The deal, according to MLBTR, would have the Yankees receiving  Granderson and a prospect from Arizona, and would send Phil Coke, Austin Jackson, and Michael Dunn to the D'Backs, and Ian Kennedy to the Tigers. 

What you're Getting:

A Career .272 hitter, Granderson (Age 28) who bat .249 last year. He had a career high 30 HR in 2009, and has averaged 23 HR a year as a full time player. He stole 20/26, which is not a very high percentage for someone with his speed. 

What you're giving up:

You're number 1 prospect outside of Jesus Montero. Jackson (Age 22) should be ML Ready by mid this year, so it's not really a development issue.

A Left Reliever, Coke (Age 27) with a Career ERA of 3.73, almost 8 K/ 9 innings, .99 WHIP and an impressive sub-200 BA Against

An original member of the "Trinity", Kennedy (Age 24) who pitched an impressive AFL and could be a nice asset coming off of surgery. 

If you ask me, this is all too much for a "pretty good" outfielder. Quite Frankly Damon out produced Granderson, and while he is older, it may only cost you 20 Million and no prospects to get him. After all, with Coke gone the only person left in the pen is (gasp) playoff stunner Damaso Marte. 

Side note: MLBTR says the D'Backs really want to make this happen, so let's see how much we can squeeze out of them, as in not giving up Coke and or Jackson. 

Here is an ad that ran on the back page of the Philadelphia Inquirer today. Let's just hope it jinxed it! My guess is that they were just following Jimmy Rollins prediction, because after all his is a "prophet."

Shut Jimmy and the rest of the gang and step on their throats. It end's tonight. "Give them nothing, and take from them... Everything!" 

If anybody can find the actual shirt (if it exists) grab one and wear it to the Canyon of Heros Saturday.

So all year we have been talking about going .500 with over .500 teams, and .750 with the rest. I'm a little worried given the fact that games with Boston and The LA/ Anaheim/ California Angels loom in the next week. Ideally we'd wrap up the division, and home field after Boston this weekend, giving everyone 6 games and 10 days to rest before the ALDS.

So:

We can expect Boston to take 2 of 3 from KC, Losing tomorrow with Greinke going against a dismal Byrd. 

Boston's loss would move the Magic number to 8,

I hope that we win the bookends at LAA, with Andy, and AJ going in those games, I don't expect much from Mr. Gaudin.

2 wins from LAA this week would reduce our Magic Number for home field, against the Angels to 4, and the number against boston to 6.

Then comes Boston:

The match-ups are as follows, 

CC vs Lester

Joba vs. Wakefield

and Andy vs. Byrd,

Is it too much to ask for 2?

That would bring the magic number down to 2, and we could easily grab 2 from KC and have 4 days to rest.

The only icing on the cake would be a sweep vs. Boston, clinching Sunday against the chowderheads.

Anyways, mapping it out makes me feel better, and less worried, let's get our pitching sorted out this week, and hope someone wakes up the bats in what could be 2 playoff matchups for our boys.

As you've probably heard, there is a lot of commotion going on about Minor Leaguer Pat Venditte.

Rick Reilly has a great article about the young switch pitcher!

The pitching coach has to file two reports: Venditte the lefty and Venditte the righty. And he should; they're two different pitchers. The righty has a 90 mph fastball, a curve and a nice change. The lefty comes sidearm and has a murderous slider and a change. He's a five-pitch pitcher!

The Rest of Rick Reilly's article can be seen here

And if it's not amazing enough that he can throw from both sides, just take a look at his stats from last year and the beginning of this year. 

The only question is: When can he be ready? I don't want to push him, but I do hope that the Yankees will bring him up late NEXT year to start in the 8th inning set up role. That should give him a little more than a full season of baseball before Mo's contract is up and he could inherit the job. 

I haven't heard anything about his development but 44.1 innings, 60K's, and only 3 ER and 15 hits is pretty damn impressive. 

Given some managerial decisions, and recent blown games, I'm wondering about the fate of ole' joe. 

I think he could be safe for now, pending a win tomorrow, but if things don't look good and if we're around .500 mid june, he's gone. I love the guy personally, but he's just wound too tight, and he's trying to play it cool like Torre used too. Maybe managing in New York wasn't the right step for him.

Thoughts?Any ideas on replacements?

Ok.. Let me start out by saying that I admit to being a long time Melky supporter. From the first game he played vs. the Red Sox I have dubbed Melky "My Boy." That being said he was a complete let down last year. However he is only 23, has shown potential and reminds me a lot of Bernie.

Lets take a look at the last 3 years Melky vs. Cameron

Melky : 160 RBIs, 11 Triples, 23 HR's, 62 2B's, 184 Runs, 34 Steals, 187 SO's .270 AVG, 330 OBS

Cameron: 231 RBI's, 17 Triples, 68 HR's, 92 2B's, 245 Runs,  60 Steals, 444 SO's, 251 AVG, 338 OBS

Yes, obviously Cameron is a better run producer. Nobody will argue that. But, Melky has almost a 20 point better BA. Also you have to examine the roles of these 2 players. Cameron bats 3,4, or 5 in the Brewers lineup while Melky has bat 8, or 9 and sometimes 1. He has no opportunity to produce runs. That was not Melky's job. 

You also have to ask yourself "What do the Yankees really need right now?" I think most people got tired of seeing rally killing DP's and K's last year, especially by Mr. A-Rod. The one thing that cost the Yankees last year was their inability to score runs when it counted, or keep an inning alive. I just don't see how a guy who averages near 150 SO's a year is what we need. 

Lastly you can't ignore the fact that Melky is 23 and Cameron soon to be 36. One thing I really loved about last year was the energy that the young guys brought to the clubhouse. If you add Cameron that leaves you with Cameron, Damon, Matsui, Jeter, A-Rod, Posada all in the field in their mid 30's. That team 5 years ago might have been great, but right now is simply just too old.  There is a certain flare that Melky, Cano, and certainly Joba bring to the team. Speaking of which how will Cano respond to losing his best friend. He was bad enough with Melky gone for a third of last year. I say that we keep Melky, and, as weird as it is to say, try to have a team more like the Rays. I really think that this deal could come back to haunt the Yanks in a few years. Sacrifice the few dingers and RBI's and for God's sake Cashman keep some of our young guys for later years.

According to the NY Post, CC Sabathia decided late last night to agree to the largest contract for a pitcher ever. Cashman flew to CC's home in San Francisco to meet. By the end of the meeting, CC said he was a Yankee. 

The only Question remains, given all of the signs he gave off over the last 3 weeks, does CC really want to pitch in New York?

At least we have some footing moving forward. I think now we can stop talking about Burnett and focus on either Lowe or Sheets. I just think 5 years is outrageous for Burnett, who only pitches well during contract years. 

The new Rotation (in My mind):

CC
Wang
Joba
(Sheets or Lowe)
Hughes

Ken Rosenthal reports that  Mike Mussina is expected to announce his retirement shortly.

via www.thesunblog.com

This was expected but certainly saddens Yankee fans throughout the nation. Moose had possibly the best season of his career this year (only 20 win season), and was a short way away from 300. This however does give Andy Pettitte a little bit of hope. Right now I see our rotation as follows:

C.C. Sabathia

Chin Ming Wang

A.J. Burnett

Joba Chamberlain

Andy Pettitte

Of course there is a possibility of signing Lowe but given other teams interest (Baltimore, Detroit, Boston, White Sox, Cubs) I find it doubtful.

Certainly Moose will be missed in the Bronx.

Realistically the players union is breathing down C.C's neck to accept this deal. At what stage does Hank tell C.C. the deal is off the table. It's been 4 days (2 business days) and I expect the Yankees to tell C.C. he has until mid day Tuesday to make a decision. Right now everything lies in the balance of this deal. IF C.C. accepts, the Yankees can make realistic offers to Lowe and/or Burnett and have no need to go after Peavy.If C.C. says no deal, than the Yanks (unfortunately) have to blow Lowe or Burnett away and probably propose a heavy trade to SD.

I think that C.C. will say yes, however everyday it becomes harder and more expensive to sign those other pitchers. I think Hank should say that a decision needs to be made by noon Tuesday or no deal. He should then offer Lowe and Burnett a hefty sum and if C.C. comes running back than Hank can explain that the money just isn't there. Unfortunately, C.C. might have trouble taking Hank seriously after last years: "There is no way that A-Rod is going to be a Yankee" incident. (Thanks Hank) 

The whole point of this deal was to blow C.C. away before anyone else had the chance. The Yanks can't sit back and wait for C.C. to hear other teams offers (if there are any.) Remember "strike early strike often" only works if you aren't waiting for weeks to sign your main guy. The only way for the Yankees to build upon this deal is if it happens soon. Either way I think the Yanks need a Yes or No soon.

Does anyone know if there is a deadline? I'd b curious to hear peoples thoughts on a possible deadline.