Waiving the White Towel

              Alex Rodriguez finally ended the charade of dragging this biogensis saga out any further by dropping his duel lawsuits against MLB and the Players Association. He seems poised to accept the 162-game ban which was knocked down from 211 games by the same arbitrator.



            Technically, A-Rod still could make waves by showing up to Spring Training, on the Minor League grounds, and cause a Tebow-esk media mess, but even he sees the disruption that could be for the 2014 squad, so all of his rhetoric is geared towards staying away until 2015 (when they'll be flying cars).



           Newly signed Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to arrive from Japan to camp on Tuesday which will no doubt be another type of media frenzy, a positive one at that. Early quotes out of Japan from Tanaka is that he feels he's in the best shape of his life. Perhaps a preventative image he wants to place in Hank Steinbrenner's mind to shield himself against any upcoming toad comments.



            After a couple of years of being locked in a cage, Hal has finally let his brother out to make public statements concerning the Yankees again; this time a much more mellowed Hank than the eye-rolling headline grabber from 2008. Just as distasteful, Boston Red Sox President Larry Lucchino started tossing the barbs concerning the Yankees loud offseason moves with quotes such as, "We've seen this before", and "We look forward to competing against them...again". Both statements ring kind of ridiculous as the Red Sox never have any qualms about bringing in a bunch of big names, most recently 2011 in what turned out to be a complete disaster for Boston with Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Bobby Jenks, and the Fried Chicken in the locker room fiasco. Then follow that up with hiring Bobby Valentine as Manager in what turned out to be an atrocious injury-plagued 2012 for Boston that included 69 wins and a last place finish. For all the Yankees injuries and problems in 2013, they wound up with a respectable 85 wins and a third place finish with a rag-tag roster that didn't quit on Girardi the way Francona and Valentine were. Then taking the 'nice to compete against them again' part; Wow - Boston finish 1st in the AL East for the first time since 2007 and were able to take advantage of a hampered 2013 Yankee squad, which accounts for the reason they finished with 97 wins when they were really a 90-win club that got hot at the right time in October. The previous three seasons for Boston saw no playoff appearances at all, so where is Lucchino seeing Boston long-term dominance?



            Being a the World Champion affords you the ability to open your mouth a little, so future Hall-of-Famer Jonny Gomes got into the act with the typical 'championships aren't won on paper' quotes when neither the Yankees themselves nor the media has made any sort of comments that the Yankees are now a championship caliber club. Quite the contrary; despite all the Yankees' signings, many are pointing out the fact that the team still has a long list of uncertainties such as closer (and bullpen in general outside of Roberston), the back of the rotation after CC/Tanaka/Kuroda, Jeter's ankle, Teixeira's wrist, the second base situation (with the loss of Cano), the third base situation (with no A-Rod), the bench, and will Jacoby Ellsbury stay healthy for the $155 million he's getting? Nobody is rolling out the red carpet for the Yankees at all. But back in 2012 when the Toronto Blue Jays were making all the offseason noise; everyone was jumping onto the Toronto vs. Washington Nats World Series bandwagon. Then a year before that the 2011 Red Sox were receiving predictions of 103 or even 110 wins for the season and they turned out to not even make the playoffs. Perhaps Gomes needs that underdog role to get himself motivated, or perhaps his beard is growing into his ears and he can't hear what anyone is saying like the rest of the soup kitchen roster.



           The rivalry will sure get more interesting as Boston added the edgy AJ Pierzynski as catcher who is sure to irk the Yanks when they come to plate and provide some juicy quotes to the press. Tampa Bay probably did the Yankees a favor by letting Fernando Rodney walk away to Seattle and instead going for Grant Balfour as their new closer. Balfour was also on the Yankees target list for closer, but after signing Tanaka, he was deemed as too much a luxury. Balfour is certainly tough, but far more hittable than Rodney with a 98 mph fastball mixed in with a 82 mph change-up. Though Rodney struggled at the beginning of 2013, he finished strong and the Yanks will benefit from having him out of the division in 2014.



            In the offseason that the Mets were geared to spend some serious Bernie Madoff cash; they added another blockbuster diamond attraction to draw the fans to CitiField by offering a minor league deal to Yankee legend Kyle Farnsworth. In fairness, Farnsworth did straighten himself out a little in Tampa a couple of seasons ago, but he fell back into the trap in being Farnsworth again and wore out his welcome at Tropicana Field. With many uncertainties to the Mets bullpen, there lies the strong possibility Farnsworth will make the team and have many opportunities to drive Mets fans crazy by blowing leads. Also signed to a minor league deal, after the Mets initially denied it, is Dice-K Matsuzaka who is getting another shot at their starting rotation after posting a 4.89 ERA in the National League in seven starts last season for the Mets. Nelson Cruz and Stephen Drew are still floating around the Free Agent market and would be decent pick-ups for the Mets, but picking Farnsworth and Dice-K from someone's recycling can means the Mets aren't spending anymore this offseason beyond Colon ($20mil - 2yrs) and Granderson ($60mil - 4yrs).

             The real fun begins with Tanaka on Tuesday.....

The Tree Was Empty

               On the second to last day of Alex Rodriguez's hearing with MLB officials in Kangaroo Court concerning his suspension appeal, the Yankee third baseman/DH slammed his fist onto the table and walked out after it was revealed that Commissioner Bud Selig wouldn't have to testify as to why he's pursuing a 211-game ban on A-Rod when all other tainted names were offered 50-game plea deals.

              After storming out of court, A-Rod took his case to the highest authority: The Mike'd Up Radio Show with Mike Francesa. A clever PR move as it was to give A-Rod a forum to build popular support, overnight the Man on the Street began siding with the aging superstar who has always been viewed as a phony and primadonna. Even the harshest A-Rod critics have come out and stated that he's being unfairly persecuted by MLB officials who have some type of vendetta against him. Now A-Rod has become the rebel standing up to the authorities and fighting for the everyday person living in Sherwood Forest. The reason being that for one of the only times in his baseball career, he finally has a point. Although he's never failed an official PED test and MLB officials are using "evidence" that was stolen and paid for by cash in black bags, for some reason they feel A-Rod is deserving of a 211-game ban in 2014-15 because Selig looks like a jackass for Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa crushing homeruns in 1998.

               Still not knowing if A-Rod will be in uniform by Opening Day 2014, GM Brian Cashman pulled an unexpected move by signing power-hitting catching free agent Brian McCann on a 5-year $85 million deal. The lefty slugger will add power and offense to the lineup which is light-years greater than the constant automatic outs of Chris Stewart and Austin Romine from 2013. Two of Cashman's goals his offseason was to cut down on the strikeout hitters and automatic outs. With all the injuries last season, the bottom of the Yankee lineup was worse than NL teams with their pitchers hitting. McCann's numbers have slightly declined over the past few seasons and he will be 31 soon, but whatever his offense is it will be better than what the Yanks got from the position last season. Plus, as a lefty hitter in Yankee Stadium and with the DH spot in the American League, there's a very good chance he can get back to being a 25-30 homerun guy. Behind the plate he brings an edge and toughness that's been missing since Russell Martin left; although CC Sabathia butted heads with Martin, so its quite possible he may not get along with McCann either. Look for Romine to serve as the backup and CC's caddy, and that ends the Chris Stewart era in pinstripes.

               The longevity of the McCann deal calls into question the catching prospects that Brian Cashman and the Yankee front office seemed to brag about. Last offseason they refused to match the Pirates multi-year deal for Russell Martin because they didn't want anyone blocking the road for all the great catchers that were on their way. Martin may only hit .200, but his 20 homers per season would've helped the Yanks last season and it was the Yankees sitting at home in October while Martin and the Pirates were in the playoffs. Brian McCann may have pop in his bat as a catcher, but he's certainly no 'Mike Piazza' in which you change course in order to obtain a superstar player. The McCann deal is the Yankees admission that they don't think much of Austin Romine at the moment and realistically they won't be able to produce a solid Major Leaguer at that position for the next 3-4 years. All these great fruits from the farm system that were supposedly stacked at the catching position either aren't growing or have turned rotten. There was nothing for Cashman to pluck from the tree at low cost, instead that had to hand over $85 million for McCann while still dealing with the big Cano contract negotiations and trying to get payroll under the $189 million luxury tax line.

               Speaking of which; the Cano saga keeps dragging along, but the negative rhetoric the Yanks' brass has been leaking to the media which paints Cano as a soulless money-grubber has quieted down. Plus, with no other teams showing any signs of interest outside the idiotic Jay-Z (Cano's rep company) meeting with the Mets, both sides seemed to have finally realized they're stuck with eachother, so they'll haggle numbers to make the best of it.

              Carlos Beltran's name keeps being thrown around, which would've made some sense when he wanted to be a Yankee back in 2005, but now he would be another player in his upper 30's on the roster which includes the age of Jeter, Rodriguez, Ichiro, and Soriano. The Yanks will try to get him on a 1-year deal to serve the 'Raul Ibanez' role that Travis Hafner bombed at last season. He can still produce as a hitter and take the field, but he's injury prone and will by 37 in April. The other name the Yanks seem to be in the mix with is the Japanese product Masahiro Tanaka, along with other teams who will likely be bidding for the opportunity to sign him. A more familiar Japanese starting pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda, has made it public he wants to come back to the Yanks again for 2014, so look for him to get a 1-year deal in the near future.

               If not Beltran, the Yanks are going to need a right-fielder with some pop (unless Ichiro stops using a wiffleball bat). There's also the need for someone at third in case A-Rod gets hammered with his appeal or has another hangnail in Spring Training that sidelines him till August. The last sprinklings would have to be regarding the bullpen.




               Or at least something to cure a hangnail......