The Final Day of Winter Meetings

Yesterday was officially the last day of the winter meetings.  We saw a high volume of collaborating being done between teams and owners.  Here are some of the final bits of information to come out of Disney yesterday.

The Rays are showing serious interest in acquiring Jason Giambi.  This would be patch work on a gun shot wound.  The Rays have lost a lot this off season and they are looking for a cheap bat to help fill the void that Carlos Pena and Carl Crawford are leaving.  It seems like a good idea for them but it will not come close to evening out.  The Rays may be in serious trouble for next season.

The Angels offered Carl Crawford a six year, $108 million deal.  There were early rumblings of the club being able to go way higher than that but, they had no way of knowing that the Red Sox were quietly working out a deal that would easily knock theirs off the table.  Crawford obviously jumped at the opportunity to go to Boston due to the large difference in contracts offered and the absence of a deal from the Yankees, who are still focused on adding Lee to their rotation.  I wonder if Crawford will like playing for a team with a fan base.

Now for the Yankees.  Brian Cashman has revealed that the team did sit down to dinner with Crawford even though they had no interest in signing the free agent outfielder.  Cashman implied it was simply a bluff to get the Sox to pay more for Crawford. He claimed to know exactly what Boston was up to and stated that he figured they would get Crawford.  It is unclear if this is the case or if he wanted to appear cool and calm in the wake of the bomb Boston just dropped.  Maybe it was a bluff, a bit of payback for the Sox trying to quietly steal away Mariano Rivera.

Speaking of Mo.  ESPN's Jayson Stark has listed the Yankees as one of the losers of this years winter meetings.  Apparently re-signing two of the teams most iconic players and being in the hunt for the most coveted free agent, just isn't good enough for the Yanks.  

Well, the off season is not over yet.  Cashman has said; "pitching, pitching, pitching."  That is what he plans on doing and surely that is what he will do.  The bench can also use a little work but its still a long way until February 14th (pitchers and catchers report to camp).