Baseball 2010
Yes, I know we aren't even to the new year yet, but the winter meetings are going on right now and already moves are being made that are having a major impact on this coming baseball season.
The Yankees, Diamondbacks and Tigers have agreed on a three-way deal centered around Curtis Granderson.
The Tigers will trade Granderson to the Yankees and Edwin Jackson to the Diamondbacks. The Yankees will send Phil Coke and Austin Jackson to Detroit and Ian Kennedy to Arizona. The Diamondbacks will send Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth to the Tigers.
So the Tigers cut a good bit of payroll while gaining some nice prospects. Jackson was the Yankees top prospect last year and is likely headed for Granderson's spot in center field this season. Scherzer had 174 strikeouts in 170 innings last season; he and Verlander are going to be scary. Plus, Coke and Schlereth are nice young arms.
The Yankees replace Damon at the top of their lineup, and the Cabrera-Gardner combo in center field, and at a comparably cheap rate ($25.75 million over the next three years including the $2 million buyout of his 2010 $13 million option).
The Diamondbacks appear to have been pretty well fleeced. Edwin Jackson struggled mightily in the second half last season, and since his overall numbers were pretty good he's going to get a nice raise in arbitration. Kennedy was a guy who the Yankees wouldn't give up for Johan Santana, but is coming off Tommy John surgery.
Lots of rumors as well: Milton Bradley, Kevin Millwood, Dan Uggla. The Nationals already went full-retard and gave Ivan Rodriguez two years and $6 million, along with taking Brian Bruney off the Yankees' hands for that oft-traded man himself, Player to be Named.
This is the kind of thing I love to watch.
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"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun
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