The LoHud Yankees Blog

The beat writers are scheduled to meet with Brian Cashman in five minutes. I’ll be back soon with updates from that session, but until then…

The Daily News is contradicting earlier reports that Andy Pettitte has turned down an offer from the Yankees. The News writes that the Yankees will make their first offer at some point today. A source told the paper, “They don’t intend to low-ball him.”

Speaking of The Daily News, two good items from Mark Feinsand’s blog. 1. Feinsand is hearing the player to be named later in the Brian Bruney trade might be the Nationals first overall pick in the Rule 5 draft. 2. Chien-Ming Wang’s agent says Wang will be ready to pitch by May 1.

One last item, Marc Carig is reporting that the Yankees will meet with Mark DeRosa’s agent.

Just talked to a source who seems to agree with most of the conventional thinking that’s floating around. He sees the Yankees going after Johnny Damon but letting Hideki Matsui slide, he sees Andy Pettitte as an early key to the Yankees offseason, and he’d rather keep Phil Hughes and give up Joba Chamberlain in a trade for Roy Halladay.

It’s not breaking new ground, just another guy in the business who shares some common opinions.

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Just a few very small Red Sox notes because folks like to keep tabs on Boston (but mostly because Terry Francona just addressed the media).

• Francona was asked about keeping track of the Yankees in the offseason: “They’ve got a couple of things that make life difficult for us. They’ve got a lot of money, and they have smart people deciding what they’re doing.”
• Francona has talked to Jason Bay this winter, but much like Joe Girardi talking to the Yankees free agents, Francona has kept the conversations casual and hasn’t asked about Bay’s plans.
• Someone asked if the Red Sox are interested in Hideki Matsui: “Where would we put him?” Francona said.
• Daisuke Matsuzaka will prepare the same as always, for a role in the rotation with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield and Clay Buchholz. “We like our starters,” Francona said. “At the same time, we have to be realistic enough to know you need more than five.” Next in line for the Red Sox would be Michael Bowden and Junichi Tazawa.
• In one of the more bizarre moments I’ve seen, someone in the back of the pack asked Francona if the Red Sox would play Marco Scutaro at second and Dustin Pedroia at short. Francona responded with, “Why?” and the guy said because Pedroia might have better range. That drew a how-do-you-respond-to-that type response, and when someone from MLB asked to see the reporter’s credentials, the guy mumbled and left the room. I honestly believe it was someone who just happened to wander into the room.

According to Joel Sherman, Brian Bruney has been traded to the Nationals.

UPDATE, 12:59 p.m.: Sherman says it’s for a player to be named later.

UPDATE, 1:06 p.m.: Bruney has a good arm and put up respectable numbers during the regular season, but his spot as the Yankees setup man was lost and Bruney became one of several middle inning relievers on the roster. He made $1.25 million this season and will get more in arbitration.

For now, I’d consider it a move to free a spot on the roster, free a little bit of money from the payroll and possibly get something of value in return. In the 2010 bullpen pecking order, Bruney was certainly going to rank behind David Robertson and might have ranked behind Damaso Marte, Alfredo Aceves and even Mark Melancon. Hard-throwing Romulo Sanchez was just added to the roster, giving the Yankees another right-handed power pitcher. Bruney’s solid out of the bullpen, but the Yankees have several similar — and cheaper and younger — options.

UPDATE, 2:36 p.m.: Things died down the past hour or so while a lot of folks grabbed lunch. Speaking of which, if you’re ever eating at the Indianapolis Marriott, there’s a menu option called “The Best Chicken Sandwich.” It should be re-branded as “The Perfectly Acceptable Chicken Sandwich.”

Here’s the official Brian Bruney trade press release from the Yankees. No new details, just a bunch of numbers.

The New York Yankees today traded RHP Brian Bruney to the Washington Nationals for a player to be named later. Bruney, 27, was 5-0 with a 3.92 ERA in 44 regular season relief appearances with the Yankees in 2009. He made one 2009 postseason appearance for the club, allowing three hits and two earned runs in 0.1IP in Game 1 of the World Series vs. Philadelphia.

Bruney, who was signed by the Yankees as a free agent on July 1, 2006, played four seasons (2006-09) with the club, going 12-3 with a 3.25 ERA (144.0IP, 112H, 52ER, 91BB, 133K, 14HR) in 153 appearances (one start). In his career, he owns a 16-10 record with a 4.27 ERA (221.1IP, 188H, 105ER, 153BB, 218K, 22HR) in 230 appearances (one start) over parts of six seasons with Arizona (2004-05) and the Yankees.

One of the few front office executives mingling with the mass of reporters in the Marriott lobby is Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik. One month ago, at the GM meetings, Zduriencik showed up early and was quickly asked about the possibility of trading Felix Hernandez.

Amazing how much has changed.

As of today, the idea of Hernandez being traded seems more like a pipedream. The Mariners have all but finished a deal for Chone Figgins, they’re reportedly in on Jason Bay and there are talks of a Hernandez extension rather than a Hernandez trade. The Angels seem vulnerable and it might make sense for Seattle to make a run at the division rather than cut ties with their best young player.

For the Yankees, not having Hernandez on the market reinforces the idea that Roy Halladay is the best pitcher who might be available via trade. If Hernandez were a realistic target, I’d put him at the top of the list — younger, cheaper, entering his prime — but without King Felix, Halladay is easily the biggest and best name out there.

Day One of the Winter Meetings has kicked off with a New York Post report that Andy Pettitte turned down the Yankees initial one-year offer, which Joel Sherman believes was for roughly $10 million. Sherman writes that at least one official remains convinced a deal will get done.

Buster Olney is reporting the Pettitte will definitely pitch next season.

Signing Pettitte would make things a lot easier for the Yankees, who would suddenly be much less desperate for starting pitching during their potential trade talks for Roy Halladay or whoever else.

UPDATE, 9:16 a.m.: The Post has added a report that Brian Bruney is being shopped and could end up in Atlanta. Just a guess, but I can’t help wondering if Rafael Soriano might change those plans. If Soriano accepts arbitration — which seems possible — the Braves will have Soriano, Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito making quite a bit of money in the bullpen.

UPDATE, 9:30 a.m.: Jon Heyman reporting that Pettitte contract talks have begun between Brian Cashman and Randy Hendricks.

UPDATE, 10:08 a.m.: The Veterans Committee just announced that umpire Doug Harvey and manager Whitey Herzog have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

When I got off the plane from New York, I wondered if I might be kicked out of the Indianapolis airport for not wearing a Peyton Manning jersey. They were everywhere. It’s a nice airport, though. Not that it matters, but it’s a nice place.

Now that I’m here, I’ll say that I tend to agree with Sam’s picks for the most important things the Yankees need to accomplish during these Winter Meetings.

The rotation should be the highest priority of the offseason, but that’s a multi-step process. The Yankees have to check on Andy Pettitte, evaluate the trade market for Roy Halladay (and maybe some others), make a decision on Chien-Ming Wang, figure out how much John Lackey will make on the open market and possibly kick the tires on some risk/reward types like Ben Sheets and Rich Harden. A rotation solution might present itself in these next four days, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it were slow to develop. Here and now, the Yankees rotation priority is surely keeping a pulse on the Halladay situation.

In theory, left field could be solved quickly. If this free agent market is deep at any one position, it’s left field (the third base crop was pretty deep, but it’s becoming thinner by the day). Bringing back Johnny Damon makes a lot of sense — he fits well in that lineup, serves as a nice bridge to the potential emergence of Austin Jackson — but only on a short-term deal. If that’s not going to happen, the Yankees have to move on. They owe it to themselves to check on Matt Holliday and Jason Bay, though I don’t see either one coming to New York (not to the Bronx anyway).

Everything else is secondary, even designated hitter and certainly the bullpen and bench. Indy might be a good place to check on what it will take to bring Hideki Matsui back – apparently that conversation is going to happen — but the rotation and left field should be the Yankees priorities.

Greetings from Giants Stadium, where it’s halftime of Giants-Cowboys and there is a lovely marching band playing at the 50-yard line. How their hands aren’t falling off is beyond me.

Chad is either en route or recently arrived in Indianapolis for the winter meetings this week and will check in shortly, but on my ride to the stadium today I was thinking about what the two most important things the Yankees should hope to accomplish this week are. To me, they’re:

1. Move closer to a resolution in left field. Scott Boras says Johnny Damon has plenty of teams interested but Damon has made it clear he wants to stay in New York. I still like Damon over someone like Mike Cameron; can the Yankees work out a deal to fill the biggest starting lineup hole they have?

2. Get a solid feel for whether they’re in or out on Roy Halladay. Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos figures to be the most popular man at the meetings and the Yankees – and their supposedly-lowering payroll – may not be willing to meet the money-plus-prospects cost that getting Doc will probably take. This week should be a good indicator, though, of whether they want to stay in the conversation.

Honorable mention: Pitcher reclamation projects (Harden, Sheets, et. al), Andy Pettitte, due diligence on Matt Holliday.

Remember, the baseball market has changed over the past few years so that more deals are finalized in January (and February) than ever before, meaning the winter meetings aren’t necessarily where everything is going to happen. Still, this is an important week for setting the course of a team’s offseason.

Kevin Towers is a free agent. He used to pitch, but doesn’t any more. He doesn’t hit, doesn’t play a position and fills none of the Yankees offseason needs. But they might go after him anyway.

As one of the most respected general managers in baseball, Towers built a respectable group of San Diego Padres despite working with considerable budget constraints. He was fired in October, but is reportedly coming to the Winter Meetings in search of a job. He’s said to be leaning toward joining the Yankees to work with Brian Cashman, who’s one of his good friends.

As he always does, Tyler Kepner wrote a nice piece on Towers for the New York Times.

The winter meetings start tomorrow — much of my Sunday will be spent traveling to Indianapolis — and Towers will be a storyline throughout the four days. He won’t be the main story, or even the secondary story, but he’s a sharp baseball mind who could have an impact on any team he joins. Obviously we’ll all be more interested in trades and player signings, but Towers is worth watching. The guy might have a bright future.

Chone Figgins seems ready to sign a four-year deal with the Mariners. Total salary, $36 million.

Today, Buster Olney called Figgins the third-best position player on the market and wrote that ”… the fact that he is signing with Seattle for less than $10 million a year tells you that the salaries for position players continue to come down.” As Olney pointed out, it might also tell us something about Johnny Damon.

I didn’t think it would be the worst thing in the world for the Yankees to offer Damon arbitration. I certainly wasn’t surprised when he wasn’t offered , but I thought a one-year deal at slightly more than Yankees would have liked to pay was a fair risk for the potential reward of two compensation draft picks. The Figgins signing, though, suggests an arbitration contract with Damon might have been well above his market value.

Brian Cashman judged the position player market exactly right last year when he elected not to offer arbitration to Bobby Abreu, who wound up taking a one-year contract worth $5 million. I’m not suggesting Damon’s value has dropped that far, but in a slowly developing market, a position player (or two) might be available for less than we (and they) are expecting.

• In that same article, Olney says the Yankees top priority is to sign Andy Pettitte and says they are not likely to be in the market for Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. Nothing shocking there, but worth noting. Olney mentions Mike Cameron as a potential outfield target.

• Bryan Hoch has a good wrap-up of the Yankees needs heading into the Winter Meetings.

• Former Yankees catcher Chad Moeller has signed a minor league deal with the Orioles and former Yankees reliever T.J. Beam has a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks.

• Greg Porter, who struggled and became an afterthought with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre two years ago, is Baseball America’s Independent League Player of the Year.

• Strange things happening at The Yankee Universe blog. The blog has been given a cease and desist order, possibly because it shares a name with a Yankees charity.

Last winter, having already signed CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to multi-million, multi-year contracts, Brian Cashman made a sudden and aggressive push for Mark Teixeira. Three huge signings in one winter — plus a trade for Nick Swisher — were made partially because Cashman looked ahead to this free agent class and realized it wasn’t nearly as strong as last year’s group. The time to make big moves was last year.

Might this winter call for the opposite thinking? Is this a time to think small with an eye on next year?

The list of potential free agents after the 2010 season includes MVPs Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer — each of whom could very easily re-sign before actually hitting the market — as well as names like Carlos Pena, Victor Martinez, Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn, Josh Beckett, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Javier Vazquez, Brandon Webb and Huston Street. Players like Kerry Wood, Magglio Ordonez and Lance Berkman have options that might or might not be picked up for 2011. Some of those guys will never actually make it to free agency, but it’s an awfully strong group.

Oh, and there are these two names to consider as well: Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.