What the Foulke?

Keith Foulke is ready to rejoin baseball. After “retiring” before the start of the 2007 season (Indians), he had bone chips removed from his elbow in September, and is supposedly healthy, once again. Foulke, who is 35, threw a session last week and has earned interest from a variety of teams. The Diamondbacks are one of his best options and Foulke still loves his Red Sox (even Johnny at BK).

Maybe the Yankees will inquire about his services? Wouldn’t that be odd?

C.C. Sabathia Update Pt.2

SI.com has a report about C.C. Sabathia (featuring his own commentary), as he and the Cleveland Indians are currently working on a multiyear contract that would allow him to stay in Cleveland. As I’ve stated many times before (on this blog), I would love to see Sabathia become a free agent come 2009.

By then, if we don’t trade away our young talent, we’ll have Wang, Hughes, Joba, and Kennedy as our starting rotation. Of course, in the future, we may also call up someone like Alan Horne, who could definitely be a factor. But, if anything happens and if there is a gaping hole in the rotation, why not get C.C. to fill it? (This would obviously depend on where Johan Santana ends up.)

Also, speaking of young pitchers, Baseball America has a nice read on young prospects with premium velocity. Velocity is a big factor when gauging a guy’s potential, but as the article says, it isn’t everything (e.g. Sean Henn and others). The text outlines some of the fastest fastballs in the game (past and present) and we’ve got 2 of the top spots locked up (Brackman is one guy, guess who’s the other).

New Face in Santana Talks

From the Boston Herald:

The Mets, and not the Red Sox or Yankees, remain the front-runner as the team most likely to succeed in pulling off a trade for Minnesota ace Johan Santana, according to baseball insiders in touch with both the Mets and Twins in recent days.

A package the Twins could receive will probably not include both of the Mets’ top outfield prospects, Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez. There are indications that Martinez would be in the deal, along with major league outfielder Ryan Church and at least two other prospects. Starter Mike Pelfrey could be part of the deal as well. . . .

Ryan Church? Maybe trading Lastings Milledge for Church can eventually bring the Mets Santana (while retaining a good defensive catcher in the form of Brian Schneider, who was also acquired in that trade). Church has experience in CF and could play the position for the Twins (instead of moving Cuddyer). Wouldn’t that be something?

Here’s some old text about that trade from the Daily News:

Milledge, 22, reportedly was offered with Aaron Heilman and Phillip Humber to the Orioles in a proposal that was rejected. Including Milledge did not make it more desirable to Baltimore, but one baseball official said, “You put Church or Gomez in place of Milledge in an offer and it might be a more attractive offer.”

Those tricky Mets. Maybe they’ll get something done (with Johan Santana or maybe even Erik Bedard) and finally end the madness (at least for a little while).

Yankees Locking up Cano With a 4-Year Deal

Ken Rosenthal (FOX Sports) has the breaking news:

The Yankees, locking up one of their young stars, are on the verge of signing second baseman Robinson Cano to a four-year, $30 million contract, according to major-league sources.

The deal, which would take Cano through his arbitration years, also is expected to include club options that would enable the Yankees to buy out one or two years of free agency.

Good to hear, and a great move by the Yankees. Despite how much sense this makes, I actually didn’t expect this by the club. If Cano lives up to our lofty expections, this will save the team (much needed) money in the future.

I wonder if Wang is next?

Desperate Times Call for… Extortion?

From the NY Times (Duff Wilson and Michael Schmidt):

José Canseco, the former major league slugger and admitted steroid user who exposed other players in his 2005 best-selling book “Juiced,” offered to keep a Detroit Tigers outfielder “clear” in his next book if the player invested money in a film project Canseco was promoting, according to a person in baseball with knowledge of the situation.

The article goes on in detail about Canseco’s alleged actions (which he denies). Ordonez himself states that he will not pursue the matter in terms of a formal investigation (by the FBI). He also states that Canseco never directly asked him for money. Instead, Canseco apparently tried to get Scott Boras (Ordonez’s agent) to cough up $5 million for his “movie project,” which was a documentary-style film based on his first book (Juiced).

I’d like to say that all of these discrediting reports (e.g. switching publishers, lack of substance or valid content, etc) will bring Canseco down. I’d like to say that, by working with the man who helped to pen OJ Simpson’s “If I Did it” book, Canseco won’t sell any books. I’d like to say that, by attempting to extort Magglio Ordonez and his agent (allegedly), Canseco will not find an audience that is susceptible to his lies.

But, again, that’s all of the stuff I’d like to say…

iYankees: Pinch Hitting at PA’s LoHud Blog

The following post was produced for Peter Abraham’s LoHud Yankees Blog (thanks PA). You can see the original posting, here.

The Jim Leyritz situation, as you all know, is a troubling one indeed. A woman is dead, a man’s life is forever altered, dozens of lives are ultimately ruined in the process, and thousands of fans are left scratching their heads. What’s next?

Yankee fans are experiencing a tremendous amount of hardships lately. This goes beyond Joba’s bugged out relief appearance or the lack of an A-Rod home run at a crucial point in time. This even goes beyond a recent string of sports success had by our always hated and now arrogant New England rivals.

Nope, this is a lot more than that.

Our infallible idols (see Andy Pettitte or Roger Clemens) are suddenly reduced to actual human beings. Events that we’ve cherished and memorable moments that we’ve replayed thousands of times in our heads, as we attempt to experience those euphoric feelings just one more time, are suddenly being called into question.

External factors like steroids and alcohol have quickly disfigured some of our favorite aspects of Yankee history. It’s hard to think about Mark Wohlers hanging a slider to Jim Leyritz without automatically drawing an implicit connection to Leyrtiz’s mugshot.

It’s simply not the same anymore.

I’d like to say that it’s just a snapshot in time. It’s not Leyritz we love, but it’s the action that he produced and the subsequent impact of that action that we will forever remember. To a certain extent, that’s true. However, you can’t really separate the two anymore. It was a Yankee moment, by Jim Leyritz, and therefore, they’ll always be connected.

So, like I said before, what’s next? Although we fail to draw an immediate connection, what’s next (I hope ESPN doesn’t sue me) is Hughes, Joba, Melky, Kennedy, Cano, and the list goes on. Just ask yourself why you like these kids without seeing them play all that much? Ultimately, it’s because you dream about heroics that have yet to come, whether it be this season or the next.

The old Yankee memories (heroes included) are fading fast, not because we want them to, but because they’ve outgrown their own mythical proportions (reality has set in).

Now, we’re waiting for new moments to be created by new faces and in new contexts. That’s what we want. We want to see Cano to hit a HR that ends a playoff against Boston (we’ve given up on A-Rod). We want to see Melky rob a pivotal HR during the WS. We want to see Ian Kennedy surpass expectations and pitch a gem that Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain could only dream of.

That’s how we deal with the dreadful kinks in the great chains of Yankee history. That why we like these young kids as they provide us with something new and tangible. They give us something to hope for, especially during these strange Yankee days. It’s genuinely real, and we know that it’s there, waiting for us.

So, go ahead and check Phil Hughes’ blog for the 3rd time today.

It really is okay to dream about the future.