I could see Nathan going to Detroit. As for Robertson, they've never really given him a good crack at it. I believe the article said he's converted 8 out of 18 save opportunities. Not great numbers but still a small sample size. Honestly, I'd worry about other areas such as the starting rotation and the left side of the infield (third base and shortstop). I'd save the money and stick Robertson in the 9th for now.

Mo would often have saves which were quick 1-2-3 innings.

Robertson would make you sweat. Btw, 8 out of 18 is horrible, lol.

Yes, Mo would have a 1-2-3 inning and Robertson has walked a few guys. I'm saying I feel comfortable enough now spending the money in other areas (such as the infield, outfield or starting rotation) and putting Robertson in the closer role.

I just realized that Choo and Drew are represented by Boras. That puts their odds of being signed by the Yanks as very low, just like with Ellsbury.

Yankees need a new scouting department that's for sure. They haven't been producing any young talent and I'm getting kind of annoyed by it. I think they should've bought up banuelos. Even if he was just seeing a little playing time it would've been worth it to just to see what he's got. Jackie Bradley jr was an opening day starter for the Red Sox and he hadn't even played a full season in the minors. He was also at college for about 3 or 4 years but still, the Yankees haven't been developing their talent well.

Wow, this really came out of left field:

MLB trade rumors: David Freese to Yankees?

Yes, Revis. Just a quick comparison between the farm systems of the Yanks and Red Sox show a huge gap. And the Red Sox also have to draft further down the first round in most years.

Freese makes sense. He had a horrible season, which will reduce his trade value. And Kolten Wong needs to get playing time at 2nd, meaning Matt Carpenter can replace Freese.

Freese is clutch in October though

Well it's not Robinson Cano:

Yankees reportedly re-sign Ryan to back up Jeter

Wow, this caught me by surprise. I didn't see Hudson going to the Giants:

Giants close to deal with Tim Hudson

I really hope the yanks go out and spend some money this off season. Does anyone have any clue when some of the big time free agents will sign? I'm getting anxious.

I remember it took until nearly February for Fat Prince to sign with Detroit.
Boras represented Prince, and currently handles Choo, Ellsbury, Drew....and he is known for waiting for as long as it takes. Cano won't be signed for a while. Jay Z is trying to get a second team interested, but is struggling. Cano is sticking with his $300 million request.

Usually the big free agents don't sign until during or after the winter meetings which don't take place until next month. The offseason is long and slow, I don't expect many of the tops free agents to go quickly. They want to drag this out as long as possible to see what type of offers they can ascertain. Makes no sense for them to sign quickly.

I'd take him back. I didn't think they should have let him walk last offseason:

Report: Yankees want Raul Ibanez back to DH against righties

I am ABSOLUTELY stunned by this trade. Guess that Prince Fielder experiment didn't work out too well did it Detroit? He only lasted 2 seasons. I think this will be a better deal for Detroit since they get out of the next 7 years of his contract and Fielder will be more productive in a hitters park like Arlington. Do the Tigers now spend their money to get protection around Miguel Cabrera in the form of Robinson Cano?

Source: Prince Fielder to Rangers

Alex Rodriguez embarrassed himself horribly yesterday. His childishness in pounding the table, cursing and storming out of the hearing room was a new low even for him. His request to subject the commissioner to cross-examination was an attempt to turn the proceeding into a circus.

I was also very suprised by this deal. I think that it was a great move by Detroit, unloading a huge contract for a player with a weight problem. I think they can now look at keeping Verlander and Scherzer long-term, which would not have happened with the albatross of Fielder's contract.

What I'm amazed at is that teams can keep dumping these kinds of salaries. Boston dumped Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett onto the Dodgers and now Detroit has dumped Prince Fielder onto the Rangers. It's just amazing that these types of contract are being accepting by the teams (although I believe Detroit may still be paying some of it but it's still better than paying for all of it).

I agree that the Red Sox had a salary dump by unloading big contracts, and didn't have to pay any portion of them. However, this deal is more of a salary exchange for the Rangers. The Prince deal includes another overpaid player in Ian Kinsler.

I believe that Detroit is chipping in $30 million to help pay for Prince. That would bring his deal to $138 million over 7 years.....coming to $19.7 million/season.
Kinsler has 4 years left at $75 million....$18.7 million/season. It's practically a wash.

Therefore, assuming my math is correct, the Rangers will only be paying an extra $1 million a season for the next 4. The final 3 seasons with an overweight Prince will be a bigger question mark. The Rangers supposedly came in second for Prince a few seasons ago, and this should be a much better deal for them.

Finally, the Rangers are going with their prized prospect at 2nd. And the Tigers have the All Star Kinsler at 2nd. Thus, I don't expect either of them to be in the Cano sweepstakes, despite what the media reports.

I think that these salary dumps will result in shorter contracts. I would suprised to see 10 year deals for any player moving forward. Six years seems to be about right, but even that is not without risk.

I thought that I heard on the radio that DET agreed to pay $30 million of Fielders's contract. To me that is clear acknowledgement that Tigers felt he was a mistake.

To me, this was the act of a man who knows he is going to lose in arbitration. Both ARod and Tacopina have pretty much admitted as much and will now attempt to have it overturned in federal court. The entire ordeal was obviously scripted in a way that would make Vince McMahon proud.

As an interesting twist....ARod denied having done anything wrong. He is not saying that he should be treated like the others and receive a 50 game suspension. He believes he should receive zero games. His pants are on fire....

Fielder just didn't work out. Locally he used up a lot of good will with his comments after the games and after the Boston series ended. People didn't think he was trying hard or cared enough. Of course that's probably not the case but his production simply didn't match his salary. Most of the sentiment on the local sports talk radio was downright celebratory.

This column is typical of the majority of the feeling, I think.

Detroit only had to pay 30 million over seven years to unload him, which isn't bad. I bet this trade works out for both teams.

Well David Freese is no longer a St. Louis Cardinal:


David Freese traded to Angels

I believe it's a good trade for both teams. Angels need a 3rd baseman, and the Cards need a good CF.

Bourjos was the prized call up a few years ago, with blazing speed. But he's been slow to develop, partly because there isn't a spot for him with Trout, Hamilton and Trumbo.

The Cards will have a lot of added speed next season with Bourjos and Kolten Wong at 2nd.

What is ARod thinking?

Very rarely will a binding arbitrator's decision be turned over in federal court. And the process has been extremely favorable to the players, compared to the owners. Case in point is when the arbitration process somehow allowed Ryan Braun to skate when he had a dirty urine sample two seasons ago.

Welcome to the New York Yankees Mr. McCann! Nice upgrade at catcher.

Brian McCann agrees with Yankees

Very nice upgrade at catcher. Yanks have finally acknowledged that their youngsters, like Gary Sanchez, are not worth waiting for.

With McCann, the Yanks have used part of their budget with Cano still out there. I still think that 7 years should be the absolute longest term for Cano, especially if a mystery team doesn't surface. He's 31, who wants to pay a 38 year old over $25 million? Nobody else seems interested.....

Here's a good article about Cano, even though it's from the Boston media.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/1...hhFO/story.html

The brian McCann signing was great. I saw it coming though because the yanks needed a catcher and he was one of their top targets. I'm happy either way. Huge addition. Hopefully they're not done.

I agree but I wonder what they're gonna do with Gary Sanchez now? McCann's signed for 5 years (glad they didn't go more because he'll be 35 when it expires - although there is an option year to make it a 6 year contract).

As for Cano, word out of Detroit is that he met with the Tigers this weekend. Not sure if Detroit's gonna use the money they now have since trading Fielder on Cano or Scherzer? I'm sure they want to keep Scherzer but they need protection around Cabrera and Ian Kinsler is not that protection!