Reds give up on young pitcher

The Cincinnati Reds will send Homer Bailey to the Chicago White Sox for almost 35-year-old outfielder Jermaine Dye, according to Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News (via MLB Trade Rumors). The deal is done and will be announced this week, McCoy said.

Why am I writing this? I'll tell you why I'm writing this.

Bailey, while he was struggled mightily in his brief career, is still very young. He was drafted in the same class that included our own struggling pitcher Phil Hughes. Bailey was seventh overall in 2004, while Hughes was 23rd.

However, the Yankees haven't given up on Hughes, and will continue to let him grow. What shocks me here is that the Reds traded their former No. 1 prospect for an aging outfielder who will most likely be gone after next season. At least the Yankees would've gotten back Johan Santana in his prime.

Update - 10:15 p.m.: This whole post could be moot. Mark Gonzales from the Chicago Tribune quotes a source who rejects the report from the Dayton Daily News. However, Bailey remains interesting in the eyes of the White Sox brass.

Oh, I love this time of year!

Update - 10:40 p.m.: I'd hate to be Mr. McCoy right about now. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick says Dye and his agent "haven't heard a word about [this deal]."

Post: Cashman wants to return

From George King:

While Brian Cashman remained mum about his future, the buzz smothering the Yankees' universe yesterday focused on the GM telling the Steinbrenner family he wants to return.

An announcement could come as soon as tomorrow.

"Sooner than later," Cashman said with a smile when asked about reaching a decision.

Hopefully Cashman has learned from his mistakes of last off-season. He'll have a lot of money to play with once the season ends.

I'm sure he's a disappointed as anyone with the way this season has panned out. He was very much invested in the success of Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. While no one could have predicted their failures and injuries this year, the fact that Johan Santana is pitching complete game shutouts for the Mets will always loom over his head.

Pettitte outduels Santana

Andy Pettitte turned in his fourth straight excellent start, battling the weather and Johan Santana en route to the Yankees' 3-2 victory over the Mets.

Pettitte gave up two runs (two home runs), five hits and three walks over six innings, but the offense made that stand up against Santana. The Mets right-hander struck out eight, walked four and gave up three earned runs over six innings. Last night, both teams scored 15 runs. Today, they only combined for 11 hits and five runs.

Pettitte came back after a rain delay in the middle of the sixth inning and allowed a leadoff home run to David Wright, before closing out the inning. He was then done after 88 pitches.

In his last four starts, he is 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA in 27 innings. This was after allowing 10 earned runs to Kansas City on June 7.

After Pettitte left, Jose Veras, Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless inning each. Veras was the only one to allow a hit (one) and none of them walked a batter. Rivera recorded his 22nd save of the season in the process.

Farnsworth is never a given - and he gave up a hard-hit line drive to left that was snared by Johnny Damon - but he pitched pretty well today. His pitch to strike out Carlos Beltran to end the eighth inning was quite possibly the best pitch he's thrown all season.

Robinson Cano went 2-for-4 with an RBI to raise his average to .244. Derek Jeter's 15-game hitting streak was snapped with his 0-4 afternoon. However, he scored one of the Yankees' three runs with a walk in the fourth inning.

Darrell Rasner takes the hill tomorrow afternoon as the Yankees look to sweep the Mets in their stadium. Oliver Perez will counter.

(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Sabathia rumors

The Juiced Sports Blog, citing a source close to C.C. Sabathia, is reporting that the Indians would want Joba Chamberlain and Robinson Cano in return for Sabathia's services.

Chamberlain was never even a consideration in the Johan Santana talks, so there's no chance the Yankees would give him up now.

Expect to hear more rumors like these in the coming weeks.

What happened to taking pitches?

Andy Pettitte throws 40 pitches in the fourth inning to surrender the Yankees 2-0 lead.

Johan Santana, sitting for a half hour, goes out there right after and throws only six pitches. SIX!

This has been a common trend this season. Once the Yankees fall behind, they start swinging early in the count looking for the long ball. There's a reason why they're only scoring two runs per game.

Here are the pitch counts for Santana's last three starts:

• 114 pitches in 5 2-3 innings on April 29.
• 116 pitches in six innings on May 4.
• 116 pitches in six innings on May 10.

Through four innings today, Santana is at 55 pitches.

Mets, Santana agree to contract extension

Our long, national nightmare is over: Johan Santana has finally, officially found a home.

According to John Heyman of SI, the Mets and Santana agreed to a six-year, $137.5 million extension to go along with the $13.25 he was scheduled to make this season. The deal is pending a physical, which is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

This makes him the highest-paid pitcher in the game, surpassing Barry Zito's seven-year, $126 million contract that was signed last off-season.

Both the Yankees and Red Sox could have had Santana if they were willing to pay the price. However, the Mets were the only team who really needed him. Yes, it would have been nice to see Santana in pinstripes, but it's even nicer seeing the young starters develop at a fraction of the price.

Keith Law's Top 100 of 2008

ESPN's Keith Law released his top 100 prospects of 2008 and five Yankees were on his list.

Joba Chamberlain came in third, behind my man Evan Longoria (third base prospect for Tampa Bay) and Jay Bruce (outfielder in the Cincinnati organization), but in front of Clay Buchholz of the Red Sox.

Jose Tabata ranked 21st, Austin Jackson 24th, Ian Kennedy 45th and last year's first round draft pick Andrew Brackman rounded out the list at No. 100.

The fact that the Yankees didn't trade for Johan Santana shows a dramatic shift in the organization's ideology. Brian Cashman isn't doing all of this work in the minor leagues to simply trade them away when they need a quick fix.

Will Sabathia be the hot name next off-season?

River Ave. Blues directs us to this article from The Plain Dealer.

Cleveland Indians ace C.C. Sabathia will be a free agent after this season, and apparently will be too expensive to return to the Indians, especially with the contract Johan Santana is expected to receive in the next couple of days.

Santana never got to free agency, so Sabathia could be involved in a bidding war between the Yankees and Red Sox.

One of the problems I had with the Santana deal was giving up players. Sabathia would only cost money, and players such as Andy Pettitte and Carl Pavano will be coming off the books after 2008 allowing the Yankees to have more flexibility. He'll certainly be worth going after, if he's interested in coming to New York.

Mets trade for Santana

Bob Nightengale of USA Today is reporting that the Twins have agreed to send Johan Santana to the Mets in exchange for four prospects. The Mets will then have 72 hours to negotiate what will probably end up being a seven-year contract extension.

The prospects included in the deal are: Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey.

Considering the Mets didn't give up Fernando Martinez, this appears to be a great deal if the Mets can hammer out the contract extension in the next three days.

For continuing coverage on the New York Mets, please visit The 'Ropolitans.

Thank goodness this madness is pretty much over. Spring Training is almost here!

Hank: There was no offer to withdraw

Apparently, the ESPN report from earlier today was incorrect.

Here are the latest Hank Steinbrenner quotes regarding the Johan Santana front from SI.com:

"It's still in the deciding process," Steinbrenner said Monday night outside Legends Field at the Yankees' spring training complex. "We're still discussing it. There's still a little talk back and forth."
...

"There wasn't an official offer anyway. You can't withdraw something that wasn't there," Steinbrenner said. "There was no official offer on the table at this time."

And the beat goes on.

Steinbrenner also confirmed that Joba Chamberlain will have an innings limit this season. One of the options is to use him in the bullpen in the early part of the season when they only need four starters anyway.

Steinbrenner also said that Joe Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland will decide how to handle the star prospect. This contradicts with what Brian Cashman said on Sunday. Cashman said that he and Girardi will work it out, yet Steinbrenner makes no mention of the general manager.

Is Cashman's authority being undermined by the new mouthpiece? Only time will tell.

Report: Yankees pull offer for Santana

Is the Johan Santana to the Yankees saga finally over?

A source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN Radio's Andrew Marchand that the Yankees have pulled their offer for Santana and will not restart trade talks unless Hank Steinbrenner wants to again.

This just seems like a formality now. On Saturday, Ken Rosenthal reported that the Yankees were no longer talking to the Twins about Santana.

Yankees finally done with Santana?

Ken Rosenthal seems to think so:

Another source, however, says the Yankees no longer are talking to the Twins about Santana and simply chose to keep their outfield intact rather than sign Cameron. Hank Steinbrenner has been the Yankees' executive most adamant about landing Santana, but he seemingly has backed off in his most recent public comments.

Is this finally over? I sure hope so.

With the young starters developing, there is no need to trade anyone away for the expensive Santana. It's time to move on and get ready for pitchers and catchers, which is in 33 days!

Santana: It's up to the Twins

Johan Santana publicly acknowledged the prevailing trade winds that are surrounding him for the first time.

The Post's Back Page blog cited an AP article:

“I’m a Minnesota Twin. That’s all I know. It’s up to them. Whatever they have to do is going to happen. It has nothing to do with me at all,” Santana told the News-Press. “I said it from the beginning during the season last year, whatever will be the best for this team and this organization, I’ll agree with that.”

Let the Mets have him.

Yankees giving up on Santana?

Hank Steinbrenner spoke again about Johan Santana today. He now feels that the Yankees may not pursue Santana anymore.

From the New York Daily News' Peter Botte:

"We went into this with me making the final baseball decisions and Hal more addressing the financial aspects of the company, but we both do everything," Steinbrenner said yesterday in a phone interview. "We're equal partners, but at this point, to tell you the truth, I'm leaning away from it anyway, so it doesn't matter. Same thing with Brian, he's another integral part of it, obviously, being the general manager, and one day he's leaning to do it and the next day he's not sure.

"But what it comes down to right now is giving up a lot (in a trade) and then having to do the big contract, as well. If (Santana) was just a free agent, we could just go ahead and do it. There's a big difference this way. We have to sign him as if he's a free agent, plus you have to give up major talent. That's a tall order."

Steinbrenner says that he is feeling comfortable with what the Yankees have. This is good news. Yesterday, he said that he would only give Santana a five-year extension, and today, he further softened his stance.

He also says that he would like Joba Chamberlain to be a starter, but that decision shouldn't rest with him. I feel he'll begin the season in the bullpen to limit his innings and then return to the rotation eventually.

Hank talks Santana - again

Hank Steinbrenner finally acknowledges that Johan Santana would cost a lot.

From Kat O'Brien at Newsday:

"The payroll would just be out of this world this year," Steinbrenner said of potentially adding Santana, "but only for this year. When you've got to trade top young talent and pay a lot of money, it gets very risky."

If the Yankees do complete a trade for Santana, Steinbrenner said they would not go beyond a five-year contract extension (one that expires after the 2013 season).

"I wouldn't do it if it were a six- or seven-year contract," Steinbrenner said. "I wouldn't go past five, on an extension."

For once, he's right. You shouldn't give a 28-year-old pitcher seven years. However, why did he need to say this publicly?

Steinbrenner also mentions that there is nothing new on the Santana front. For those playing along at home, the last offer for Santana was thought to be Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Jeff Marquez and a fourth prospect.

Cashman dissents from the owner

Yesterday, Hank Steinbrenner said that final decisions rest with the owner (himself). He also said he was still leaning on pulling the trigger on a Johan Santana deal.

Brian Cashman doesn't want to hear any of it.

From today's Bergen Record by Pete Caldera:

"This is what the rotation is, and this is what we're going [to spring training] with," Brian Cashman said Friday. The Yankees' general manager added that he has between now and Aug. 31, the final day he can add players who could be on the postseason roster, to "put together the best team out there on the field."

...

"We have budgets and players that we want to hold on to," Cashman said, speaking generally about "some of the hurdles that prevent you from doing certain things."

I obviously agree with Cashman's sentiment. The Yankees have spent over $120 million in luxury tax the last five seasons and haven't won a World Championship. They are sick of spending a lot of money for first round losses in the playoffs and realize that it is time for a change.

Steinbrenner became the mouthpiece all of a sudden and is starting to not listen to his baseball people. This could be a big problem.

Via MLB Trade Rumors, there is a report in today's Star Tribune saying that the Twins realize that they won't get both Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in a deal, and that they would accept other players instead of Kennedy - leaving it at Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Jeff Marquez and possibly Kei Igawa.

If this report is true, it only gives Steinbrenner more of a reason do the trade. I still wouldn't do it, even though I'd love to get rid of Igawa.

When Hank speaks, reporters listen

Hank Steinbrenner spoke about Johan Santana and Brian Cashman's roles to an AP reporter in Tampa tonight.

On Santana:

"Nothing is really decided at this point," Steinbrenner said Friday night outside Legends Field at the team's spring training complex. "I'm still leaning towards doing it. There's others leaning not to do it. There are some others that are leaning to do it also. Disagreements within the organization. Nothing major, but just different opinions. I've changed my opinion a couple times."

On Cashman:

"I always told him, 'I'm going to make the final decisions because when you're the owner you should,"' Steinbrenner said. "He is the general manager, and he has the right to talk me out of it and he has talked me out of some things."

He needs to stop with the Santana talk, and listen to his baseball and financial people. A move of this magnitude is not needed at this time.

I just hope Cashman is able to talk him out of it.

Yankosphere: January 4

• Tyler Kepner reports that payroll is still an issue in the debate to acquire Johan Santana. He would cost an extra $56 million in luxury tax if he signs a seven-year, $140 million extension. Also, for some reason, Alex Rodriguez is endorsing Mike Cameron if Melky Cabrera gets traded. [The New York Times]
• Bryan Hoch will break down each Yankee position on a weekly basis. This week, he did a piece on catchers. [Yankees.com]
• Hoch also talked about Goose Gossage's Hall of Fame chances this year. [Yankees.com]
• Maureen, the Yankees Chick, is Peter Abraham's first guest blogger today. [LoHud Yankees Blog]

Today has been pretty quiet so far. I'll be here if anything comes out.

Hank: No Clemens in 2008

Hank Steinbrenner is on a roll today.

After mentioning that the Yankees are preparing a final offer for Johan Santana, he spoke about the possiblity of a Roger Clemens return.

From the New York Daily News:

"I'm not signing Clemens," Steinbrenner, the Yankees' senior vice president, said in a telephone interview yesterday. He said the Yanks are not looking for rotation stopgaps - like they were last season - because they are so enamored of their young starting pitchers. And Steinbrenner feels the Yanks already have a strong mentor to the young arms in Andy Pettitte, whom Steinbrenner praised for his "veteran leadership.

Well, I agree with his reasoning. That's also why he doesn't need to trade for Santana.

Steinbrenner also believes that Clemens won't make a return anyway.

I know Santana and Clemens have been beaten to death, but they are pretty much the only two stories out there now.

(Louis Lanzano/AP)

Yanks have a shot at Santana - Is Hank interested?

According to the New York Daily News, Hank Steinbrenner has been preparing a "final offer" for Johan Santana.

"I think the Twins realize our offer is the best one," Steinbrenner said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "I feel confident they're not going to trade him before checking with us one last time and I think they think we've already made the best offer."

Steinbrenner said the offer "does not include two of the three young pitchers" - Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, from a group that also includes untouchable Joba Chamberlain - "but it's still the best one. And let's face it, we're the best able to handle the kind of contract (extension) Santana will be after."

Just say no. It isn't worth it.

Steinbrenner says later that "we're the best able to handle that kind of contract (extension) Santana will be after.

That may be so. However, there have been rumblings about the luxury tax within the organization and Brian Cashman is reluctant to break up the farm system.

I think when all is said and done, Santana will remain with the Twins at the beginning of the season. The Yankees don't need him at this point in now. Not for the price he's going to cost.