Yankees Interested In Cody Ross

The Yankees interest in Scott Hairston has been known, but now Jon Morosi tweeted that they are interested in Cody Ross as well.

Ross, like Hairston, would fit the role of a right-handed outfielder. Last season Cody hit .267/.326/.481 overall, and .295/.373/.636 vs. left-handed pitchers. He mainly plays either of the corner outfield positions, where he's an average fielder, but he's seen time in center field lately as well, although he's below average out there. The flexibility makes him an attractive option though, especially when you consider the Yankees already have two guys that can field in center (Granderson and Gardner).

ARod To Miss Half Of 2013 W/ Hip Surgery

Alex Rodriguez has a tear in his left hip that will more then likely require a surgery to repair. This surgery will keep him out three to six months so we are looking at a June return date if all goes well. This is not the same hip that was previously repaired before the 2009 season. This may have a lot to do with his lack of production down the stretch and his benchings.

Welcome To The Winter Meetings

The Winter Meetings is usually when we see the big name free agents come off the board and the majority of the action in the off season actually get done. This year hopefully will be no different because Yankees GM Brian Cashman has a ton to get done this year at the meetings. The Yankees go into the Winter Meetings without a starting catcher or a real viable option in house, a starting right fielder or a conceivable in house option, a designated hitter, and an incomplete bench. Hopefully this is Brian Cashman's time to shine and show why he got the name #NinjaCash.

Stay posted to The Greedy Pinstripes for all your GM Winter Meetings news, hot stove rumors, and updates!

Curtis Granderson Again Serving As MLB Ambassador

Curtis Granderson has once again been chosen to be part of Major League Baseball's International Ambassador program this off season. Granderson will spend three days in Korea followed by an eight day stay in Japan. There will be many things that Granderson will be doing in his trip including re-opening the Ishinomaki Municipal Baseball Stadium that was damaged in 2011 by earthquake and tsunami, visit and donate equipment to a children's orphanage in Seoul, meet his fan club in Korea, and will attend many baseball clinics for boys and girls in Kyoto among other things.

Slade Heathcott Ranks 6th Among AFL Prospects

Slade Heathcott has been ranked the sixth best prospect among all of the Arizona Fall League prospects that went down this season. Slade Heathcott put up some monster numbers down in Arizona with a triple slash of  .388/.494/..602 and a 192 wRC+ and even got a first place vote from one writer seen in the write up from Baseball America.

In other news Slade's teammates Austin Romine and Mark Montgomery were named to the Top Prospect team for the Arizona Fall League. Really weird to not see David Adams or Slade on this team as well, especially after this news about Slade's high ranking, but no big deal either way I guess.

Ichiro Done Waiting On The Yankees To Call

Ichiro Suzuki just a week ago stated that he wanted to play for the Yankees in 2013 and was willing to wait on them to make a deal happen. Ichiro stated that he knew the Yankees wanted to lock up Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, and Hiroki Kuroda and was willing to wait so with that done Ichiro is growing impatient. I can really see this backfiring since the Winter Meetings are not even here yet and Ichiro is acting like he is still a commodity but I have a feeling this is nothing more then posturing on Ichiro's part.

Obligatory "Derek Jeter Is Out Of Shape" Picture Post

It's crazy I know to fracture your ankle and have surgery on it and not stay in shape, I mean it's Derek Jeter. Derek should find a way to rest and rehab his ankle AND stay in shape this early in the off season. Come on Derek get it together! 

Yankees Sign Jayson Nix To Avoid Arbitration

UPDATE: The Deal is worth $900K after he accepted an assignment to AAA Scranton. If he clears waivers he will head down to AAA and become a non roster invitee to spring training.

The Yankees have announced that they signed INF Jayson Nix to a major league deal worth around $1 million avoiding arbitration. This is just minutes after being designated for assignment to make room for Mariano Rivera.

Yanks Sign Mo, Claim Miller, DFA Storey & Nix

The Yankees announced a flurry of roster moves with the signing of Mariano Rivera becoming official. The Yankees designated INF Jayson Nix for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster. The Yankees also claimed RP Jim Miller off waivers from the Oakland Athletics and designated recently claimed Mickey Storey for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster.

Yankees Have Shown Little Interest In Pierzynski & Napoli

Things can surely change, but according to George King the Yankees have not shown much interest in AJ Pierzynski.

This is hardly a surprise, as AJ is not the most respected player on the field. The Yankees like their players to be upstanding citizens. For instance, Curtis Granderson is very well-known for his charity work and being an all-around good guy, and that was talked about a lot when the Yankees traded for him.

When I wrote about free agent catchers in my Offseason Decisions series at the end of the World Series I mentioned Pierzynski, and listed him in the "maybe" category. Having a catcher hit .284/.324/.429 with 15 HR a season would be great (that's AJ's career batting line, and his 162 game average in home runs), and he's also a fine defensive catcher, but I'd rather look elsewhere for a backstop.

As for that Offseason Decisions post, I put Mike Napoli in the "yes" category. Unfortunately I didn't take into account that Napoli only caught in 72 games last season, and likely couldn't catch much more than that. Not to mention how well he'd be at it. So while the offense would be nice, he wouldn't be a good fit.

Which is good, since Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the Yankees aren't really interested in Mike either.

Not that there's much to choose from in free agency, so the Ninja would have to work more of his dark magic.

To the rescue!