nyk4ever wrote:cc reportedly has lost 30lbs this offseason so far... not sure it matters but i guess any weight loss for him is a good idea health-wise lol

Really? That's quite surprising since I thought he was at the same weight his whole career, including his Cy Young level seasons.

Anyone thinking about going to opening day?

jusnice wrote:Now this makes me excited...

Tom Pelissero of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears that the Twins are indeed discussing the possibility of trading Francisco Liriano.
This confirms a story by Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Pelissero writes that the Twins are in no rush to deal Liriano, who is under team control through 2012, but they would be willing to part with him if the right offer came along. Not surprisingly, he names the Yankees and Rangers as two possibilities. A deal makes some sense if the organization feels they wouldn't be able to sign him to a long-term deal or if they simply aren't willing to gamble on his health, but a trade would be a tough sell for Twins fans.

depends on what they'd want... if Montero is the goods like the Yankees say he is then i dunno if i wanna trade him for Liriano, he's been sorta up & down in his career & not very durable... if we could get him for any of our other prospects i'd be down to take the risk.

BigSm00th wrote:

TMS wrote:any reason to add a little extra motivation is fine with me... just hope CC doesn't end up opting out cuz we passed on trading for Cliff Lee when we had the chance... could very well be looking at winning 3 straight championships if we had made that deal & gave up Eduardo Nunez.

where was it reported that cashman refused to give up nunez? i thought a deal involving montero and another guy had been agreed upon, which was reported on ESPN, and then the mariners backed out to get smoak from the rangers. unless otherwise, i don't think the no-deal for lee can be pinned on cashman. a deal was in place! it was the M's that backed out. (unless reports to the contrary, i don't recall eddy nunez being the hold up.)

Joel Sherman reported it was the Yankees that refused to part with Eduardo Nunez & that's what nixed the deal... hard to believe if true but that's what i've read... here are some links:

http://riveraveblues.com/2010/07/on-eduardo-nunez-cliff-lee-and-other-starting-pitchers-31784/

The ties that bind Eduardo Nunez and Cliff Lee
By Benjamin Kabak

Meet Eduardo Nunez. The 23-year-old short stop out of the Dominican Republic signed with the Yankees in 2004. For AAA Scranton this year, Nunez is hitting .305/.354/.405, and his 107 hits are tops in the International League. He may also be the reason why the Yankees did not acquire Cliff Lee on Friday.

As the story goes, the Yankees and Mariners had a handshake agreement late Thursday night for a swap that would have sent Cliff Lee to the Yankees and Jesus Montero, David Adams and Zach McAllister to Seattle. When Seattle took a look at Adams’ medicals and determined that something in the reports about Adams’ ankle injuries were alarming, they balked on the deal. As Joel Sherman relates this morning, the Mariners went back to Yanks’ GM Brian Cashman and requested Nunez. Here’s how Sherman, clearly with some help from Yankee sources, tells the story:

However, the only way Seattle would have considered accepting a Yankee package once Smoak was included by Texas was if touted Triple-A shortstop Eduardo Nunez was included with Montero. That was the Mariners’ initial request earlier in the month and the Yankees had refused, and they refused again. They simply could not justify, in their mind, giving up their two best position prospects at Triple-A for this trade because they wanted Lee, but they did not absolutely need Lee.

Did the Yanks think Lee was a piece that greatly increased their chances to win a 28th championship? Yes. But at the time of the trade the Yanks had the best record in the majors and believed they could win the championship without Lee and, therefore, could not justify giving up two high-end talents that are nearly major-league ready for Lee, especially because Lee is a free agent after the year and besides the prospect the Yanks would have to pay top-of-the-market dollars to retain Lee.

http://captnsblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/cliff-hanger-cashman-putting-all-yankees%E2%80%99-eggs-into-lee%E2%80%99s-basket/

Let’s journey back to July 8 (amusingly, the same day LeBron James made his infamous “Decision”) for a moment. According to numerous published reports, the Yankees had acquired Lee from the Mariners for Montero and a package of secondary prospects. The deal was so close to being consummated that Lee even reached out to Sabathia for advice on where to look for a house. The next morning, however, the nomadic lefty found himself headed not to New York, but to Texas. Why? Because the Mariners became concerned about an injury to minor league second baseman David Adams and Cashman refused to substitute Eduardo Nunez or Ivan Nova in the deal.

Although it was first reported that the Mariners backed out of the deal, later clarification revealed that it was actually Cashman who turned them away. Although no one could blame him for being shy about dealing Montero, the fact of the matter is he had already decided to part with the Yankees’ top prospect. In other words, it was really Nunez or Nova who held up the deal.

http://bronxbaseballdaily.com/?p=9102

Most people know this story. We covered it blow by blow that day (you can read our account here). But there are always people late to the party, so here is a pretty good rundown by Joel Sherman of the NY Post:

In actuality, once [Justin Smoak] was put into the offer by Texas, it is possible the Yankees never had a second chance on [Cliff Lee]. But for a few tantalizing hours as July 8 turned to July 9, the Yankees believed “we had him,” in Cashman’s words. “We had a deal in principle pending physicals.”

Lee was scheduled to face the Yankees on July 9 at Safeco Field, but it became obvious in the 48 hours beforehand that Seattle would not let that occur. Zduriencik said by phone that was because he wanted to maximize Lee’s value with extra starts to the obtaining team and minimize the injury risk before he could be dealt. But the speed to move Lee led to messiness, involving prospects in the packages and ultimately the Mariners’ tactics.

Around 9 p.m. Eastern Time on July 8, Seattle agreed with the Yankeees to accept [Jesus Montero], [David Adams] and righty Zach McAllister for Lee, and the sides swapped medical info. Around 3 a.m. Zduriencik called Cashman to say Seattle team doctors were concerned about Adams’ right ankle. This confused the Yankees. Adams had been out since injuring his ankle sliding May 23, yet the Mariners kept insisting he had to be included and the Yankees only relented that night.

Seattle’s concerns proved valid, as subsequent tests weeks later revealed a fracture and not a sprain for Adams.

Over the next several hours Seattle asked the Yankees to replace Adams. The Yankees offered touted righty Adam Warren. The Mariners said either [Ivan Nova] or [Eduardo Nunez] must be the replacement, which was their initial position a week earlier. Cashman refused, stating the Yankees would not yield significantly more to get Lee for half a season than Philadelphia had given Cleveland to obtain Lee for a season and a half or Seattle had given Philadelphia to get Lee for a season.

Also, the Yankees came to believe Seattle had not shut down conversations with Texas. There are no written rules, but general protocol is that once a deal in principle is reached, then the trading teams go silent with other clubs.

“A deal is not final until it is final. Besides that, I will not rehash private conversations from trade discussions,” Zduriencik said.

“They had a huge asset and a major decision,” Cashman said, “and I have no problems with what they did.”

With the Yankees’ pursuit public, Texas caved and finally included Smoak about 11 a.m. July 9. The switch-hitting first baseman was Seattle’s priority. So maybe a Montero/Nova or Nunez deal would not have sufficed anyway. But the Yankees will never know because Cashman refused to make that offer.

and how would you feel if the yanks gave up montero AND nunez and then lee signed with philly in the offseason.

why would lee have necessarily stayed in NY?