John Sickels Top 20 Yankees Prospects List

John Sickels of Minor League Ball released his preliminary Top 20 Yankees prospects list with his grading system attached. For the full article click the link and head over there but I will give you the readers digest version here. 

1. Gary Sanchez

2. Tyler Austin

3. Mason Williams

4. Slade Heathcott

5. Brett Marshall

6. Jose Campos

7. Angelo Gumbs

8. Mark Montgomery

9. Ty Hensley

10. Manny Banuelos

11. Nik Turley

12. Corey Black

13. Rafael DePaula

14. JR Murphy

15. Ramon Flores

16. Bryan Mitchell

17. Austin Romine

18. Corban Joseph

19. Nick Goody

20. Dante Bichette Jr

Nick Swisher Signs Four Year Deal W/ Cleveland

Nick Swisher came to the Yankees in a trade before the 2009 season and has left this year via free agency after signing a four year deal with the Cleveland Indians this morning. This four year deal with worth $56 million before potential incentives and such which have not been announced at the time of this writing. There is an option year for a 5th year at $14 million which could bring the total deal up to $70 million.

Raul Ibanez Comes Off Board, Signs W/ Seattle

Mr. Yankee Raul Ibanez has come off the Yankees board and radar tonight when the 41 year old signed a one year deal worth $2.75 million. He will be missed I cannot even lie because it is hard to find clutch hitting.

Mariners Enter The Raul Ibanez Sweepstakes

Last week we learned that the Texas Rangers would be possible suitors for Mr. Yankee Raul Ibanez and today we learned that the Seattle Mariners also have "serious interest" in the left handed DH/outfielder. Ibanez will be entering his age 41 season and while he only had a triple slash of .240/.308/.453 with 19 home runs for the Yankees last year he had big hit after big hit after big hit in the biggest of spots. Ibanez would be comfortable in Seattle as he played there from 1996-2000 and then again in 2004-2008.

Yankees Release Seven Minor League Prospects

The Yankees have announced that they have released seven minor leaguers today from various affiliates. Here is the list of released minor leaguers.

RHP Reinier Casanova

RHP Ryan Flannery

RHP Jhorge Liccien

SS Yadil Mujica

OF Kelvin Duran

OF Justin James

OF Damon Sublett

No big names or probably anybody that you would notice but still worth posting because this is a slow off season.

Cody Ross Come Off The Board, Signs W/ Arizona

The top right handed outfielder left on the market has officially come off the Yankees board. Cody Ross has signed a three year deal worth $26 million with an option for a fourth year with the Arizona Diamondbacks. As much as the Yankees could have used him that is an awful lot for a platoon outfielder and part time bench player. Makes you wonder why the Diamondbacks would sign ANOTHER outfielder after trading away Chris Young but who knows maybe he is a Justin Upton replacement *hint at Cashman*.

Jim Miller Clears Waivers, Outrighted To AAA

Jim Miller was designated for assignment to make room for the recently signed Ichiro Suzuki and has cleared waivers and will be sent down to AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre. In 33 appearances last year in the majors for the Oakland Athletics Miller pitched to a 2.59 ERA with a .217 batting average against while being much better against lefties then right handed batters. He will add some considerable depth to the AAA bullpen and be in line for a Bronx call up if need be.

Had To Share This Hal Steinbrenner Photo

A Picture is worth a thousand words...

Raul Ibanez To Sign Soon

It turns out that the Yankees are indeed interested in Raul Ibanez as a platoon DH, however George King of the New York Post says that their talks have not involved any sort of negotiation.

I don't like that the Yankees are even considering bring back Raul, as he's not even that good against right-handers. Mind you, a batting line of .248/.319/.492 isn't horrible (his 2012 mark), but it's hardly what a team should want out of a platoon DH.

King makes note that Ibanez would like to sign within the next 7-10 days, so at least this isn't something that will drag on all offseason. I mean... it's better to just rip the bandage off quickly, rather than do it slowly and suffer the pain longer.

Casey McGehee Signs With Japanese Team

There's at least one player from the 2012 Yankees, who I'm not interested in re-signing, that won't be back next year.

Via Sankei in Japan, NBCSports is reporting that Casey McGehee has signed a 1 year deal with the Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Casey finished 5th in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2009, after hitting .301/.360/.499, but things went downhill from there. He had a line of .151/.220/.264 in 22 games for the Yankees in 2012, after having been acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It didn't seem like the Yankees were interested in bringing back McGehee, but seeing their signing of Ichiro, along with their interest in Ibanez, I wouldn't have been surprised to see the 30 year old back in the Bronx in 2013.