Just a few more thoughts from the week.  First, everyone has made a big deal because the Yankees upped their offer to CC in the last days, and were essentially bidding against themselves.  But that isn’t true.  They were bidding against the wishes of CC’s wife, and  they knew if they didn’t get her on board there would be no way and no amount of money to get him to come to New York.  The Yankees, believe it or not, were the underdogs.  Not sure if this was reported anywhere, but the Yanks did a huge job of trying to impress CC with even Brian Cashman sporting the largest of his World Series rings.  Roger Clemens designed the 2000 Series ring, and it could only look small on his hand.  Cashman usually sports the reasonably sized ring from 1998, the win he is most closely associated with.  The bigger ring was clearly brought for CC’s benefit, as was the presence of Reggie Jackson. CC was won over, but his wife had no interest, and so the extra money and the opt-out clause were put in for her.

The Phillies signed Raul Ibanez, so not much chance of Pat the Bat returning there.  Some suggested to me that the Mets could use him at least for a short-term deal, but even though the price will be higher, if I am going to have a guy in left field that can’t catch, I’d rather have Manny. I might even want Adam Dunn and all those strikeouts.

And speaking of Adam Dunn, someone on ESPN suggested that he could play first base.  Let me be clear, he can’t.  The Reds spent a whole spring with him at first, and there was never a bigger bit of wasted time.  He just could not learn the footwork, and he tried, because the team had too many outfielders– it was right after they traded Sean Casey.  Dunn would be the worst first baseman in baseball if anyone ever tried to play him there, bar none.  And that would mean all of your infield defense would be hurt.  No team can afford that.  If he’s not playing left field, then he is a DH and a DH only.

The great news for LoveMyTeam that came from the winter meetings is that we built some great relationships with some companies which we can tell you about in the coming weeks.  It also will mean some cool prizes for Trivia Tuesday, which will return next week!