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Another slow day in the baseball offseason… No news today other than Mark Prior has signed with the Padres, meaning he won’t be in pinstripes. Not a big deal, especially if he keeps getting hurt. Well since there is nothing else new, here is another great performance by the Bleacher Creatures; Yankee fans are definetely the best in the sports world:

Ex-ballplayer and Yankee Jim Leyritz was charged with DUI manslaughter and DUI property damage today. He was driving drunk and ended up killing a man. As a result he was taken to the county jail where he posted his $11,000 bail bond. It is really a sad thing when a drunk driver kills someone and it is even sadder when the drunk driver is someone famous because there are always kids who look up to him.

Leyritz played with a few teams during his career which ended in 2000. He was popular among fans during his tenure with the Yankees, especially during the 1996 season when he hit a home run in game four of the World Series against the Braves. Currently Leyritz is working with mlb.com.

This year the Yankees’ luxury tax was reduced to $23.88 million. Man, we are really a thrifty bunch! But really, sure its a lot but it still beats the $26 million we paid last year and it is certainly an improvement over the $33.98 million we paid in 2005. The Rocket accounted for $6.98 million of this year’s tax and at the moment it doesn’t look like he’ll be returning, so our payroll should be lower this season (which will bring down the luxury tax). Well that’s unless we get Santana, in which case it may still remain about the same if we give him a big deal. But who really knows whats happening with the Twins ace?

I just ran across this video on Youtube and since it is Christmas is perfect for today. It is a 1947 newsreel of Babe Ruth playing Santa Claus for children with Polio. He doesn’t make the greatest Santa, but hey if it made the kids happy thats all that matters.

Roger Clemens had released a video on youtube, again stating that he has never used steroids or human growth hormone. Right now it is one man’s word against another, but it will be interesting to see how everything develops, especially with the 60 minutes interview he is doing and the Mitchell Report congressional hearing.

Tommy Byrne, a former Yankee pitcher, past away yesterday at the age of 87. He had spent 11 of his 14 seasons in the Bronx and had pitched in four World Series. He was known as “Wild Man” due to his lack of control on the mound, but he managed to have several great seasons during his career. He was also a good batter, often being used as a pinch hitter by Yankees’ manager Casey Stengal.

The Yankees seem to be in a giving mood this holiday season. Just a couple of days ago, A Rod announced that he will be opening up an education center for underprivleged kids in Florida. He has funded $1.5 million for the project, which is projected to open in April 2008. It will be called the “Alex Rodriguez Education Center”. The education center will be given to the Southwest Miami Boys & Girls Club, which is the same group Rodriguez sponsored a baseball field for before. The group had been talking about such a facility for a while and A Rod will make it a reality for them; you can’t say anything bad about that.

Joba Chamberlain is also spreading some holiday cheer. He spent last Thursday in the department of pediatrics in the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where he spent time with the kids and tried to bring some cheer into their lives (as well as into the lives of their parents). Joba, along with many others who attended were wearing “Yankee Universe” t-shirts. Yankee Universe is a program which raises money to donate to the cancer center at Sloan-Kettering.

Today Roger Clemens denied all allegations made against him by the Mitchell Report. Through his agent and lawyer he has said that he never used any banned substances in his life including steroids and human growth hormone. He said he will be answering all the questions that have come up with the accusation in due time.

He added:

“Those substances represent a dangerous and destructive shortcut that no athlete should ever take.”

Hopefully what Clemens has said is true, but at the moment it is really just one man’s word against another’s. Brian McNamee, the former athletic trainer who told Mitchell about Clemens, is currently being tried and could possibly go to jail. The reason why he named Clemens as well as others is so that he can get a better plea bargaining deal, but that raises the question as to whether he is actually telling the truth or just scrambling to make up stuff so that he can get a better deal.

Today the deal with closer Mariano Rivera was finalized. It is worth $45 million over three years and will likely by Rivera’s last contract as a major leaguer (he is currently 38 years old.) Rivera has been great to us and it is nice to see him stay in pinstripes once more. Rivera had become a free agent after the season was over, but ended up with the Yanks again… can you imagine him anywhere else anyway? He will certainly be appreciated this year, especially as we try to figure out this whole pitching thing.

Today has been a slow day on both the Yankee and MLB fronts. It is rest well needed though, from the insanity of Mitchell madness. So, keeping pace with this I have decided to post a video for all of you to enjoy. I found it on Youtube and it is a great video, dedicated to the Yankee dynasty of the second half of the 90s. So, sit back and take a look down this happy memory lane:

After watching the video a few things came to mind. One was obviously when we will see the glory days come back to us. I think it is interesting that that dynasty started only two years after the league was in a huge debacle (like it currently is) over the 1994 strike. Baseball didn’t lose its popularity even though there was no World Series that year. Growth continued and the sport was not tainted. Hopefully the same will happen after this current mess is all sorted out. Even better would be if the Yanks come out of this disaster the same way they did after the strike; if that happens we are in for some more great moments soon!

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