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Andruw Jones signed a minor league deal with the Rangers. He said Boston was too cold so I guess New York is too cold too. Wow, maybe Manny should sign with the Rangers and be friends with Jones. Must be the money….

A-roid is not talking. According to Abraham’s Lohud blog he is in the Bahamas laying low. If he keeps silent, it will be an interesting week. I agree with the blog that he needs to come out and be 100% honest, even if that means his crystal clear image gets a little tarnished.

It is a subscription site but yankees.scout.com is a great site for Yankees minor league news. They are getting ready to send out a top 100 Yankee prospect magazine. They have good insight to the minor league teams.

It looks like King A-rod was doing the juice and may still be. He won the MVP in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Hmmmmm. Hopefully the Yankees can void his terrible contract and get a real baseball player to play third. Karma is a bitch. This is what the Yankees get for preferring to sell tickets than put together a good baseball team. Their attendance went from 3.6 million or so to 4.2 million after getting A-snob. Were the 600,000 extra seats worth it?

He still wears the pinstripes so I will root for him but here’s hoping he is out of New York by April 1st.

The Yankees offered a minor league deal to Andruw Jones and he supposedly turned it down. Are players that dumb these days? Players should be taking any deal they can get with this economy.

The Yankees are still selling spring training tickets. In a good year they sell out in a day. I am hoping there are some good ticket promotions so I can attend a few games at the new cathedral. I am not going to pay $25-30 a pop for tier tickets to a midweek game against the Orioles.

My non-roster invite that will surprise is Igawa. I think the guy is ready for prime time. He is going to shock the world. Looking forward to seeing Action Jackson in spring training.

The tickets came today for the Braves/Yankees spring training game. Hopefully by then A-Rod will be a baseball player and not a pre-madonna.

The Yankees.com website says 7 days and 14 hours until spring training. It was very cold today, wind chills around zero so the thought of pitchers and catchers reporting in 7 days warmed my bones.

There are not really any huge position/pitching battles going into Spring Training. Centerfield is the only position battle between Melky and Gardner with Swisher as an emergency third option. The bench is also in flux but that is a flux area every year for every team.

The middle relief is the other place for some battles. Guys like Veras, Ramirez, Bruney, Robertson, Melancon will be looking for spots. Mo and Marte are about the only 2 solid spots in the bullpen. I think with this competition the bullpen could be a strength this year.

Of course with Wang coming back from injury, AJ one minor ache away from the DL and CC coming off 2 years of heavy workloads, a spot may open up in the rotation come opening day.

Just over a week until the real sport begins. I am really excited about this year with a couple new stadiums opening up in New York. I plan on going to a few games at each stadium this year. I will probably have to take out a small loan to go to the games. Both stadiums will sell out every game because of the new stadiums. The issue will be next year when the economy is still in rough shape.

The big controversy is the Joe Torre book. Did he sell out? Will his number still be retired? Has he lost his image in New York. I have not read the book so I reserve judgment.

With Manny rejecting a 1 year deal from the Dodgers I wonder if the Yankees will make one more big splash.

I was going to do another 25 man roster prediction but I noticed i did one on the 19th and not much has changed besides the Pettitte signing. I am still not sure if the Yankees will carry 11 or 12 pitchers right out of spring training. I also wonder what happens if Hughes looks unhittable in spring training, do they move Joba to the pen? I think Joba needs to be a setup guy. Having Joba and Mo in the 8th and 9th could be unstoppable. With AJ, CC, Wang and Pettitte there are 4 solid starters. Someone can fill the number 5 guy, especially if Hughes finally figures it all out. I know Joba wants to start but the more I think about it the more I rather have him pitching 1 inning and setting up Mo. It will be an interesting spring training.

Check out yankees.scout.com if you enjoy following the Yankees minor league system. It is a pais subscription site but worth it. The Yankees have some good arms stocked in the minors. It will be interesting to see who develops, who gets traded and who fizzles out. I am hoping Betances becomes a monster in 2010.

Andy signed a 1 year deal today. $5.5 million base deal with incentives up to $12 million. Good signing by the Yankees.

Pitching depth is huge for any team. There is no chance CC, AJ, Joba, Wang and Hughes were going to give the team 34 starts in 2009.

With Andy, the team has a durable starter. Now Hughes, Kennedy, Aceves, Coke can develop in AAA and be ready to contribute or contribute on opening day if a pitcher is hurt in spring training.

The Andy signing is bad news for pitchers in the minors because the AAA staff is going to be pretty crowded. The benefit will be guys can develop at AAA and AA. Hughes, Joba, Kennedy were a little rushed. Now guys like Brackman, Betances, McCallister (sp?), Kontos and others can get innings in before the big show.

Looks like talks with Andy are still ongoing. I think it is a no-brainer to bring him back for a one year deal. Will he win 20 games like Moose did last year? Probably not. But he does have a good chance to win 15 games, throw 200 innings and make 34-35 starts. The rotation needs durability. AJ has a history of arm issues. CC has thrown A LOT of innings the last few years. Joba will only be able to throw 150 or so innings. Wang did not pitch a full season last year. What happens if Hughes wins the number 5 spot but AJ goes down for a long period of time? Who is the #5 starter then? Kennedy? Aceves? Jason Johnson????? The Yankees can not get stuck using guys like Rasner and Ponson for long periods of time like they did last year. They need to give Andy a one year deal.

Of course a deal is a two way street and if Andy does not want 10 million for 2009, the Yankees cannot do much more. The market is way down, big names are still on the market, so he should be happy just to get an offer.

On a lighter note, a new Torre book rips into the Yankees. Supposedly teammates referred to A-rod as A-Fraud. Go figure. They guy is a fraud. Makes 30 million a year but plays like a guy that should get 15 million a year. The guy is a very good player but is NOT a great baseball player. He may look great with his shirt off but baseball is more than physique. One only need to look at John Kruk, David Wells, Sid Fernandez and many others.

Cots baseball contracts is a great place for team payroll data. Click Here to see the information on Yankee contracts.
I have not done the math, I have seen some other blogs do the math and it looks like the Yankees will have an opening day payroll of about 200 million. A little less than the 208 million from 2008 but not much. The positive thing is the team did get younger and more talented. Matsui, Molina, Nady and Damon are free agents after 2009 so another roughly 34 million will be off the books and there does not seem to be any big free agents for 2009 besides maybe Holliday. Hopefully Tex settles in nicely, Cano bounces back, A-rod and Jeter have good seasons. Gardner or Melky establishes themselves in CF. CC, Wang, AJ and Joba stay healthy and develop into a good rotation. Hughes, Kennedy or some young pitcher establishes the 5th spot. The Yankees will not need to sign a lot of free agents after 2009. Probably just a LF and RF although Swisher could develop into a good corner outfielder in 2009.

With 1 month to go to spring training I am going to take a stab at the opening day roster. This will be a roster as of today. Of course it may change if Pettitte signs or a trade is made. I am going to assume the Yankees are done making moves.

Position players

Catcher:
Posada
Molina

First Base:
Texeira

Second Base:
Cano

Shortstop:
Jeter

Third Base:
A-rod

Utility Guy:
Ransom
Berroa

Left field:
Damon

Centerfield:
Gardner
Cabrera

Right Field:
Nady

Reserve Outfielder:
Swisher

Starting rotation:
CC
Burnett
Wang
Joba
Hughes

Bullpen:
Mo
Marte
Veras
Bruney
Ramirez
Robertson
Albaladejo

Swishers can play first or an outfield position. Gardner will be the starting centerfielder with Melky as the 4th outfielder who can play all 3 outfield positions.

Ransom can play SS so he will win one infield utility spot. I believe he also can play some third base. Berroa will be the other infield reserve guy.

I think the Yankees will open with a 12 man pitching staff. With off days early, they may go with 11 pitchers although if they have to skip Joba early to keep his innings down they may go with a 6 man rotation the first couple months.

I think the Yankees will have a lot of competition for the bullpen spots. Guys like Coke, Sanchez, Melancon, Wright and others will be fighting hard for bullpen spots.