Last season Pettitte was 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA for the Yankees. He hopes to improve on that and have a strong second half unlike in the 08 season.

Good deal for the Yankees!

Nady agreed to a one-year, $6.65 million deal, while Cabrera signed a one-year deal worth $1.4 million. Nady earned $3.59 million last season, and is likely to become a free agent after the 2009 season. He has been rumored in some recent trade talk so that could happen before the season starts. Nady at $6.65 million seems like a lot when you see that it is almost double of what he was making last season.

The Yankees will only have to goto a hearing with one player as they were unable to strike a deal with Brian Bruney who was asking for $1.55 million and the Yankees were offering him $1.1 million.

Yankees Blog

The contract would pay Teixeira an average of $22.5 million per season. New York has spent $423.5 million in salary in the last month, with $161 million going to left-handed pitcher C.C. Sabathia in a seven-year deal and $82.5 million on right-hander A.J. Burnett for five years.

The Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals were the two other teams that were in the final three for Tex. This was a big time signing for the Yankees, now let’s all just hope that it doesn’t backfire!

Yankees Blog

Wang was 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts for the Yankees last season before spending the rest of the year on the disabled list with a sprain of the Lisfranc ligament in his right foot and a partial tear of a tendon in the same foot.

If Wang can stay healthy for the Yankees in 2009, expect him to be the number three or four starter in the rotation. Three if Andy Pettitte is not brough back, and number four if he is.

Yankees Blog

“A.J. Burnett has great stuff,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said recently. “I think he’s matured a lot as a pitcher, as well. He’s learned to control the running game a lot better. He attacks hitters and gets hitters out quickly, throws a lot of strikes, fields his position. I think he’s much more complete as a pitcher than he was a couple of years ago.”

As long as he can stay healthy I think this is a good signing for the Yankees. He will be a great addition to the starting rotation that is for sure.

Yankees Baseball

Sabathia, 117-73 in eight big league seasons, will bring something to the Yankees that they haven’t had in three decades: a relatively youthful pitcher at the top of their rotation. Traded to the Brewers by the Indians on July 7, the left-hander almost single-handedly carried Milwaukee to its first postseason berth in 26 years by going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts.

Sabathia had been courted by the Milwaukee Brewers, the San Francisco Giants and the Boston Red Sox. The Los Angeles Dodgers said that Sabathia, who lives in California, had expressed interest in playing there, too, although the team did not publicly make him an offer.

In the end however, Sabathia chose the Yankees and he hopes to get back into post season action this next year. It’s an exciting time to be a Yankee fan!

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 Yankees won three world series under George so Hank says “”My dad is, needless to say, a tough act to follow.”

We can also expect Hank to stay involved in the team as well as he overlooks Brian Cashman and the baseball operations.

Yankees Baseball

Mussina, spent the last eight seasons with the Yankees after pitching for the Baltimore Orioles for the first 10 years of his career. His 270 wins rank second among all active right-handers, behind only Greg Maddux.

We wish the Moose all the best as he spends more time at home with his family and away from the game of baseball.

And then on Thurday the Yankees picked up Nick Swisher and a minor leaguer from the Chicago White Sox via a trade that sent Wilson Betemit, Jeff Marquiz, and Jhonny Nunez to the White Sox. Expect Swisher to get looked at to the everyday starting first basemen. He can also play all three outfield positions for the team.

Swisher has three years left on a five-year, $26.75 million contract. He’s scheduled to make $5.3 million in 2009, $6.75 million in 2010 and $9 million in $2011. His deal also includes a $10.25 million club option for 2012, with a $1 million buyout. As you can tell, the deal didn’t come cheap for the Yankees.