The big man has decided, and Brian Cashman and Derek Jeter have convinced him. Carsten Charles Sabathia is a New York Yankee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is an outstanding move, and while it took an extra year on the contract, he’s a good enough pitcher it should all be worth it, wouldn’t you say?

Next, the Yankees are on the verge of pulling off a trade that would put Gold Glover Mike Cameron in center field. They would send Melky Cabrera to the Brewers (yes, I know the picture of him is with the Padres). Last year Cameron had an average Mike Cameron year, just with lower totals of everything. He hit .243, a low average for even him, but he hit 25 homers, drove in 70, and stole 17 bases. And, of course, played great defense. What do you think this trade would do for the Yankees? Personally, I like it.

Next, the Yankees have extended their offer to 5 years to accomodate AJ Burnett, who has two other options that are really pursuing him, the Braves and Red Sox. He could well make a decision before the week is done. Imagine Burnett and CC in the Yanks’ rotation, along with Wang and the two men I will be mentioning next.

 Manager Joe Girardi met with Ben Sheets Tuesday. He said he’s liking the idea of Sheets in pinstripes. He said that he believes Sheets is healthy, and our offer to him is near. Now imagine that.

We are apparently the only team besides the Phillies seriously pursuing Derek Lowe. His price probably went up with Carsten’s contract, but we are the New York Yankees, and we can pay!

Stuff besides Yankees news did happen, though.

The Mets went out and got a big fish themselves, Francisco Rodriguez. This gives them an absolutely excellent closer. The record setting fireballer closes one of the Mets’ few holes, part of their attempts to no longer be known, in the recent words of Cole Hamels, as “choke artists”.

The Mets also went out and traded for JJ Putz, the Mariners’ former closer, in a three-team, 12-player deal that also gave the Mets Jeremy Reed and Sean Green, sent Franklin Gutierrez to the Mariners, who also got Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, and four minor leaguers–Mike Carp, Maikel Cleto, Jason Vargas, and Ezekiel Carrera. The Indians got the short end of the deal in my opinion, receiving Joe Smith and Luis Valbuena. I’m not sure how Putz will react to being moved to setup man by the trade, but at least he’ll be on a contender.

Mark Teixeira is still generating a buzz, none of which includes the Yankees. However, he did get an offer from the Washington Nationals, who I believe will continue to be awful with or without him. Either way, he got an 8 year $160 million offer to consider with his reported 7 year $150 million offer from the Orioles. I still don’t get why the Yankees are not pursuing him at least a little bit. Also in the running for Tex’s services are the Angels and Red Sox.

Here’s a shocker. Jake Peavy may remain a Padre after all. The Cubs have reportedly drawn out of the running for him, leaving only the Angels, who may not even propose a package. I think he’ll be put back on the market at midseason ’09, but I personally think his talks are done for the offseason.

Brian Cashman has flown down to Texas (he’s a very busy man!) to meet with Andy Pettitte to talk about his future with the Yanks. I have no prediction as to how this will go, but I certainly hope Andy decides to come back to the Yanks before our rotation is full.

You all know what happened here, so I close with a quote from Jim Thome on Greg Maddux:

“He doesn’t seem dominating, then you look up at the scoreboard and you’ve got one hit and it’s the eighth inning.”

Thanks for an entertaining and illustrious 23 years, Greg!