Video : Nick Swisher 2012 Highlights

As much as I am going to miss Nick Swisher in 2013, well unless we make the playoffs, I had to include him in this because of the great memories he gave us in 2012. I am going to hate giving him hell on twitter for smiling after a 4 strike out game and I am gonna miss that contagious positive attitude that he had. Enjoy the video and good luck to Nick in 2013, with or without the Yankees!

Video : Raul Ibanez 2012 Highlights

What a 2012 season by Raul Ibanez, I mean what can I say that is going to convince you to watch this video? We all know about the clutch home run after clutch home run from the beginning of the season up to the playoffs. Enjoy this video, I know that I did!

Video : Curtis Granderson 2012 Highlights

As frustrating as Curtis Granderson was last year and as lost as he looked at the plate and in the field a lot of the times Curtis Granderson gave us some interesting highlights in the 2012 season. Enjoy the video!

Video : Ichiro Pitching As Closer In Japan All Star Game

In 1996 the Japanese League All Star game treated us to a real gem as they allowed outfielder Ichiro Suzuki to pitch the final inning of the game for the Pacific All Star team. What can this guy NOT do? Enjoy the video.

R.A. Dickey Unofficially Off The Yankees Board

The deal that will send reigning National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays is all but complete, taking him off the Yankees board. The Yankees and the Mets discussed a Dickey to the Bronx trade and realized that we did not have the pieces, or not willing to give up the pieces, to make the deal happen but I still wanted to post that he is coming off the board. The deal is not official and the players named are not officially released yet but the rumors look like this:

Toronto Blue Jays get:

SP - R.A. Dickey

New York Mets get:

C/1B -Travis d'Arnaud

OF - Anthony Gose

C - JP Arencibia

Last night on twitter I was wondering how if it only took Gose and Arencibia to get Dickey that I was upset with the Yankees brass for not at least looking at the cheap upgrade. With the Blue Jays apparently willing to give up their top prospect AND Gose it all makes sense now. Way too much for a 37 year old on a one year deal, extension coming or not. Especially one who makes his living with a "trick pitch" with the knuckle ball.

Troy Glaus Tried To Come Back To MLB W/ Yankees

When Troy Glaus heard about Alex Rodriguez's second hip surgery in the last five seasons the 36 year old reached out to the New York Yankees about a potential comeback to the majors. I think it is interesting to say that Troy Glaus, even though he retired after the 2010 season, is still one year younger then Alex Rodriguez. Glaus retired after numerous battles with shoulder and knee problems in his career but states that he is 100% now in both areas. Glaus finished his career with 320 home runs and a World Series MVP in 2002 in his 13 year career with the Angels, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, and the Braves. The Yankees now have Kevin Youkilis so the signing does not seem likely but I would be pretty annoyed if Brian Cashman did not at least send him a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training. I know he has not played in two years but this is the perfect low risk/high reward type signing that the Yankees are known for making and coming out on the right end of. Nothing wrong with depth, especially in AAA.

Video : Mark Teixeira 2012 Highlights

Continuing with our look back at the 2012 season the next video is the highlights of our 1B Mark Teixeira. The song is pretty fitting and awesome with Empire State of Mind by Jay Z so I had to include this one over the others. Mark battled some injuries in 2012 but still gave us that power and gold glove defense every single day he was out there so enjoy the video!

Yankees 2012 Luxury Tax Penalty Set At $18.9 Mill

The Yankees have spent approx. $224.2 million over the last 10 years of the luxury tax threshold penalty which is one seasons worth of payroll in the Bronx or more. In 2011 the Bombers paid a "mere" $13.9 million but in 2012 we are paying $18.9 million. I still cannot get behind the austerity budget for 2014 and the whole $189 million plan even after seeing these numbers. These numbers are a drop in the bucket in the big picture but hey, what do I know right?

How Cano's Extension Could Affect The Luxury Tax

My brain hurts from trying to figure out the crazy language the CBA is written in.

For a while Burch and I have talked about giving Robinson Cano an extension before Opening Day, as we believed that an extension signed before Opening Day of that player's last contracted year would simply be added to his current deal... it wouldn't totally replace it. Which means that Cano's old deal would keep his Average Annual Value (AAV) down a bit. However, I decided to take a closer look at Major League Baseball's new Collective Bargaining Agreement to make sure that's still true. Here is the exact wording...

If the new Uniform Player’s Contract is signed during the championship season, it must begin with the next succeeding championship season and cannot modify the terms of the Uniform Player’s Contract covering the then current championship season. 

The Average Annual Value of such new Contract shall be increased or decreased, whichever is applicable and beginning with the new Contract’s first Contract Year, by the figure arrived at by subtracting the amount of Salary that has been attributed under the rules of this Article XXIII to a Club in previous Contract Years under the Contract that is being replaced from the amount that was actually paid to the Player by a Club in those Contract Years. If a new Contract is signed during a championship season to commence with the next championship season, the calculation called for in this paragraph (3) shall be performed at the end of the then current championship season. Except for the limited circumstances described in this paragraph (3), no Player may be signatory to more than one unexpired Uniform Player’s Contract at any time.

Do you have a headache now too?

If you can understand that right away, then I'm jealous because it took me a while to figure out it. However, feel free to keep reading and I'll break it down for you.

Robbie's current contract is a 6 year deal for $57 million, due to his options for 2012 and 2013 being picked up (it was originally 4 years and $30 million, with a $2 million buyout in 2012 and 2013). That means that currently the AAV of Cano's contract is $9.5 million.

For argument's sake, let's say that Cano's new deal will be for 8 years and $184 million, which would be an AAV of $23 million.

Now, if Cano's new contract were signed after Opening Day of 2013 (the last season under his current contract), then Robinson's AAV would stay at $9.5 million through 2013, and starting in 2014 the new contract of 8 years and $184 million would be it, giving him an AAV of $23 million. But if Cano's new contract was signed before Opening Day of 2013, then one of two things would happen...

1. The extension may only cover 2014-2021, therefore his salary of $15 million for 2013 would help determine the AAV of his contract. If the contract were broken down by years it would look like this... 2008: $3 million, 2009: $6 million, 2010: $9 million, 2011: $10 million, 2012: $14 million (club option), 2013: $15 million (club option), 2014: $23 million, 2015: $23 million, : 2016: $23 million, 2017: $23 million, 2018: $23 million, 2019: $23 million, 2020: $23 million, 2021: $23 million. Which would total $241 million over 14 years, which works out to an AAV of $20.083 million.

2. The extension may start right away, therefore the $15 million he would have been paid in 2013 is thrown out, and when broken down by year this is what Cano would be paid... 2008: $3 million, 2009: $6 million, 2010: $9 million, 2011: $10 million, 2012: $14 million (club option), 2013: $23 million, 2014: $23 million, 2015: $23 million, : 2016: $23 million, 2017: $23 million, 2018: $23 million, 2019: $23 million, 2020: $23 million. Which would be a total of $226 million over 13 years, which works out to an AAV of $20.545 million.

You can see that signing Robbie to an extension before the start of 2013 could not only free up some room in order to get under the Luxury Tax threshold in 2014, but it could also help save the team from paying out more due to the Luxury Tax further down the road. Mind you it's not a ton of money, but getting under the threshold in 2014 could come down to a just few million dollars, making this extension a bit more important.

Video : Alex Rodriguez 2012 Highlights

Continuing with our look at the 2012 season we will go with Alex Rodriguez for this looking back moment. I was happy that the grand slam down in Atlanta tying Lou Gehrig was included because some of the other videos had some major moments missing. Alex will miss a lot of 2013 with a second hip surgery but we can always look back at these highlights until he returns so enjoy!

Video : Robinson Cano's 2012 Highlights

Continuing our look at the 2012 seasons for the Yankees we will look at our all star 2B Robinson Cano. If you feel like anything was omitted then please comment. Enjoy the video!