The official World Series DVD premiered last night (my friend who went said he liked it) at the Ziegfield Theatre in New York city, and Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi spoke to the media from the red carpet beforehand.
The big news is Cashman announced he will deal with Yankees FAs (presumably Andy Pettitte, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui)before hitting the market.
"I don't want to make the mistake of having a conversation with somebody else's agent and it plays out as if I'm pursuing that guy, and somebody misinterprets it (and) that means I'm not pursuing our guy," Cashman said. "We're not even at that stage yet. So I'm trying to be very careful and respectful to our players first, makes sure they're aware of where they are in the process."
According to Marc Carig’s report, Girardi has spoken with Damon and Pettitte recently, but not Matsui.
"When you win like this, you want to keep everyone," Girardi said. "There's a bond there, and the bond is very special. You hope you can keep everyone but it doesn't always work out that way."
I think at this point, Pettitte is the guy with the biggest chance of returning to the Yankees for 2010. Without him, the Yankees only have two definite guys slotted in their rotation (CC Sabathia & A.J. Burnett).
I wouldn’t call Damon a guarantee yet because there are a lot of options in the outfield. I’d rather have a guy like Curtis Granderson, Chone Figgins or Jason Bay. Throw in Nick Swisher to that mix, plus, the Yankees haven’t decided what to do with Austin Jackson yet either.
