Winter Meeting News

[catman]

From Fox Sports: LIVE: Follow the winter meetings in Indy - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN

[doublee]

Brad Penny reportedly signs with the Cards.

Sources: Brad Penny agrees to deal with St. Louis Cardinals - ESPN

Potentially a nice pick up if he is healthy. Could mean that Smoltz and/or Piniero will not be back next season. Hopefully it means Todd Wellemeyer is not an option for the rotation next season.

[catman]

Here is a story on a possible "blockbuster" deal involving the D'backs, Tigers and Yankees: Sources: Yanks on verge of Granderson deal - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN

[doublee]

It is somewhat laughable that the Yankees supposedly think that Granderson is going to hit second behind Jeter.

It potentially gives the D-Backs a pretty deep rotation if Webb and Kennedy make it back from their injuries next spring.

[catman]

I would think that Granderson would lead off for the Yankees.

[Anthony]

While I am not now - nor have I ever been - a Yankees fan per se, I almost hope they win 130 games in 2010 and then go 11-0 in the postseason, just to see the crocodile tears flow from the usual kvetchers.

And hey - the last time the Yankees were this dominant, they helped get us through the Great Depression and World War II.

[doublee]

Originally Posted by catman

I would think that Granderson would lead off for the Yankees.

The consensus seems to be that Jeter is going to hit lead-off next year since he did so well at it this season. Either way swapping out Damon for Granderson at the top of the order really is not much of an upgrade for them. Granderson has a bit more power, but, Damon is a much more disciplined hitter and better at getting on base than Granderson is.

To me Granderson is a bit overrated and given how much his average has dropped over the past two seasons it would appear that the league has figured out how to pitch to him.

Believe it or not I think the move was made mostly for financial reasons. Granderson is due a little over $5 million next season and Damon is probably going to command roughly twice that. Buster Olney wrote last week that the Yanks are looking to cut roughly $25 to $30 million from their payroll next season. The Yanks sold rouhgly 8,000 fewer tickets per game last season and it looks as though they do not quite have the same operating budget for next season that they did this past season.

I would not be surprised if this is the biggest moves the Yanks make this off season.