2009 Winter Meetings Chat
Heyman: Damon offer may be $10 million per for two years
In one of this news-and-notes columns from Indianapolis, Jon Heyman dropped in a brief rumor about Johnny Damon. He says that the Yanks “are expected to offer about $20 million over two years to keep him.” Back-up plans include Curtis Granderson, Jermaine Dye (yuck) and Mike Cameron. It’s interesting to see Heyman noted this offer because the Sports Illustrated scribe has been close to Scott Boras, Damon’s agent, for a while. Is this what the Yanks actually plan to offer or is this what it would take to keep Damon in the Bronx? Either way, I hope the Yanks don’t plan to keep Damon as the only starting left fielder. His defense simply isn’t good enough to warrant the commitment, and he would be far better suited for the DH/LF spot with an appropriate complement.
Open Thread: Evolution of a rumor
We’re just one day into the Winter Meetings, and already we have a week’s full of false reports. Exactly how these start is anyone’s guess. Maybe it was overheard in the lobby. Maybe it was an overzealous team official. In any case, most of what we’ve heard today is crap, but there is no crap greater than a report on MLive regarding Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson.
It all started with a relatively benign line from a Chicago Tribune post: “Yankees apparently are trying to put together a package of young players.” Notice the words “apparently” and “trying” in that sentence. It is complete speculation, and I don’t think it was intended to be anything else. Yet somehow, over the course of just a few hours, that morphed into “Tigers close to dealing Edwin Jackson, Curtis Granderson to New York Yankees.” Even in the body of the article, James Schmehl says that “the Tigers are closing in on a deal” with the Yankees, so we can’t just blame this on a copy editor. Again, no source — anonymous or not — was cited in this, other than the Tribune article.
Look, blogs and Twitter are great media tools. They allow a faster, more direct dissemination of information. But, as we’ve seen in Day 1 of the Winter Meetings, they can, like other types of media, be misused. Fans love a juicy rumor, and through reporters and aggregators we hear everything. But let’s just make sure we’re labeling rumors as such, and not escalating them for no apparent reason.
Buster Olney has an actual rumor on the Granderson part, something that is assumed to be speculation. Apparently, the Tigers seek both Phil Hughes and Austin Jackson from the Yankees. Speculative, of course, but if true it’s clear that Granderson will not be a Yankee. That’s way too high a price. Thanks to Doug for sending in the screen shot. It’s tough to link to ESPN’s rumor updates.
In actual Winter Meeting news:
Umpire Doug Harvey and manager Whitey Herzog were elected to the Hall of Fame. Congratulations to those two. I would have posted it at the time, but the wireless Internet is horrible at the Marriot. It was pretty much down all day, and spotty when it was working. As many others noted, it’s a shame that Marvin Miller still hasn’t gotten the nod.
The Yanks have checked on Kelvim Escobar, as they should. When he’s healthy, he’s nasty.
Via Ken Davidoff, Cashman’s priorities: “Pitching, pitching, pitching — and then left field.” Sounds good to me. First up: signing Pettitte.
And with that, we turn it over to you, the commenter, for this evening’s open thread. There’s plenty to talk about, so have at it. As long as we have no e-decapitations, it’s cool.
Intriguing Rumor of the Day: Center field options
So here’s a fun puzzle to play with a pair rumors from Joel Sherman. First, he says via Twitter, that the Cubs “want Mike Cameron for CF, but so might Yankees, which could be interesting since Cubs like Melky Cabrera.” Then, in his next update, he says that a team official from a club interested in Curtis Granderson believes the Yanks “really want” the 28-year-old for their outfield. So what do you think? Sign Cameron for a short deal, acquire Granderson and flip Melky to the Cubs for some prospects? If only it were that simple.
Open Thread: The calm before the storm
The craziest week in the baseball offseason kicks off tomorrow in Indianapolis, and surely there will be rumors that make you say “I hope this isn’t true” and trades that finalized that will make you say “why did the Yankees get in on that?” Joe is en route to Peytonville right now, as we plan to bring you the best possible coverage we can.
If you need a refresher in the best ways to access RAB during the hectic week, read this. More importantly, review our Commenting Guidelines so that all of this week’s thread can be nice and entertaining and informative and not full of nonsense. I don’t know what the Yankees have planned for this offseason, but I can almost guarantee they’ll leave the winter meetings with at least one player on their roster that isn’t there right now. Any guesses?
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Anyway, here’s your open thread for the night. Your late game tonight is the Cardinals and Vikings, while the Rangers face the Red Wings at home. Talk about whatever your heart desires, and go ahead and be cruel and vicious to each other tonight. Need a little change of pace.