Over the past two-plus years, Ben, Mike, and I have done everything we can to bring the very best in Yankees coverage to our readers. We’ve identified opportunities and have pounced on ones we thought would bring a better experience to RAB. So when the YES Network approached us about a possible content partnership, we were all ears. Fast forward a few months, and we’re ready to officially announce our participation in the YES Network blogging network.

What does this mean for the future of the site? In terms of content, nothing will change. It will still be the three of us developing and producing every post on the site (with the exception of an occasional guest post). The only difference is that now some of that content will be featured on YESNetwork.com, alongside material from Jim Kaat, David Cone, and John Flaherty. It should make for an interesting juxtaposition: three former ballplayers and three schlubs who love the hell out of the game.

For some of you, this might not be news at all. Sports Business Journal spilled the beans a few weeks ago. Then Jason picked up the story, spreading it a bit further. So perhaps many of you knew this was coming, but were just waiting for us to actually say something about it. Our lips are not loose, thank you very much, and our ships are not sunk. Truth told, it was actually pretty exciting to see the word start to get out. We’re really looking forward to exploring how YES can help us and we can help YES.

To close out, we’ll share a bit of the press release, which should hit YES this morning:

Since its inception, River Avenue Blues has experienced great growth, including a 100 percent traffic increase from December 2007 to December 2008.

“Their consistent climb in traffic clearly impressed us,” said YESNetwork.com managing editor Kevin Sullivan, “but in the end, it was their quality of content that proved most valuable to us. We really think that incorporating their point of view with that of our experts like Jim Kaat, David Cone and John Flaherty will really round out our baseball offering.”

Have I mentioned yet that Kevin is a great guy?

It’s damn hard to believe that it was two years ago when Mike made our inaugural RAB post. Please, click that link, and please direct your attention to this comment. And I quote, from the book of Mike:

RE: Brackman. I know all about him, but I’m not overly thrilling considering his limited track record (just 70 IP career at NC State). That said, I think there’s a better chance the Yanks will draft Jesus Christ than have Brackman fall all the way to 30.

Just goes to show you how much changes in baseball from day to day. I do love that the one thing I can tease Mike about from now until the end of eternity is also part of an historic moment in RAB history. We’ve come such a long way since then…

Most of what I said last year on our birthday still holds true. I still can’t believe so many people come to read what we write. I really can’t believe how many people comment, and how civil the discourse is compared to other similar outlets. To illustrate, I’ll share a story from the recent past.

February 7, 2009. I’m at my girlfriend’s goofing off on a Saturday morning while she sleeps in. My feed reader is empty, which is a shame, because it looks like RAB needs some content. Then Ben IMed me with the link: A-Rod had tested positive for steroids in 2003. Oh no. Here goes my Saturday, I thought. The comments are just going to get out of hand.

If you read through the thread, you’ll notice one of mine early on, a futile attempt to keep what I thought would be the warring sides at bay. Turns out, it was totally unnecessary. Only one comment required deletion, and anyone would have deleted it, and one commenter got warned for calling everyone who didn’t agree with him a phony. Even that one I could have let slide (but you know me, I can’t stand the “I’m right because I say so” mindset).

In short, you guys were awesome. You’ve always been awesome. I don’t know why I thought the comments section would be a problem for that thread. The comments rarely get out of hand, and that’s what I love most about this site. Our commenters, unlike commenters on many sites around the Internet, have not lost their empathy. It’s easier to lose than you think in the big anonymous world that is the Internet.

Today, we’d like to thank you: the readers, the commenters. You don’t have to come here. As the trolls are wont to say: There are a thousand other sites like this. Yet there aren’t. It’s not because of me or Mike or Ben, though. It’s because of you guys. So thanks for dropping by. Thank for participating. And thanks for helping us waste countless hours talking about the Yankees.

Oh, yeah, the 800 pound gorilla. This redesign has been in the works for a while. In fact, we were going to bring it live on Tuesday until we realized that today is our birthday. So we held off for a couple of days. There still might be some bugs, so bear with us as we tidy up. If you’ve got any remarks on the design, the comments is the place to do it.

Every year for Christmas, my parents browse through my Amazon Wishlist and get me a ton of books. Sometimes, though, they’ll pick out things that aren’t on there which they think I might like. This year, it was Baseball Between the Numbers. Problem is, I already have the book. So instead of going through the Amazon return process and buying myself yet another novel, I’ve decided to put this to good use. It’s the latest giveaway on Rive Ave. Blues.

We’re going to do this contest style. Since we’re in the free agent signing period, and since this is a particularly bizarre off-season, I figured we’d do a free agent guessing game. Who more appropriate than Bobby Abreu? The rumor mill isn’t treating him well, even after Pat Burrell and Raul Ibanez have found homes. No one seems to have an idea of where he’ll land, so that makes the game more interesting.

To enter, you have to guess 1) the team that will sign him, 2) the number of years he’ll receive, and 3) the total dollar amount of the contract. So we don’t have a situation where one person bids $10 million and another bids $10 million and one, we’re going in increments of $500,000. So $10 million and $10.5 million are okay, but $10.1 million invalidates the entry. One entry per person. Make sure to leave a valid email address when you’re filling out the comment form (do not leave your email address in the comment, though).

Update: Just to be clear, the criteria above are listed in the order of importance. So if you don’t get the team correct, you can’t win.

Allow me to take time out of this busy, busy Hot Stove Day — something happened! Mike Hampton signed with the Astros! — to thank everyone who stopped by RAB last month. While the news, outside of a Nick Swisher trade, was slow, we had more unique visitors and more page views than any other month in this site’s 22-month history. We had over 281,000 visitors and 444,000 page views, and we just want to thank everyone for stopping by and contributing every day.

Over the next few days and weeks, we’ll have some announcements about some upcoming plans and a new t-shirt design as well as Hot Stove coverage as it happens when it happens. Don’t go away. And as always, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter as well.