Yankees Are Chasing After Manny

“Manny” New York Yankee fans would love to see Manny Ramirez play baseball in the Bronx. The unrealistic thought of Manny in a Yankees uniform may not be so unrealistic for long.

According to multiple news sources like the Bleacher Report the Yankees will give everything they have to acquire Manny Ramirez if they can not get their hands on Mark Teixeria. The Yankees are expected to offer Ramirez roughly $20 million over a span of three years if there chances at the first baseman Teixeria do indeed bust.

The Yanks have already restructured their organization as promised, adding CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to the defensive roster and tapping the cap for over $200 million.

The Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals have allegedly offered Teixeria an 8-year -$160 million option sometime over the duration of the last two weeks, an amount the Yankees will need to meet or beat.

Chances are in favor that one of these two players will be a valuable entity and acquisition to the Yankees come the 2009 season. Updates to follow….

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What’s In Store For CC Sabathia?

One of the most prominent free agents during this year’s off season is still uncertain of where he will play in 2009. CC Sabathia who has multiple offers currently on the table, had a meeting scheduled with the Yankees last night.

The Yankees have offered Sabathia $140 million over a six year period, but he is still reluctant to accept. Sabathia has shown interested in the Red Sox and the Angels according to many MLB sources as winter meetings will continue.

Throw Mark Teixeira into the mix, and now I dare you to bet on where Sabathia will end up. The Angels are trying to work a deal with Teixeira but as of yet, both sides cannot even agree on what they will eat for lunch. If the Angels can not ultimately reach a deal with Teixeira, they may focus their attention on adding Sabathia to their rotation.

The Red Sox and Yankees have also expressed a great deal of interest in acquiring Teixeira.  According to Newsday.com, the BoSox would move Kevin Youkilis from first base to third base. Not a bad idea if you ask me.

If the Yankees fail to sign the first-baseman, it is possible that New York may try to grab Manny by hair as quickly as possible. Obviously, who ever takes on the “burden” of signing Mark  first will most likely not be able to sequentially sign CC Sabathia.

Also still up for grabs is Derek Lowe, who is apparently not happy with any team or offer as of yet. Could Teixeira and Lowe come as a package deal to either the Red Sox or Yanks?

And with that said, this off season has really just begun.

Sabathia Screwed By One Scorer?

When you compare the NFL’s scoring and record keeping process against the MLB’s process we infact notice huge differences. The most obvious difference besides the two games being complete different from one another is that the MLB only allows instant replay to be used when a homerun ball is in question. So why doesn’t Major League baseball allow other plays, such as the play that may have cost C.C. Sabathia a no-hitter this past Sunday to be reviewed? Who knows! 

Scoring decisions are tough to make. However, it occured to RBI Magazine that only ONE, yes I said ONE, scorer is incharge of the official scoring process at each Major League baseball game. Interesting huh? Keep this in mind as you read the rest of the article.

The play occured in the fifth inning when a ground ball was hit sharply at Sabathia. He bobbled the ball not once, but a few times, dropped it again, and then made no attempt to throw it to first. Pirates’ Andy LaRoche was awarded an infield SINGLE crushing Sabathia’s chance at a no-hit game. Ok, not a big deal,  it is only the 5th inning right? The odds of a no hitter are still not on any pitcher’s side at this stage in a game.

So let’s put this into perspective. If Milwaukee manager Ned Yost had a red challenge flag in his posession, would he have thrown it challenging the call on the field? Hell no.  At this stage in the game it was a routine play that virtually meant nothing. The killer is; Sabathia finished the game throwing a now questionable one hit shut out.

The shocking part of the story is that the Milwaukee Brewers are asking Major League Baseball to turn CC Sabathia’s one-hitter into a no-hitter. Could a play like this be a candidate for instant replay? Can’t that one scorer take a few minutes or seconds to review the play instead of making a questionable scoring decision. In most cases similar to this situation using instant replay will not even affect the play on the field.

Not only does the Brewers GM want Sabathia to be awarded a no-hitter, he is sick of  the entire scoring decision process!

According to CBSsports.com, GM Doug Melvin said he thought there should be a committee to decide scoring decisions like the one that may have cost Sabathia a no-hitter in the Brewers’ 7-0 victory over the Pirates on Sunday. One official scorer is used in all baseball games until the World Series, where a three-person panel reviews scoring plays.

If you ask me, that’s alot of pressure on one guy and too much room for mistakes to be made. Taking the spotlight off the umps and focusing the use of instant replay on scoring decisions or adding a few more “joe shmoes” to the scorers table might be a smooth move on the MLB’s part.

Whether or not C.C. Sabathia got screwed by one scorer or not, this issue needs to be addressed to alievate such incidents in the future. Is Doug Melvin on to something?