James Shields & Wade Davis Leaving The AL East

The Tampa Bay Rays have traded the "old man" of their rotation today, Big Game James Shields, along with Wade Davis to the Kansas City Royals for uber prospect Will Myers. The Rays will add a player to be named later and the Royals are also sending three prospects, Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzo, and Patrick Leonard. The Royals look like they could be tough this year with James Shields at the top, Jeremy Guthrie as a veteran presence somewhere near the middle, Ervin Santana, and Wade Davis could make things interesting in what is not the greatest of divisions in the AL Central. The Rays have to take a step back here one would think after losing these two big pieces so that is always good news for Yankees fans. 

Mark Reynolds to Cleveland

Reports indicate that the Indians have agreed to a one year deal, worth $6 million with incentives, with Mark Reynolds. Reynolds would play 1B for the Tribe, as the 23 year-old Lonnie Chisenhall started the last 15 games at 3B for Cleveland last season, meaning they will likely pull their offer to Kevin Youkilis. We should expect Kevin to accept the two year deal, worth $18 million, the Yankees have offered him.

Hopefully that BABIP of .268 last year, while having a line drive percentage higher than his career average, means we see a batting line out of Youk around .270/.365/.460 with around 18 home runs. Youk played 111 games at 3B last year, so asking him to do it for the entire season is probably not realistic, but with ARod returning in mid-season he should be okay.

Of course, I may be just trying to be positive as I'm desperate for good news this offseason. After all, Youkilis will always be a Red Sox player to me.

Dodgers Have The Highest Payroll In 2014

With the signing of Zack Greinke, it appears as though the Yankees will not have the highest payroll in Major League Baseball for the first time since 1998.

Greinke agreed to a contract of 6 years and $147 million, an average annual value of $24.5 million, which makes him the highest paid pitcher in MLB (Sabathia makes $24.4 million, according to his contract's AAV). That gives the Dodgers four players making $20 million or more per season (according to AAV), as Zack joins Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Matt Kemp (the Phillies are the only other team with that many players making $20 million or more).

Unless the Yankees switch gears and start making some big moves, their payroll is sure to fall under the approximate $220 million payroll Los Angeles is looking at. It would be nice if that would get some people off the Yankees back when it comes to the "trying to buy championships" thing, but I doubt it. Hopefully this news gives the Yankee front office a swift kick in the rear end, and they started to realize that the money saved for getting under a payroll of $189 million by 2014 won't make up for the lost revenue from fielding a championship caliber team.

Yankees Hesitant On Pierzynski

More stuff from Mr. Jon Heyman...

The Yankees are apparently hesitant about AJ Pierzynski. Although it's not the type of news I'd like to hear during this slow postseason, I'd rather the Yanks not bring AJ to the Bronx. Team officials believe he's just an average defensive catcher, and most Yankee fans can tell you that recently they've been all about strong defensive catchers. It makes sense as the team has gotten plenty of offense out of a traditionally non-offensive 2nd base position, as well as strong contributions out of other spots, but looking at the current proposed lineup for 2013 I'm not sure about that any longer. 

That's not to say I'm changing my stance on Pierzynski. I just wish the Yankees' thoughts went beyond his defense, and instead focused on the fact he's going to be 36, doesn't get on base that often, and had a season with some uncharacteristic power that he's very unlikely to replicate.

Yankees Lose Interest In Hamilton

I'm not sure if I want to see Hamilton in pinstripes or not. At first I see the numbers, including 100 home runs over the last 3 years, and think "oh, hell yeah". Then I look at his drug history and wonder if New York City would get to him and lead to issues. Either way, the Yankees signing him would be interesting news in a very not interesting postseason so far.

Well, Jon Heyman put those "Hamilton to Yankees" rumors to rest, saying the team is not involved at this point. If Josh's price were to fall, then perhaps talks would re-ignite, but as of right now it looks like myself and other Yankee fans are left wanting.

Alex Rodriguez's Surgery Scheduled For Mid January

Alex Rodriguez will have his second hip surgery in four seasons, the first on the right hip and this one on the left hip, and it has finally been scheduled for some time in mid January. With a four to six months recovery time we could be looking at an May - July recovery time frame for the 37 year old third baseman. It's not an exact date but we have a better idea of how long we will be without Alex because the original thoughts were the surgery maybe not happening until February.

Andruw Jones Signs With Japanese Team For 2013

All of the people here at The Greedy Pinstripes are jumping for joy as Andruw Jones, and hopefully the blackmailing pictures he had on Joe Girardi, signed a contract to sign on with Rakuten Golden Eagles. This is a one year deal worth $3.6 million for his age 36 season. The best part about it is he will not be back with the Yankees next season off the bench and I think that is all that matters here.

Jayson Nix Clears Waivers, Outrighted To AAA

Jayson Nix has cleared waivers after being designated for assignment and accepted an assignment to AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Nix is no longer on the 40 man roster but is still with the organization and will have an invite to spring training to try and win a job on the team as the utility man.

Yankees Avoid Arbitration With Brett Gardner

The Yankees have announced that they have come to terms with LF Brett Gardner on a contract for the 2013 season thus avoiding arbitration. The terms have not yet been disclosed but MLBTR predicted Gardner would earn $2.8 million next season so we will see just how close they were.

EDIT: The deal is worth $2.85 million, with another $150,000 in performance bonuses.

Yankees In On Josh Hamilton

Before I really get into this I want to throw it out there that I am 100% against this budget restricting austerity idea put in place by Hal Steinbrenner. I mean I co-run a Yankees blog named, for good reason, The GREEDY Pinstripea for crying out loud. I think the losses outweigh the gains both long term and short term financially so with that said I fully expect absolutely nothing to come of story. Anyway...

The Yankees have reportedly requested a background check on Josh Hamilton and are said to be quietly in on him. Is this due diligence? Posturing to keep the price for a potential Nick Swisher reuinion down? Fallacy made up to drive the price up? Who knows?!? I do know this we are not in the George Steinbrenner era anymore and I am not getting my hopes up just to be crushed again.

I truly think that Josh Hamilton will be on a team other than the Yankees next season but let us just say that he does sign, how would that affect the 2014 plan? Can we afford both him and Robinson Cano? Do we throw austerity out the window? Is this another management driven signing or is Brian Cashman flexing his ninja suit? We may never know..