The New York Yankees declined to offer arbitration to any of the teams free agents in fear that they would accept and then the team would be forced to pay them a higher amount then what the would have wanted to. Bobby Abru and Andy Pettitte are the two big names that were not offered.

Even though the Yankees did not offer arbitration to both players, they can still talk about a new contract and negotiate with them.

Also not receiving arbitration offers were pitchers Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano and Sidney Ponson, plus catchers Ivan Rodriguez and Chad Moeller, and first basemen Jason Giambi.

With the Winter meetings coming up in the next week, it will be interesting to see what management decides to do about the starting pitching rotation as they would really like to get a couple of new pitchers that they could plug into the rotation.

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees didn’t have any problems with the Minnesota Twins on Monday night as they opened up their weekday series with a 12-4 victory.  The Yankees had 16 hits to score those 12 runs as the offense was really swinging the bats well while the pitchers pitched well enough to get the victory.

Alex Rodriguez hit a two run home run while Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter both added solo shots for the Yankees.  A-Rod finished the game leading the team with three rbi.  Cano and Jeter both had two rbi each while Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu both chipped in with one each.  That is a big balanced scoring attack for the Yankees as almost everybody contributed.

Sidney Ponson improved to 6-1 on the season as he threw 5 2/3 innings to get the win.  Ponson gave up nine hits and three runs while walking and striking out two batters.  Edwar Ramirez, David Robertson, and LaTroy Hawkins all threw out of the bullpen.  Hawkins threw the final two innings of the game while only allowing one hit.

It was a very good win for the Yankees and they will now hope to go up 2-0 in the series when they face off againast the Twins on Tuesday evening.  Yankees Blog

Bobby Abreu hit a double in the bottom of the 10th inning and Derek Jeter scored all the way from first base to give the New York Yankees a 2-1 victory over the visting Tampa Bay Rays.  The Yankees took both games in the short two game series.  Huge win for the Yankees as they picked up two games on Rays instead of just splitting the series.

Jeter scored both of the Yankees runs in the game.  Besides the game winning run in the 10th inning, Jeter also scored in the first inning on a Jason Giambi single.  The Yankees did leave 13 runners on base while striking out eight times.

Mariano Rivera earned the victory as he pitched the 9th and 10th innings.  Rivera is now 4-3 on the season with a 1.06 era.  Starting pitcher Sidney Ponson pitched the first six innings to get a no decision.  Ponson gave up five hits and one run.  The one run was a solo home run by Carlos Pena.

The Yankees will now play the make up game with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday.  They will be leaving shortly for Pittsburgh for the 7:05 game and then will fly out tomorrow night for Toronto where they will take the Blue Jays on in a weekend series.

Yankees Blog

The New York Yankees scored nine runs in the seventh inning as they beat the Texas Rangers by the score of 18-7.  It was a very high scoring game between the two teams but the Yankees were able to come out on top to avoid the sweep.

Jason Giambi had a grand slam and two run double to finish the game with six rbi’s to lead the Yankees at the plate.  Alex Rodriguez had a three run home run as he finished the game with three rbi.  Jorge Posada was right behind A-rod as he had two rbi.  Johnny Damon and two rbi, Robinson Cano, and WIlson Betemit, and Bobby Abreu all contributed with one rbi of their own.

Sidney Ponson struggled in his first start with the Yankees.  He only lasted five innings and gave up nine hits and seven early runs.  The Rangers hit two home runs off of Ponson who will really need to turn things around if he wants to stay in the rotation.

Edwar Ramirez pitched the sixth and seventh innings without giving up a run and then Kyle Farnsworth pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Yankees.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched the ninth inning for the Yankees as he finished off the Rangers.

The Yankees will now play the Red Sox for four games this weekend.  The series is always a huge one between the fans I expect this one to be the same way.

Yankees Blog