MY BASEBALL BIAS

According to the commissioners office - $218.3 million. That’s a staggering figure and it doesn’t even include the $23.88 million dollars the Yankees had to pay in luxury tax.

How about this year you ask?:

The Yankees have committed $198.6 million to 19 signed players on their 40-man roster. Adding in the midpoints for their three players remaining in arbitration — Chien-Ming Wang, Robinson Cano and Brian Bruney — the total increases to $207.6 million.

At least we won’t have to sign Clemens this year.

SG over at Replacement Level came out with his top 10 seasons of all time by a Yankee first baseman. Lou Gehrig occupied all positions from 1-10. His line of .373/.474/.765 in 1927 is absolutely unfathomable.

Anyone else wish we had a another “Gehrig” playing first base for the Yankees this year?

From SI.com:

James has been loyal to the Yankees since he was a kid. He’s also a big Dallas Cowboys fan.

Maybe next he’ll come out with an elegant line of “Dallas Cowboy Hankies” just in time for next year’s NFL playoffs, in honor of Terrell Owens of course.

Saw this SI.com article by Tom Verducci linked by Steve and Yankee GM Blog.

Verducci writes:

Without Santana, New York must plan for rotation instability in 2008. It can be done, but the odds begin to work against a team the more second-tier starters it has to plug in. (”Second tier” is not a blanket evaluation of talent — sometimes a replacement is better than the original — but a marker of stability.) Indeed, rotation stability has been one big reason why Boston has been winning the titles that used to belong to New York.

Can’t argue with that, especially last season when the Yankees had 41 starts from “second-tier starters” versus 22 from the Red Sox. It seemed like a new pitcher was taking the mound every night during the first month.

I could have sworn, at one point in late April, I saw Tommy John hobble out of the dugout and take the mound.

Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus pinch-hit today over at LoHud. He looks at the “Verducci Rule” and how it pertains to the Hughes, Chamberlain and Kennedy. Not sure I learned much by reading it other than the organization needs to be careful (which we are already aware), but it was a good read nonetheless.

David Pinto of Baseball Musings is looking at team offenses in MLB and starts with the Yankees today. It’s a great starting point for predicting how many runs they might score this year.

Pinto adds this:

Even though Wilson(Betemit) and Shelly(Duncan) are not Giambi in terms of OBA and power, they still project to hit well. That gives the Yankees two players off the bench capable of getting on base at better than a league average clip. That’s flexibility Joe Girardi should appreciate. Quite simply put, what every combination the Yankees settle on will be among the league leaders in runs scored.

It will be interesting to see how Girardi handles the first-base platoon.

Via LoHud, here’s hoping Brian Cashman got a hold of this and gave it to Hank Steinbrenner.

According the AP, the Yankees had the highest average salary ($7.47M) in the league last season for the 9th straight year. The Red Sox came in second at $5.46 million.

Revenues for the whole of MLB were up 4.6%:

Revenue among the 30 teams topped $6 billion for the first time last year and is projected to top $6.5 billion this year, according to commissioner Bud Selig said.

“That is, again, a manifestation of how popular the sport is,” Selig said Thursday after he was given a three-year contract extension through 2012. “It’s grown so dramatically in every way. So when I use those numbers, I use it not to talk about how much money we’re making as much as this is how big the sport has gotten.”

Ah Bud, you left out “and what eventually landed me another five years as commissioner”. Unreal.

From ESPN.com:

For the second time this offseason, the Yankees have pulled their Phil Hughes-centered trade offer for Johan Santana off the table.

The Yankees, then, will not restart trade talks with the Twins unless Hank Steinbrenner has another change of heart, a baseball official with knowledge of the talks told 1050 ESPN Radio’s Andrew Marchand.

The Yankees’ desire Monday to turn their attention away from the two-time Cy Young winner leaves Boston and the New York Mets as Minnesota’s trade partners, the official told Marchand.

Judging from what’s been said in the past, let’s be extremely careful to read too much into this report. I think the longer Santana remains a Twin, the less likely it is he ends up in the Bronx.

Most reports at the moment have the Mets in the lead for his services because they need him the most. Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog.com has the latest here as it related to the Mets landing Santana.

Think about it, if the Mets land Santana, that will have been two players (Carlos Beltran being the other) that the Yankees actively pursued but ultimately decided against due to the cost involved.

1994 Topps Gold #103 Sterling Hitchcock - found in my nephews room.

My nephew Nolan is a great kid. He loves animals, bugs, video games and much to my surprise, at the tender age of seven, the New York Yankees.

While at my sister’s house over the holidays, Nolan was showing me the different animals he had in his room. Against the window was glass container with a few toads in it. Over in the corner were two guinea pigs. And on his dresser were two mice in a cage with a number of small baby mice huddled beneath the cotton staying warm. He told me that his class let him take the animals home for the holidays. “How cool is that”, I told him.

I then noticed something rather unusual sitting on top of the cage - a mint-condition, 1994 Topps Gold #103 Sterling Hitchcock baseball card. He said he found the card and liked the hat the guy was wearing.

For those of you who don’t remember Hitchcock, he was traded on December 7, 1995 by the Yankees with Russ Davis to the Seattle Mariners for Tino Martinez, Jim Mecir, and Jeff Nelson. Martinez and Nelson became important parts of the 1996, ‘98 and ‘99 and 2000 championship teams. Hitchcock went on to pitch for the Mariners and Padres, Yankees (again) and the Cardinals. He had a few good years with San Diego in the late ’90’s and ended his career in 2004 with a 74-76 record and a 4.80 ERA.

I told my nephew that Hitchcock helped the Yankees tremendously in winning four world series championships. I didn’t tell him, however, that it was because he was traded away.

I’ll save that for another day.

What’s in the papers this morning?

• Kevin Kernan of the NY Post has a great article today on Joba Chamberlian. Kernan followed Joba and is Dad Harlan around Lincoln, Nebraska and writes a nice profile of the young man. It’s a nice break from all the steroid stuff.

• Hank Steinbrenner is 100% percent behind his pitcher Andy Pettitte and his decision to apologize for using HGH in 2002. No regrets signing him back. Oh yeah, those championships aren’t tainted either.

• Remember that guy McNamee who gave up Clemens, Pettitte and a few others? Here’s a very critical report on the man from an acquaintance of his. I just don’t know who to believe anymore. Former pitcher C. J. Nowitski gave a glowing report of McNamee yesterday that was printed in all the major newspapers. No we have someone coming out to say that he’s a liar, an “alcoholic” and “a troubled soul. Makes you wonder who’s the credible one in all of this.

• Hank made it clear today when discussing any deal for Johan Santana: “I am not giving up two of the three,” Steinbrenner said of Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy and Hughes, the Holy Trio of the Yankees’ pitching-rich organization. “That’s not going to happen.” Very good to hear. And at this point, I don’t think he should part with any of them.

• Mike Lupica has no sympathy for Andy Pettitte. What’s new. John Harper believes that Roger Clemens‘ denial no longer holds up after Pettitte’s apology.

Don’t forget to tune in today at 3:00 PM ET to our radio show The Hits Keep Coming where Ian of Sox and Dawgs and Anthony of the Oriole Post join me in discussing the latest developments regarding the Mitchell Report.

Also, A-Rod will be interviewed on 60 minutes tonight. Check your local listings.

From PeteAbe:

Just spoke to a Yankees Exec Who Can Be Trusted and learned this:

The YEWCBT said that Brian Cashman has made his final offer and will not toss in Ian Kennedy, Alan Horne or Austin Jackson. That would seem to favor the Red Sox but the Dodgers and Angels are now getting in the mix with the Yankees on the outskirts.

Hughes, Melky and a mid-level prospect. Take it or leave it.

The Angels have now entered the mix for Santana as well reports Buster Olney.

Here are a few other rumors:

• Dan Haren’s name has been linked in two deals today. First with the Diamondbacks that would include Connor Jackson going to the A’s and a second deal with the Detroit Tigers. The A’s have asked the Tigers for both pitcher Andrew Miller and outfielder Cameron Maybin, but the Tigers seem unwilling to trade both of them.

• The big rumor today is Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis being shipped to the Tigers for Miller, Maybin and a few other prospects. Stay tuned on that one.

• The Dodgers may be close to landing Erik Bedard from the Orioles for Matt Kemp and Jonathan Broxton. The Orioles are crazy if they trade Bedard.

Back with more in a bit.

A few late reports tonight on the Santana saga.

Buster Olney of ESPN first reported that the Twins have asked to see Jon Lester’s medical records:

With talks between the Yankees and Twins losing steam, the Red Sox have emerged as the favorite to land Johan Santana. The teams continued to talk from late Monday into early Tuesday morning, with the Twins even asking to see medical reports on Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester. Last week, the Red Sox offered Lester, outfielder Coco Crisp, minor league infielder Jed Lowrie and another minor league pitcher for Santana.

What are we to make of this? Are the Red Sox sweetening the deal by adding Lester to the mix along with Ellsbury and Lowrie?

Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe’s Extra Bases blog confirms the report as well:

The Red Sox have traded medical information with the Minnesota Twins on Jon Lester, which means that talks between the two teams have progressed, with the Twins taking a serious look at the Sox offer.

If the Red Sox are willing to give up Lester, Ellsbury, Lowrie and $150 million dollars for Santana, I think the Yankees should bow out of the negotiations. I don’t believe they should include Kennedy as a knee jerk reaction to what the Red Sox may have proposed.

I was on board earlier to go and get Santana. If it meant giving