This is the first of daily hot stove posts that will cover not just the Yankees but all of MLB.
- We're all still waiting for official word on whether CC Sabathia will opt out of the last four years of his contract (for which he's due $92 million). He can do so at midnight.
- If you've missed Yankee baseball, check out the Taiwan series that starts tonight at 9 p.m. on MLB Network where you'll get to see Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano take part in a five-game series against Taiwanese All-Stars.
- The official Elias Free Agent rankings have been released. As Brandon noted, Freddy Garcia is a Type B (meaning a supplemental round draft pick would be the Yanks if he signed elsewhere). That's probably not enough, though, to cause the Yanks to offer him arbitration.
- Three Yankees will vie for Gold Gloves: Mark Teixeira, Robbie Cano and Brett Gardner. In a move to generate TV ratings, an awards show will air tomorrow at 10 p.m. to announce the winners. (No Derek Jeter this year.)
- Derek Lowe was traded from Atlanta to Cleveland for southpaw pitching prospect Chris Jones. As Buster Olney pointed out, three of the top ten groundball pitchers will play for the Tribe in 2012. They must have confidence in their infield defense.
- Cleveland also granted Grady Sizemore free agency. He could be a low-risk, high-reward signing for someone.
- The Mets are bringing in the fences at Citi Field -
...they are moving the walls in by as much as 12 feet next season, lowering the height to 8 feet and changing the color to blue.
How come they never moves wall back or higher?