Here's a turn of events, courtesy of Newsday's Ken Davidoff:
The Astros were quite confident they had a deal with the White Sox for righthander Jon Garland this morning, and high-ranking team officials had no problem telling people as much. But White Sox officials insist there is no deal -- at least not yet. And their contingent of team officials is currently leaving the winter meetings as I type.
So for the moment, the Astros are still in the mix for Andy Pettitte, until further notice. The Astros and White Sox obviously are close to making this happen. In this proposed deal, the Astros apparently agreed to give up pitching prospect Taylor Buchholz in the deal for Garland, who would have replaced Pettitte.
Stay tuned...
(BTW, I'm at Orlando's Penny Hardaway International Airport. Flight's delayed...)
Comments (48)
Predicts How many Brawls and Fight between Yankees and Redsox next year for 2007 season?
The recent acquisitions of Redsox of J.d Drew and Lugo, and Matsuzaka. Now The Sox Nation and especially Redsox thinks They are better team than Yankees and should be first place team in AL east.When Redsox play the Yankees, and their pitchers throw at Yankees hitters because they think they are better team.
For Example, 2003 - Yankees vs Redsox Alcs- Pedro throws Don Zimmer in Ground
2004 - Bronson Arroyo hit a Arod in the elbow . Arod and Varitek started brawl and fight in fenway park
2005 and 2006 - The Cold War Between two teams = no pitches thrown at each other since Pedro left for free agency.
2007? to be continued..
We need pitching, plenty of lefty pitching. Who cares about the other Andy P and Craig Wilson? !
2007 Royals starting rotation
SP - Gil Meche - $11.25MM
SP - Odalis Perez - $1.7MM
SP - Brian Bannister - $0.38MM
SP - Luke Hudson - $0.38MM
SP - Jorge de la Rosa - $0.38MM
SP - Runelvys Hernandez - $1.225MM
SP - Zack Greinke - $0.38MM
Royals Starting rotation next year..
I remember Luke Hudson who shutdown the Yankees lineup for 8 innings until Royals bullpen blow it up
Jim B: Great job w/ the rapid fire info. Thank you. I'll need to get the name of Jim Hendry's heart surgeon before this is over.
I really need to get a life.
Jim........so do I. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm going crazy right now, I can't concentrate, and I have a huge exam tomorrow that I literally know nothing about and I can't even study this is driving me insane!!!!!!!!!
Atticas,what would Gregory Peck do?...it's interesting that so far nothing really has happened for the Yanks ,it's sort of a story about nothing.
HAhaha I know...like a bad (or good) Seinfeld episode. George wants his calzones!!!!!1
Is there more going on here than meets the eye? Everything seems to point more and more to a Pettitte return... Astros scrambling for a deal to get a front line starter; Pettitte suddenly announcing that he will pitch, the Yankees letting Lilly go to the Cubs, even though he would have prefered to return to the Bronx... and the fact that Cashman is aggressively persuing him and already has made atleast one offer [$15 million for one year].
If this all goes down as it seems like it is this would give the Yankees one helluva rotation.
1. Wang [probably regress some after so many innings last year, but still solid inning eater]
2. Pettitte [Solid frontline starter]
3. Mussina [Good inning eater]
4/5 Igawa/Johnson/Rasner/Karstens - keeping a spot warm for Hughes in September
That would also leave Pavano available for trade bait since i don't think anyone realistically sees him pitching in NY anytime soon. Potentially shipped out for some prospects or perhaps a 3 way deal that nets Richie Sexton? [Hopefully allowing them to keep Melky...]
Perhaps this is just wishful thinking.
The market for Pavano will be very small unless he proves he can still pitch in spring training. If he gets moved before that, it just goes to show BC wants him out however it takes.
Cashman is pulling for the Astros\Garland deal to fall through. That way he can let the Astros sign Andy, save $15 million bucks, and make the "rank and file" think he really wanted to bring Andy back. It's all about the money now, and will be for at least another year. "Cash" is trying to get the team payroll back to around $150 million, get the farm system stocked up, and field a division winning team, all before we open the new stadium in "09". A very difficult task. If the Astros don't pursue Andy, Cashman will be forced to sign him due to the adverse fan reaction.
Dotel - Redsox???
Foulke out, Dotel in?
http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/redSox/
While agent Dan Horwits has confirmed that reliever Keith Foulke has turned down salary arbitration, the Red Sox are one of the finalists currently in the hunt for reliever Octavio Dotel.
And the should have their answer tonight.
According to sources, the Sox are one of two or three teams to have made an offer to Dotel, who is expected to decide tonight where he will play the 2007 season. Dotel underwent elbow surgery in 2005 and pitched briefly for the Yankees at the end of last season, and will likely end up with a one-year deal in the range of $3 million with considerable incentives.
***** Cashman what are you doing?
Drew,
It will be a nice rotation, although I'd stop short of calling it a helluva rotation. There's still some questions about all of them, including Pettitte. Mostly, I worry about Wang coming off a season where he pitched a lot of innings and will now be the unquestioned number 1 guy in the rotation. Which means he will face Santana, Verlander, Harden or Haren, Whoever Boston decides on. It will be a little more stressful this year for him.
Andy,
Foulke hates Boston and I'm kind of glad he doesn't want to go back. He was pitching like his old self later in the season last year so I think he will be a nice pickup for someone like Cleveland.
Dotel is tough to figure out. He pitched like crap for us, but obviously he was still recovering from surgery. Frankly, he was always a bit overrated anyway so I wouldn't get too upset about him leaving. You have to wonder though if guys like Lieber and Dotel ever would just say "The Yanks took a chance on me after surgery, gave me access to the best facilities and doctors and I didn't pitch that great for them so I'm going to come back for one more year and try to contribute to the team some more". Of course this will never happen but I'll still hope someone does it someday.
According to espn.com the jin garland to houston deal hit a snag the white sox wanted buckholtz and hirch and the astros were not willing to give up hirch and wanted to give them cf wily taveras instead. Sox gm kenny williams called off the deal that probaly means they will go hard after Pettitte now, I hope he walks?????
Andy, Dotel wants to close, there's nothing Cash can do about that. Plus it looks like he still has some cobwebs to clear out after his TJ surgery. We already have a closer we can 't sign guys just to keep them away for the Sux.
If the Garland deal fell trough I guess we'll see if Andy's screaming "show me the money" or "Let's GO Yankees"
I was hoping the Yankees resign Dotel since he's coming back from T.J surgery
I don't think the Yanks will be out spent by the Astros for Andy at all, it all comes down to where Andy wants to be. Does he want to return to Octobers in the Bronx, or his home in Houston.
All bias aside, I would think that October in the Bronx is the best place to be on the face of this earth. IMHO.
Come on Andy, put us out of our misery. I can't wait until Dec. 22nd, I'll be a friggin basket case by then.
Speaking of basket cases, I'm a little worried about our buddy Rick Keyes. He was pissed about Lilly going to the Cubs and has disappeared. Come back Rick!! We'll be okay.
Great so the yanks paid him to get back into shape so he could go pitch for the redsox.
AHh on Lieber HE WANTED TO COME BACK and he was DISSED for Jaret Wright.And this was after leiber pitched a hell of a game in the playoffs he even pitched well in a loss and shut Bosox down
I hear you Andy but with a game on the line and Dotel on the mound vs. Rivera my money is on the Yankees and MO!!
Stuff like that happens, look at Tom Gordon, pretty decent set-up guy until JT overused him. It came down to him wanting to be a closer. He would have stayed with NY if they gave him more years and that would have made no sense.
When a pitcher wants to close there’s pretty much no changing his mind.
Lieber wanted to come back but he wanted the Yanks to give him $8M per year. They told him they wouldn't go beyond $7M and they lost out when the Mets paid Kris Benson a huge contract and it started the ball rolling much like this year, with bad contracts to mediocre pitchers.
None of them have worked out though. Lieber is going to get dumped by the Phillies if they can find someone to take him. Dotel leaving doesn't bother me at all, he was a terrible closer when he was healthy and won't do the Sawx any good.
Lieber was dissed and he would have been better than Jared out-in-the-5th Wright even though he slumped a bit towards the end of his stint with the Phillies. But won 17 in his first year.
Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.
It's time for us to eat the bear!!!
Get FA that actually produce and want to be here.
Rumor out of Philly is that Lieber will be dealt to the Brewers any minute for Kevin Mench and Derrick Turnbow...
Just read Bill Madden's article in today's NY Daily News and he is saying Pettitte and his agents are using the Yankees to drive up Houston's offer and that Pettitte has no intention of coming back. Why do I read this crap? My roller coaster ride in hell is heading downward right now....
On Lieber: I agree, he would have been way better than Pavano and/or Wright, we made a mistake by misjudging the contract offers he would get. He left over one million dollars..I'm sure the Yanks put more than that into his rehab and facilities. He should've stayed.
We have the Mets to blame for all this crap. It started w/ the Kris Benson contract.
Yea, where's Rick Keyes? I'm a little worried, he didn't take the Lilly news well...someone wanna call the cops?...
Let me say this I'll treat this like the mob when you invite someone and they a rat you get it too. If cashman lets this andy thing happen and he comes back with no pitching becasue he was waiting for soemone to pimp him then he deserves what ever come at him .
now here is liebers stats he did ok for us
1994 Pit 17 17 1 0 108.2 116 62 45 12 25 71 6 7 0 0 -- 3.73
1995 Pit 21 12 0 0 72.2 103 56 51 7 14 45 4 7 0 3 1 6.32
1996 Pit 51 15 0 0 142.0 156 70 63 19 28 94 9 5 1 9 3 3.99
1997 Pit 33 32 1 0 188.1 193 102 94 23 51 160 11 14 0 0 -- 4.49
1998 Pit 29 28 2 0 171.0 182 93 78 23 40 138 8 14 1 0 0 4.11
1999 ChC 31 31 3 1 203.1 226 107 92 28 46 186 10 11 0 0 -- 4.07
2000 ChC 35 35 6 1 251.0 248 130 123 36 54 192 12 11 0 0 -- 4.41
2001 ChC 34 34 5 1 232.1 226 104 98 25 41 148 20 6 0 0 -- 3.80
2002 ChC 21 21 3 0 141.0 153 64 58 15 12 87 6 8 0 0 -- 3.70
2004 NYY 27 27 0 0 176.2 216 95 85 20 18 102 14 8 0 0 -- 4.33
2005 Phi 35 35 1 0 218.1 223 107 102 33 41 149 17 13 0 0 -- 4.21
2006 Phi 27 27 2 1 168.0 196 100 92 27 24 100 9 11 0 0 -- 4.93
Total -- 361 314 24 4 2073.1 2238 1090 981 268 394 1472 126 115 2 12 4 4.26
I read that this morning, which is why, I can sort of hear Andy yelling, "Show me the money!" in the back of my head. I know your pain Jim. I'm freaking glued to the computer screen!
Redsox fan ------>Brendan (Cork, Ireland): With the additions of Drew and Lugo, and with Manny probably staying, are the Red Sox as strong if not stronger than the Yankees, considering the Sox have a much deeper rotation?
Gary Gillette: (2:27 PM ET ) As someone who erroneously didn't think the AL East race was over when the Yanks acquired Abreu, I like the Red Sox chances a lot in 2007 if they keep Manny. Aside from the length and money of his deal, the Drew signing was a terrific move in the short run. And Lugo should be a big upgrade over A-Gonzo at short. And I love the Red Sox young pitching, etc. etc.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=13900
Hey Jay copy and paste this junk were the sun don't shine!
Yes, Jay, stick your predictions
I Just read a headline on MLB.com that made me laugh.
Royals Land New Ace Mench With 5-Year Pact.
Are they kidding? Ace! Wow, how the standards have lowered this off-season. If Mench is an Ace what do you call Zito?
Welcome to the year of Overrated FA.
Penny Hardaway International Airport? You can't be serious
Jim- Thanks for your Winter Meetings coverage. A special thanks for your mention of the Yankees Rule 5 pick up. It, and the Liddle situation, speak volumes as to how the Yanks are now doing business. Thanks again.
Newsflash........
After failing to land a starter and getting bambozzled by Andy Pettite , Yankee GM Brian Cashman in an attempt to save cash was holding auditions at a land fill site in the bronx for his 4th and 5th starters and trying out prison workers for the back up catcher spot.
in his efforts to go beyond the japanese Bidding process, BC took it another notch by having chinese delivery men try out in the back of a alley.
Enraged George Steinbrenner aka The Boss , came out of his turtle neck and told cashman "since you wanna save money so bad, how about we move your office?? Meanwhile we learned Cashman is working out of a old Model Postal truck under the elevated train.
In attempts to bolster up more fans of diversity the yankees will have LICENSE PLATE Day ,to accomodate the ex con pitchers Cashman tried out in the south Bronx.
Tyrone Koppel reporting.
from ABC SCHMOOOS
lol...
The Astros will offer 12 million with no state income tax some 1200 miles closer to his family. The Yankees are offering upwards to 15 million for a state and city tax situation some 1200 miles away from the family.
If Andy Pettitte signs with the Yankees. It will have nothing to do with money. It will be to cement his accomplishments in Yankee history. To hear the thunder of the yankee crowd a few more times expecially in October. Cashman must appeal to the Yankee tradition and advise him of a decision 3 years ago which was ill advised on hindsight. He must show the pluses of the yankee situation. He can offer free transportation for visits of the family. And George's favorite table at nathan's. This time around with his money in the bank. Its about those things that make you warm and fuzzy. No Yankee player who has played elsewhere can compare the thrill of the South Bronx during Sept. and Oct. This is the only way Andy comes to the Bronx.
Well this is what the Pettites ahd to say about a return
20 mil a year.
Yes when you see me Pitch for the yankees is when the KKK and Black Panthers is holding hands together singing we shall over come
Do You like these stats??
302 15 80 rbi's ??
well they belong to Todd Helton who is Avail
isn't helton a lefty? they want a RH hitting 1B.
Pitching! Pitching! Mr Cashman, please! No more nosepicking and Margeritadrinking at the hotel poolside. GET UP AND LOOK FOR PITCHERS!
Bronx Bomber,
Can you also please post how much Helton will cost per year?
Helton's numbers have been dropping like a stone every hear for the past 3 years. No way we touch that.
it's mind boggling how multi millionaires are coddled about staying near home when they have no barriers to moving the entire family with them... to a mansion in ny.
working against us is the clemens-like negotiation tactics. also if clemens continues his cake walk with another houston contract, his protege stays put. he would single handedly pump up the team tho.
cash is smart to stay cautious in this ridiculous free agent market, protect melky and get creative. Lilly is really not that good or durable (despite being likeable) and meche? a laugher the magnatude of matthews and pierre.
let's get a strong presence in alomar to back up jorge, give phelps his shot at first and see if mulder has anything left in the tank.
phelps as in josh phelps whom we picked up via rule 5 from baltimore.
and not to forget phillips...
Nice post ZG, except I don't think Alomar is the solution for backup catcher. He's like 40 yrs old now and I'd like to see them get a little younger than that.
Hummh if the yankees don't get pettite, Zito will become a Yankee. why esle is boras meeting with Cash, and what ash said probally was .. "i have the andy situation to deal with. if no go with that or i can get him fairly cheap then we will talk" Even cash cannot simply IGNORE the fact that a 29 year old PROVEN pitcher is avail and can be with you for years to come. If pettite and/or Zito is not Yankees then expect problems
boras has a history of giving deals on multiple players (or seemingly so). for example - since we signed damon, bernie came along quietly. or damon signed reasonably b/c we were also siging bernie to the extension, however you want to look at it.
may also be a reason boston did the Drew deal: to make sure that matsuzaka was realistic in what they finally will settle on.
...so it's not a stretch for cash to realistically entertain zito given the stable of players that boras made money on.
zito is still underwhelming to be considered a true ace despite his age and durability - he's not overpowering or nasty.. finesse pitchers have a tough time in the brutally patient and great hitting AL east.
Still, he is a lefty in yankee staduim and if you can master that like pettitte and wells did then you have a shot to do well.
they are smart to wait. boston wont want or afford him and no one is really lining up on the west coast, although he prob fits great in the vacancy left by schmidt in SF.
if he doesnt come down from the stratosphere, not a big loss.
anyone else have ideas at b/u catcher? not a glamorous convo but still looking for creativity.. damien miller if free but would cost a player...