MLB Weekly: New York Yankees Sign C.C. Sabathia & A.J. Burnett, Raul Ibanez, K-Rod, & More

New York Yankees: The Yankees are moving full speed ahead this offseason being very aggressive after missing the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. They signed pitcher C.C. Sabathia to a 7 year, $161 million contract and also pitcher A.J. Burnett to a 5 year, $82.5 mil contract. C.C. Sabathia is a stud pitcher who seems to be coming into his prime and the Yankees might benefit from some of the best years of his career. There are concerns about his weight, but I don't really see his weight as an issue. Sabathia is naturally a big guy, but he is also athletic and will still be only 35 years at the end of his contract with the Yankees. I think he will be able to carry the weight and not have any issues until his late 30's. As for A.J. Burnett, he is already an injury prone pitcher, who despite his injuries the last four seasons, still compares favorably to Josh Beckett & Tim Hudson. He is certainly a risk, but if the Yankees make sure they have some good options as backup plans than he is worth the risk. At this point, it looks like Phil Hughes will be starting the season in the minors, but will be looked at as the main backup plan if any one of the Yankees starters goes down with an injury.

Many teams and people around the country are complaining about the Yankees spending so much money, but the reality is that they have no clue of what is going on. The Yankees have committed $23 mil a year to Sabathia and $16.5 mil a year to Burnett for a total of $39.5 mil for 2009. However, the following contracts came off their books at the end of this season: Jason Giambi($23 mil), Bobby Abreu($16 mil), Andy Pettitte($16 mil), Mike Mussina($11 mil), and Carl Pavano($11 mil) for a total of $77 mil. So they have only spent $39.5 of that $77 million that came off their payroll, which means their payroll is actually going to be less than it was last season. My guess is that they will spend about another $13 million for their last starter, which would bring them to $52.5 million for next season. If they trade Melky Cabrera for Mike Cameron, that would add another $10 million for next season and get them up to $62.5 million added to the payroll, but it is still $14.5 million less than last season, so the spending is not as outrageous as everyone is making it out to be. Now if they go out and grab Manny Ramirez or Mark Teixeira then we might have a different story to tell, but even then they would probably have to trade someone like Hideki Matsui, who makes $13 mil a season to make room for either one of those guys.

Raul Ibanez: The Phillies signed 36 year old Raul Ibanez to a 3 year, $30 million contract. Ibanez is one of just 5 OF's to drive in 100 runs or more the past 3 seasons along with Carlos Beltran, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee, and Bobby Abreu. He also has something else in common with all those guys except Carlos Beltran: he can't really play the OF because he has no range. The Phillies are choosing to ignore this and are replacing a not so great defensive outfielder in Pat Burrell with an older not so great defensive OF. We will have to see if this move pays off for them without Ibanez embarrasing himself in the OF or getting run down because of old age. I do love his bat though and I think he is greatly underrated at the plate. Ibanez was also the main target of the Angels as their replacement for Garret Anderson, so it's possible they will now look at Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu, and Pat Burrell; or they may just decide to bring Anderson back.

New York Mets: The Mets were able to sign closer Francisco Rodriguez AKA K-Rod to a 3 year, $37 million contract, which is much lower than the 5 year contrace K-Rod was looking for going into free agency. They also acquired reliever J.J. Putz in a trade to pitch in the 8th inning. Now we all know what K-Rod can do, but there is a belief that J.J. Putz is even better than K-Rod, which means the Mets would go from having one of the worst bullpens in the majors to having one of the nastiest 8th and 9th inning relief combinations in the history of baseball. Of course that's only if J.J. Putz is healthy, since he struggled with injuries last season after having two dominating seasons as Seattle's closer in 2006 & 2007. Look for the Mets to make a play for starting pitching now, with either Oliver Perez or Derek Lowe being possibilities.

Other MLB News:

- The Cleveland Indians have signed now closer Kerry Wood to a 2 year, $20.5 million contract. This is the ultimate risk/reward signing for the Indians, because if he can stay healthy then $10 mil a year for what could be a dominating closer would be a steal. I still like the move for the Indians and hopefully Wood will stay healthy throughout his contract.

- With K-Rod and Kerry Wood both off the closer market, that leaves Brian Fuentes as the main closer left on the free agent market. Fuentes will probably end up with either the Angels or the Cardinals. Fuentes is from California and would love to pitch for the Angels, but for some reason I think he'll end up with the Cardinals, because the Angels have two cheaper options they can use to close games right now: Jose Arredondo and Scot Shields.

- The Tampa Bay Rays traded pitcher Edwin Jackson to Detroit for left handed OF Matt Joyce. I think this could be a good trade for both teams. The trade of Jackson allows the Rays to move David Price into the rotation and in return they get Joyce who has some decent power having hit 12 home runs last season in just 242 at bats. Joyce will probably platoon in RF with a right handed hitter. Jackson could be a potential closer for Detroit, which I think he would be excellent at. I had wondered if Jackson would be the Rays closer in 2009 after his excellent performance in relief against the Red Sox in the playoffs, so it looks like he may get his shot with the Tigers. The Rays are also looking at signing Milton Bradley and their main competition for Bradley seems to be the Chicago Cubs.

- I had to laugh when I saw this one: the Royals signed Kyle Farnsworth to a 2 year, $9.25 mil contract. Kyle is also known to Yankees fans as Kyle Farns-worthless. Now maybe he will flourish in a more lowkey setting like Kansas City, but this is just the latest move from the Royals that makes you wonder what the hell is going on in Kansas City. The Royals are also interested in signing Rafael Furcal with Orlando Cabrera as their backup plan, but to sign Furcal they would need to unload OF Jose Guillen and it looks like they will have trouble doing that.

- The Angels, Giants, A's and Dodgers are all interested in signing Randy Johnson.

- The Blue Jays signed pitcher Matt Clement to a minor league deal. Clement was a bust out for the Red Sox and has been MIA since 2006.

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