Yankees Re-Sign Gardner; Rumors of Hamilton

The Yankees avoided arbitration with left fielder Brett Gardner on Friday by agreeing to a one year deal worth $2.85MM. Gardner got a slight bump from the $2.8MM he made in 2011 despite missing almost the entire season due to elbow surgery.

There have been rumors that the Yankees may switch Gardner and Curtis Granderson's positions in the outfield. A bigger rumor has the Yankees looking into free agent outfielder Josh Hamilton.

The 2010 AL MVP winner is not coming close to get the long term offer he was hoping for. Teams are concerned about Hamilton's history of injuries and drug and alcohol abuse.  Long term contracts are also not in vogue at the moment as teams see what happens when a player like Alex Rodriguez shows diminished skills and health.

The Yankees thinking has to be short term, big money, and still be able to fit under the $189MM luxury tax ceiling that goes into effect in 2014. In the event the Yankees sign Hamilton, they may consider dealing Curtis Granderson who becomes a free agent after the current season and will make $15MM in 2013.

Hamilton definitely falls under the category of "Let the buyer beware."

BD Hot Stove: Plan B | Baseball Digest

BD Hot Stove: Plan B | Baseball Digest

A look at the alternatives to Cliff Lee and a new contract for Joaquin Benoit.

Winter Meetings 2009 - Day 1

Plenty of rumors on day 1 of baseball's Winter meetings in Indianapolis (you would think they would pick a warm spot). Among them are:

The Tigers are actively shopping pitcher Edwin Jackson, but are currently asking for a lot in return.

The Mets believe someone will take Luis Castillo off their hands. I believe there probably is someone dumb enough to do it. The most likely scenario is the Mets dealing a top regular or prospect and throwing Castillo in as a 'must'.

Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reported on his Twitter account that the Cardinals are close to signing free agent right-hander Brad Penny.

ESPN's Jayson Stark reports that Nick Johnson is drawing interest from the Mariners, Giants, Orioles, Mets, Red Sox, Diamondbacks, and his original team, the Yankees. Reserve a spot on your disabled list now.

Foxsports reports the Mets are going hard after free agent catcher Bengie Molina. The Mets picked up backup Henry Blanco from the Pads over the weekend.

Twins Closing in on Crede

SI's Jon Heyman is reporting that the Twins are close to bringing in Joe Crede to fill their third base vacancy.

After putting up career numbers (30 HR, 94 RBI) in 2006, Crede was limited to just 144 games over the last two seasons due to back trouble.

The contract is expected to be heavily laden with incentives.

The Daily Yankeeland - 1/21

There probably weren't too many people thinking about this with the change in government yesterday. But Michael O'Keefe (not the guy from "Caddyshack") of the Daily News realized that with Bush leaving so does a pardon chance for Roger Clemens.

Peter Abraham has the updated payroll figures after the signings of Xavier Nady and Melky Cabrera. $187.9 million is the current figure, not counting the signing bonuses that CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira received. How do I get one of those?

Ken Rosenthal wrote a piece this morning saying don't think the Yankees are done yet in putting the ball club together. He mentioned that they should go after Ben Sheets and Juan Cruz. Unfortunately, some rumor mill blogs (which I won't give a link to here) now have posts saying the Yankees are pursuing both.

ESPN.com spoke with Kirk Radomski, who said he believes his fellow sleazebag friend, Brian McNamee, over Roger Clemens.

22 Days until Pitchers and Catchers