C.C. Sabathia has gotten a record-setting offer. He's heard all the hype. And he's heard each writer give his or her own opinion on where he will wind up (most go with the Yanks). But now it's decision time. He's going to take this weekend to think over the Yankees six-year, $140 million contract. When he's done, we may have a #52 Yankees jersey being made.
In other news the Yankees are now aggressivly pursuing A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe. They're expected to make big offers to both, but only sign one. Lowe has publicly said that he wishes to return to the Red Sox and would be willing to take less money to go there. However, the question remains if they would like him back and how much is "less" because after all, he is a Scott Boras client. If you look at the Red Sox rotation if they signed Lowe, it's a rotation that would strike fear into opposing teams. You got Beckett and Dice-K leading off, then you can throw in Lowe, put the young-gun Lester in after him, and then you have the reliable Tim Wakefield closing things in. In other words, sucks to be someone on the other team.
With Burnett the Yankees see themselves having a better chance. He's expressed interest in both playing in the American League and the East Coast, win-win. He's also said he's interested in playing for the Yankees. If you look at his track record, he doesn't look like the best guy to throw money at. He's well-known for being injured, in fact last year was one of just a few full seasons that he's had. But what a year it was. He had his career season going 18-10 4.07 ERA (passable) and a WHOPPING 231 K's! That's something the Yankees have been missing for the past decade or so. Also he's been very tough against the Yankees in particular in 2008 and his whole career. He's a guy they should try to lock up for 4-5 years.
There's also been some speculation that the Padres might have found a trading partner in the Yankees for Jake Peavy. The Braves and Cubs we're initially (and up until a couple days ago) thought to be the front-runners for the 2007 NL Cy Young winner. But they both dropped out recently. The Braves because the Pad's just didn't like what they were offering them. And the Cubs because they relized that with Ryan Dempster comming back, they don't really have a need for Peavy and don't want to give up all the young talent to get him.
However, just because the Yankees are still there doesn't mean they're going to get him. The Padres are looking for young pitching as well as a major league-ready center fielder. The Yankees probably could get Peavy with a package consisting of Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and Austin Jackson, Brett Gardner, or Melky Cabrera. The irony in this is, that this was pretty much the exact same offer that the Twins were looking for last year when they were shopping Johan Santana. However, I don't see the Yankees giving up that much quality talent for a seemingly non-necessary piece to their organization.
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