Daily Archives: January 9, 2009

Are the Boston Red Sox filling out their roster or casting a Celebrity Rehab spin-off focused on sports injuries?
. . .
It could be that they’re just being smart. Those four players are each signed to incentive-laden one-year contracts that will cost the Red Sox a base total of $12.2 million, or $4.25 million less than the Yankees will pay the injury-prone A.J. Burnett in the first year of his five-year contract (or, to turn the tables on Boston, just $200,000 more than they’ll pay the rapidly-aging Mike Lowell in the second year of his three-year contract).

Read the rest of my take on the Sox recent spate of roster moves (as well as the Trevor Hoffman-to-Milwaukee deal) on SI.com.

Finally Friday …. here’s the news:

• Ken Davidoff of Newsday writes that Andy Pettitte may be thinking of heading back to the Astros, given the lack of progress with the Yanks.  He lists three factors:

1. Pettitte believes that the Yankees should display more appreciation for all that he has done for them.

2. While the Yankees are asking that Pettitte take a pay cut, the team clearly is not hurting financially, given its large investments in Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

3. Pettitte thinks that his 2008 season wasn’t as bad as the Yankees are making it out to be.

• PeteAbe of LoHud has an opinion on the Yankees’ need for Pettitte, and also offers this late note on the Astros’ rumblings:

Via MLB Trade Rumors, here is what Houston GM Ed Wade said about Pettitte: “We haven’t had any discussion with Andy or his representatives and we don’t see a scenario where he would fit into our payroll scenario at this time.”

• MLB.com notes that Xavier Nady may be the odd man out in the outfield shuffle, while Nick Swisher should be safe.
• The Times’ Tyler Kepner examines the outfield depth, and thinks the Yankees shouldn’t trade any of them:

What about this? Keep them all. As Rob Neyer points out at ESPN.com, the Red Sox now have a spare outfielder who’s a very good player — Rocco Baldelli — so the Yankees might want to keep theirs, too. They will probably need the injury protection at some point, and the depth would allow Manager Joe Girardi to rest Damon regularly to keep his legs fresh.

The Yankees also could keep their depth in case someone gets hurt in spring training and presents them with a hole they don’t have now. The rotation and the bullpen look good enough. There’s no need to rush into anything in January — if at all.

• The News reports that more than 1/4 of the new tax-exempt funding requested by the Yanks is for things like giant video screens and upgraded luxury suites.

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