According to a report in The New York Times, Gary Sheffield will be wearing Yankee pinstripes next year, but the Bombers could wait until as late as next week to announce the deal. They have yet to officially introduced Tom Gordon or Paul Quantrill as the newest members of the Yankee bullpen, but they did announce that they had signed left-handed specialist Felix Heredia to a two-year deal (John Flaherty has also been resigned to a one-year deal to be Jorge Posada's backup, a move that will continue to vex those who think the Bombers make horrible choices with utility players).

Steve Karsay, who is in Tampa working-out said that Sheffield was around the Yankees complex yesterday. Jeff Weaver, who had been working with pitching guru and Friend-of-George Billy Conners this fall before Conners had heart surgery last week, has made some adjustments to his delivery. According to the Times:

Weaver said in a telephone interview that Connors altered his arm angle, telling him he had been throwing sidearm too often and swinging his leg too far behind him in his delivery. Weaver was relieved to find a mechanical cause for his struggles.

"It's like if you practice a bad golf swing over and over, you're not going to really notice what you're doing after a while," he said. "I was throwing sidearm for so long, I didn't even realize I was down so low and really dropping my head."

Somewhere in Florida, Pat Jordan must be thinking, "Well, it's about time." Late this summer Jordan told me:

I’d raise [Weaver's] arm level about 45% and have him thrown 3/4 overhand, instead of that side arm shit that he throws. If he got his arm up, and was throwing 93, 94 miles an hour—he’s got a nice, loose delivery---the same fastball that goes left and right with him, would start going down. Once you raise his arm up, get him on top of the ball, that fastball would sink, instead of just left, right. I think that would make a world of difference with him as a pitcher.

Weaver hopes to compete for a spot in the Yankees' starting rotation.

But that's not all. The big rumor this morning involves our boy Nick. The Daily News, Post, and Newsday are reporting that the Yankees may be close to sending Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera to the Expos for Javier Vasquez. If the Yanks have to lose Johnson, sending him to the Expos--far away from the American League East--for a solid young pitcher isn't the worst thing that could happen.

On cue, Mike Lupica has a column today blasting the Yankees for buying players at a record pace:

And each year, the Yankees get further and further away from the teams of '98 and '99 and 2000, the ones who were the old Knicks of baseball, the ones who reminded you of every great old-school Yankee team of the past. Now they just go for the most expensive guys out there, no matter how old they are, using everything except imagination. Sheffield is 35, but will make sure that the Yankees have an All-Star or former All-Star at all eight positions in the field.

What, does Lupica want the Yankees to act like the Seattle Mariners? Would that be easier for him to digest? Would that be classier? I don't know, but what would New York be like if Lupica wasn't killing Steinbrenner?

Meanwhile, up in Boston, Curt Schilling's man, Terry Francona will be introduced as the next skipper of the Red Sox this afternoon. Francona doesn't seem like an impressive guy, but he is just what the Sox are looking for. Then again, I thought that the Yankees hired a bum when they brought Joe Torre on board, so what the hell do I know? Francona seems to be a good guy, and he is willing to see things the sabermetric way. Hey, if I were a Red Sox fan, I would just shrug my shoulders and say: In Theo we trust.