Bomber Pride

The New York Yankees just completed a major trade with the Atlanta Braves to aquire starting pitcher Javier Vazquez and left-handed reliever Boone Logan.  The Yankees gave up Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn, and Aroyds Vizcaino. Vazquez pitched for the Bombers in 2004 when he had an all-star first half of the season and a awful second half which ended with him giving up a grand slam to Johnny Damon in game 7 of the World Series. Last season with the Braves, Vasquez was 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA and 238 strikeouts in 219.1 innings. Many will be sad to see Melky leave, but good pitching is hard to come by. This also opens the door some more for Johnny Damon, who the Yankees will most likely sign if Johnny lowers his contract demands. More to come……..

In a seven player, three team deal, the New York Yankees aquired all star center fielder Curtis Granderson from the Detroit Tigers.  The Yankees had to give up Austin Jackson, considered one of their top prospects.

The Yankees also signed Andy Pettitte to another one year deal.  Andy was an important part of the rotation last season, even more so in the playoffs. For further deails on these deals, see this article.

The free agent market opened yesterday (Friday) and the New York Yankees are entering the fray slowly.  Brian Cashman has stated he will meet with the Steinbrenners and proceed from there.  Some of the top players available are John Lackey,  Matt Holliday and Jason Bay.  Although the Yankees needs are much less than last year, we can expect that the Yankees will at least make contact with each of them. For more on the free agent market, see this article.

The New York Yankees sent three more players, including Austin Jackson who hit a glam slam last night, back to the minors.  Also sent back were Eduardo Nunez and Juan Miranda.  Jakson certainly made a good impression this spring and his home run didn’t hurt his cause. See this story for more details.

The NY Yankees traded minor leaguer pitcher Chase Wright to the Milwaukee Brewers for Eric Fryer who plays catcher and outfield positions. According to Brian Cashman, the Yankees have an excess of pitching talent in the minors and are looking to aquire position players. For more information, see this article.

The NY Yankees signed Brian Bruney to a one year deal worth an estimated 1.25 million dollars. Bruney, who spent much of last year injured and unable to play, but finished strong in the fall. Since the Yankees signed Xavier Nady and Melky Cabrera already this year, there are no other players on the roster eligable for arbitration. For more details, see this article.

Andy Pettitte may be ending his career where he started it, with the New York Yankees. Pettitte and the Yankees have agreed to a one year incentive deal that will pay Pettitte substanially less than he made in 2008. However, Pettitte was determined to return to the NY Yankees. Pettitte says he is anxious to play with Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira, the Yankees big off season aquistions. This story has more information on this deal.

CC Sabathia spoke at some lenght about his new role as the ace of the NY Yankees pitching staff. He says the pressure of playing in the spot light of New York won’t be any more than the pressure he puts on himself to perform. And he is looking foward to playing with Yankees stars such as A-Rod, Jeter, Tex, Joba and Mariano. For more of what CC had to say, see this story.

The NY Yankees signed Chien Ming Wang to an one year deal for five million dollars. For more details, see this story.

Andy Pettitte filed for free agency even he has stated that he would prefer to return to the Yankees. For more, see this story.