Absolutely, we are expecting a number of high school students, as career development starts with undergraduate studies, and it is never too soon to get started taking courses or enrolling in an undergrad program.

Was he disliked in Baltimore?

BTW, Bedard is a free-agent after 2009 anyway. Personal problems, notwithstanding, he’s worth the risk, in my mind, for one year, provided the Mariners wouldn’t demand more than a Melky and a B-prospect.

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Seriously. Is there a team out there that would truly need Melky to play their Center Field ???

Who realistically would want him & why ?

In a way it’s sort of like the Red Sox letting Teixiera get away so they have room for Pujols in St Louis forgets to sign him before he becomes a FA. You know the he won’t be there for a couple years, so you fill it with someone else or whatever you already have else until then.

The difference is that (other than in Peter Gammons’s world) this would be the intended plan from the onset.

And unless St Louis screws up, it’s unlikely Pujols will ever become a free agent so it could be a far better plan.

Boston’s probably taking a shot on Smoltz, right? And there’s a big difference between a 42-year old former all-star coming off arm surgery (again) and someone like Ben Sheets.

And this wouldn’t be a ‘response’ to a Smoltz/Sox deal either. Sheets has already been discussed for a while.

He’ll be even tougher now that his ground balls will morph into great plays by Teixiera.

I reiterate all my comments on Andy from yesterday and the day before. The people claiming Andy would be “overpaid” at $10MM or that the Yanks would be “generous” to pay Andy $10MM are flat out wrong.

Looking at the contracts that have been signed, Andy seems to be worth $10MM or more.

Johnson got $8MM. He’s 46 and a real risk not to reach 200 innings. His numbers were put up in a weaker league.

Dempster got $12MM, and an escalating multi-year contract. Granted he had a much better year than Andy in 2008, but if you look at his performance over the last three years, I don’t know that I would not rather have Andy.

If Smoltz hits his incentives, he’ll make around $10MM for at most two-thirds of a season.

Next, from a demand point of view, there are only two free agent starters left who are better than Andy. Lowe and Sheets. Sheets has an issue and Lowe has rejected a 3 year contract at around $13M per. Lowe is better than Andy, but not by that much once you factor in the league he pitched in and the much worse defense behind Andy.

Next, this HGH issue is IMO way overblown. Yes, it embarrassed the Yanks, and I’m sure strained their relationship, but it did not affect the way Andy pitched last year. No one claims it did that I’ve read.

Andy’s numbers were down last year due to a second half shoulder injury. Almost everyone agrees he pitched through it to help the Yanks. He could have gone to Tampa in July, like some other pitchers might have done, and had very pretty 2008 numbers, but he did not.

Andy is very likely to give you 200+ innings. He’s never been worse than a league average pitcher. He’s almost always been better, usually significantly better. That would be of enormous value to the Yanks next year.

If the Yanks have decided they need another solid starter, it’s silly for them to trade Nady or Swisher for one. Neither player is going to bring back much in a trade, and why trade them and weaken our depth when we can sign a pitcher?

The Yanks appear to have budgeted at least $10MM for another starter. Andy is right there. If it takes another million or two to get the deal done it seems silly to quibble in an offseason where the Yanks gave Marte $12MM over 3 years and have spent enormous sums to be the best team in baseball.

If Andy is really holding out for $16MM, then that’s another issue. But I find it difficult to believe that’s his final position.

The Yanks and Andy ought to sit down and hash out the deal.