the plans for the Yankees in 2009 so it is a good move.

Lost in a busy week of news was the Yankees announcing their 2009 coaching staff.

I like the moves. I do not know much about Kelleher but he has a lot of experience and is an infield coach. I hope he can whip Cano into shape.

Meachem was a terrible third base coach so Thomson will be an improvement.

You ever wonder what would have happened if Mo did not throw that ball into centerfield in Arizona in 2001? If Mo gets out of that inning and the Yankees win their 4th championship in a row and five in six years. Would the run still have ended in 2002 to the pesky Angels? Would they have gone on and kept on winning? Would Paulie not have retired. That one play haunts me the most, hurts me the most. I admit I cried a little that night, had a restless night of trying to sleep. I still think about that fateful inning no and then. What could have been.

The Yankees made a big trade today. The Yankees acquired OF/1B Nick Swisher

I really like the trade. Swisher is 27 and can play first base. He also can play Centerfield as well as corner outfield positions. He is under contract for a reasonable amount for the next 3 years. He strikes out too much and hit .219 last year but I think he is a better player than that. He is a switch hitter and was a first round draft pick in 2002. I think he can put up a lot better numbers in 2009.

The Yankees also got a minor league pitcher Texiera who is pretty much a push with giving up Nunez. He had very good numbers at A and AA last year and reportedly has a very good slider.

I am very happy to see Betemit go, he was a waste of a roster spot. Marquez is 24 and may turn into a pretty good starter but you have to give up something to get something. His stuff is scouted as being very similar to the Wanger. The Yankees have depth in prospect pitching so it is not a major loss.

The Yankees also opened up two 40-man roster spots and filed one with Swisher which means they opened up one spot on a very tight 40 man roster.

Overall I really like the trade. Now the Yankees can focus on starting pitching in the free agent market and not have to overpay for Texiera at first base.

I told ya it was going to be a busy offseason. Free agency starts at midnight tonight. Hold on tight, going to be an interesting 2 months.

Despite adding a couple guys to the 40 man roster last week, this is the first major move this off-season. The Yankees have signed Marte to a 3 year 12 million dollar deal.

He is 33, will be 34 and is a pretty good left handed reliever. At 4 million a year I think he will be a decent bargain. He struggled at first with the Yankees but settled down after being overused a little. He has good stuff and can be pretty nasty against lefties. This now gives the Yanks the flexibility of having Coke be a 2nd lefty in the bullpen, Coke as a starter, or Coke in AAA as an emergency arm.

Tomorrow kicks off free agency for real. Word on the street is with the bad economy players will be jumping on contracts quick to make sure they get a piece of a shrinking pie. CC, Tex, Burnett, Lowe may be off the market quick.

The free agency frenzy starts Thursday. Jeff Passan at Yahoo rates the 183 free agents.

There are some deals in the list but the Yankees will be looking at the 10 guys. 7 years, 140 million for CC? 10 years, 200 million for Tex? 5 years 75 million for Burnett? The Yankees may spend half a BILLION dollars this offseason.

The team is waiting to see what the market is on Lowe, CC, Burnett before deciding on Pettitte. It is a business out there and if they can score good deals on CC and Burnett, they will say happy retirement to Moose (he will likely retire anyway) and thanks but no thanks to and aging Pettitte with a questionable elbow.

A rotation of the Wanger, Joba, CC, Burnett and a cast of others is not bad. They may even sign Pettitte just as insurance and keep the kids in AAA. I prefer they start Hughes in the #5 spot.

As for Manny I think the team will pass. They can move Nady to right, play Damon (and very occasionally Matsui) in left and have Gardner and Cabrera battle it out in centerfield. I am hoping Gardner wins the spot, bats .280, .375 OBP, scores 100 runs and steals 50 bases and is rookie of the year (if he is still eligible, not sure if he got to 150 AB’s?)

Here is some nice information about the Metro North train stop near Yankee Stadium. I am looking forward to being able to take the train in and not deal with traffic and $20 parking. Hopefully the MTA will have incentives to go green and not drive.

In case you missed it, the Yankees had a dirt moving ceremony yesterday. Go here for the news story. The Yankee must think we are all morons. In 1974-75 the Yankees completed renovated the stadium which included taking a lot of the dirt out and bringing in new dirt. The dirt moved yesterday is not the same hollowed ground from before 1974. The real Yankee stadium was gone in 1974. One reason why I do not shed a lot of tears for the old stadium to be taken down.

I also missed that Jose Valdez is a Yankee minor league free agent. He pitched pretty well in AA last year but is 25/26. He may turn into a serviceable reliever one day but not likely with the Yankees. The Yankees have a deep stock of arms this year which will hopefully translate into a very good year on the mound. There may be guys that could pitch for other teams in the majors pitching at AA. Hopefully competition will breed great success for the major league pitching staff. Plus injuries always occur so hopefully the team will not have to rely on guys like Ponson and Rasner in 2009. Only about 100 days till pitchers and catchers!!!!

I am a Yankee minor league junkie. I love following the Yankees minor league system.

Baseball America has a list of this years minor league free agents. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=1786

There is no big names on the list. Carson and Gonzalez are decent OF prospects but both are 25/26 and strike out too much. Carson has a decent shot of being signed by another team. He has a gun for an arm, had a decent AAA year and a team will take a shot at him. Gonzalez only played at AA this year.

Perez was a guy the Yanks picked up in a trade this year and has good stuff. Would be nice to hold onto him.

CJ Henry is playing College basketball and cannot make up his mind what sport he wants to play. First round potential that probably will never pan out.

Every team uses this list to fill AAA filler spots. Very rarely is a jem found as a minor league free agent.

The rule 5 draft usually is a better shot at finding a hidden gem.

Mussina won another gold glove today. Rumor is the longer it takes him to announce his retirement the more likely he will be back. I am hoping he will be back. He can still be a very good pitcher. I hope he does not take too much time and force the Yankees to be in limbo. If the Yanks bring back Pettitte and Moose they will have a deep rotation and will not have to overspend on a starter.

I do wonder if they bring back Moose for a couple years if they say no thanks to Pettitte and focus on CC?

It may look like Matsui may be moved this offseason. More of a sign that the Yankees may be due for a huge shake-up.