MLB.com’s 30 team reporters voted for their Comeback Players of the Year this week, and Cliff Lee and Brad Lidge emerged as winners in their respective leads. Mike Mussina was the AL’s runner up, winning 20 games a year after getting yanked from the rotation en route to a 5.15 ERA and an 11-10 season. Had Cliff Lee – demoted to AAA last year — not emerged as the AL’s presumptive Cy Young winner, this recognition would have belonged to Mussina.

In the ongoing effort to track Brian Cashman’s every move, Ed Price tells us that the Yanks’ GM has yet to decide on his future. Cashman is “intrigued” by the open GM spot in Seattle but feels a deep sense of loyalty to the Yankees. Why anyone would want to go from New York to Seattle is beyond me. Are the Steinbrenners really that bad?

Noon o’clock (EST EDT) today folks, be there or be square. FYI - all four HWB teams were off last night, hence no DotF.

Upon further consideration, I’m taking the last post off the main page. No need to 1) link to a tabloid and 2) take down a guy just because he used poor logic. No need to point that out if we ourselves are using sound logic, right?

Anyway, if you must read it, it’s here.

During packing day at the Stadium today, Andy Pettitte stopped for a chat with the reporters. Pettitte hasn’t made a decision yet on 2009 and is still firmly on the fence. It sounds, however, that Mike Mussina may be retiring. I never thought I would want to welcome back Mussina over Pettitte, but after their respective 2008 campaigns, if I had to pick one, Moose would be my guy. For all this, the Yanks still plan to, somehow, add some experienced pitchers this off-season. Who those will be is anyone’s guess.

Baseball America’s look into each league’s top 20 prospects continued today with the FSL. Tigers’ uberstud Rick Porcello predictably topped the list, and the only Yankees’ farmhand to make the cut was Zach McAllister at #20. High-A Tampa a prospect wasteland for most of the year, so it’s no surprise the list is short on Yanks’ prospects.

The Eastern League comes out tomorrow, however the list was already leaked. Austin Jackson comes it at #10 if the list is correct. We’ll find out tomorrow.

Mariano Rivera will have arthroscopic shoulder surgery on Oct. 6, reports Tyler Kepner, to clear up some calcification in his throwing arm. Rivera, who had been throwing with shoulder pain all season, will be ready for Spring Training. My nagging thought: The Yanks doled out very large contracts last year to two players in their late 30s, and both suffered shoulder injuries this year. While Jorge Posada and Rivera both earned their deals and are, in a sense, getting paid for past accomplishments, I can’t imagine the Yanks will give out too many more of these long deals to older players.

Over the weekend, Tyler Kepner surveyed the scene for the Yankees. The team, he writes, has a lot of issues to address and a lot of questions to answer. While Kepner seems to think Cashman isn’t coming back, other sources claim he is. We’ll know soon as the Yanks start to pick up the pieces from a disappointing 2008 campaign.

Meanwhile, as we await news on Cashman, notice Kepner’s take on CC Sabathia. The Yankees seem rather pessimistic that they can convince Sabathia to come east and pitch in the AL. Plan A is looking rather unlikely right now. Money, though, can change everything.

We’re talking Mets’ collapse and Moose’s quest for win #20. Keep it goin’ here.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are going to end their season in style. While today’s game was rained out, the teams will play a double header tomorrow to close out the year. Sidney Ponson will probably pitch one game while Mike Mussina will go for win number 20 on the final day of the year. In the meantime, feel free to make this another open thread. FOX is showing the Brewers and Cubs if you’re in New York or the Phillies and Nationals elsewhere. At least, somewhere, teams are fighting it out in a pennant race.