The LoHud Yankees Blog

Sam Borden just checked in from the Bronx after speaking to Hal Steinbrenner. He touched on a few hot topics:

Andy Pettitte: He and Brian Cashman have talked about the situation. “We’re still looking at it,” Steinbrenner said. “They were not happy with our offer and we were not happy with what they wanted. Anything is possible.”

San said that Hal did not seem particularly optimistic.

On other owners being critical of the Yankees’ spending spree: “If some owners are upset we invest in our team, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.”

Mark Teixeira: Hal said the the only formal offer the Yankees made was the one Teixeira accepted back on Dec. 23. It came together quickly that day. So while Cashman met with Teixeira and Scott Boras, the only offer came on Dec. 23.

Here we are, live from my sister’s living room watching the Mark Teixeira press conference. Sudden Sam Borden is on hand for The Journal News in the Bronx.

1:11 p.m.: Joe Girardi has presented Teixeira with his uniform. Randy Levine, Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman spoke first.

1:12 p.m.: Teixeira got No. 25. It seems The Big G won’t get it retired.

1:13 p.m.: Randy Levine always has a good tan. … You think the Yankees get a discount on those flowers they give to the wives of new players?

1:16 p.m.: Teixeira says Don Mattingly was his favorite player. That will play well with the masses.

1:14 p.m.: Tex say he wants to win the World Series. That’s a relief.

1:15 p.m.: Now comes the general questions from the media. Very rarely do any of the actual baseball writers ask questions at this time, we save them for later. Usually only the TV and radio types ask questions during the formal part of the press conference.

1:17 p.m.: Teixeira says the process was confusing. But he and his wife decided they wanted the Yankees. “Once we got the contract figured out, it was a no-brainer for me,” he said.

Right, that $180 million was just a detail.

1:19 p.m.: Joe Girardi will love Tex. Short hair, family man, nice guy, military father. He’s a perfect Girardi player.

1:20 p.m.: “Most lineups will hate facing our pitching and most pitching will hate facing our lineup,” Tex says.

1:21 p.m.: The formal part of the press conference has ended. Back with some more later, including the photos.

Rich DePreta of the Stamford Advocate wrote an interesting piece on Bobby Valentine over the weekend.

Valentine is entering the final year of his deal in Japan and wasn’t given an extension. He sounds like a manager who wants to come back home and give the Majors another shot.

Joe Girardi is going to get every chance to succeed from the Yankees. Brian Cashman wanted him, as did Hal Steinbrenner. But the Yankees can’t tolerate another season out of the playoffs. Their business model pretty much demands a postseason appearance.

Valentine, who has a home in Connecticut and a great appreciation for baseball history, would surely love to manage the Yankees. I covered Valentine when he managed the Mets. He’s an interesting guy. He’s smart, a bit Machiavellian at times, innovative and plays the media like a finely tuned grand piano.

There will be no shortage of candidates to manage the Yankees if Girardi falters. But keep an eye on Valentine.

Sure, Valentine was fired by the Mets. But as he told DePreta, “I know I’m a different person than I was two years ago. I’m certainly different than I was 10 years ago.”

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This blog is up for an award. If you’re so inclined, please cast a vote. If there’s money involved, I promise to share.

January is traditionally a slow month for baseball news. So for the second year in a row, we will showcase other blogs with a series of pinch hitters.

Next up is Matthew from The Yankees’ Republic.

Mathew is a published writer and practicing lawyer who lives in New York City. His blog is an always opinionated, frequently fervent, and occasionally insightful collection of rants and musings about his lifelong passion, the New York Yankees. Matt also covers the team for Sportstalkny, an internet show that interviews authors, athletes and reports on New York’s major sports franchises. It is broadcast on Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

Here’s his post:

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I’m a Jew, New-Jersey born. To this day, however, the only religion I’ve ever believed in doesn’t enshrine a Wall in Jerusalem but a park in the Bronx. The New York Yankees — my religion, my faith, my salvation, my folly and my cross.

Yes, suffering yet another October of dull heartache and desolating withdrawal, shorn of the day’s ritual and consolation, I can succumb to doubt. Isn’t there something pathetic, perverse, even ill, I fret, in an ostensibly grown man surrendering his emotions to the fate of 25 Olympian jocks on a ball field? Isn’t it just a game?

To the rational skeptic, my fervor, no doubt, conjures the stereotype of a David Puddy, Seinfeld’s raving shirtless buffoon decked in team-colored face paint or worse, I evoke a jackbooted, banner-waving, English soccer hooligan. Or maybe, with the glasses, I appear just another pencil-necked, athletically-frustrated, stat geek who worships a sport he can’t play.

More charitably, perhaps, like Fever Pitch’s neurotic, lovable, overgrown adolescent, Ben Wrightman, I simply await the respectable, forbearing girlfriend to save me — to become a man and put away childish things.

“You’ve always loved the Yankees. But have they ever loved you back?” She’d inquire, and suddenly, epiphany would descend.

“My god, honey, you’re right. Heck, forget the Yankees. Let’s go pick china patterns.”

Of course mocking a Hollywood romantic comedy for its facile sentimentality is a bit like chiding John Henry his vain battle with his steam drill, 200 miles to the south.

That is, whether the Yankees requite my love — or pace Sonny Lo Sprecchio’s related insinuation in A Bronx Tale, whether A-Rod’s concern for my career rivals mine for his — isn’t, after all, the relevant question. Undoubtedly, they don’t. No more, for that matter, than does Chazz Palminteri reciprocate my admiration for A Bronx Tale.

Ah, but they repay it, as any art worthy of the name rewards its disciple.

True, a fan’s allegiance may not win him love and nurture, still less honor, glory, or riches, save vicariously. Still, beyond the casual spectator’s entertainment or the professional’s expertise and remuneration, the devoted fan receives what Aristotle once recognized as classical drama’s great satisfaction — emotional catharsis. Or, as the Yankee fan who has been delivered from prolonged agony, resigned despair, or nervous apoplexy by the shocking, momentous, 11th-hour miracle of a Chris Chambliss or Aaron Boone home run to touch near celestial ecstasy — as he might call it, in other words, a more acutely felt, profoundly rewarded engagement with life.

Whether this emotional investment in an agency beyond my control qualifies as godly, I can’t say. What I can swear to, however, is that the Yankees have brought me as close to Divinity as I’ve ever reached. Indeed, first love comes and goes. Passion and desire flag and fade. Youth and adulthood yield to middle age and dotage, and birth hurtles toward death.

But the Yankees — the tribe of Ruth, Gehrig, and DiMaggio, like the descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob — the Yankees are forever.

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Thanks, Matthew. Coming tomorrow: Sean from Yankees Daily.

Remember when it was a surprise that the Yankees declined to offer arbitration to Bobby Abreu? There was much complaining that night. Turns out that Brian Cashman had the market figured out.

The dominos are falling and it’s clear that $17 million a year would have been a ridiculous price to pay for Abreu. Consider:

· Milton Bradley to the Cubs are three years and $30 million.

· Pat Burrell to the Rays for two years and $16 million, some of which he is donating to the team’s charity.

· Jason Giambi is close to accepting a one-year deal with the Athletics. If he gets more than $8 or $10 million, it’ll be a surprise. He will probably get much less.

It’s unclear where all this leaves Abreu. Or Adam Dunn for that matter. Never mind Garret Anderson. Every day off the calendar will bring a smart team some good bargains.

Mark Teixeira, a Yankee for two weeks, officially dons the pinstripes tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the old Stadium.

At what point do you expect Manny Ramirez to charge into the room and try and steal the jersey away? The Yankees should hire extra security.

Going to Tampa? Spring training tickets for games at Steinbrenner Field go on sale Friday at 9 a.m.

Yankees.com has the details. If you’re going down, don’t wait to get tickets. Good seats get snapped up fast.

See the LoHud Yankees Blog spring training travel guide for more information on what to do in Tampa.

No word yet on when single-game sales for the regular season will start.

It’s Jan. 5, baseball’s wake-up call has arrived.

Spring training starts in 40 days and there are approximately 140 unsigned free agents. From big stars like Manny Ramirez to scrubby backup catchers, players are seeking jobs and teams are looking to fill holes in their rosters. There will be a flurry of deals and it will be interesting to see how desperate some big-name players get. You could see some notable players accepting cut-rate contracts.

The Yankees don’t have much to do. It still makes sense to strike a deal with Andy Pettitte but somebody will have to budge first. The Yankees could use a middle infielder. Maybe Brian Cashman will trade one of his extra hitters. But with the free-agent market flush with corner outfielders, he could do much better once the season starts.

Here are a few dates to keep in mind:

Sometime this week: The Yankees will announce their deal with Mark Teixeira. He agreed to a contract two weeks ago.

Jan. 12: Results of the Hall of Fame voting will be announced. This will be a happy day for Rickey Henderson and perhaps Jim Rice. Those who idolize Don Mattingly will grumble and point out he was just as good as Kirby Puckett.

Jan. 20: Salary arbitration figures will be exchanged. Brian Bruney, Melky Cabrera and Xavier Nady are the only unsigned Yankees eligible for arbitration. Bruney and Cabrera are likely to settle for one-year deals and modest raises. Nady, who is represented by Scott Boras, won’t be so easy. Hearings start Feb. 1 in Phoenix.

As for the blog:

Pinch hitter series: This will continue through Feb. 4. These are amateur bloggers who had the guts to express their views before a large audience. Please treat them with respect whether you agree with them or not.

We also will have a few special guests this month.

The pinch hitter roster is full, so please do not submit a post unless you’re been contacted. If anybody drops out, I have several people waiting for spots. It was first-come, first-served.

Registration: The IT people at the office are working on a system and we hope to implement it this month. The idea is to improve the quality of the comments section and allow regulars to register their names. A lot of you have asked for registration and it seems to make sense now. I’ll post the details once I get them. But I do not want registration unless it can be done correctly. We’re working on it.

As always, thanks for reading.

January is traditionally a slow month for baseball news. So for the second year in a row, we will showcase other blogs with a series of pinch hitters.

Next up is Jeff from Bronx Insider.

Jeff is from Westchester County, New York and started his blog a year ago. He’s a senior in high school and writes to give the perspective of a 17-year-old fan.

Here’s his post:

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My father is a Red Sox fan, and for the first five years of my life, I was inundated with messages of Boston supremacy. While other babies were saying “goo-gah,” I was saying “Rog-ah.”

The only Yankee fan in my family was my grandfather on my mother’s side. He used to tell me stories of serving in the army with a guy named Edward. “But by then, most people knew him as Whitey,” he used to say. Yep, he served with Whitey Ford.

But for those first five years, I hated the Yankees. How unkind the fates were to me. Living just an hour north of the Stadium, I was constantly bombarded with taunts from my friends. Then, as I started developing into a mature first-grader, I came to my senses.

It started with a few Yankees baseball cards — Bernie Williams, David Cone, Paul O’Neill. It then grew into some posters, followed by magazines, books, and t-shirts. In the blink of an eye, I had converted into a Yankese fan.

My father, faced with this unpleasant and painful scenario, finally took me to a Yankees game on September 25th, 1999. I was 8 at the time. Much to my chagrin, the Yanks lost 2-1 to the Devil Rays; it was the first time the Rays ever beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Regardless of the outcome, it was a day that I’ll never forget.

Since then, I have soaked in baseball. I love everything about it; the home runs, the strikeouts, the amazing catches. I love the numbers, especially – 73, 2,632, 714, .406, 56. Any way you slice it, the Yankees are at the center of it all, virtually all baseball history links back to them.

Unfortunately, I was a bit too young to appreciate the championships of the late 1990’s. The clips have been played myriad times. I even have John Sterling’s call of the last out of the 1996 World Series on my iPod. “Swung on and popped up again, off third. Hayes, has room, Hayes, makes the catch! Yankees win! Theeee Yankees win!” Even though these championships live on in Yankee lore, I was never able to enjoy them as they were happening. There have been some great moments since then, but those classic October moments have diminished since I started becoming a fan.

This is why I am so excited for the 2009 season to begin. I feel that the moves the Yankees have made so far, especially in the rotation, will make them a dominant team from April through October. Long gone are the days that Sidney Ponson, Darrell Rasner, and Carl Pavano start three out of every five games. The Yankees are built to win.

So as the days become warmer and the grass becomes greener, here’s hoping that this Yankee fan will be able to enjoy an October celebration in 2009.

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Good job, Jeff. Baseball needs more fans of your generation. Coming tomorrow: Matt from Yankees Republic.

The Dodgers have cut a financial deal with Andruw Jones that will lead to him getting traded or released.

The Yankees could use a center fielder. Jones is a five-time All-Star center fielder. So naturally many people have e-mailed wondering if the Yankees are interested.

Being that I’m on vacation, I have no idea. I haven’t made any calls. But it’s something Brian Cashman and his people have to at least consider.

Jones was awful (.158/.256/.249) last season along with being out of shape. Worse, he didn’t seem to much care. He also has hit .205 since the start of the 2007 season. Scouts say his bat speed has vanished and that he doesn’t have the foot speed to get to balls in the gap like he used to. Look at this way, when Joe Torre decides an accomplished veteran player isn’t worth having around, that’s saying something.

But Jones turns 32 in April, young enough to think that he has a comeback in him. If he were amenable to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training, what would the Yankees have to lose?

The question is whether Jones can do better. Perhaps there is a team out there that will trade something for him or give him a guaranteed deal. I suspect that at least one club (the Nationals, perhaps) will try and pick him up.

I’d want nothing to do with Jones. I’d rather see Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner compete for the position. The Yankees need to mix some young players into the lineup and they need a good glove in center to compensate for their defensive inadequacies elsewhere.