The Sabres have acquired the rights to negotiate with defenseman Christian Ehrhoff from the NY Islanders for a 4th rd. draft pick in 2012

One of the best articles I have read on Jeter in a long time.

Mark Feinsand says it’s finally happening: the Yankees and manager Joe Girardi have agreed on a new three-year, $9M contract.

Josh Hamilton was named the AL's Outstanding Player in the 2010 Players Choice Awards. Robinson Cano was not a finalist (Bautista/Cabrera).

Somewhere AJ Burnett is crying on his pillow shaped like Jose Molina's face.

Despite the fact that Mark Teixeira has been playing with a broken toe for weeks, New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he has no plans to give the first baseman any time off.

"He's been playing with it for two weeks," Girardi told espnNewYork.com. "You can't do much for broken toes, that's the thing."

Teixeira broke the little toe on his right foot when he hit a foul ball off of the foot on Aug. 31 at Yankee Stadium. The New York Post first reported Teixeira's injury.

Thoughts?

Apparently we are already over our projected budget.

If the Yankees are indeed interested in acquiring Kansas City Royals All-Star closer Joakim Soria, they will face one more hurdle -- a no-trade clause.

The Yankees are one of the six teams on Soria's no-trade list, a baseball official with knowledge of the contract tells ESPN New York.

If McArthur is worth $2.4, what is Tim Kennedy worth then?

The Thrashers have exercised their walk-away rights in the arbitration case of Clarke MacArthur, making him an unrestricted free agent. MacArthur was awarded $2.4 million but the writing was on the wall when the Thrashers acquired Andrew Ladd from the Blackhawks.

Gardner’s conventional statistics are strong enough. His .309 batting average is second best among Yankees starters, and his on-base percentage of .396 is sixth-best in the American League. Gardner also grades highly by sabermetric measures. Baseball-Reference.com gives Gardner a Wins Above Replacement (WAR) value of 3.4 – tied for sixth in the American League with Kevin Youkilis and Carl Crawford, behind only Morneau, Cano, Longoria, Cabrera in Detroit and Pedroia.

The Mariners requested at least three prospects from the Yankees, including Montero, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. But while the Yankees are dealing from strength (they have two more good catching prospects in Austin Romine and Gary Sanchez), they do not have have a major need in their rotation and are unlikely to overpay under the circumstances.

Greinke to the Yankees - It is hard to have a discussion like this without talking about the Yankees, but it is hard to see a great fit, here. Four of the top ten prospects in the Yank system are catchers and two others are pitchers who are struggling mightily. Would they part with number one prospect and catcher/DH Jesus Montero? A package starting with him and pitcher Zach McAllister (#4) would be a start, but I am not sure where it goes from there. Maybe you add Brett Gardner, but you would still need a couple of players beyond that in my opinion.

This is better than the early speculation that he was injured, and it might teach him an important lesson.

Quotes from Ruff: "He's doing well. I didn't really anticipate him skating today. He felt better so that part was encouraging.

"That will be a game-time decision on whether he plays. We're just trying to get him a little extra ice to see what he looks like."

For most of this season they were in the top 6. The sky has not fallen yet and this break is exactly what the Sabres needed.

One of the best is Maxim Afinogenov while one of the worst is Chris Drury. The highest ranked Sabre who has played often is Tim Kennedy, the lowest is Thomas Vanek.

(Forwards Only)

One less outfield option for the Yankees, even though it would have been a terrible move, but more importantly one less home for Johnny Damon. His only suitors seem to be the Braves and the Yankees.

The Yankees have agreed to trade Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn and a minor leaguer to the Braves for Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan.

The deal is in the range of $15.5MM for two years, tweets Ken Rosenthal.

This moves the 40 man roster down to 38.

[editor's note: the Yanks receive Washington's Rule 5 pick, which is the first overall selection.]

From River Ave. Blues

American League
1B -- Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees
2B -- Aaron Hill, Toronto Blue Jays
3B -- Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
SS -- Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
OF -- Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
OF -- Jason Bay, Boston Red Sox
OF -- Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels
C -- Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
DH -- Adam Lind, Toronto Blue Jays

National League
1B -- Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
2B -- Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
3B -- Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals
SS -- Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
OF -- Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
OF -- Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF -- Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
C -- Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves
P -- Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs

One ripple effect: the Mariners are presumably crossed off Hideki Matsui's list