CharityFolks.com has an auction for a Yankees VIP family package. Here's what's included:


The next bid will be for $10,000.00. The proceeds go to the Carol Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund.

Former Yankee Jim Leyritz, who says he would have "been in for sure" if Don Mattingly was made the manager, is looking for a job on Girardi's staff. He sees himself as a first base coach who can work with pitchers.

Besides the fact that the staff seems to be settled without him, a couple weeks ago Leyritz called Don Mattingly the "only logical choice" for the Yankees manager job, making Joe Girardi an illogical choice, I suppose. That probably didn't help.

From the KRIV in Houston:


He also said that the manager swap wouldn't effect his decision and that all 3 guys the Yankees interviewed would have been good.

Via Bobcat via the AP.

Peter Abraham shares what may end up being the Yankees coaching staff this year.

Pitching: Dave Eiland
Hitting: Kevin Long
Bench: Rob Thomson
Third Base: Bobby Meacham
First Base/Catching: Tony Pena
Bullpen: Mike Harkey

A nice side benefit of having Pena back is, of course, his relationship with Jorge. Meacham was a career Yankee from 1983-1988. He was the Marlins third base coach with Girardi and the Padres' first base coach this season.

Thomson has spent 18 years in the Yankees organization, serving as the field coordination this year. Steve has a bit on Mike Harkey. Eiland, another former Yankee, was the pitching coach at triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season.

Peter Abraham is on a roll. He's reporting that Torre has agreed to a 3 year deal, worth $15 million dollars. So, though we don't know the full details of the contract - in other words, the same base salary that the Yankees offered, but with 2 extra years. He had said that the years were the thing and that's certainly reflected in the contract.

It's going to be weird, but I wish him (and Donnie, if that happens) a lot of luck.

Peter Abraham has audio from all 3 conference calls. Check them out:

Joe Girardi
Brian Cashman and Hank Steinbrenner
Don Mattingly

From Girardi's call, care of ESPN:


And from Don Mattinglys conference call, again from ESPN:

As has been alluded to, Tony Pena will be back, according to Peter Abraham. No word on the role, though.

Peter Abraham reports that Mo and his agent, Fernando Cuza, met with Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners (Cashman and the Steinbrenners... do I hear hit single?) today in Tampa. No word on how the meetings went.

The conference call is going on now, but Peter Abraham mentioned that Girardi's deal is for 3 years at a total of $7.5 million dollars a year. It looks like he becomes the 4th highest paid manager in the game.

According to Peter Abraham, the Yankees will announce Joe Girardi as the manager today. The time of the announcement has not yet been revealed.

Bryan Hoch reports that A-Rod, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Doug Mientkiewicz and Luis Vizcaino filed for free agency Monday, the first day that players are able to do so.

Scott Boras issued the following statement:

The Journal News is reporting that the Dodgers have decided to fire Grady Little and replace him with Joe Torre.

It gets better. The article also notes that Don Mattingly is expected to go with him and become his bench coach. And, apparently, Torre is interested in Kevin Long, too.

Wow. Just... wow. What else is gonna happen? Is Guidry headed over there? A-Rod to the Dodgers? Is the reincarnate of DiMaggio going to coach third? Jeez.

This is bad for us. It would have been better if he stayed out a year or, at least, until we had Mo and Posada signed and we had Andy back under his option. Not that they won't come back to us, but they don't need even more temptation not to and, if the Dodgers come calling for a catcher or a closer... well, hold tight everyone.

Peter Abraham has another from the statements department. This time, from MLB's COO, Bob DuPry.

Peter Abraham has a statement from Donnie's agent.

ESPN is reporting that, according to sources, the Yankees have offered Joe Girardi the manager job and Don Mattingly will not be back.

Via my brother, Sean.

That's some nice news I wake up to. A-Rod has opted out of his contract. I thought he had until 10 days after the World Series? Why the rush? If he is really concerned about the direction of the team - about the manager, about Pettitte, about Jorge and Mo - why couldn't he wait a little bit to see how that played out? Numerous reports indicate that we're getting ready to make aggressive offers to both of them. Granted, Pettitte may not have been cleared up in the next 10 days (edit: it would have been, Buster Olney just said that he has to let the Yankees known within 10 days), but it's possible that he might have and that after the manager was in place and after Jorge and Mo were signed (assuming it happens), he'd be more likely to return.

So, why now? Some speculate that A-Rod simply doesn't want to be in New York. The Yankees wanted to meet with him to discuss the offer. Hank Steinbrenner called him and left messages on his phone. No response. He wouldn't agree to meet with them and he wouldn't return their calls. This would seem to support the notion of not wanting to be in New York.

He leaves New York - the largest stage and the most storied franchise - without a World Series and with poor performances in October. The Yankees have been clear in their intentions not to participate in the free agency bidding of Alex Rodriguez.

Hindsight's a funny business, but I think there will be some discussion as to whether or not this strategy was the best way to go, since it ended as it did. Plenty were in support of it, but was it wise to, essentially, threaten A-Rod and Scott Boras publicly? Couldn't they have just privately had this in mind (i.e. "we will not negotiate if he opts out") and communicated it to A-Rod and Boras the importance of the Texas money? Instead of announcing it to the world? I'm not saying it would have mattered, but by publicly announcing it, not only do you risk offending A-Rod and Boras, but you paint the Yankee organization into a corner. We can't bid on A-Rod now without looking foolish, so we allow the best player in the game to walk because of things we said. Even if it was the right call at the time, it didn't work.

The only way that I could see A-Rod returning now is if Boras has badly overestimated the market. Let's say, for example, that no one is even able to offer him the $27 million he would have made this year. So, then the Yankees offer him an 8 year, $26 million dollar a year contract, totaling $208 million. With the Yankees, if we added 5 years to his deal at $30 million (which, really, we probably would have gone higher), his current deal would have been worth $231 million and we would have received $21 million from Texas, so it would have cost us $210 million. So, we'd actually be saving $2 million dollars and he'd be making $23 million less. In that sort of situation, it'd be taken, publicly, as him crawling back to us. That would enable us to make the deal. Is that going to happen? Unlikely. Boras is at the top of his field, he has to know that A-Rod will command $30 million from someone. As such, A-Rod is gone.

Of course, some people wouldn't want him back, not even at 8 years and $26 million a year. Maybe not even the Yankees. Hank Steinbrenner has said that it's clear that A-Rod didn't want to be a Yankee. For all of his talk, he did produce this line, which gave me a chuckle:


In the end, this is disappointing. No matter what happens, we're taking a big step down at 3rd base. I liked Alex and I wanted him to succeed in New York. I rooted for him and was happy when he did well. I felt that, generally speaking, many Yankee fans didn't realize what they had in him. He's a great player and a future Hall of Famer. But, he's no longer a Yankee. Life goes on. I've read a couple comments where someone suggested the Yankees should just go young this year and make it a rebuilding year. To be honest, there is probably never a reason for the Yankees to do that - ever - assuming we don't mess things up too bad. With our money and moderate restraint in our farm system, we should be able to field a competitive team every season with a mix of younger and older guys. Let's not lose sight of that.

Via Steve.

I'm mentioning this because the season he won it for was as a Yankee, of course. From the official site:

From Jon Heyman:

According to CNNSI's Jon Heyman, Alex Rodriguez notified the Yankees on Sunday that he's opting out of his contract.


Instant reaction/analysis? Forget you A-Rod. For a guy that kept reiterating that he has an eye on his legacy and how it was never about the money, this sure reeks of being about the money. Since he never even sat down with the Yankees like they were asking him to, it sure seems like he just wanted out of NY, no?

In any case, Cashman laid it out to you throughout the year and I hope the man sticks to his guns so, so long Alex - enjoy the rest of your HOF career somewhere else and prepare for the worst the next time you step into NY (and Texas...and Seattle...well, I guess he should be used to it by now). Still, this should make his acceptance of the MVP award somewhat interesting though.

Via Big Ben K.

A-Rod was named, by his peers, the Player of the Year in MLB as well as the Outstanding Player in the AL this season. Congrats to him.

Via Kat O'Brien.

This is all just hear-say at the moment and we'll all seen ESPN be wrong before but Buster Olney is reporting that the Yankees are planning to make A-Rod quite the offer (really an extension) if and when they meet with him.

A-Rod has been named Baseball America's Player of the Year. Not much to say. Congrats to him. Now, we just wait for the MVP to be awarded.

Yesterday night, Hank Steinbrenner told reporters that he wants to think about the managerial search over the weekend, ruling out the idea that our new manager could be announced today. He went onto say that we will honor the wishes of the commissioner, as far as when it will be announced.

A team source, speaking to the New York Daily News, said that the manager could be named on Tuesday, the next World Series off day after today.

Via Yahoo!