Dominican paper says Manny nearing deal with Yankees

The day I'll believe this report (via MLBTR) is the day I'll believe anyone who says they're withdrawing their offer to a Scott Boras client.

Basically, the report says the Yankees are on the verge of signing Manny Ramirez to a three-year, $75 million deal. I'll believe it when I see the press conference or listen to the conference call.

Tim Dierkes has a rundown of this newspaper's recent history regarding free-agent proclamations:

11/24/08: Reported the Braves as the mystery team in on Rafael Furcal, offering four years and $52MM. The offer was inaccurate, but they did nail the mystery team.

11/12/08: Correctly scooped the Damaso Marte signing.

2/21/08: Incorrectly indicated the White Sox reached an agreement with Bartolo Colon. Also incorrect on a similar rumor involving the Royals.

1/21/08: Correctly scooped the Octavio Dotel signing.

11/18/07: Correctly scooped the Luis Castillo signing.

So there you have it. We all have reason to be skeptical.

Report: Angels withdraw Tex offer

Jerry Crasnick, citing a baseball source, is reporting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have withdrawn their eight-year offer for Mark Teixeira's services.

I believed it when the Red Sox first did it, but since they're back to being a factor (Crasnick lists Boston, the Yankees, Baltimore and Washington as players), I'm going to take this news with a grain of salt...for now.

But one thing is certain: this story is just flat-out weird.

Britton finds a home

Apparently the Padres signed Chris Britton shortly after the Yankees non-tendered him. I didn't see this anywhere until Tim Dierkes linked to a San Diego Union-Tribune article today.

Tom Krasovic said the Padres expect him to pitch the seventh innings.

It's good to see Britton get a chance. He was always on the Scranton shuttle during his brief stint with the Yankees, only amassing 35 2/3 innings in two seasons.

Boras called Yankees about Teixeira

We learned yesterday that the Yankees were back to talking Mark Teixeira. However, as Kat O'Brien reported this morning, it was Scott Boras who initiated the talks.

One source said Boras gave Cashman an estimate of what it would cost to land Teixeira, a superb defensive and offensive first baseman. The ballpark figure reportedly was about $22 million to $23 million per year on an eight-year contract, for a total of $180 million to $185 million.

The source said Boras wanted to give the Yankees an opportunity to make an offer. The Yankees currently do not have an offer on the table for Teixeira.
...

Cashman met personally with Teixeira and Boras before the winter meetings but reportedly made no offer. A source said the Yankees have not ruled out making an offer for Teixeira, saying: "We're debating it. Some in the organization want to do it."

"Some in the organization want to do it."

My guess is that should read: "Hank and Hal Steinbrenner want to do it."

O'Brien goes on to suggest the Yankees will remain on the sideline of these talks. She also said Brian Cashman said earlier this week that the Yankees plan to have a lower payroll this year.

So there you have it. The Yankees are debating offering Teixeira a contract.

Introducing: Scott Proctor's Arm 2.0

I'd like to introduce to you the revamped Scott Proctor's Arm, dubbed "The 2009 Project," "Scott Proctor's Arm HD" or "Scott Proctor's Arm 2.0." I don't know which one I like best.

First, I bought the domain name earlier this week, back when I had no plans to add anything else to the site except the usual wonderful content.

However, things changed yesterday when I was bored and thought of things I could do to change the template. I spent most of the day trying to install a third column (the new left-hand sidebar). Believe me, it's harder than you think. I'm not going to go bore you with the details, but it wouldn't work right and I was trying to fix things for many, many hours.

Because of the width of the extra column, a new banner had to be made. I found the picture on Greg Cohen's construction updates page. Thank you.

Now that this is settled, what do you think of the changes? Would you like me to try and change anything? I'm working for you guys.

Also, just a tiny housekeeping note. If you subscribe with the old Feedburner URL, please change your subscription to this URL: http://www.scottproctorsarm.com/feeds/posts/default

Yanks and Angels talking Teixeira

According to Jon Heyman, the Yankees and Angels are back to discussing Mark Teixeira on the heels of Boston dropping out of the race. Here are the Yankee-centric details:

Yankees people were thought on Friday to be debating the merits of Teixeira vs. Manny Ramirez, Boras’ other available slugging superstar, and there may be a split vote in the pinstripe hierarchy. While they all love Teixiera’s all-around play and character, Ramirez may be favored by some for his unmatched clutch hitting prowess, unique ability to tweak the rival Red Sox and to draw attention and dollars, but especially because he’d require a shorter term (perhaps three or four years as opposed to at least eight for Teixeira).

Some have suggested the Yankees are merely monitoring the Teixeira situation since he’s Boston’s top priority, and there’s no concrete evidence they’ve outbid the Red Sox yet. Although, the sides were believed to be discussing parameters on Friday, and the Yankees also know that if they steal Teixeira from Boston they’ve clinched the winter in a landslide.

Knowing how the Yankees operate, nothing should surprise me. However, this news is somewhat surprising to me. I think when all is settled, Teixeira won't be in New York. I doubt they'll give out an eight-year deal nearing or surpassing $200 million.

Stay tuned.

Sabathia's contract calls for $9.5MM bonus in '09

According to Ronald Blum, the Yankees got creative with CC Sabathia's contract. He will receive a $9.5 million signing bonus which results in a lower salary in 2009. Here are the details:

_The signing bonus is payable in three equal installments by Dec. 31 and by March 1 and July 31 next year.

_He will get a $14 million salary in 2009 and $23 million in each of the final six seasons of the deal, the largest contract ever for a pitcher both in total dollars and average salary.

_While most players are paid semimonthly during the six months of the regular season, Sabathia's salary will be paid in semimonthly installments over all 12 months of the year. That means he will have received six payments of $583,333 before the opener.

It's a nice chunk of change any way you slice it. I love this quote from Sabathia:

"With the economy being the way it is ... the huge amount of money, it was, you know pretty crazy. But that's our game, I guess." Truer words have never been spoken.

Sabathia will also receive a suite on road trips and, of course, can opt out after three seasons.

Rosenthal: Pettitte's return 'virtually inevitable'

Andy Pettitte will return to the Yankees. That's if you believe Ken Rosenthal's source, who says his return is "virtually inevitable." The source said no deal is imminent but it is believed the two sides will eventually come to an agreement.

The Yankees have offered Pettitte a one-year deal worth $10 million and there has been no further news on the mysterious three-year, $36 million offer, leading me to believe it doesn't exist.

While Pettitte struggled last year, he still logged over 200 innings and would be a nice addition to the revamped rotation. As long as he makes under $16 million, I'll be thrilled.

Snow day links

I have a couple of fun links to post while those in the New York area are snowed in.

First, from the Serious Sports News Network, we have "Pavano to Yankees: 'Be careful with long-term, high-dollar for generally-unproven, injury-prone free agent pitchers." This site is pretty hilarious, so check out some of the other stuff they have going on.

Also, I received this quiz from JetPunk.com in my e-mail last night. You have three minutes to name all of the 30 Major League teams. It's harder than you think. And be careful because the clock starts right after the page loads.

Jeter's speech wins Moment of the Year

Remember Derek Jeter's speech following the final game at Yankee Stadium in September? Well, that was voted Moment of the Year in the This Year in Baseball Awards.

Moment of the Year -- Derek Jeter, Yankees: The Yankees faced an end to their streak of 13 consecutive postseason appearances in the Stadium finale on Sept. 21, but that did little to dampen the celebration after a 7-3 win over the Orioles. Leading the rousing sendoff was Jeter, who took the microphone to address the Stadium faithful. "For all of us up here, it's a huge honor to put this uniform on every day and come out here and play," said the veteran shortstop, who earned 34.7 percent of the TYIB votes. Finishing second at 22.3 percent was Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, who blasted a record 28 long balls in the first round of the Home Run Derby -- at Yankee Stadium, no less.

Mike Mussina finished second in the Starter of the Year award, Mariano Rivera finished second in the Closer of the Year award and Johnny Damon's non-catch when the ball rolled on top of the wall against the Red Sox won Oddity of the Year.

Here is video of Jeter's speech:

Yankees avoiding Sheets like the plague

Tireless Joel Sherman, who's supposed to be on vacation, threw up yet another post this week. He talks mainly about Ben Sheets, but has other bits of information on A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe.

Sherman said he's heard from sources who said the Yankees have real concerns about Sheets' health history, especially his back. He also said the Yankees have already taken their "health gamble" by signing Burnett to a five-year deal and want nothing to do with Sheets.

He also has news on why the Yankees chose Burnett over Lowe. He said the Yankees built their plans around CC Sabathia, but knew they needed a second pitcher. The Yankees used both pitchers' numbers in and against the AL East as comparison, and it was ultimately the deal breaker.

Lowe had a 5.42 ERA in his last year in the AL East, and he's already up there in age (he'll turn 36 in June). Burnett was 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA against the Yankees last year, and because of that, the Yankees felt he could dominant other AL opponents. He pitched to a 2.60 ERA against the Boston Red Sox last year and only gave up one run (zero earned) in 13 2/3 innings pitched at Fenway Park.

Sherman said the Yankees valued Burnett's dominant potential over Lowe's dependability.

Nothing surprising here. Had the Yankees been unable to sign Burnett, Sheets would've been a nice option. He would've required less years and less annual money than Burnett. Both pitchers, however, are injury risks. Lowe also probably would've received a contract like Burnett's, and I would be extremely hesitant to give a four- or five-year to a pitcher in his mid-30s.

Yankees not in on Teixeira

Last night, I reported the news that the Red Sox were out of the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes. According to George King, the Yankees were not the ones who outbid the Red Sox.

"Not us," GM Brian Cashman told The Post late last night.

So I guess the dream of signing CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Teixeira could be put to rest.

Sox owner on Teixeira: 'We are not going to be a factor'

Wow. Shocking news coming out of Boston.

According to Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe, John Henry, the Red Sox owner, e-mailed the media saying they're out of the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes.

Henry's words: "We met with Mr. Teixeira and were very much impressed with him. After hearing about his other offers, however, it seems clear that we are not going to be a factor."

This is contrary to this report.

I doubt the Yankees will swoop in here, but anything can happen. I'll post this picture anyway.

Teixeira could be headed to Boston

Mark Bowman cites a Boston television report, saying the Red Sox brass is in Texas speaking to Scott Boras, Mark Teixeira's agent, and that the team could be close to inking the first baseman.

The same report said Boston's offer is eight years for $184 million ($23 million per).

Well...good pitching beats good hitting - hopefully.

Photos of the day

AP Photo

(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

I like A.J.

I hate his contract, but I like A.J. Burnett as a person.

If you saw the press conference or heard what he said, you'll know what I'm talking about. He exuded confidence and was honest. When asked about if he came here for the money, he didn't say "no," because obviously money factors into the equation. Aside from money, it sounded like he legitimately wants to be a Yankee and play for a winner.

After listening to people like Alex Rodriguez speak over the last few years, Burnett seems like a breath of fresh air.

Hopefully he can stay healthy. Let's start the season.

AP Photo

CC and A.J. live chat

Reminder: Live chat at 12:45

Just reminding you that our first ever live chat will commence at 12:45 p.m. ET today in advance of the 1:00 p.m. dual press conference. Hope to see you all there!

Also, keep the votes coming in the Yankee of the Year (YoY) poll!

New update regarding bids to Manny and Teixeira

The news? There is no news.

According to Kat O'Brien, the Yankees have not made offers to Mark Teixeira or Manny Ramirez, and may not at all. One of O'Brien's sources said the Yankees haven't even discussed Ramirez at any length, contrary to this report.

"We're monitoring the situation, but we have not made an offer," a team source said. "We may not make an offer. If the money gets too rich, then we won't."

So this is the absolute latest. You can now go to bed and not worry about Ramirez being a Yankee, if you're against the move, obviously.

Sabathia meets new Stadium

Ed Price posted some pictures of CC Sabathia (provided by the New York Yankees) touring the new Yankee Stadium.

He's got a $161-million smile.

REMINDER!!! 1:00 press conference tomorrow. The live chat will be up at 12:45 so drop by and talk Yankees baseball with yours truly. Hopefully we get a decent turn out.

Also, please vote in the poll on the right-hand side of the page. I'm going to make a special award for the winner, so I want to get as many votes as possible!