I've got no problem with that. To me, it's ok to state that "A" is what we're going with, but still look around to see if there's an upgrade.

Same with Santana; it's ok to make a deal for him but I just don't want to rape the farm system for him. I'd rather have a team with a bunch of very good players than one with a couple of superstars and a bunch of pieces. Of course the Yankees won't be that bad, I just don't want a return to the 1980s. Ugh.

This will probably be in Alex's post today, but I have to mention it anyway. Warning to Mattpat: this article might give you an aneurysm. http://tinyurl.com/yvphbo

My favorite line: "O'Connell said Pavano was concerned because he was only 11 days from accruing 10 years' service time in the majors and thus a full pension." Excuse me? By next year this guy will have stolen - er, "earned" - almost $50 million, and he's worried about his pension?

For that matter: if Pavano can pitch again, he'll get those 11 days. So he's concerned about accruing ML service time even if he can't pitch anymore. As if he hasn't already stolen enough service time, either...

and a 180 on farns is would be nice - even a sharp right turn.

i wonder how much impact the media - especially someone like espn - has on influencing trades - their coverage of the potential santana trade with the yanks and red sox offers was their usual slant.

3 that carl is always one step ahead.

It's easy to outspend other teams. I personally would like out-planning and out-thinking to be the priority, and then use our money in the most efficient manner.

It's non-tender day. Matt Wise is supposedly going to be NTed by the Brewers, if he hasn't been already. Worth taking a shot? Not sure what other relievers might hit the market.

How about this game for a little pre-Mitchell fun. Let's all go on record with one surprise name that we think will appear in the report. My candidate is Jose Reyes.

Prior to A-Rod returning I was in favor of signing him as I thought it was the only conceivable way to replace that middle of the order production. The idea of replacing Matsui with him makes some sense, too. I doubt the Yankees will go there, but it's not a bad idea.

It should be fun finding out, and arguing over where the dividing line between the value of ~75 innings of (spectacular) relief and ~200 innings of starting is. Obviously if he's spectacular as a starter, this is no debate (and I think we all hope that happens). But if he's merely "pretty good" well, then it will be interesting.

if matsui is traded i do wonder where that leaves things. it doesn't seem wise to bank on giambi being healthy the entire year. as someone (maybe yankz) pointed out yesterday - shelley's health issues seem pretty serious and no telling how and how long that will effect him.
so 1b/dh still seems very much a need.

As far as surprise names in the report, here are my picks with my estimated odds.

1) David Eckstein : (HGH) 4000-1
2) Darin Erstad: (Mainlining Grit and Hustle for the past 12 years) 1:1
3) Rocco Baldelli.

Bernie doesn't strike me as a candidate because his career path pretty much followed the pre-steroid era player. If he was using steroids, boy did they not work.

I am a big Yankees fan, and I have to SERIOUSLY question the entire setup and contention of this column, Yanky Panky #35.

The very first sentence of this column, and I quote, "Christmas is approaching, and the Yankees have yet to buy fans their big offseason present."

Really??? Now I'm not saying nothing else will happen, but the Yankees HAVE spent $400 million so far this offseason, all on guys who had already hit the free agent market.

And speaking of those free agents, where on this year's list of free agents did Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada rank?

Had the Dodgers gone out and spent $400 million to sign Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada (and they could have, by the way. Again, all three were free agents into the signing period), would anybody be saying the Dodgers "have yet to buy fans their big offseason present."???

25 these wouldn't be a surprise; that wouldn't happen (would be a surprise)
bernie would be a huge shock and disappointment. but the biggest for yankee fans would be mo, i think.

"Most teams, especially the NYYankees had players using steroids & HGH. Only the plucky Red Sox had a system in place to guard against steroid users & thus maintain the purity of the game. When the RS thought certain players were using steroids (Damon, Clemens)they made sure to get rid of them."

Not that I think Sen. Mitchell would be biased, simply because he's associated with them.

Bonds - whatever.
Jeter - whatever.
Eckstein - whatever.
Tris Speaker - whatever.

And I've been mostly out of the loop, but just heard somewhere that the Phillies have some interest in Moose. It is eastern PA, so he should be comfortable there, it'd be kinda nice to move him.

On the surface, it does look like the Astros didn't get much, but Tejada seems to be a player in decline. The fact that he has been rumored as a steroid user doesn't help much either. Scott is a very nice bat (and may actually out hit Tejada this year), but at 29 years old is only a stop gap player. The young pitchers range from a rejuvenated bullpen arm to back-end of the rotation prospects, so it really does look more like a salary dump as well as addition by subtraction.

The Astros have no good starting pitching after Oswalt, and yet they trade away their two best young pitchers in Albers and Patton? They are going to try to bludgeon opposing teams to death - if its possible to do that while having a lineup including Ausmus, Adam Everett, Kaz Matsui, and a pitcher every day. "Roy and Wandy, they better be dandy!"

Sheesh. Ed Wade still has no clue. He probably thinks they'll win the division.

In the pre A-Rod re-signs days, I was very opposed to acquiring Tejada. Not just the steroid accusations (which I don't really care about except that Tejada's pre-2004 production may have been inflated), I was very dissuaded by Tejada's apparent lack of interest when playing the Yankees last year. I frequently saw him failing to run out pop-ups or weak grounders... and his fielding was just as lazy. Sure, it sucks to play for a loser like the Orioles, but I'd rather have players with good work ethics.

I have a feeling the Astros just got a giant lemon.

From the Orioles side, while they aren't really getting much more than stop gaps and end of roster filler, it is kind of addition by subtraction as well as a salary dump. Coming off a bad season and steroid implications, I am not sure that there would have been a bigger market for Tejada. You can question why the Orioles didn't deal Tejada sooner, but I don't think they could have gotten much more now.

I don't think Tejada was going to get back to his '04-'06 production in Baltimore, and while Albers and Patton may not seem like much, as they say with pitchers, youneverknow.

In any case, I do think Ed Wade (and Drayton McClane) think they just won the Astros the division with this deal, and I'm not convinced of that at all.