MLB Hot Stove Report: Baseball Is Almost Here Again

Yankee favorite and all around lovable guy Andy Pettitte is hanging around for Spring Training. Apparently Cashman invited him down last Spring Training, but Andy needed some time away. Now he's talking about doing this every year, which I think is pretty cool. I was actually thinking of taking a trip down to the Spring Training complex next year. I think it'd be fun.

Eric Chavez is now officially a Yankee again. If only you could see the grand smile I have on my face right now. No really, it's massive. Anyway, now that he's officially back, I guess we can all wait and see how long it takes him to wind up on the DL again. Maybe we should start a pool and make it interesting!

Today the Yankee bats got to face off against CC and Pineda's best stuff. Pineda is continuing to impress and that's exactly what people want to hear. Also in that link, you can find out the Yankees rotation plans for the beginning of Spring Training. You'll also find out that Pettitte is impressed by Man-Ban, which is promising. And in sadder news, Cano's grandmother passed away, so he will miss a couple of days to head back to the Dominican Republic. My best wishes to Cano and his family.

More non-Yankees news after the jump...

A.J. Burnett will be starting up a college fund for Dan McCutchen's unborn baby girl in order to get #34 from him. As silly as we may find the whole number thing, it's still a pretty interesting and nice gesture on A.J.'s part. I'm amazed the Pirates have two McCutchen's on their team.

Both Danys Baez and Jason Varitek have announced their retirements today. Clearly Baez has not had the career that Varitek had, and while looking back on Varitek's career makes me a tad sick as a Yankees fan, as a baseball fan I do admire what the man has accomplished throughout his long career. It's impressive and he should be proud.

Speaking of the hated Red Sox, former Red Sox manager and new ESPN talking head Terry Francona says that new Red Sox manager and former ESPN talking bobble-head figure Bobby Valentine's ban on clubhouse booze could backfire. To be quite honest, I kinda agree with Francona on this one, mainly for the fact that it's just a PR stunt. I think the Sox players should be allowed to drink before games, and I mean heavily! The drunker, the better!

Finally, the Royals have announced a five year extension with catcher Salvador Perez. Boom. Done deal. Nice!

And as always, I'm shamelessly self promoting the Pinstripe Alley Podcast's 2nd Episode. Go listen, if you haven't yet. Now feel free to use this as an Open Thread for the evening.