According to the Baseball Twitter Machine known as Jon Heyman: “yanks as much $34 million apart on damon so far–18 mil for 2 vs. 52 mil for 4.”

I imagine Brian Cashman’s reaction to be something like this:

Here’s a couple of goodies for those of you who dig Golden Era Hip-Hop.

First, is MTV’s Yo! MTV Raps page (kudos to Cliff for hipping me to it):

Bada:

Bing:

Secondly, here is an SI.com bonus piece by a guy named Benjamin Wallace on the rise, and apparent fall, of Pete Nash, aka Pete Nice:

Nash sits in a café in lower Manhattan. At 42 he wears cuffed khaki pants and a short-sleeved button-down cotton shirt. He lives in a rental home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with his wife and young son, and he has driven a sensible Honda SUV to this meeting. Since his moment of fame as a rapper for Def Jam Records, Nash has achieved a markedly different kind of renown — among hard-core baseball memorabilia collectors who wouldn’t know Def Jam from Def Leppard. Over the past two decades Nash has become known as the most prolific source of the rarest old-school material, especially from the 19th century.

But on this afternoon in late July the tough-guy rapper turned baseball historian is mired in a widening scandal over the holiest relics of America’s pastime. Nash recently lost a lawsuit against a leading memorabilia auctioneer in which he admitted to fraud, and, according to sources, the FBI is investigating whether he sold forged memorabilia. (Nash declined to comment on the investigation.)

Even so, he retains some of the old Prime Minister’s swagger, seemingly confident that he has turned the tables on his antagonist. He riffles through a fat case stuffed with files of evidence he says he has compiled, and tells stories about innocently buying memorabilia that turned out not to be authentic. “In the baseball field, you have to question pretty much every single thing that’s out there,” he says. “It’s like the Wild West.”

As he sits in the café talking, his car is ticketed. The next day a judge in New Jersey will issue a bench warrant for his arrest for repeatedly ignoring court orders.

Long before his unlikely rise to fame as a white rapper, Peter Nash was obsessed with the history of baseball. MC Serch, also of 3rd Bass, recalls the first time he visited the home of Nash’s parents on Long Island, in the late 1980s. “Here was this 20-year-old kid,” Serch says, “and he had all this stuff: three-fingered mitts and Ty Cobb baseball cards. It was his passion, more than I think emceeing was his passion.”

If you had told me during the World Series that the Yankees could have Curtis Granderson without having to surrender any of these four players—Jesus Montero, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, or Zach McAllister—I would have asked for the signup sheet right then and there. So when I heard that the Yankees had acquired the Tigers’ center fielder for a package of Austin “Ajax” Jackson, Phil Coke, and Ian Kennedy, I was thrilled with Brian Cashman’s latest trade. When it comes to making trades for position players, Cashman is very good; just look at last winter’s deal for Nick Swisher and that long-ago swap that brought Alex Rodriguez to town.

Granderson makes the Yankees younger in the outfield and potentially improves their defensive play at two positions. If Granderson plays center field—and he should in my book—his speed gives him an advantage over Melky Cabrera. Granderson can outrun his mistakes, something that the slower Cabrera has a tougher time doing. I’ve heard all of the talk about how Granderson played a poor center field in September. Given that he’s still only 28, I doubt that he’s suddenly lost his defensive abilities. More likely, fatigue may have been a factor, along with the very real possibility that he fell into a defensive slump. Fielding slumps can and do happen, just like a few years ago when A-Rod had such difficulty throwing and fielding that ESPN had him pegged for DH duties.

With Granderson in center, the Yankees would be able to slide Cabrera to left field, where he would be a huge upgrade over Johnny Damon. An outfield of Cabrera/Granderson/Swisher greatly improves the outfield defense, which was one of the few weaknesses on the world championship team.

In terms of character, Granderson is a slam dunk. People in nearby Oneonta remember his season as a member of the minor league Tigers; they continue to laud him as gentlemanly, cooperative, and community-minded, all traits that have carried over to his time in Detroit. Extraordinarily popular in the Motor City, Granderson should have no trouble blending into a cohesive clubhouse that already has pillars like Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia, and Mariano Rivera.

Aside from his late-season defensive foibles, the biggest criticism of Granderson has to do with his inability to hit left-handed pitching. This is a legitimate point that needs to be brought up, but it has been wildly overstated. Exactly who has all this left-handed pitching that is supposed to shut down Granderson? A look at the American League East, where the Yankees will play approximately half of their games, reveals a right-handed landscape. The Red Sox have one left-handed starter in Jon Lester; he’s one of the best in the game, but the rest of the rotation is right-handed. Like the Red Sox, Tampa Bay has one left-handed starter in David Price. The Orioles also have one lefty in rookie Brian Matusz. The Blue Jays are the only divisional rival with two southpaw starters: Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil. That makes for a grand total of five left-handers among the 20 projected starters within the division. And for those interested in the composition of the division’s closers, currently only J.P. Howell of the Rays is left-handed…

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I crossed Broadway in the middle of 13th and 14th street last night, moving from the west side of the street to the east. I had the light, and as I looked to my left, I saw that the street was clear of any vehicles. I love the fleeting sense of room that you find in New York as traffic sits at a red light. It doesn’t last long, less than a minute I’m sure. At first it feels empty and then slowly, the momentum builds up again and then whoosh, the action is back.

But for a brief moment, the buzz of cars and buses and trucks and bikes, comes to a halt, and there is nothing but space. Freedom and space. It is something so routine in daily life here in New York that I often don’t register it, but even subconsciously, it feels like a small treat.

I went to Forbidden Planet to pick up some Christmas gifts–original Star Wars action figures–for my nephews and then, with some time to kill before I met a friend for dinner, went to the Strand to browse. I haven’t been reading much baseball literature these days, but I found myself in the basement anyway, looking at the sports books. And guess what? There on the shelves, near the Roger Angell books and Allen Barra’s Yogi Berra biography were two copies of the book I wrote about Curt Flood. And they weren’t even dirt cheap at ten bucks a pop.

Well, to me, this is a milestone of sorts because I’ve been introduced to so many great books through used book stores. I know it is a backward thing to wish for–most writers hope to be on the best-seller list, and belive me, I’m no exception–but still, it was a satisfying moment.

I don’t think back on the Flood book much these days. It was something I did and now it seems like it all happened a long time ago. I’m proud of it, of course, but it’s not something I identify with too tough. I did it, it’s out there in the world, and now, I’m on to the next thing. But to see it sitting there on the shelves I’ve patrolled all these years, well, that was as sweet a Christmas gift as I could ever ask for.

And so it was that at the Winter Meetings, Brian Cashman satisfied two of his major offseason priorities: settling the left field/center field question by acquiring Curtis Granderson in the three-team, seven-player swap with the Tigers and Diamondbacks. On the surface, it looks like the Tigers win this trade in a landslide, getting two young lefty relievers, a hard-throwing righty starter, and a major-league ready outfielder all while shedding $25.75 million in salary over the next three seasons.

The coverage was fairly bland, as it can tend to be when hammering out details of a trade. There were subtle nuances, though. For example, the Post, in my surfing, was the only outlet to cite that the Diamondbacks entered the fray a few weeks ago when Cashman balked at not including Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes in the deal for Granderson (maybe this gives a hint regarding their 2010 status?). ESPN claimed Buster Olney broke the story. How do we know? Jon Heyman tweeted the components of the deal yesterday, and Alex Belth dutifully posted them here.

A couple of items and intimations that appeared everywhere:

• Granderson’s 2009 decreased OBP and OPS, his strikeout total (141) and average against left-handed pitchers (.183), plus poor home/road splits somehow signaled a decline when he’s in his prime at age 29. Joe Posnanski took those stats and put them in context with Granderson’s career numbers against lefties, adding that he faced tough lefties in the AL Central (Sabathia and Santana), and playing 81 games a year at an unfriendly ballpark for left-handed hitters. Cliff Corcoran took a more analytical turn on a similar premise in this space.
• Granderson’s personality is perfect for New York.
• Now the Yankees can more easily make a decision on Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui. Thursday morning, the Yankees were reportedly negotiating with Johnny Damon’s representatives, but in the evening, George King of the Post submitted a story, complete with quotes from Cashman, refuting the earlier reports.
• The questions as to which Granderson the Yankees will get: the 2008 version that emerged into a perennial 20-20-20-20 threat or the 2009 item that frustrated fans with inconsistent offense and defense, despite the “plus” numbers aggregated in various fielding metric data. And then there is this item, which was not mentioned in the first wave of coverage but could appear within the next couple of days: a NY Times column from William C. Rhoden touting the importance of this acquisition from a cultural standpoint, highlighting the fact that Granderson could bring African-American fans to the Bronx and carry that torch/example set by Derek Jeter. The caveat: with CC Sabathia on the team also, and with him being there first, this may be a non-issue.Most of what was printed centered on the Yankees’ piece to the deal, which was Granderson. Looking deeper, though, I noticed more attention paid to what the Yankees were able to maintain — Chamberlain, Hughes, and Jesus Montero — than what they gave up.

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Do You Want Some More? 

Granderson and Pettitte are official.

So, what next? Scott Boras is talking up his client, Johnny Damon, right on cue.

What about Halladay? Coming to the Yanks? Not likely, opines Joel Sherman.

The Yanks done at these meetings? What do you think?

UPDATE: From Buster Olney at ESPN:  “Heard this: The Yankees are in the process of negotiating with Johnny Damon’s camp.”

UPDATE: Chad Jennings, who has been doing a terrific job covering the winter meetings, just posted a few final words from Brian Cashman as the Yankees General Manager was on his way out of town:

“I am definitely not in a position right now where I feel like I’m ready to do anything,” he said. “The next step isn’t ready to happen now, based on my conversations. There shouldn’t be another shoe to drop immediately.”

Cashman has options, and he has little need for urgency. He has to act, obviously, but the past four days have surely eased any need for desperation. Yesterday, Cashman acknowledged having talked to John Lackey’s agent. Today, he acknowledged talking about Ben Sheets. He’s met with the agents for Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. He’s been engaged with multiple trade talks. As soon as something makes sense, he’ll be ready to move.

“Patience can benefit you, (or) it might not,” Cashman said. “You can wait something out and see if it falls in your lap, but by doing that you risk losing something that you want. It’s a little riskier for us to play that game. If we really want something and it fits in our criteria at some point, waiting it out to see if it gets cheaper, I’m not sure that’s the way we go about it.”

Much as I miss Pete Abraham over at Lo-Hud, I’ve got to give credit to Jennings, Sam Borden, and Josh Thomson for maintaining the blog’s high standard.

Forty-Two
by Hank Waddles

All eyes are drawn to the hero’s routine
The moment he stands and steps into the night.
He pauses so slightly, surveying the scene,
Then readies to rescue his team from its plight.

It starts all at once with a simple steel ball
Whose weight gently pulls on the golden right arm.
The stakes might be high when the manager calls,
But the Great One reveals not a trace of alarm.

He enters the field as the gate opens wide
And runs with head down towards his stage on the mound.
The crowd claps along, watches each graceful stride,
Lets loose a crescendo of glorious sound.

Each pitch he precedes with a bow to third base,
Then lowers his glove and the ball to his belt.
The batter awaits with fear etched on his face,
The outcome assured though the ball’s not been dealt.

They tell us he throws just one pitch, but they lie.
His fastball can cut, disappear, or explode.
Three pitches in one means as hard as they try,
The batters aren’t hitters, they’re outs to unload.

The first goes down quickly, taps back to the mound,
The next is called out by a pitch on the black.
The third out’s foretold by the hideous sound
Of splintering wood as he makes the bat crack.

It’s five hundred times he’s done this before,
Reacting the same at the end of each game.
A nod towards his catcher, beneath the crowd’s roar,
He steps off the mound towards what’s next: Hall of Fame.

More from Indy…

Trading for Curtis Granderson does not take the Yankees out of the Roy Halladay Sweepstakes, according to Joel Sherman. But while Curtis is center stage, here is what Sean Casey and Andy Van Slyke have to say about the man.

Welcome to the Big Apple, dude. Here’s the first of what is likely to be many musical nods in your general direction.

First up today, a note from ESPN’s Buster Olney: “If the Yankees sign Johnny Damon, that will increase the likelihood that they will attempt to trade Nick Swisher. It’s increasingly unlikely that the Yankees are going to re-sign Hideki Matsui, regardless of what happens with Damon.”

UPDATE: According to Jon Heyman, Andy Pettitte will sign a one-year, $12 million contract to remain in New York. The deal could be announced as early as today.

Jon Heyman reports that Andy Pettitte and the Yanks have agreed to a one-year deal worth $11.75 million.

Rob Neyer doesn’t understand the Brian Bruney deal from Washington’s perspective. I liked Bruney, liked his mug, but I ain’t complaining over this trade, are you?

“Pitching, pitching, pitching, and then left field,” General Manager Brian Cashman said. “Those are the obvious areas we need to focus on.”

Here’s the big rumor from yesterday…

…In the meantime, while you wait…

UPDATE: According to a Tweet by Jon Heman: “yanks to get granderson, e. jackson, i. kennedy to dbacks, scherzer, schlereth, a. jax, coke to tigers….teams in agreement on trade. assuming medicals check out, it’s a go.”

I can’t imagine the Yankees getting E. Jackson as well. I’m sure he’ll be headed to the Dimaondbacks too.

UPDATE: According to this press release, Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN.

More on Curtis from Sweeny Murti:

And over at the Times, Tyler Kepner makes a case for Granderson.

This is where the heavy hitters in the Scoop Industry make their living.

First up…According to Buster Olney, Andy Pettitte will pitch in 2010, likely in New York. Jon Heyman has more.

Details to come…

UPDATE:  According to a tweet, Joel Sherman reports that Brian Bruney has been traded to the Nationals.

As Diane pointed out to me in an e-mail, we’d be remiss not to bow in appreciation of Dave Brubeck who turns 89 today.

How about his signature cut?

Happy Sunday Everyone.

A Halladay, a Lackey…which one of these?

It’s gray Saturday, and raining in New York.

Stay warm y’all.

The Fellas…

Groucho: Say, if you get near a song, play it.

Chico:…I can’t think of the finish.

Groucho: That’s strange and I can’t think of anything else.

Chico: You know what I think, I think I went past it.

Groucho: Well, if you come around again, jump off.

Chico: I once kept this up for three days…

The A-Side (instrumental) of Eddie Kendrick’s classic Keep on Truckin’:

Here is the full-length vocal, just cause:

By Bruce Markusen

This week’s passing of Tommy Henrich brings to mind the understated value of a terrific ballplayer who sacrificed part of his career for a larger cause.

On the surface, Henrich’s Triple Crown numbers don’t sound like that of a Hall of Famer: .282 batting average, 183 home runs, and 795 RBIs. But let’s look at what could have been. Henrich missed three full seasons in the midst of his prime—his age 30, 31, and 32 seasons—while serving in the U.S. military during World War II. If Henrich had been able to play and post even “average” seasons during that span—let’s say 20 home runs and 85 RBIs per season—he would have finished his career with over 240 home runs and over 1,000 RBIs. Those are far more impressive numbers, especially within the context of Henrich’s percentages. For his career, Henrich compiled an on-base percentage of .382 and a slugging percentage of .491, both favorable numbers. On top of that, Henrich was a smart, disciplined hitter who walked nearly twice as often as he struck out. He also played a solid defensive right field, helping to form one of the great outfields in baseball history, teamed with Joe DiMaggio in center and the similarly overlooked King Kong Keller in left. Finally, let’s throw Henrich’s four world championship rings into the argument, and suddenly we have a far more viable candidate for the Hall of Fame.

I’m a firm believer that Hall of Fame candidates who lost playing time during the war deserve some kind of “war credit” for what they might have achieved. After all, these men often had no choice but to enlist in the military; many of them also felt a civic and patriotic duty to do so. Their responsibility and bravery should not be held against them. The crux of the matter is this: exactly how much war credit do we give these players for time lost in service? Each case varies, given the length of military service and the time that it occurred within a player’s career. In the case of Henrich, he enjoyed three of his finest seasons after the war, so it’s reasonable to assume that the three years he lost fell in the midst of what we should rightfully consider his peak or prime. That becomes a huge chunk of war credit, and perhaps it’s enough to put Henrich right on the Cooperstown village limits.

Beyond the Hall of Fame argument, Henrich has drawn plenty of praise for his solid standing as a teammate and his sterling reputation as an excellent player under pressure. He was widely known as “Old Reliable,” but I like his other nickname even more. He was occasionally called “The Clutch.” How cool is that? I can just hear one of today’s broadcasters saying, “The bases are loaded, the game is on the line, and hear comes ‘The Clutch.’ ” Henrich’s ability to produce in important situations has led some in the media to compare him to Derek Jeter, which is a reasonable comparison. I’ll offer another one. Henrich was Paul O’Neill without the footspeed. They both played the same position, both hit left-handed, both hit with similar levels of power. Of course, O’Neill is not a Hall of Famer, but he was an underrated player who was hugely important to the Yankee dynasty from 1996 to 2001. Henrich was a similarly underrated player who spread his contributions throughout the decade of the 1940s. And with that extra war credit, maybe he was a little bit better than O’Neill, maybe good enough to be knocking on the front door of the Hall of Fame…

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Here’s Tom Verducci’s Sportsman of the Year profile of Derek Jeter from the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. I like how he ends it:  “The great wonder is not that Jeter has won so much but that he has won so well. He is the good son, the good winner.”

Marco Scutaro, an appealing middle infielder who once hit a game-winning home run off Mariano Rivera, has signed a two-year deal to play shortstop for the Boston Red Sox. Scutaro was a featured player in the low-budget but winning 2004 documentary about life in the minor leagues, A Player to Be Named Later.

One of my favorites from one of my favorites:

If you haven’t seen this terrific piece by Jeanne Marie Laskas on concussions and the lasting effects of playing football, you should, it is outstanding:

On a foggy, steel gray Saturday in September 2002, Bennet Omalu arrived at the Allegheny County coroner’s office and got his assignment for the day: Perform an autopsy on the body of Mike Webster, a professional football player. Omalu did not, unlike most 34-year-old men living in a place like Pittsburgh, have an appreciation for American football. He was born in the jungles of Biafra during a Nigerian air raid, and certain aspects of American life puzzled him. From what he could tell, football was rather a pointless game, a lot of big fat guys bashing into each other. In fact, had he not been watching the news that morning, he may not have suspected anything unusual at all about the body on the slab.

The coverage that week had been bracing and disturbing and exciting. Dead at 50. Mike Webster! Nine-time Pro Bowler. Hall of Famer. “Iron Mike,” legendary Steelers center for fifteen seasons. His life after football had been mysterious and tragic, and on the news they were going on and on about it. What had happened to him? How does a guy go from four Super Bowl rings to…pissing in his own oven and squirting Super Glue on his rotting teeth? Mike Webster bought himself a Taser gun, used that on himself to treat his back pain, would zap himself into unconsciousness just to get some sleep. Mike Webster lost all his money, or maybe gave it away. He forgot. A lot of lawsuits. Mike Webster forgot how to eat, too. Soon Mike Webster was homeless, living in a truck, one of its windows replaced with a garbage bag and tape.

It bothered Omalu to hear this kind of chatter—especially about a dead guy. But Omalu had always fancied himself an advocate for the dead. That’s how he viewed his job: a calling. A forensic pathologist was charged with defending and speaking for the departed—a translator for those still here. A corpse held a story, told in tissue, patterns of trauma, and secrets in cells.

Jay Jaffe on the Yankees not offering arbitration to Johnny Damon, Hideki Matusi or Andy Pettitte:

The Yankees’ only Type A free agent is Johnny Damon, who’s coming off an excellent season capped by a key role in the team’s World Series win. He made $13 million a year over the life of his deal, but just turned 36. A one-year deal for him to return via arbitration might have cost the Yankees $15 million, a figure that apparently was too rich for Brian Cashman’s blood. Damon’s got a strong enough hand that he can likely do better in length if not average annual salary, even from the Yankees (two years, $25 million with an option, perhaps).

What’s annoying is that because he’s a Type A, foregoing the arbitration offer costs the Yankees two high draft picks, one in the 16-30 range of the draft (the top 15 picks are protected), the other in the supplemental phase (31-50, roughly speaking). That’s a substantial amount of value; four years ago, colleague Nate Silver estimated those two picks as worth $9 million for the 16-30 and $3 million for the supplemental. Since then, the market has leveled off, inflation has occurred, and WARP has changed, but if anything, the value of those picks is probably higher. Apparently, the fear of being stuck with a pricey one-year deal — though really, it’s difficult to get too badly burned on such a pact — outweighed the return for the Yanks, offering further evidence that even Cashman is on a budget.

The Yankees also decided not to offer arbitration to Andy Pettitte and Hideki Matsui, but both of them are Type B free agents, meaning all the Yankees turned down was the right to supplemental picks worth about $3 million apiece. Weighed against the higher likelihood that both would accept and win their cases at prices out of Cashman’s control, again, the risk was apparently too great. It’s still a likelihood that at least Pettitte returns; the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement struck down a provision that teams who didn’t offer arbitration to their free agents were prevented from signing them until the following spring. Now, the two sides can hopefully negotiate a more sensible deal.