Well, it looks like Hideki might have listened to some Aretha Franklin over the last three years with the Yankees.


Brian Cashman met with Matsui's agent, Arn Tellem, last night over dinner and hopefully have set the stage for successful negotiations.

Cashman knows that he is working against the clock with Matsui. Hideki's current contract states that if he is not re-signed by Tuesday, November 15th, the Yankees have to release him. If that were to happen, the Yankees couldn't negotiate with him until May. However, reports are stating that the Yankees are willing to go as long as 4 years (with maybe an option for a fifth year) and as high as 10-12 million (Hideki's current contract is for 3 years and 21 million). Considering the dearth of good corner outfielders on the market and what Matsui brings to the table in terms of age and popularity, not to mention his good hitting, decent fielding and a proven ability to handle NY, it looks like Matsui's got a lot of leverage in these talks. I hope the Yanks aren't forced to overpay too much but still, this is a deal that needs to get done.

Well, now that Tino's gone and it looks like Andy Phillips is going to get a shot, I started thinking about the Yankees as a team and just how old they were as a team. Last year, they were the oldest team in the majors, coming in just ahead (or is it behind...) the Red Sox, who averaged 29.6 years. Now, obviously, the average age of the team isn't an indicator of a great team by any stretch, but it doesn't seem likely that you'll be building many dynasties when you have a ton of older players on the roster. In that case, most of your guys hit their peaks (normally thought to be around the age 28 season) and while they may still perform at a high level, the decline phase of their career looms ever nearer.

Take Gary Sheffield for example - 2003 MVP: 3rd place - 2004 MVP: Runner-up, 2005: .291/.379/.512 - probably a top finisher in the MVP voting... and yet, it looks like there are some chinks in that armor. His 2005 numbers, while very good, were less than his career averages and Gary will be going into his age 37 season next year with 2,190 games and 7,886 at bats under his belt. With the way that he plays and how hard he swings that bat, that's a lot of wear and tear on that (in my mind) Hall of Fame body and you have to wonder if and when the wheels will start to come off. Will he experience a slow decline and still be of use to the club? Or will we be looking at a Bernie type fall, where we see the seemingly overnight transformation of a baseball superstar into someone that can and should be easily replaced. I'd pick the former for Sheff (he's still got that bat speed and that keen eye that very, very few players can match) but still, after what happened to Bernie and with the age of the roster - Sheff, Randy (42), Mussina (36), Posada (34), Giambi (34) and even Matsui and Jeter (31) are on the wrong side of 30 - it's hard not to think about and would be foolish to ignore.

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The Yankees have declined Tino's option, deciding to pay him $250,000 to void his contract rather than $3,000,000 to play for us next season.


I still say that if our choice is Tino or Olerud, I'd take Tino. Nonetheless, he's handling it well and is a model for older players to follow. Thanks for everything, Tino.

I really wanted Scott Sauerbeck. Instead, he went back to the Indians. But, it's good to know that the Yankees called.


Via Brian MacMillan.

Blast. Mo finished second in the AL Cy Young voting. He came up with 68 points to Colon's 118. I'm a tad surprised that it wasn't even close. 6 people actually failed to place him on their ballots at all. Everyone who voted had Colon on their ballot and no one had him placed lower than second. Mo got 8 first place votes, 7 2nd place votes and 7 3rd place votes. This marks the 4th time that Mo has finished in the top 3 in AL Cy Young voting - it's the first time he's placed 2nd. Ah, well. Congrats on a great season, Mo.

Well, we wrote about his case previously and our sister site, MarianoRivera.com, launched a campaign to support his chances. And today, we'll know for sure as the AL Cy Young winner is being announced at 2:00 PM Eastern Time today. Fingers crossed - it'd make my day!

Robinson Cano placed second in this year's AL Rookie of the Year voting, coming in behind Oakland's Huston Street. He finished with 57 points, 40 points shy of Street's 97.

I think that I must be jaded by the lack of Yankee ROY candidates of the past couple of years but I find it amazing that Cano finished this high. Joe Blanton (6 points) and Scott Kazmir (1 point) got the short end of the votes in my opinion since Blanton had arguably a more important season for the Athletics than Street did. On my ballot, it went Blanton, Street, and then you can pick one from Gustavo Chacin, Jonny Gomes, Kazmir and Cano. Don't get me wrong, I'm not undervaluing Robbie's contribution to the Yankees this past year. I'm just saying that there were several other worthy candidates amongst his peers who should have recieved more attention.

Steve Lombardi had a good writeup over at WasWatching on what the future might hold for #22.

Yesterday the Yankees announced Yankee legend Ron Guidry as the successor for Mel Stottlemyre as the Yankees pitching coach.

Guidry has been working with the Yankee pitchers in spring training since 1990. Other than that, he doesn't have any coaching experience. He's been on the top of the list to take over for Stottlemyre over the last few years.


It was also announced that Joe Kerrigan will be taking over the role as bullpen coach. As you may recall, Neil Allen was reassigned within the organization this week. Kerrigan came quietly to the Yankees last year as a special advisor doing in-house advance scouting and reporting to Cash.

With Kerrigan, Bowa, Pena, and Mazzilli on the coaching staff, we have four former managers and two Yankee legends. So we don't have Mazzone. Who cares? I'm completely satisfied how the Yankees approached their needs on the staff, and went out and got the best that were out there. I'm even more anxious now for the new season.

Priority now shifts to signing some key players.

The Yankees announced Tony Pena to fill the role as the Yankees first base coach.


By signing Pena, the Yankees have filled another coaching position with someone with Major League managing experience. Just last week the Yankees filled the third base coach position with Larry Bowa, and then this week welcomed back Lee Mazzilli as the bench coach.

In my opinion, this is a BIG deal. With Pena, they get a Latino presence in the dugout, but they also get someone who can work with the catchers. This will be very important, as Girardi filled that role last year, and he's gone to the Marlins.

Pena has four gold gloves and is a five-time all-star. Experience and success. Everything you could want in another coach. Welcome Tony!

Matt Lawton tested positive for steroids.

I guess that this is the mystery roider that was discussed last week but as for someone that people will care about... well, and I apologize to all the Matt Lawton fans out there but... I don't really care. With the Yankees, he batted .125 (6-for-48) with two homers and four RBIs so if those were steroid-induced stats, I think even Matt would be the first to say that they should be thrown out.

Seriously though, I personally am happy that more people are getting caught because in theory, it should level out the playing field. However, I'm a realist and I figure that as long as the carrot of a multi-million dollar contract is dangling, there will always be some people who are willing to cheat to get there.