he'll have to play another 3 years to get to 300 but it's within his reach if he keeps on this pace.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06152008/sports/yankees/yankees_monitor_c_c__sweepstakes_115507.htm

YANKEES MONITOR C.C. SWEEPSTAKES

June 15, 2008 -- Indians GM Mark Shapiro is both a realist and an executive who is willing to act quickly. And his club has played so poorly and has so many key injuries (Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez) that he is leaning more toward trading free-agent-to-be C.C. Sabathia, and could act well before the July 31 deadline to maximize value.

The Yanks New York Yankees definitely have the prospects to get the lefty. But GM Brian Cashman still is giving off the vibe to his contemporaries that he wants to protect the best of his system, especially when it comes to a player such as Sabathia, whom they could just sign in the offseason as a free agent. Cleveland wants the Yanks in the bidding and will try to convince them that Sabathia could be a difference maker to simply make the playoffs in 2008 and that his acquisition now would give them the best window possible if they want to sign him long-term after the season or simply recoup two compensation draft picks by letting him go elsewhere.

The Red Sox, too, will consider Sabathia, but several executives say the Cubs might be the most serious suitor in attempts to strengthen their run at a first title in a century. "And keep an eye on Milwaukee," an AL talent evaluator said. "They have a loaded Double-A team and are prioritizing a starting pitcher."

*

Want a surprise name that could come in the market, maybe before July 31, but almost definitely in the offseason when the Mets New York Mets and Yanks could be hunting first basemen: Milwaukee's Prince Fielder. Milwaukee is blessed with a lot of offensive-centric players who could switch to first (Ryan Braun in the majors, Matt LaPorta or Mat Gamel nearly ready at Double-A). Mainly, Fielder is a Scott Boras client who almost certainly will not sign a long-term contract and the Brewers could decide his greatest value is in dealing him sooner than later while his value is highest and cost to them lowest. The Dodgers, Twins and Royals also could have interest.

"It's not something I am exploring," Brewers GM Doug Melvin said. "But I never rule out anything. The day I traded Carlos Lee, I went to work with no plans whatsoever to do it, and by midnight he was a Texas Ranger."

The Yanks are working hardest at finding a lefty specialist for their bullpen, with Pittsburgh's Damaso Marte remaining the top priority from the winter until now. Nevertheless, Pittsburgh continues to believe the Yanks are not valuing Marte highly enough in their trade offers. The Pirates want to make sure they get a greater value than the two draft picks they would receive in compensation if they declined Marte's $6 million option and offered him arbitration after this season because by their computation, Marte is going to be a Type-A free agent.

*

New Reds GM Walt Jocketty has told counterparts he wants to clean house, notably of free-agent-to-be outfielders Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn, plus Ryan Freel and - in the right deal -starter Bronson Arroyo.

*

The Yanks definitely would have taken Daniel Schlereth, the University of Arizona lefty and son of former NFL offensive lineman and current ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth, if the Diamondbacks did not keep him in the backyard by taking him two picks earlier with the 26th overall selection. The Yanks also had hoped Stanford catcher Jason Castro might slip to them, but he went No. 10 to Houston.

it all depends on what CLE wants in return... u don't give up ur 2 top pitching prospects for a guy that you can simply sign in free agency... if CLE is willing to take back a ton less from another team like they did from the Mets, there's nothing we can do about it... we can't give in to blackmail type tactics like this & screw ourselves in the process... if CLE wants to be reasonable & talk realistic trade packages for a guy they're going to lose anyway in free agency, then the Yankees will definitely be in play i'm sure, but they're not gonna give up Hughes & Kennedy for him if they didn't do the same for Johan, you can be sure of that... if Wang is now down for any length of time then the Yanks might feel pressured to make a deal tho... i can see them including Kennedy & someone like Horne & another prospect for CC, but not Hughes... i think they still are very high on him.

tell u the truth i think a smaller trade for Marte would really help us... we don't have any lefty relievers in the pen & he's 1 of the better ones in the game... the Yanks have been interested in him for a long time now... i think a deal will get done by the Allstar break.

& that part about Prince Fielder... wow, that's intriguing... very intriguing.

[Edited by - TMS on 06-15-2008 2:56 PM]

That said, you don't START the offer with Hughes and Kennedy obviously. You start low and see what kind of competition is offering. You also should watch tapes of every one of his starts this year to try to figure out why his ERA is a bit higher than normal.

i'd easily give up Kennedy, Horne & another prospect other than Hughes, Tabata & Jackson for CC, but not much more than that... if some team like the Cubs are so desperate for him that they'd give up multiple primetime prospects in a trade, God Bless.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by islesfan:

Screw that. This is a transition year. Why trade away good prospects for a rental player that we can end up signing as a free agent in 6 months.

because we likely can't

[Edited by - bonn1997 on 06-16-2008 08:47 AM]

Why, is the Yankees money suddenly no good?

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by islesfan:

Screw that. This is a transition year. Why trade away good prospects for a rental player that we can end up signing as a free agent in 6 months.

because we likely can't

[Edited by - bonn1997 on 06-16-2008 08:47 AM]

Why, is the Yankees money suddenly no good?

With ace pitchers, yes. He's not gonna turn down $100 mil from the team he is traded to. He'll likely sign an extension with that team and we will have missed out again on an ace pitcher.

Come on now, Hughes is your ace.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by islesfan:

Screw that. This is a transition year. Why trade away good prospects for a rental player that we can end up signing as a free agent in 6 months.

because we likely can't

[Edited by - bonn1997 on 06-16-2008 08:47 AM]

Why, is the Yankees money suddenly no good?

With ace pitchers, yes. He's not gonna turn down $100 mil from the team he is traded to. He'll likely sign an extension with that team and we will have missed out again on an ace pitcher.

Johan just got a 6 yr $138 mil deal from the Mets w/a team option for a 7th at an annual salary of $23 mil... CC's not gonna sign til the Yankees are at least factored in IMO if he wants any chance of approaching those types of #'s... i don't see the Cubs signing him to anywhere close to that w/all their other big money players on contract.

[Edited by - TMS on 06-16-2008 12:13 PM]

latest news is CMW's foot injury could be a season ending broken bone... if that's the case the chances for your trade hopes just went up about 10 fold Bonn... but Hughes is still not a realistic option cuz he's on the shelf w/an injury himself... my guess is the Yanks will present a package of Kennedy, Horne, Gardner & 1 of our young reliever prospects to CLE to gauge their interest... i don't think they'll be including Hughes in any trades right now.

either way, we don't even know if CLE is interested in trading CC right now... they're not that far off in the standings in their division yet to make a run.

[Edited by - TMS on 06-16-2008 1:37 PM]

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by islesfan:

Screw that. This is a transition year. Why trade away good prospects for a rental player that we can end up signing as a free agent in 6 months.

because we likely can't

[Edited by - bonn1997 on 06-16-2008 08:47 AM]

Why, is the Yankees money suddenly no good?

With ace pitchers, yes. He's not gonna turn down $100 mil from the team he is traded to. He'll likely sign an extension with that team and we will have missed out again on an ace pitcher.

Johan just got a 6 yr $138 mil deal from the Mets w/a team option for a 7th at an annual salary of $23 mil... CC's not gonna sign til the Yankees are at least factored in IMO if he wants any chance of approaching those types of #'s... i don't see the Cubs signing him to anywhere close to that w/all their other big money players on contract.

[Edited by - TMS on 06-16-2008 12:13 PM]

Johan got that deal with the team he was traded to. That's a very common policy now and is why the team CC is traded to becomes the significant favorite to lock him up.

1 of the main reasons why he was traded to the Mets was because they were the only team willing to pay that hefty a price tag to re-sign him to begin with... the Yankees were not willing to sign him to 6 guaranteed years, they were offering 5 years as rumors had it... plus they didn't wanna have to give up their top 2 pitching prospects when other teams were offering much less.

why should CC settle for significantly less than what he could get on the open market unless the team that trades for him gives him a market value contract? considering what Johan just signed for i dunno that any team other than the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers could even afford to pay that high a contract right now.