Ken Davidoff's baseball insider

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who stopped by this week. What a whirlwind. I'm hopping on a red-eye flight back home.

Tomorrow figures to be another busy day. Fortunately for me, the only thing in life at which I am exceptional, is sleeping on planes.

Thanks to the IMDb for the photo.

Man oh man, Brian Cashman is racking up the frequent flier miles this week. Now, he's with Andy Pettitte, trying to convince the left-hander to accept a pay cut to rejoin the Yankees' starting rotation.

You've got to figure this will result in a reconciliation between Pettitte and the Yankees. The Yankees really want to make this work. Pettitte at one year and $10 million (or even a little more) is considerably more appetizing to them than Ben Sheets at two years and $26 million or so.

Just posted this story. As long as the Yankees want the Brewers to pay some of Mike Cameron's salary for 2009, this isn't happening, at least not when the Brewers' officials' emotions are still so raw after being outbid by $61 million for CC Sabathia.

What does it tell you that the Yankees won't give up Melky Cabrera and pay $10 million for one year of Cameron? It tells me that the Yankees like Cameron a little, but not that much.

Let's start off with the Putz trade this morning. What an amazing deal for the Mets. What an incredible trip to Vegas. Putz setting up K-Rod? Wow.

Putz already has voiced his displeasure about this deal through his agent Craig Landis, as you can see within David Lennon's story. But Landis, whom Bob Tufts knows, is going to have to set his client straight: "It's for one year. Be a dominant setup man for a championship team, and the money will be there for you a year from now. And you'll be a closer again in 2010."

And the Mets are a lot closer to being a championship team than they were a week ago, aren't they? There's still work to be done, but man oh man. Mets fans, how fired up are you going to be the first time you take a lead into the eighth inning and turn the ball over to Putz and K-Rod?

Sean Green and Jeremy Reed should be useful pieces, too. Reed can replace Endy Chavez's defense and, unfortunately, his offense.

This all came together once Cleveland signed Kerry Wood. At that point, Omar Minaya asked his Indians counterpart (and good friend) Mark Shapiro if he could have Franklin Gutierrez.

"To keep, or to spin?" Shapiro asked Omar.

"To spin," Minaya replied, and Shapiro immediately knew what was going down. When Shapiro went after Putz for himself, Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik kept asking for Gutierrez. So really, this deal came together in about 24 hours' time.

The Mets initially offered Heilman for Gutierrez, but Shapiro wanted Smith, instead.

The Mariners already have informed Heilman that he'll give him a chance to be a starting pitcher. Music to his ears, no doubt.

Minaya was about as fired up as I've ever seen him. He had a "King Kong ain't got __on me!" vibe going.

Having given up three prospects in this deal, Omar said to the media, "I know a lot of you have written that we don't have a deep enough farm system to make trades. It's just not true. We got Santana last year, and now this one. And we have many more prospects in our system who are blue-chippers."

Well...sorta kinda. The Santana trade was the perfect storm last year: The Twins felt they had to deal him, and at the end, the Mets were the only team that both would pay Santana and that Santana would join.

In any case, the Mets are off to an amazing start this winter. Next up: re-signing Oliver Perez, trading Scott Schoeneweis and finding some way to upgrade the offense. At this point, it looks like Luis Castillo is staying.

Here are Derek Jeter's thoughts on his newest teammate.

Here is a story about Jim Leyritz showing up at the winter meetings.

And now time for our daily giveaway of this DVD. Today, we'll focus on Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, which ended when Aaron Boone hit an 11th-inning homer to give the Yankees a 6-5 victory over Boston and advance his club into the World Series.

Boone did not start that game. He entered as a pinch runner in the eighth inning. Name the player for whom Boone pinch-ran.

The first person to e-mail me the correct answer at kdavidoff@newsday.com will win the DVD.

Thanks to this site for the photo.

UPDATE, 2:45 p.m P.S.T.: We have a winner! Brad knew that Boone pinch ran for Ruben Sierra. Come back tomorrow.

OK, so there is indeed an opt-out after three years for CC Sabathia, which we have added to our story. Nice job by Yahoo Sports, which first reported about the opt-out.

That makes a lot more sense regarding the payroll/roster flexibility I discussed in the last post. As long as CC is healthy in three years, he'll be gone, you've got to figure. By that point, Barry Zito will have just two years remaining on his seven-year, $126-million deal with the Giants, so San Francisco should be more open to bringing him aboard.

At least with the opt-out, the whole thing is a little more honest. The Yankees and Sabathia are going to use each other - the Yankees because their homegrown guys aren't ready yet, and Sabathia because the Giants aren't ready yet for him. It's a marriage of convenience.

My cell phone rang at 4:08 local time this morning. What happened? Family emergency? Breaking news?

Nope, it was my 5-year-old, calling from back in New York, wondering, "Who's better, the Knicks or the Nets?"

"You won't find a better-run franchise in all of professional sports than the Knicks!" I told my offspring. "Well, except maybe the Rangers."

(What can I tell you? Times are tough.)

Anyhoo, it turned out my son gave me an appreciated heads-up. For while Kat O'Brien and I were the first to report last night that Brian Cashman flew to San Francisco to meet with CC Sabathia and his wife, our competitor Joel Sherman advanced the story in a big way, overnight, with this.

We have now confirmed it: CC has agreed to join the Yankees, and once he passes a physical, it'll be a reality. ESPN first reported that the Yankees upped their offer to seven years and $160 million in the final hours.

So what do I think, at this early hour? I think if the Yankees go ahead and sign A.J. Burnett, which seems like a pretty decent possibility, that the Yankees' everyday players are going to be ecstatic. Some of the players emphasized to management, "Don't worry about the lineup. Just get us some pitchers who will instill fear in the opposition." CC and Burnett would do that.

Of course, I also think the Sabathia contract is a major risk. He's a big boy, as we know. Will he be David Wells and defy the odds of longevity? Or, especially now that he's back in the tougher American League, will he start to wilt? And will his workload, particularly of the last two years (251 1/3 innings pitched in 2007, 256 2/3 in 2008) come back to bite him at all?

And will CC find the serenity that he desires in New York? It's interesting that the Yankees raised their offer despite the apparent absence of anything close to what the Yankees offered.

The bottom line is that the Red Sox, despite meeting with CC on Monday, didn't go as hard after Sabathia because they didn't have to. They have attained roster and payroll flexibility - and, most important, talent - that the Yankees envy. This move hinders the Yankees' goal to achieve a similar talent: roster/payroll flexibility ratio.

For now, however, Yankees fans can exhale, knowing that they're not going to get shut out of this winter sweepstakes.

Plenty more coming today. But what do people think of the deal?

Kat O'Brien and I were the first to report that Brian Cashman left Vegas for San Francisco to get together with CC Sabathia once again.

While both Cashman and Sabathia keep their intentions very close to their respective, dramaticlaly different-sized vests, indications were this was a good sign for the Yankees, who sounded increasingly confident they were going to get their man.

Sabathia's wife, Amber, is highly respected by friends of the pitcher, and there's a widely held industry belief that Amber Sabathia wants her husband to pitch for the Giants. So this could be a matter of Cashman now recruiting Amber Sabathia.

In any case, three meetings in three days, covering two time zones, has to be an encouraging sign for the Yankees.

Once K-Rod passes his physical, he'll be a Met.

The Brewers won't raise their offer to CC Sabathia, although Sabathia's agents reportedly met with the Giants last night. The intrigue continues...

Sabathia didn't reject the Yankees' offer. Good Lord. How could someone report that?

In the meantime, as CC takes his time, the Yankees will top the Braves' offer to A.J. Burnett, intensifying their efforts to get the right-hander. Ben Sheets remains a possibility.

Torii Hunter thinks CC Sabathia would be fine in New York.

Not much doing yet for Jason Giambi.

Randy Johnson, estranged from the Diamondbacks for now, prefers to stay out West. The A's and Giants appear to be potential landing points.

Now, the trivia, Day 5, in which we give away this DVD. When the clock struck midnight during Game 4 of the 2001 World Series, Derek Jeter _ who, minutes later, hit the walkoff homer to give the Yankees a 4-3, 10-inning victory - joked around with Joe Torre in the home dugout about something regarding Torre's contractual status. Why was Torre's contract an object of humor on this night?

The first person to correctly e-mail me the answer at kdavidoff@newsday.com will win the DVD.

No big "theme piece" today. Sorry. Want to get to the gym, so I can schmooze my fellow exercisers and get more info.

The Mets are close to signing Francisco Rodriguez to a three-year deal. This just makes too much sense. It has made sense since the last day of the regular season.

I'm sure that, as we get to know K-Rod, we'll discover flaws we didn't anticipate; that's what happens when you see someone up close. But look, the guy is an accomplished, frontline closer. And a three-year deal? My goodness. He'll be 29 when he's a free agent again. He has every motivation to keep up what he's done and push for a really big score in the 2011-2012 offseason.

The Yankees are keeping very busy, but nothing appears close yet.

Here is my column about CC Sabathia.

Ned Colletti is talking tough about Manny Ramirez. If the Yankees land their primary targets in Sabathia and another pitcher, it'll be fascinating to see where Manny winds up.

The Dodgers are closing in on re-signing Casey Blake, and with Blake at third, as Ken Rosenthal notes, the Dodgers can move Blake DeWitt to second base. I think a lot of that Robinson Cano-to-the-Dodgers stuff was overblown. The Yankees are really inclined to keep Cano.

Plenty more updates today, and Day 5 of the Yankees DVD contest.

Thanks to this site for the photo.

UPDATE, 8:44 P.S.T.: I know this is late notice, but I'm doing a live chat at Noon E.S.T.

Quickly now:

In today's giveaway of this DVD, let's focus on Game 6 of the 1996 World Series, in which the Yankees edged the Braves, 3-2, for their first World Series title in 18 years.

Perhaps the most memorable hit in that game was Joe Girardi's third-inning triple off his former Cubs teammate Greg Maddux, who announced his retirement today.

Maddux pitched 198 postseason innings, and he surrendered just two triples. Besides Girardi, who else hit a postseason triple off Maddux?

The first person who e-mails me at kdavidoff@newsday.com with the correct answer will get the DVD.

UPDATE, 2:27 P.S.T.: We have a winner! Joe knew that the Phillies' Mickey Morandini tripled off Maddux in Game 6 of the 1993 NLCS. Another contest tomorrow.

Greg Maddux officially retired today. Last month, when Mike Mussina retired, I put Maddux in a tier below Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez in terms of dominant pitchers from this era. I'd now like to retract that. No clue what I was thinking. Maddux is among the very best of all time.

Here is an update on Jake Peavy. Sounds like he'd rather pitch for an awful Padres team in 2009 than pitch in the American League, which is fully his prerogative.

Here is the story.

Richie Sexson ain't done yet. He didn't play again following his brief, blah stay with the Yankees in 2008, but his agent Casey Close is working to get him a job.

Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for George W. Bush, is here. He does consulting work for Major League Baseball and is speaking to the teams' public-relations folks today.

Thanks to this site for the photo.

The Yankees came away encouraged from their meeting with CC Sabathia last night, a person familiar with the situation said. The team believes that Sabathia has a sincere interest in New York and appears to be willing to wait out Sabathia.

There is minimal doubt about Sabathia's character, given the way he has conducted himself and, especially, the way he pitched for the Brewers this past year, knowing that he would probably be pitching elsewhere in 2009.

Sabathia has no apparent timeline in making a decision, but the Yankees are hopeful he'll decide in the next couple of weeks.

Joe Girardi joined Brian Cashman in the meeting.

For Yankees fans freaking out that your team will be shut out, keep in mind that no one will make a move without checking back with the Yankees - the richest team - first.

As David Lennon and I reported, Brian Fuentes is up first for the Mets today. The reliever and his suitor will convene at about 12:30 local time here at the Bellagio. Shortly after that, they'll hook up with Trevor Hoffman. The Beverly Hills Sports Council represents both pitchers, so there'll be no hard feelings about meetings running late, what have you.

One interesting reclamation project on the pitching front: Eric Milton. He missed all of 2008 recovering from left elbow surgery, but he spent the latter part of the year at the Yankees' minor-league camp in Tampa. A team like the Mets, looking for a low-risk option to compete with Jonathon Niese for their fifth starter's job, could bring in Milton on a minor-league deal and see how it goes.

I know, Milton hasn't been anything approaching good in quite some time. But that's the beauty of a minor-league deal. All you're spending on him is meal money and a few Grapefruit League innings.

All right, a little more situated today, and pretty much everyone is in town now. So look here for multiple posts, including Day 4 of the contest.

Let's start with a trip to the recent past - September 9 of this year, when Billy Wagner held a news conference to discuss his impending surgery.

I asked Wagner how he felt about the Mets signing Francisco Rodriguez in the offseason, now that Wagner would likely miss the entire 2009 season.

"Well," the always honest Wagner replied, "if they didn't, I think that would be stupid. Don't you agree?"

"Yes," I responded.

And here we are, nearly three months later, and the Mets wined and dined K-Rod last night, with meetings also set up here with Brian Fuentes and Trevor Hoffman.

Unless K-Rod's agent Paul Kinzer is as stupid as Wagner's theoretical GM _ and, to be fair, you have to wonder what the heck Kinzer was thinking when he turned down the A's offer to Rafael Furcal _ the most logical conclusion should follow. The Mets and K-Rod should find common ground. How about a three-year, $39-million deal with an easily attainable vesting option for a fourth year? Let's say that 50 games finished in 2011 triggers the option, or a combined 80 games finished in 2010 and 2011.

Even better, in addition to that vesting option, give K-Rod an opt-out after three years, in case he's still dominating and there are somehow many closers making more money than him.

It's true that it's a buyers market for closers, but K-Rod is the clear top option when you consider 1) He'll cost only money and a draft pick, rather than prospects in a trade; 2) Of the free agents, he is the one who is both the most accomplished and very much still in his prime.

His diminished velocity is absolutely a concern. But he still put up great numbers in the American League in '08, and at the very least, switching to the NL should buy him a year's time.

Hoffman is more "accomplished," but come on, now. We can have a Hall of Fame debate about Hoffman if you'd like, but do you really want the 41-year-old changeup specialist closing out games for the 2009 Mets?

As for Fuentes, he made sense if K-Rod was going to stick to his outrageous demands, and the lefty put up a great 2008. But Fuentes is seven years older, and when the Rockies reached their greatest heights in 2007, Fuentes had been relegated to setup man.

Kerry Wood? How could you possibly trust him with his injury history?

No, it's gotta be K-Rod, and then someone like J.J. Putz (tough to get) or Huston Street (easier to get) to set him up. Maximum protection in the back of the bullpen. Anything else, as Wagner said, would be stupid.

Greetings from Las Vegas. People are just arriving here today; the only person I saw in the Bellagio lobby, while checking in, was Jon Heyman.

So let's fire off today's trivia question, part of our 10-day giveaway of this DVD.

Game 2 of the 1995 American League Division Series between the Yankees and Seattle concluded when Jim Leyritz hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 15th inning, giving the Yankees a 7-5 victory. That game featured eight players who, as of today, have played for both the Yankees and the Mariners.

The first person to identify all eight players will win the DVD. If no one can name all eight, we'll give the DVD to the person who comes closest to eight. E-mail me at kdavidoff@newsday.com with your answer.

Thanks to this site for the photo.

UPDATE, 1:37 P.S.T: We have a winner! Nick was the first to correctly identify the eight players: Mike Blowers, Jay Buhner, Russ Davis, Tino Martinez, Jeff Nelson, Ruben Sierra, Luis Sojo and Chris Widger. Another contest comes tomorrow.