From Ken Davidoff:Brian Cashman will meet with the Steinbrenners next week in Tampa - likely Thursday, Dec. 3 - to fully discuss the Yankees' offseason budget and plans, Newsday has learned...."Once I get some firm numbers, then I can go ahead and start putting together some ideas," Cashman said.Brian Cashman, Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, team president Randy Levine and COO Lonn Trost are all expected to be at the meetings. I would assume Joe Girardi will be there too, but I'm not positive abou... Read Full Story

Saw this over at NYY Fans dot com and thought I'd share it with you. It's a desktop wallpaper that shows Godzilla destroying Citizens Bank Park.(here's the full size version)- The Yanks were named as 2009 honorees at the 11th annual National Sportsmanship Awards on for their work with during HOPE Week.Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett and Jason Zillo, the club's director of media relations and publicity, were on hand to accept the award from the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance and the St. Loui... Read Full Story

Bryan Hoch just tweeted this: Yankees to distribute free turkey vouchers to Bronx residents Tuesday beginning at 10 a.m., Yankee Stadium Gate 2.I love seeing the Yankees doing things like this. Plus, with the Bronx still missing a park, the least those residents deserve is a few free turkeys. Read Full Story

ESPN Radio's Andrew Marchand wrote today that he was told by an MLB executive that John Lackey would be lucky to get a deal like the five-year $82.5 million that A.J. Burnett got from the Yankees last winter. The executive also said that won't be that many buyers this winter, and Lackey could come down to a bidding war between the Yankees and Mets. Read Full Story

Like everyone pretty much expected, Joe Mauer was named AL MVP today. Mauer clearly had the best year out of anyone in the the league, finishing the year hitting .365/.444/.587 with 28 HR and 96 RBI. He nearly won a unanimous vote, taking 27 of 28 first-place votes and finishing with 387 point. The only other player to receive a first place vote was Miguel Cabrera, who finished fourth in the voting. I wonder which writer voting for him.Mark Teixeira finished second in the voting with 225 poin... Read Full Story

Chad Jennings has the numbers:Japan: up 101% on NHK BSPanama: up 101% on RPC and 40% on TV Max. Korea: up 73% on OBS.Dominican Republic: up 46% on CDN.Canada: up 65% on Rogers Sportsnet. Mexico: up 22% on Televisa.Not really surprising considering last year's series. Read Full Story

Ken Rosenthal wrote today that he believes that Scott Boras will use Bobby Abreu's two-year, $19 million contract as a baseline for a potential deal with Damon. Earlier this offseason, Jon Heyman said that before the playoffs "the Yankees were believed willing to go for two years and $16 million for Damon", so they'd probably go for another $3 million for the same length. I'd still much rather see Damon brought back on a one-year deal, but since Abreu got two years and Scott Boras is his agen... Read Full Story

Its a trend that's been going on for some time now. I'm not sure when exactly it started, maybe it began with the Jose Contreras bidding, or maybe its part of the post 2004 paranoia that should have been banished last October. Regardless, I will never understand the fixation that most Yankees fans seem to have on the Boston Red Sox.Whenever we're discussing a potential move for the Yankees, the debate usually starts out pretty reasonable. Arguments are pretty logical and, generally speaking, ... Read Full Story

It's that time of year when 2010 projections are being released from various sources, so here are three sets along with some highlights for you to take a look at:- Baseball Projections has the 2010 CHONE hitter projections.Cano: .304/.341/.489, 19 HR, 83 RBITex: 34 HR, 112 RBIA-Rod: 34 HR, 106 RBIJeter: .295/.367/.425- Fangraphs has Bill James's 2010 projections on each players' individual page. For example here's Jeter's page.Jeter: 200 hitsA-Rod: .950 OPSCC: 18-9, 3.40 ERA, 3.44 FIPJoba: 11... Read Full Story

From Nick Cafardo:John Lackey could be a key figure in both teams’ plans. If the Sox acquire him, it would allow them to package Clay Buchholz in a deal for Adrian Gonzalez or Miguel Cabrera, if he becomes available. Buchholz is the chip most teams want in a megadeal.Then the Sox would try to acquire another decent starter or a rehab guy like Ben Sheets as protection.“The Red Sox could be the major player this offseason if certain things fall together for them,’’ said an American League gener... Read Full Story