Yanks begin talks with Damon

The Yankees have nailed down their Center Fielder in Curtis Granderson.  They have re-signed veteran lefty Andy Pettitte to a one year 11.75 million dollar contract.  Now they have begun negotiations with free agent Left Fielder Johnny Damon.  It is widely speculated they would like to bring Damon back for less than the 13 million dollars he made last year and they would also prefer it to be a 1 or 2 year deal at the most.  Bobby Abreu re-signed with the Angels for a two year deal worth 18 million dollars, a contract of that nature does seem more than fair for Damon.  The Yankees now have the luxury of controlling the negotiations since the trade for Granderson.

It is also widely speculated that if the Yankees can't come to terms with Damon, they will target free agents Mark DeRosa and Mike Cameron.  Johnny has stated how much he would like to remain a Yankee, if this is true he will have to be willing to give a discount to stay or at least take less years than he might get elsewhere. 

Deal close to bringing Curtis Granderson to Yankees

Ken Rosenthal is currently reporting the three way talks between the D-Backs, Tigers and Yankees are back on and word is that it is now being left up to the Yankees to sign off on the deal.  Earlier reports had Ian Kennedy and Edwin Jackson in Arizona.  Curtis Granderson was coming to the Yankees and Austin Jackson, Michael Dunn and Phil Coke were headed to Detroit. 

The Yankees did not want to give up that much in the deal.  Talk is now the revised deal will not include Phil Coke and Michael Dunn.  Still waiting to hear further detail on this.  An impending deal is 50/50 says Jon Heyman.

Joel Sherman is now saying the deal is close to the goal line.  Dunn being removed from the deal was key for the Yankees.  Currently it is being reported that medical records are being exchanged.

Update:  Per Jon Heyman this is a done deal; pending medicals work out.

Pending all the medical records check out, here is the deal.

Yankees Get:
Curtis Granderson

Tigers Get:
Austin Jackson
Phil Coke
Max Scherzer (from D-Backs)

D-Backs Get:
Edwin Jackson (from Tigers)
Ian Kennedy

Trade talks continue to swirl around the Detroit Tigers who are interested in cutting payroll during these tough economic times which have hit the city of Detroit as hard as any other city. We've already heard Curtis Granderson's name on the block and the Cubs, Angels and Yankees are thought to have interest in the Tigers Center Fielder. Now on the block could be Magglio Ordonez and according to Joel Sherman of the NY Post the Yankees could look at both of these players if they choose not to bring back Matsui and Damon. Sherman points out that if they brought in these two it would be cheaper than the 2009 contracts of both Damon and Matsui. My thoughts here though are that if we keep Damon and Matsui this year it probably would be for less than we paid last year for both of them. Ordonez's contract is a bit pricey if he meets certain incentives on his contract. He's due 18 Million for 2010 and if he meets the following incentives: 135 starts or 540 PAs in 2010, or
270 starts or 1,080 PAs in 2009-10 combined; he will be due 15 million for 2011. A lot of money to take on for someone who had a subpar 2009.

I would be all for Granderson, but I'd take a pass on Ordonez.

By Vinnie Ferrarini