Add One More

Today the Yankees signed ex-Astro, Morgan Ensberg, to a minor league deal as another possible contender for the first base position. With Giambi, Betemit, Duncan, and now Ensberg all fighting for the position, I think we are bound to find a consistent first baseman for October. I am glad that Cashman made this deal because it really won’t hurt us. As of right now Ensberg has been signed to a minor league deal, so he isn’t even taking up a spot on the 40 man roster.

Looking at Ensberg’s tenure with the Astros, he certainly has the potential to be good and with a one year deal worth $1.75 to $2.25 million (for performance bonuses) we aren’t taking much of a hit. Also, that $1.75 million isn’t even guaranteed unless he is put on the 40 man roster. So, if Duncan or whoever plays amazingly and we have no need for Ensberg, it will cost us less than $1.75 million (I am not sure what the exact figure would be, but it certainly wouldn’t be more than chump change for the Yanks).

Another plus side on Ensberg is that he is a righty, which could certainly come in handy in our predominately left-handed lineup. Bottom line is: the Yanks have added another legitimate option for first base, in a move that has the potential of being a good outcome, but doesn’t hold the risk of hurting us.

Santana to New York

Well its finally all over… Santana has been traded to New York. Not the Yankees though, but our cross town rivals the Mets. I am glad that this deal went through because 1: we can stop talking about this now and 2: the Yankees still have the big three (Joba, Hughes, Kennedy.) The Twins will receive outfielder Carlos Gomez, and pitchers Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey in return for the ace. All that remains now is for Santana to pass a physical and accept a contract extension with his new team.

Once the Red Sox took Lester off the table and the Yanks removed Hughes, the Twins probably realized they had held out too long, so they decided to take the Mets up on the offer before they backed out. This move hasn’t been officially announced by either team yet, but it is being reported by several sources. This is certainly a good move for the Mets since they have now added arguably the best pitcher in baseball at the moment to one of the top teams in the NL. If they don’t make the playoffs this year, then something there is seriously wrong. But, in all seriousness, I think the Mets will make it this year and go as far as the World Series. Yankees, Mets, subway series… sounds good doesn’t it?

Knoblauch Responds

Chuck Knoblauch has finally accepted his invitation to the Congressional hearings concerning the Mitchell Report. Knoblauch has been very quiet about the whole thing, from a very brief (and late) response to the accusations made against him to ignoring Congress’ request. A committee of the House actually issued a subpoena for Knoblauch due to his lack of response (it has now been retracted because Knoblauch has said he will cooperate). And, even after that there was no immediate response; Chuck couldn’t be found anywhere either. Finally, after all the he agreed to the meeting; I wonder where he was…

Anyway, Knoblauch will voluntarily attend an interview this Friday (after being delayed twice before) which is to prepare him for the February 13th Congressional hearing, where he will see Clemens, Petite, and a few others who were also invited.

Jeter’s Golf Tourney

Today Derek Jeter held his fifth annual charity event for the youth of America. Known as the Derek Jeter Celebrity Golf Classic, Jeter and many other big names in todays world (such as Morgan Freeman, Allan Houston, and Micheal Jordan to name a few) go to the event to have fun, but more importantly to raise money for children. The money is then used for several purposes including academic and leadership programs. It is great to see fortunate people such as Jeter share some of their wealth to help others and to make a difference in the world. Our shortstop isn’t the first Yankee to do charity work lately, and that makes me proud as a Yankee fan. It is good to know that the people who play for my favorite team are kind and generous people.

No More Arbitration For Cano

Robinson Cano won’t have to go through the arbitration process anymore because he is close to signing a four year deal worth $30 million with the Yankees. This is exciting because it shows the Yankees like Cano for the future. It also eliminates pesky arbitration for the coming years. Cashman and the crew have tried to stay away from giving young players multi year deals, so signing Cano just shows how good they think he will be. I would be happy if he continued to play like last season through the contract, but chances are he will be even better since he’ll have more experience and is heading into his prime. Let’s just hope theres no injury problems or anything of the sort…

Yankees Break Payroll Record

Yes, we’ve done it again. We broke the previous MLB payroll record (guess who that was held by?) this past season by spending a total of $218.3 million on player salaries! We weren’t expected to spend that much at the beginning of the season, but we can thank Roger Clemens for pushing us across the record-breaking mark with his $17.4 million. We are again projected to spend less this season than last and I think it is more likely to last this time around. I just don’t see another Clemens type signing coming our way; I think Cashman has learned better. We are currently under the 200 million mark, but after arbitration the payroll will probably end up somewhere between $205-210 million. The Yanks don’t really need to worry about it though because compared to how much we spend, we still make a lot more (about $415 million last year, 100 of which went to the league’s revenue sharing plan.) Our financial situation is expected to get even better in 2009 as the new stadium is expected to bring in more money as well.

It isn’t really anything to worry about, but it is really amazing when we compare our spending numbers to the rest of the league. At number two are the Red Sox who’s payroll was $155.4 million last year and third are the Dodgers with $125.6 million spent in the previous season. At the bottom end of the spectrum are the Devil Rays and Marlins, both in the low 30′s. You can expect the Marlins to go even lower this year due to their greedy owner who traded away Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Bottomline is, the Yankees break another spending record, but it really doesn’t matter because we make more than that anyway and thinks only look brighter towards the future as New Yankee Stadium is opened and as stupid contracts like the 20 mil to Giambi expire.