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by Digger

New York Yankees and Mets General Manager's are all smiles after signing the top three big name free agent pitchers.

Yankees: Brian Cashman bet the house and lost big a year ago by favoring young unproven starters (Hughes/Kennedy) instead of signing one of baseball's best (Johan Santana). 2008 was to be a memorable year as Yankee Stadium hosted its' final season. Injuries and lack of starting pitching was only part of the story. The bullpen became over burdened in April. By the time August rolled around relievers were spent.

2009 will certainly be different (at least on paper heading into spring training). CC Sabathia was the most coveted free agent starting pitcher on the market. AJ Burnett was a close number two. Cashman was given a green light to do whatever it takes.

Sabathia's contract is 7 years, $161 million. Burnett was signed Friday for 5 years, $82.5 million.

Cashman reportedly is now looking to resign Andy Pettitte. Most likely for a more modest contract (plus incentives). Suddenly, the Yankees starting rotation is looking superb. Sabathia, Burnett, Wang, Pettitte, Joba will give batters fits from game to game. All pitch with different styles and challenge hitters at every opportunity (a.k.a. strike throwers). No more pitching around batters leading to deep hitter's counts. All should win no less than 15. This staff can easily end up with at least 2 20 game winners.

Up next? Here's where it gets interesting for the Yanks. Rumor mill has Melky Cabrera heading to Milwaukee for super star defender CF and ex-Met Cameron. His defensive range is exactly what the Yanks need, and have been missing, in center. Mark Teixeira could be entertaining to think of but he's not in a NY state of mind. Yanks don't need to spend big bucks for hitters just yet. Get to work on another starter & relievers. The smart move is to gobble up pitching. Imagine a Kerry Wood (could be Cleveland bound) or Brian Fuentes as a setup guy for Mariano?

Many options remain for choosing free agent hitters. Manny Ramirez rumors seem to be dead for the moment. Playing coy could be a great move to drive down Manny's contract. RF is a must for this team. Plenty of options remain on the market. And a good catcher. Posada's is entering the twilight of his career so a strong signal caller with a cannon is a must. Pudge could be brought back but only if he's willing to take a major pay cut. Otherwise, there's talent to be found elsewhere. Yanks did lose out on one major offensive weapon with today's signing by Philadelphia of Ibanez.

Mets:
Mets did a great job addressing a major issue from the past two September's... bullpen. Francisco Rodriguez set a major league record in '08 with 62 Saves. Hope there's room left in his cannon arm after signing a 3 year $37 million contract last week. NY immediately followed this up by taking part in a 3 way, 12 player trade. The star of the crop for NY was Seattle's former closer JJ Putz. Putz is expected to be K-Rod's setup guy. A good move on paper but a risk considering JJ is coming off a season filled with arm problems. When healthy these two will be lights out in 8th/9th innings.

General Manager Minaya has many tough decisions to make. Snatched up free agent Sabathia, Burnett, Ibanez are gone. Mets starting rotation is not looking strong at all right now and it's probably a safe bet assuming teams with hands on cash will soon gobble up the remaining starters... quickly.

Citi Field (often referred to now as Bailout Park or Taxpayer Field) replaces Shea next year. Mets need many players to round out this roster if they plan on challenging for NL East honors. Rotation is very thin after Santana. Bullpen is thin even with JJ and KRod. Corner OF's have been weak spots for two seasons running. Mets hoping it's not three. Perhaps the lack of a true signal caller has been most damaging. Much of the blame to last season's monumental bullpen collapse has to rest on absolutely pathetic pitch selection. For most of the year pitchers were not in synch with catchers. A ton of in game battery conferences didn't seem to help. In addition to good pitch calling.. whoever they decide on must be able to keep Jimmy Rollins in check.

Minaya has thrown money around in the past at the wrong types of players. Pedro Martinez, to nobody's surprise, was a complete bust due to injuries. Moises Alou's absence by multiple injuries and lack of replacement was a tremendous void during '08. Jake Peavy talks between San Diego and Chicago broke down (for now). How about stepping it up Omar and offering some top notch talent and/or draft picks to land the best 1-2 in the game!!

The smart play for Mets of '09 will be to grab up top remaining starting pitchers, a solid catcher, and good defensive corner outfielders. A brilliant move would be to then assemble a very deep bench and bullpen. Big bucks aren't needed... only shrewd decisions. Then again... these are the Mets... and they've been known to make a bad deal here and there.

It's free agent frenzy time for MLB teams. A select few will celebrate prized gifts while some get left out in the cold. New York teams drew 1st blood with big name signings. Phillies quickly countered Mets.

Who's next?

Expect to hear a few more signings as teams intensify negotiations. Odds are New York fans will be celebrating key additions over the next several days.