New York Yankees News & Notes: 1/25/13

Manager's Note: Hey, look! It's The Artist Formerly Known as jetanumba2! Fortunately, his username was not changed to because that would have been awkward. Anyway, Jason's going to be helping us out so Tanya doesn't have to do a news post every day until the end of time. Hurrah! Callooh callay! - Andrew

Dan Johnson is a Yankee: Remember that guy? He hit that game tying home run in Game 162 back in 2011. The former Rays hero spent 2012 on the AAA shuttle between the Chicago White Sox and the Charlotte Knights. The 1B and sometimes 3B/OF signed a minor league deal and will report to Spring Training. The Yankees still have a bench to fill so he could be a decent player to have in the early going and keep stashed in the minors. He can hit both righties and lefties around league average and he offers some decent power off the bench.

In Jeter We Trust?: Over at NoMaas the question is posed whether we can trust the 39 year old Derek Jeter's ability to recover from ankle surgery or not. After hearing that A-Rod would be missing much of the season, the Yankees obviously turned all their attention to filling Third Base, but what about Shortstop? Viable options like Marco Scutaro and Stephen Drew are gone, so now the choices are even more limited. Eduardo Nunez is our only internal backup option, but can he be trusted either?

Worst. Outfield. Ever.: NoMaas uses Bill James' projections to lament about the Yankee outfield's complete lack of power. Not only will it be one of the worst power hitting outfields in the majors, but it will mark the first time since 1974 that at least one of the two Yankee corner outfielders will not have a slugging percentage over .400. Bill James also thinks the outfield will combine for 85 stolen bases, so there's that. That means there's also going to be more sacrifice bunting. Yay?

Can Youkilis and Joba be Friends?: Here's the continuation of the non-issue. Youkilis' agent has stated that the whole ordeal was just a case of bad timing and that there was no malicious intent. Joe Bick then went on to explain that "[bleep] happens" and they interviewed Terry Francona to see what he thought about the whole thing. Tito said something about Youk being a grinder. See what happens, Front Office, when you decide to sit around on your hands? This is the news I am reduced to reporting. Thanks.

The Yankees Are Running Out of Options: The Arizona Diamondbacks have finally found a package worth dumping their franchise player for. Justin Upton (along with Chris Johnson) has been traded to the Atlanta Braves for a package of Martin Prado, Brandon Drury, Nick Ahmed, Zeke Spruill and Randall Delgado. I feel like the Yankees could have easily matched that, it might have cleaned house, but they definitely could have put something similar together.

Scott Hairston will also be something other than a Yankee now that he decided to to sign a $6M/two-year contract with the Chicago Cubs. It was thought that Hairston was choosing between the Yankees and the Mets, but apparently Scott Hairston hates New York.

Now the best outfielder on the open market is Michael Bourn and the Mets are currently begging MLB to let them keep their 11th overall pick. Even though the rules are that the top 10 are protected. Sorry, Mets, you should have sucked harder.