On the Yankees beat

So you might be wondering what happened to Hibernation Update II. Good question. We apologize if you saw it and now you don't. Don't worry. It's not your computer. Something fishy is going on with Newsday's blogs causing some entries to disappear. (Hopefully you're still reading this.) Thanks to those of you who emailed me.

As for my hibernation, my wife and I spent Christmas in Western New York -- Falconer, to be exact. It's a small town next to Jamestown on the map. Jamestown, you may or may not know, was the first stop on Randy Johnson's career path, when he played for the Montreal Expos NY-Penn League affiliate based there. I asked Randy about that stop two spring trainings ago, but I can't say we bonded over that. He told me he lived in some old lady's home and didn't go anywhere but the park. Then he walked away into the trainer's room. Going to miss that always kind and engaging Big Unit.

Hard to lose any sleep over the thought of trading Johnson, I think. I know it's hard to give up 200 innings however shaky and unpredictable that they may be, but it makes sense to me if they can pry some of those D-Backs' prospects. Johnson is leaving after the season, anyway, so why not get something for him now. I think they'll win with a rotation of Pettitte, Mussina, Wang, Igawa and either Clemens, Hughes, Karstens or Rasner. And, by the way, I think Clemens is a real possibility.

Happy New Year!

After signing Raul Chavez to a minor-league deal last week, Brian Cashman said he was happy to let Chavez and Wil Nieves battle for the backup catcher job. That may change now that the Dodgers non-tendered Toby Hall, someone the Yankees have always liked. It's no given Hall signs with the Yankees; his big beef with the Dodgers was, in fact, that he wanted more playing time. But his availability certainly changes things.

I had to hold back laughter when I read this quote from Octavio Dotel on the wire today: "I'm really happy to be here. Happy to get my role back, happy to be a closer," he said. "It will be nice to be the closer guy for the Kansas City Royals. I'm really proud to be here and I'm really proud to be a Kansas City Royals player."

A quick story: Dotel was the rare player you could actually poke fun of, because he was so fun-loving, always smiling, joking. Oddly enough, I remember being in Kansas City this year and jokingly asking him for his memories of his days with the Royals -- because when he was traded from the Astros to the A's in 2004 it was part of a three-team deal with the Royals. So you could make the case he was a Royal at one time. But for whatever reason Dotel didn't really laugh at that joke, I remember. Maybe it was just a bad joke, maybe. But this much is certain: his new home is for real.

Billy Masse, let go by the Yankees in October after another successful year as Double-A Trenton manager, has found a new home. The Blue Jays announced today they hired Masse to manage their Double-A affiliate in New Hampshire. I think we're going to be hearing from Masse in the future. While he is definitely fiery -- he once turned over a clubhouse food spread to make a point -- his players definitely respond to him. Jeff Karstens credits Masse's tough love for turning him around this season.

Yes, it's that time again. I'm off beginning tomorrow, but don't worry. It's not you. It's me. Really. We baseball writers rack up lots and lots of extra time off thanks to countless 11-hour work days, flights across the country and nights away from home. It all pays off now. I'm off for a while, essentially seven of the next eight weeks. But I won't be a stranger. I'll stop by the blog every now and again, chime in with some thoughts. Maybe we'll even start to assess the 2007 rosters of the other teams in the American League. But if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why. It's been fun :)

Multiple reports today say the Yankees have agreed to a four-year, $2 million deal with Cuban defector Juan Miranda, a lefthanded-hitting first baseman reported to be 23 years old. He'll be in spring training, but don't expect him to contend for a job.

PinstripesPlus.com, which provides expansive coverage of the Yankees' minor-league system, spoke with Miranda in the Dominican Republic, which is where he now has citizenship. "I consider myself a Double-A player right," Miranda told the Web site.

How he got out of Cuba is an interesting story, as is usually the case. Apparently he was caught by Dominican police and was jailed until former big-league pitcher Jose Rijo somehow got them released, according to this Washington Times story.

I must be allergic to the winter meetings. This is the second straight year I've gotten sick right after I arrived home. But the good news is you don't need a voice to blog. So here I am, after a day away from the blog. And based on the sheer volume of comments, you guys sure didn't miss me! Anyway, now that Pettitte is all but in the fold -- only a physical awaits him -- let's go through the remaining items on the Yankees' offseason agenda.

1. Start the planning for Bernie Williams Appreciation Day. At least that's apparently the hope inside the Yankee offices. Bernie wants to play, but there doesn't appear to be a spot for him. Last thing anyone wants is for Bernie to ride out the string as a Tiger, Royal or Bear, so the best bet is retirement. We'll see if he follows through.

2. Man, that Carl Pavano is sooooo good. Yeah, that's right. It's time for the Yankees to continue pumping up Glass Carl because the goal should be to get him off the roster by Opening Day. He'll probably have to prove himself in spring training for the Yankees to get away from having to pick up more than half his salary.

3. Start a shuttle for Yankees fans to go to Scranton this summer on nights when Phil Hughes pitches. With Pettitte in the fold, Hughes will almost definitely start the season in Triple-A, which isn't a bad thing. Might as well let him get some more experience before calling him up. It's still possible we'll see him next summer.

4. Seeking a first baseman, lefthanded reliever, utility infielder and backup catcher. Major league experience necessary. Interested and qualified applicants should contact Brian Cashman c/o Yankee Stadium, 880 River Ave, Bronx, NY 10452.

Andy Pettitte will sign with the Yankees.

One year for $16 million with a player option for another 16 million.

Go ahead and celebrate...

UPDATE: Brian Cashman's statement: "We have preliminarily agreed to terms with Andy Pettitte on a contract to pitch for the New York Yankees, pending the passing of a physical examination. At this time, I will have no further comment."

I'm now home, and I see that in the time it took to fly 1,000 miles the deal between the Astros and White Sox has been deemed officially dead, for now. Obviously it would have been ideal for the Yankees had the deal happened, as Andy Pettitte would have fallen right in their laps. But that the Astros came that close figures to hurt their case to retain Pettitte. Should be interesting to see how this pans out.

I have to say, it's been a fun week of blogging. Almost as much fun as witnessing Phillies manager Charlie Manuel take one step on the elevator and then awkwardly realizing it was going up, and he wanted down. Or almost as much fun as seeing Braves manager Bobby Cox warmly refer to an older woman as "Lady" after she rushed onto the elevator... Anyway... I'm really psyched by the response we've received here at the blog. We had more traffic to this site on Wednesday alone than we did during the entire month of May, believe it or not. But don't go away now -- there's still moves to be made and funny old baseball cards to be found on the Internet...

Also, got an e-mail from someone who, in the midst of complaining about a lot of things, complained that it was hard for him to find my e-mail address.
For full disclosure, it's jim.baumbach@newsday.com.

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...)

Newsday's Ken Davidoff has learned that the Astros are close to making a trade for a starting pitcher that would officially remove them from the Andy Pettitte sweepstakes, clearing the way for the former Yankee to return to the Bronx.

It is unclear whom the Astros are trading for but they recently have had conversations with Colorado about Jason Jennings. Pettitte was 14-13 last season in Houston with a 4.20 ERA. Jennings was 9-13 with a 3.78 ERA in Colorado.

I'm about to leave to catch a noon flight home, and the Yankees contingent is about to head out the doors, too. But before leaving the Yankees made one more move, taking first baseman Josh Phelps in the Rule V draft. Phelps, you may remember, had a solid rookie year for the Blue Jays, hitting .309 with 20 doubles, 15 home runs, 58 RBIs and a .362 OBP in only 265 at-bats in 2002. But he has gone downhill ever since. Obviously he will be another option at first base, probably competing with Andy Phillips in spring unless Shea Hillenbrand decides to accept a one-year contract.

This is yet another sign of the changing times in Yankeeland. The Rule V draft has always been treated with smirks and chuckles by the Yankees, who never had the roster room, the need or the desire to take someone. The last time they took part was in 1996 when they selected catcher Marc Ronan. But he didn't make the club.

As per the rules, Phelps must remain in the majors or offered back to the Orioles.

Here's how it went down.

The Cubs offered four years for $40 million a while back.

Agent Larry O'Brien told the Yankees yesterday they have until 6 p.m. today to match. And if they did match it, he more than likely would have become a Yankee.

Brian Cashman called O'Brien at 5:45 p.m. today and told him he "couldn't make a decision within the timeframe," O'Brien said. So Lilly then decides on the Cubs.

Now the Yankees turn to Andy Pettitte, of course.

As first reported by SI.com, Ted Lilly has told the Yankees he is willing to sign with them for four years and $40 million, which is $4 million less than the Cubs offer. This has been confirmed by Larry O'Brien, Lilly's agent, as well as someone familiar with the Yankees' plans. Brian Cashman is currently weighing it over, though right now he is dining with Scott Boras. O'Brien will be in the lobby at 8 to make a statement.

While we'll almost certainly receive Ted Lilly news tonight, don't get your hopes up to hear a resolution on Bernie Williams. Scott Boras plans to meet with Brian Cashman tonight about Williams, but Cashman just said, "That will be a conversation I will have when we get back to New York, probably ... I'm focused on the pitching right now."

Brian Cashman wouldn't specifically address Ted Lilly just now, but the Yankees general manager touched on the luxury tax ramifications of giving out a big contract. It sounds to me as if the Yankees will be passing. Just a hunch, but we'll see. If the Yankees sign Lilly to, say, a four-year, $40-million contract, it really would cost the Yankees a total investment of $56 million taking into account the luxury tax rate is 40 percent. (This is assuming they stay over the threshold throughout the contract.)

"I'd prefer to not pay that tax, but there’s nothing I can do to prevent it," he said. "If we have an interest in a free agent, I'm going to pay it. Is it precluding me on things? Not necessarily. But it does factor into your decision-making and all that. I'd like to bring the payroll down and we’ve done a good job so far. Right now I'm more interested in the comfort level of the demands, or the uncomfortable side of it."

Larry O'Brien, Lilly's agent, will be back in the hotel by 7. We'll know more then.

Just bumped into Ted Lilly's agent, Larry O'Brien, in the lobby. He said he just informed the Blue Jays they are out of the running. "It's down to the Cubs and the Yankees," O'Brien said. And now we're going to see whether the Yankees' interest in Lilly is for real. O'Brien said he is planning to meet with Brian Cashman before 6 p.m.

Let's do a little poll here on the blog. Who would you rather have?

Houston Astros manager Phil Garner spoke with Andy Pettitte last week and told reporters today that Pettitte is "very seriously interested" in playing next season. But when asked whether he was optimistic about Pettitte returning to Houston, Garner danced around the question. It seems as if a Pettitte return to pinstripes is gaining steam.

Pettitte's agent, Randy Hendricks, has all but promised a decision to come before Christmas, and the Astros are publicly pressuring him to decide sooner. "I think we all would like Pettitte to come back, but if there is some hesitation on his part or we’re not sure, and if there is an opportunity to strike with somebody who is capable of doing or pretty close, I think we’re going to have to weigh that," Garner said. "That’s our concern."

The Yankees, meanwhile, have no problem playing the waiting game.

A slow first day of baseball's winter meetings heated up when the sun went down, making it appear as if today and tomorrow will be filled with deals. Here's what we wrote about in the paper today chronicling all things baseball.

If my cell phone had the ability to take pictures, you'd see that Donnie Mattingly is here and sporting quite the shaggy hairdo. Instead this classic photo from his long haired look on an episode of The Simpsons will have to do. How long is it really? One team official quickly informed him he better cut that in time for spring training, or else... He's already been through Donnie Hairgate one too many times. (In case you're wondering, Mattingly is here at the winter meetings for the trade show to show off his latest Mattingly Baseball hitting goods.)

Notes & quotes from Brian Cashman's expansive hotel suite:

-- Cashman will meet with agent Arn Tellem tomorrow to begin negotiations on Kei Igawa's contract. They were supposed to meet tonight, but Tellem pushed it back.

-- The Yankees have not opened talks with Ron Villone's camp, so it seems as if they are basically daring him to accept arbitration if he wants to return. "He’s a lefthander who did a nice job for us in the pen last year, and finding quality lefties is tough, first and foremost," Cashman said. "And if somebody else signs him we get a pick back."

-- Odds of Bernie Williams returning seem to be slim. Cashman has spoken with Bernie twice and agent Scott Boras twice and he has asked them both to be patient. "We’re working through, obviously, how this club will shake out and where the opportunities on this club are, if there are going to be any opportunities," Cashman said.

-- And, lastly, teams are still calling about trading for Alex Rodriguez. "I still get a team checking in, saying, hey by the way ... I still get some stragglers who just want to keep their foot in the door in case something changes," Cashman said.

***

As we were walking out of Cashman's suite, Chris Britton walked in. The reliever the Yankees acquired last month from the Orioles for Jaret Wright made the three-hour trek from Fort Lauderdale to meet with trainer Gene Monahan, presumably about an offseason training regimen that includes weight management. He's listed at 280.

A couple of deals are starting to break, which could start a ripple effect here...

-- Word is circulating through the lobby today that Ted Lilly is close to a deal with the Cubs, which, if true, is really no big surprise. The Yankees were keeping in touch with him just to know what was going on; they never had any intentions of signing him unless it was a price they were comfortable with. But Lilly's agent, Larry O'Brien, assured me last week he would have no problem getting a deal similar to the four-year, $37.5-million contract Jarrod Washburn signed with Seattle last winter.
     -- UPDATE: I was just looking through notes from my last conversation with O'Brien, and he said he wasn't expecting to get to the meetings until late today. So there probably won't be any movement on this until late tonight, maybe.

-- David Weathers agreed to a two-year contract with Cincinnati that I'm told is worth $5.5 million. That's a bargain in this market. A handful of teams expressed interest in Weathers, and one team even offered three years, but he didn't want to leave home.

-- The Yankees have a meeting scheduled with agent Dan Lozano for later in the meetings to discuss free agents Shea Hillenbrand and Octavio Dotel. I doubt they'd give Dotel anything more than another incentive based contract, but he obviously wants to cash in on a reliever friendly market. The upside to him is that he will be entering his second year after Tommy John surgery, which is usually the time when pitchers get their strength back. As for Hillenbrand, it should be interesting to see if the Yankees actually act, or just view the meeting as an informational one. Brian Cashman's strategy has been wait-and-see, then suddenly act. Could this be it?

Officially, the meetings kick off today. Here's a photo I took of the resort from the plane yesterday. Okay, okay, I just found it on Google Images. But don't tell anyone...

Not too many reporters who are here expect to see the outside of the hotel much this week. Almost all of our time will be spent in the lobby awaiting news. However, I'll make sure to make it back to my room every so often to update the blog.

UPDATE: Haven't been able to confirm this, but word in the lobby this morning is Pluto failed his steroids test. A huge blow as that would automatically suspend him for the rest of the meetings. Attempts to reach Walt Disney have been unsuccessful.

The lobby of Disney's Swan and Dolphin Resort was surprisingly thin throughout the day as GMs and agents checked in. But with the Yankees' Tampa headquarters only a little more than an hour away, there were Yankee people here all day. The man who runs the show, Brian Cashman, checked in just before 8 p.m. and bolted across the lobby and straight to the elevators, no doubt to read our blog for your advice.

Couple of things from today:

-- Wrote a story for tomorrow's newspaper about the Andy Pettitte situation that continues to hover over the Yankees. It's probably the question with the greatest potential for next season yet to be answered (unless you count trade A-Rod), and the answer will not likely come until well after these winter meetings are finished. Pettitte hasn't thrown a baseball yet but plans to begin his offseason workouts soon. He'll decide whether to retire, sit out a year or play for the Astros or Yankees after he tests his body.

-- Can you believe Tanyon Sturtze got a guaranteed contract for next season? Given that he's 36 and coming off rotator cuff surgery, I figured he was a prime candidate to be a 2007 Yankees spring-training invite. (And given Joe Torre's love of all things Sturtzie, a prime candidate to make the team, too.) Guess it's the latest sign of a crazy market. Keep in mind the Braves pitching coach is Roger McDowell, and he was Sturtze's Triple-A pitching coach in 2004. Sturtze credited him for turning him around.

-- Julio Zuleta is a questionable option for the Yankees, at best. He began the offseason looking for a multiyear deal from the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, his team in Japan for four years. But they didn't want him back and intentionally lowballed him, offering him the same contract terms as his last deal, one year at $3 million. It was a deal they knew he would decline. Also, this guy received a 10-game suspension last season for charging the mound, initiating an ugly scene that caused his manager, the respected Sadaharu Oh, to apologize afterward. Only a guess: I bet he signs with the Devil Rays.

Here's the chart for next season:

	                FULL-SEASON  PARTIAL ADVANCE GAME DAY 
BOX SEATS				
Field Championship				
Box 1-68 (Rows A-D)	$150.00 	$160.00	$300.00	$400.00
Box 1-68 (Rows E-G)	$135.00	$145.00	$280.00	$380.00
Box 1-68 (Rows H-K)	$125.00	$135.00	$260.00	$360.00
Box 69-80 (Rows A-D)	$135.00	$145.00	$280.00	$380.00
Box 69-80 (Rows E-G)	$125.00	$135.00	$260.00	$360.00
Box 69-80 (Rows H-K)	$115.00	$125.00	$240.00	$340.00
				
Main Championship	          $85.00	$95.00	$180.00	$280.00
Loge Championship	         $120.00	$130.00	$250.00	$350.00
Field Box	                   $63.00	$68.00	$73.00	$78.00
Main Box MVP 	          $73.00	$78.00	$83.00	$88.00
Loge Box MVP 	          $63.00	$68.00	$73.00	$78.00
Main Box	                   $48.00	$53.00	$58.00	$63.00 
Loge Box	                   $45.00	$50.00	$55.00	$60.00 
Tier Box MVP	          $50.00	$55.00	$60.00	$65.00 
Tier Box	                   $35.00	$37.00	$40.00	$42.00
				
RESERVED SEATS				
Main Reserved MVP           $56.00	$61.00	$66.00	$71.00 
Main Reserved	          $40.00	$45.00	$50.00	$55.00 
Tier Reserved	          $17.00	$18.00	$19.00	$20.00
				
BLEACHER SEATS	          $10.00	$10.00	$12.00	$12.00

The Yankees have not released their 2007 schedule yet, but one blog reader pointed out that you can find it by messing with the URL on www.yankees.com. I'm going to post the link, but don't tell anyone! LOL. Here it is: Click here for the schedule.

UPDATE: Clearly in response to this blog entry, the Yankees just officially released their 2007 schedule and ticket prices. Here's the official release. It's a Microsoft Word file. Anyone have any clue how much ticket prices went up from last year?

Here's what Ken Davidoff and I wrote for today's paper:

While Bernie Williams is eager for another season in pinstripes, a cloud of uncertainty hovers over his future. General manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Torre both have spoken with Williams recently, but they have given him little indication whether they plan to have a spot for him on their 2007 roster, according to a person familiar with the situation. Continue reading this story.

If I had to guess right now, I'd say the Yankees do not offer Bernie a contract. I also don't think he would actually choose to play for another team, but you never know...