I’m home sick with a cold, sinus, and congestion. So while I’m sitting in bed blowing my nose every five minutes, I’ve been reading blogs and people’s tweets on Twitter. Here are some things for you all to read about this morning.
- The Winter Meetings in Indianapolis produced the busiest week of the Yankees’ offseason. They kicked it off by dealing reliever Brian Bruney to the Nationals in exchange for the first pick in the Rule 5 Draft.
- Early last week, we got word the Yanks were working on a three team trade to land Curtis Granderson. They agreed to a deal on Tuesday, sending Ian Kennedy, Austin Jackson, and Phil Coke elsewhere. Once the medicals were reviewed the deal was made official.
- On Wednesday, Andy Pettitte solidified the rotation by agreeing to a one year, $11.75M contract, though he may have rejected the team’s initial offer. The next day, the Yanks used the first pick in the Rule 5 Draft to select Dodgers outfielder Jamie Hoffmann, who will compete for a bench spot in Spring Training. Some thought the Yanks should have used the pick to take one of their own.
- The Granderson pickup allows the Yanks to put some pressure on Johnny Damon and Scott Boras. The two sides remain very far apart during negotiations, though they Yanks may offer two years at $10M each, which could close the gap. The Yanks have some competition for Hideki Matsui, and they also have the option of dealing a spare outfielder.
- The week concluded with Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin, and Melky Cabrera receiving contract offers for 2010, while Chien-Ming Wang was non-tendered. The writing had been on the wall for some time, and Wang rejected the team’s split-contract offer.
- The Yanks expressed interest in various free agent pitchers throughout the week, including Ben Sheets, Kelvim Escobar, and Ryota Igarashi, and of course they’re still in on Roy Halladay. They might not have room for another big contract, however.
- And finally, the front office wants to bring the entire coaching staff back.
