Where to begin today?
Let's go fact, rumor, conjecture.
Fact:
The Yankees traded Juan Miranda to Arizona for a 19-year old single A pitcher whose name I probably won't bother to learn until he reaches Trenton. But for the record, it's Scott Allen. He's young with a live arm and a 93 mph fastball. Could be David Robertson, could be Jonathan Albaladejo.
The Yankees got all they could out of Juan Miranda. He's out of options, so he would have had to make the 25 man roster. I know there are people here who think he can make it in the bigs, but l don't think he'll show enough power to play 1B.
Fact:
The best pitcher in the league won the Cy Young yesterday.
It seems that my feelings about awards are constantly changing, but at the moment I feel that the statistical record indicates who the 'best' pitcher is. I'd give the awards out based on impact- which is a more gut based argument backed up by some statistics. My ballot: Lee, Price, Sabathia, Pavano.
Fact:
The Yankees will sign a 20 year old, former suspended age faker from the Dominican who had to sit out 2009 and then disappeared. He's damaged goods from a character standpoint, but the Yankees think he could move up through the system.
Rumor:
The Yankees are going to offer Derek Jeter 3 years and $45M. Or wait, is it 3Y/$63M? Or is it 3Y/$21M?
I keep thinking the Yankees are going to play hardball with Jeter, and then I remember Brian Cashman's philosophy about pay cuts: players don't like them, and certainly going to work in the same clubhouse after a public pay cut. That was part of the reason Abreu and Damon and Matsui were let go.
Conjecture:
The Justin Upton talks have been fun, but are we ready to put it behind us? No one will trade for Swisher, who is owed a bunch of money, and if Jorge is going to DH, we're not stashing Swish on the bench. Besides, if I'm Kevin Towers, I'm not sending a young and talented player to New York without getting back Montero and whichever of Betances, Brackman, Banuelos you think is most likely to succeed.