NYCurve Yankees Blog

Jeff Kent Retires, Astros’ Owner Discusses Clemens/Pettitte, Sheets Meets With Rangers

Just another Major League Baseball news update:

• The biggest story of the past few days was Jeff Kent announcing his retirement. The second baseman spoke with tears in front of reporters at his press conference, remembering the various people who he was hired by and worked with over the course of his 17-year-long career. Kent is one of those guys that was never afraid to speak his mind and he has built a unique identity for himself that is respected all around the league. He took a strong stance against performance enhancing drugs and through hard work he managed to have a very successful pro career, one that will likely end with him being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Kent will be missed.
• Ben Sheets met with the Texas Rangers about a possible deal. Sheets lives in Dallas, so a deal with the Rangers is definitely of interest to him and as we all know the Rangers can certainly use the pitcher. Sheets was offered salary arbitration by the Brewers, so if he signs with the Rangers, Milwaukee will receive draft picks.
• The Brewers agreed to a new 2-year-deal with first baseman Prince Fielder worth $18 million.
• The owner of the Astros says that there is a possibility that Andy Pettitte will go back to Houston this season. The Astros are also looking to see whether or not Roger Clemens will come to spring training.

Stay tuned for more updates and news (both about the Yankees and other major news) in coming days.

League Update

Here is some news from around the league for today:

• The Cubs have agreed to a deal worth $4.2 million with closer Kevin Gregg as they try to again build the long-awaited team that will end their World Series drought
• The Orioles have agreed to a big deal with Nick Markakis, worth approximately $66 million over 6 years
• Derek Jeter is on the provisional roster for the World Baseball Classic
• Felix Hernandez of the Mariners avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $3.8 million deal with Seattle
• Albert Pujois’ elbow seems fine after his recent surgery on it
• The White Sox and RHP Bobby Jenks have agreed to a one year, $5.6 million contract
• Ryan Madson agreed to a $12 million, three year deal with the Phillies
• New rules have been implemented concerning maple bats and many manufacturers aren’t happy
• There are also conversations about how the new bats will have different “sweet spots”

Recent Yankee News

Just some recent news from the Yankee universe and the MLB:

• Team president, Randy Levine, was subpoenaed today by a state assembly committee investigating the public funding that is being used for the new Yankee Stadium. Levine is supposed to report at the hearing on Wednesday.
• Rickey Henderson got elected into the Hall of Fame in his first appearance on the ballot. Congratulations to him, he really deserves it considering how great a player he was. He ended with over 90% of the vote, but many analysts expected him to get more than he did.
• Former Boston slugger Jim Rice also made the Hall, in his last year of eligibility.
• Mark McGwire, in his third year on the ballot, actually saw a decrease in number of votes. It isn’t looking good for the performance-enhancing drug users- thankfully.
• The final decision on the Cubs sale should be coming later this week.
• The Braves sign Derek Lowe to a $60 million deal
• The Red Sox sign John Smoltz to a $5.5 million deal
• The Yankees will win the World Series in 2009- at least I’m hoping.

Try Seatwave for Tickets

Just a quick tip for saving a few bucks on tickets (which can be really useful in tough times such as what we are currently facing): Next time you need sports tickets (or tickets for musical/theater events) you may want to check out a new service called Seatwave. Shopping around is always the best when it comes to tickets so that you can get the best price available since they can get very expensive (especially Yankee tickets.) Seatwave is a sort of Ebay for tickets, where sellers post their tickets meaning that you may be able to find good bargains on it. If you are looking to sell tickets you can also post there. The service seems kind of like StubHub, but again it is best to shop around, so looking at both places (as well as others) is probably in your interest if you want to get the best bargain.

I know the blog has been kind of dead lately, but look for more posts to start coming soon. I have been really busy and that has kept me away from the blog, but I will try to post at least once a week from now on. Thanks for the patience and I hope you stick with this blog.

Teixeira a Yank!

The Yankees have agreed to a deal with free agent Mark Teixeira on a 8-year, $180 million contract. Can I hear World Series 2009? We were already the favorites after the Sabathia and Burnett signings and this move certainly gives us another huge boost. It’s a great day in Yankee land and I for one am ready for that 27th championship and the end to this World Series drought.

Rays knock out Red Sox

The Yankees didn’t make it and neither did the Red Sox. At least there was some good news for the Yanks this postseason. The Rays finally overcame Boston in a 3-1 victory tonight.