The DBacks have eight more days to try and trade Byrnes to another team, only catch is he has a no trade clause and can refuse any deal he doesn’t like. With his 2010 salary at $11 million he’d be pretty hard to trade anyways, especially since he hasn’t hit higher then .226 or more then 8 homers since 2007. Most of that is due to injuries but regardless his stock has dropped majorly so not many, if anyone, would trade for him at that rate.

The most likely option is for the Diamondbacks to outright release him this week and eat the salary. They’ll just pay him the $11 million and let him hit free agency. Byrnes know that is the most logical case which led to him saying the Giants were his “best fit”.

“It’s not a real secret (that) I’d definitely be interested,” Byrnes said in a phone interview. “The Giants, of course, that’s the best fit geographically.”

Knowing he’ll get his paycheck next season he’ll be willing to sign for the league minimum next season, something that should surely appeal to the Giants. What may be even more appealing is that Byrnes has done something not many other athletes would do. He didn’t come out saying he can still be a dominant player, he swallowed his pride and said what kind of player he actually is now.

“I’m not in a position to say I’m an everyday player. The most important thing for me at this point in my career is to help a team win, wherever that is,” said Byrnes.

In my opinion, the Giants would be foolish not to sign him at the league minimum. For a team working within a tight budget he’d be much more cost effective then going after a player like Johnny Damon.

Byrnes may not be an everyday starter anymore, he may not provide the big offensive numbers but he’s still a pretty good outfielder and still athletic enough where he can give the starters at all three outfield positions a break. He can also provide enough on the offensive side to where he wouldn’t be a total liability.

Byrnes calls the Giants his “best fit” but you know what Byrnes might also be the “best fit” for the Giants.

First, the Yankees traded Brian Bruney to the Washington Nationals for the first pick in the Rule 5 Draft. Not a major deal but could wind up being very big for the Yankees bullpen. Steven Henson of Yahoo.com says the Yankees are considering drafting Florida Marlins pitcher Arquimedes Carminero, a strong armed reliever who boasts a 10+ strikeout per nine inning ratio. That is if they don’t trade the pick. Jayson Stark of ESPN.com says the Yankees are trying to move that pick themselves. I’d think for another minor league player. The Yankees also needed to clear a little payroll for the moves they want to make so Bruney could save them close to $2 million after his arbitration raise.

Next, the Yankees made a blockbuster trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers. They gave up a pretty big prospect in Austin Jackson, as well as Phil Coke and Ian Kennedy. In return they got a player they’ve wanted for a long time Curtis Granderson. He’s got power, 30 homers last year, something that a player needs when playing at Yankee Stadium. He’s got speed, 57 triples in 6 seasons (twice league leader) and 20 steals last season, something the Yankees could always use more of with their aging lineup. There are two major knocks thou.

He strikes out a lot, something the Yankees don’t need as this is a team that’s always wanted patience at the plate. Maybe the vets can rub off on the kid. He also can’t hit lefties (.183 with 2 homers in 180 at bats) to save his life and that’s a problem. Teams don’t save their lefties to pitch in Yankees Stadium anymore, but they do face more then their fare share. If this trend continues he could quickly become a platoon player, something someone making his kind of money shouldn’t be.

Regardless, Granderson is going to be a terror in that stadium, especially against right handed pitchers. His swing is perfect for the short porch in right and with his speed he can definitely take advantage of the spacious center field while batting. The question is going to be does he play left, or bump Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner over there.

And finally today, the Yankees acted on one of their priorities they resigned Andy Pettitte to a one-year deal. You remember those priorities right? Take care of their three free agents first then look elsewhere. Anyone who believed that, I laugh and say its the Yankees and if any GM calls Cashman he’ll talk.

So back to Pettitte he’s been brought back on a one-year deal for $11.75 million, slightly more then what he made last season. The difference is this year its all guaranteed, last season most of his $10+ million was made via incentives. After his performance in the playoffs this year, you knew an incentive laden deal wouldn’t do. I’m glad he’s back, he’s the rock in the middle of that rotation and he’s a Yankee lifer, what Houston? I don’t remember those couple years ever happening.

As a Yankees fan, I’m enjoying the moves they’ve made so far. Dealing Bruney brings in some possible youth, really cheap youth if they keep the Rule 5 pick. They bring back a legit pitcher and bring a big time bat/defensive player. We may one day regret giving up Austin Jackson, just like we will regret losing Jose Tabata but hey if Granderson plays as he always had we won’t care. He gives us a better chance at winning now, and that’s always the Yankees priority.

I just know one thing, Curtis better learn to hit some lefties and FAST!

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About a month or so ago we talked about the Detroit Tigers and their lack of a closer. We said the Tigers had decided to not focus on the position at the time as General Manager Dave Dombrowski wasn’t impressed by any of the options out there. Now that Spring Training is drawing near the Tigers have changed their tune. With it almost being game time one can’t blame the Tigers for now scouring the market, there is still some talent out there and it’s all becoming very cheap. The person at the head of the class is former Arizona Diamondbacks closer Brandon Lyon.

Lyon had a strange 2008 campaign, before the All-Star Game he was lights out, a money closer saving 19 games with a 2.43 era. After the All-Star break was a completely different story. He racked up an era of 8.46, with only one save coming after August 12. All of that led to him losing his job to Chad Qualls. Because of this one has to wonder which Brandon Lyon the Tigers will see. Will it be lights out Lyon or lit up Lyon? Will it be somewhere in between.

The Tigers have enough interest in Lyon thou where they are willing to offer a two-year deal, rumored to be worth $9 million. There’s enough interest where they are going to give him a chance at the closer role currently occupied by Fernando Rodney. The St. Louis Cardinals are also in the mix thou, so things aren’t quite finalized yet.

Regardless of what happens it can’t be worse then last years nightmare. Todd Jones was just atrocious in the role, and Rodney wasn’t much better. While Lyon had a horrendous second half of the season, he still had a better overall season when it came to save situations. So with that being said, if he can just perform in the middle of his two extremes then stability would be brought to the Tigers bullpen. Which is something the pitching staff at a whole missed last year.

Does this move turn the Tigers back into a contender? No, definitely not but it’s a step in the right direction. The offense should rebound this year, there is just too much talent for them not too. For the Tigers to succeed it’s all going to come down to the starting pitching. If those guys can rediscover their form, then having a capable closer like Lyon on the back end should definitely help.

“I think before it’s all said and done, there’ll be more of a veteran presence in our bullpen than people think,” manager Jim Leyland said during a stop on the team’s winter caravan Thursday.

The Diamondbacks have been, well ummm cheap this off season. Call it the economy, call it small market, call it what you want. I still just call it cheap. The Diamondbacks are trying to bring in a veteran starter to add depth to a young rotation but aren’t willing to spend to do so. Rumor has it the team has only been looking to spend around $4 or $5 million to do so. When wanting to bring in a quality veteran that is just not going to do it.

Last week, Arizona made a push to bring in Jon Garland. Garland made $12 million last season with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Diamondbacks were rumored to have offered only a fraction of that number. While his statistics would show he wasn’t an outstanding pitcher, he’s proven that he’s worth more then the $4 million the DBacks have left in their budget. I still can’t understand why Garland turned down arbitration from the Angels, but that’s a whole different issue. Regardless, Garland rightfully turned down the Arizona offer and made them turn to Plan B.

Plan B, was Randy Wolf. Wolf has been statistically more impressive then Garland over the past couple years although that was against National League hitting. Wolf has turned down numerous offers from other teams this off season, including a 3-year, $28.5 million offer from the Houston Astros. You did notice I said “Plan B, was Randy Wolf”. Yea, Wolf has already told the Diamondbacks no thanks. With a budget of only a few million and an asking price of close to ten, you could see why Wolf wants no part of Arizona.

The next option for Arizona is Braden Looper. This one could be the first legitimate possibility as Looper only made $5.5 million last season. By upping their offer just a little bit they could bring Looper in on a one or two year deal. Something to tide him over till the salary climate in baseball changes again. Looper had the best season of the three and could be a solid number three starter behind Haren and Webb.

Looking at Arizona’s search makes me wonder what is really going on in baseball. Yes, the economy is horrible we all know that but is the economic client in baseball really that bad? It’s been proven that fans still flock to sporting events in economic down turns, it acts as an escape for reality. Sponsorship money isn’t as big as it once was but advertisers are still spending on sporting events as it’s the easiest way to reach large amounts of people at once. Teams are refusing to spend money, but at the same time players are refusing to lower their demands. This off season has the greatest amount of free agents left this close to Spring Training. With that being said you could see why teams are playing hardball, but don’t you really think some players should just starting meeting these teams at half way? Even if it’s for just one year?

First, divisional championship coin flips. These would only occur should there be a tie for the division title. I repeat these will ONLY occur if there is a tie.
Minnesota Twins @ Chicago White Sox
Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox
New York Mets @ Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago Cubs @ Milwaukee Brewers
Arizona Diamondbacks @ Los Angeles Dodgers.

I’d say the three teams here that would benefit the most would be Boston, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Milwaukee because they get away from those Cubbie faithful. Philly and Boston are winners because they get to play in front of their wild fan bases.

Now the Wild Card Scenarios. Again these would only take place should there be a tie.
Minnesota Twins @ Boston Red Sox
Milwaukee Brewers @ Philadelphia Phillies
Milwaukee Brewers @ Houston Astros
Houston Astros or St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Phillies
Houston Astros or Milwaukee Brewers @ St. Louis Cardinals

The Phillies are huge winners here as they would host any tie breaking game in front of their rabid fan base.

The initial problem is Tracy, is not fully recovered from microfracture surgery on his knee yet. He had the surgery back in September and doesn’t even expect to be fully healthy for another year. “I’m happy to play. I’m here to play. I’m sure there are going to obstacles during the game that are going to come up that I haven’t really faced, but I think I’m ready for it.” It doesn’t sound like someones to sure of his abilities yet to perform on the field. Even so, the Diamondbacks must believe Tracy is in good enough physical shape to contribute to the ball club now. It will be interesting to see how things go when he finally takes some tricky plays at either corner.

Third base seems like the most likely position for Tracy, if he were to start a game. Current third baseman Mark Reynolds has been in a pretty big slump for the better part of a month now. Melvin has already insisted thou that Reynolds is “our third baseman”. That is good news for Reynolds. Reynolds needs to start playing up to his capabilities thou, cause if he doesn’t you could expect Tracy to get some more appearances at the hot corner.

The role Tracy will most likely hold thou for the next weeks, the dreaded pinch-hitter. The role most former starting positional players can’t stand to take. Melvin looks at Tracy as “thunder off the bench”, much like Tony Clark was for the team a couple years ago.

At the moment thou, it’s anyones guess how much Tracy actually plays. Like I said earlier, he’s not even fully recovered from his injury yet, so there will be days where he just can’t physically go. “We’ll see how it goes,” Melvin said. “We’ll see physically where we are from day to day. That’s why I don’t want to go out and say he’ll get ‘x’ amount of at-bats.” One thing that is not in question thou, is if Tracy is healthy and performing, this Diamondbacks team becomes a lot better. With a legitimate power threat on the bench, the D’Backs would have two solid pinch-hitters teams would have to worry about, the other being Micah Owings. This team could definitely be poised for a very deep playoff run, remember I do have them picked as this years World Series Champions.

Here’s a link to the AZCentral.com, and some other Diamondback notes.

Considering everything he’s been through over the past month his first rehab start was fairly impressive. He pitched 4 and 2/3 innings for Arizona’s AAA affiliate, allowing two runs while throwing 85 pitches. Davis should be making one more start at AAA, and then rejoin the Diamondbacks at the major league level. His return will create a nice problem for the team, as Max Scherzer is expected to be the one demoted. The team now knows they have a solid replacement should any other pitcher goes down with an injury.

This is great news, and we all wish Davis the best. The cancer was caught early enough to where he should lead a fairly normal and productive life. And unlike other types of cancer, he still gets to be a Major League pitcher. Such a quick return couldn’t have come to a better guy, I mean really what other player do you know would of still made his scheduled starts all the way up till the surgery date. Hopefully his first start back is in Arizona so he can get the standing ovation he deserves.

Coutlangus’ problem isn’t even the runs he gave up, its been more of a control issue. He’s had problems getting the ball over the plate and being 26 years old there isn’t much time yet to get that together. Regardless, its not a bad trade for depth purposes, the D’Backs will most likely start Coutlangus off in AAA and call him up later in the year when the team needs some bullpen help.

Seeing how its a minor deal, the Reds didn’t receive much. The Reds got minor league OF Daniel Perales. Perales played at Low-A South Bend and earned a .282 average with 16 homers and 92 rbis. He also has some speed to him getting 32 doubles and 10 triples last year. He’ll be starting the year off at Advanced-A Sarasota, with a quick start he could jump up to AA-Chattanooga. According to some scouts, he’ll be a long shot to ever be a productive player in the major leagues.

In the meantime, take Jackson out of your lineups if you have him in fantasy. Chris Burke is almost certain to start tomorrow and maybe the next couple as Jackson tries to get back into good health. Jackson’s a future star in this league and hopefully this illness isn’t to serious to stunt his development.

Nippert has gradually slipped down the ladder over the past 3 years. What I mean by that is this, in 2005 he was voted Minor League Pitcher of the Year in the Diamondbacks organization. Since then his career has taken a gradual dip. In 2007, he finally saw action in big league games and started off on fire going 1-0 with a 2.87 in 12 relief appearances. Not bad, I know. His end of the year line thou, 1-1 with a 5.56 era, so basically he more then imploded. Nippert had previously spent most of his career as a starter, so who knows maybe it was just the pressures of relieving? Not sure. He’ll definitely get a chance to regain his touch in Texas thou.

Marte is pretty much a whatever in this deal. Marte was formerly an outfield in the Chicago Cubs minor league system. He was converted to a pitcher and had a pretty bad season in Class A Bakersfield and Clinton last season, going 4-4 with a 5.43 era. Marte is only 24, so he may have a chance at being a middle reliever one day, but its a HUGGGGEEEE long shot.

This looks more like a dump off on Arizona’s part. They basically got tired of dealing with Nippert and waiting for his talent to finally take over. For the Rangers, it is a great deal. They gave up virtually nothing and might have a very effective middle reliever on their hands if he can harness that talent and start to produce.