Edwin Jackson
Rumors

Though the Curtis Granderson-to-New York trade has not been officially announced, a deal has been agreed upon to send Granderson to New York while Edwin Jackson heads to Arizona and the Tigers and Diamondbacks pick up prospects. 

The under reported aspect of this story so far is how the acquisition will affect Johnny Damon's future in New York.  Until now, Damon had been discussing about how he'd be willing to take a home town discount to stay in New York, but one has to wonder if the Yankees were not seeing that discount in negotiations and decided to go another direction.  Throughout his career, Damon has gone to where the most dollars and years were present.  In 2001, after being traded to Boston, Damon signed a lucrative deal with the Red Sox and then followed that contract up with an even higher paying deal with the Yankees. 

Damon is a 36 year old free agent and is looking for a multi-year deal.  Damon has even commented that he believes "there still is a window for him to come back."  With Nick Swisher under contract and Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner on the roster, there might not be any room for Damon with Granderson on the roster. 

Assuming Damon does not return to New York, that likely reduces what he'll be able to get in free agency without competitive bidding from New York.  So where does that leave Damon's free agency?

Johnny Damon's days in New York appear over

The Detroit Tigers have dealt Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees in a seven player trade that also involves the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated is reporting.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post confirms the rumor with a note that the Yankees have asked for Granderson's medical records, but also notes that there is no deadline on completion the deal as of yet. 

According to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times, the Yankees will receive Granderson, the Tigers will get Austin Jackson and Phil Coke from the Yankees and Daniel Schlereth and Max Scherzer from the Diamondbacks.  Arizona receives Edwin Jackson from the Tigers and Ian Kennedy  from the Yankees. 

One initial hang up to the deal that was ironed out was Arizona's insistence on having Yankee's prospect Michael Dunn involved, but when he was removed from the deal, the Yankees acquiesced.

Curtis Granderson bring his defense to New York

The Tigers payroll was over $115M in 2009 and despite a competitive playoff run to the very end of the season, the team is looking to pare down its payroll for 2010 and moving Miguel Cabrera could save the team a lot of money.  Detroit has already openly shopped outfielder Curtis Granderson ($23.75M left on his contract from 2010-2012) and pitcher Edwin Jackson (arbitration eligible and due for a big raise) and not recieved too many bites.  Cabrera's contract blows away that of Granderson and Jackson, as he's set to make the following in each year of his deal: 10:$20M, 11:$20M, 12:$21M, 13:$21M, 14:$22M, 15:$22M. 

Despite being owed $126M over the next six years, there will still be interest in Cabrera because of his immense productivity.  Some potentially interested teams include:

Red Sox: David Ortiz and Mike Lowell come off the books after 2010 and if the Red Sox can convince the Tigers to give them some financial relief in 2010, the money might work out.

Angels: When Cabrera was traded from Florida to Detroit, the Angels were heavily involved in the bidding and would be happy to take Cabrera now, two years later.

Mets: With Carlos Delgado's likely departure, the Mets have a hole at first base that Cabrera could fill.

White Sox: Similar to the Red Sox, the White Sox remove Paul Konerko from the books after 2010 and Cabrera would fill in nicely.

Giants: They are in desperate need of offense, but already have two big contracts in Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand and would need to put Pablo Sandoval somewhere.

Mariners: Resigning Felix Hernandez is their priority, but Cabrera would be a big addition to their anemic offense.

Braves: Much like the Giants, they could really use the offensive help, but may lack the financial flexilibity to bring on Cabrera.  Moving Derek Lowe or Javier Vazquez would allieviabe some financial constraints.

Financial reasons will force the Tigers to try and move Miguel Cabrera this off season

A bunch of links to pass along today:

• The Rays will have a hard time trading anymore pitching after dealing Edwin Jackson and Jason Hammel in the past 12 months.
• If the Rangers can make the money work, they'd like to add a pitcher. From the beginning I've felt that Texas was the best fit for where Roy Halladay will end up just because the Rangers have the most to offer and have the biggest need for a pitcher. Eventually if they want to contend they're going to have to spend a little bit of money on someone. Why not Halladay?
• The Cardinals traded Chris Duncan to the Red sox for Julio Lugo. Lugo had been designated for assignment earlier in the week by the Red Sox and would have been released shortly if he had not been traded. The real question is, why would anyone be interested in Lugo? Brendan Ryan has not been great for the Cardinals (269/321/369) but is Lugo much better (284/352/367)?
• Matt Holliday is on the Giants list and may explain why they couldn't top the Red Sox offer for Adam LaRoche.

Let's take a look at John Perotto's latest "Any Given Sunday" column from Baseball Prospectus.

• The are rumors that the Angels will consider matching the Yankees $140M offer to CC Sabathia.
• The Angels, will not, however, offer 10 years to Mark Teixeira. Pat Burrell remains an option if the team can't sign Teixeira.
• AJ Burnett has the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Braves, Orioles and Phillies on his list as possible destinations.
• In order to make room for Denard Span the Twins are trying to move Delmon Young. They'd hope to get a shortstop or third baseman in return for him.
• Matt Treanor and Jack Wilson remain high on the Tigers off season wish list. Joe Beimel is also a priority.
• The Dodgers are concerned about Rafael Furcal's health issues and will not attempt to bring the shortstop back.
• The Cubs offer of Jason Marquis for David DeJesus is not going to be enough for the Royals. If a trade can not be agreed upon, the Cubs would look to sign Raul Ibanez and Bobby Abreu in that order of preference.
• Javier Vazquez and Jermaine Dye remain players of interest for the Braves.
• The Reds are also interested in Dye, but offering just Homer Bailey is not likely to be enough for the White Sox.
• Jon Garland is on the Mets radar as far as free agent pitchers go and they are also considering acquiring Vazquez from the White Sox or Andy Sonnanstine and/or Edwin Jackson from the Rays. The Rays want more than just Aaron Heilman in return.
• The Mets may toss their hat in the ring for Manny Ramirez and the Brewers may do the same for Francisco Rodriguez.
• The Astros are interested in David Ross, as reported earlier, and Paul Bako.
• Left handed relievers such as Alan Embree, Will Ohman, Brian Shouse and Glendon Rusch remain priorities for the Rockies.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has a new article:

• The first team Derek Lowe talked to his agent about once he was a free agent was the Red Sox.  Lowe notes that since leaving the team in 2004, he has matured and reigned in his personal life and would be a much better fit for the team now. 
• Roy Oswalt is lobbying hard for Ben Sheets to consider Houston.  If Sheets were to seriously consider Houston, would that affect their interest in Randy Wolf?
• It has long been rumored that if the Sox sign Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis would move to third base and the Red Sox would try to move Mike Lowell.  Cafardo lists the Dodgers, Angels, Indians and Twins as potential trade partners with the Red Sox for Lowell's services.  The Red Sox would likely have to eat some of Lowell's remaining contract with the last two teams, if not all four.
• Cafardo believes that Jermaine Dye would work out well with the Phillies, Mets or Rays.  If the Rays were interested, it would likely take more than Andy Sonnanstine or Edwin Jackson to pry Dye lose from the White Sox.
• Willie Bloomquist could fill in for the loss of Alex Cora at the utility position for the Red Sox.

Espn.com's Buster Olney provides us a list of some young starters would could possibly be traded this off-season:

Jake Peavy

Peavy is due to make $61M over the next four years along with a $4M buyout in 2013. His 2009 salary will be $9M, almost 1/5th of the Padres projected $50M budget. Peavy has expressed his frustration with losing in San Diego numerous times. You do the math.

Zack Greinke

Despite being only 24, Greinke will be a free agent in two years when he turns 26 and figures to make quite a bit of money on the open market. Olney feels that if the Royals are not committed to resigning Greinke, this winter is their last chance to get maximum value for the young pitcher. Peter Gammons discussed the Royals conundrum last month.

Matt Cain

Even though Brian Sabean has said that he is not interested in trading the young pitcher, Olney wonders that if Sabean was floored by a great offer if he'd reconsider his stance.

Edwin Jackson

Jackson is a young, good, developing pitcher and the Rays certainly have some flexibility at starting pitcher with David Price and Jeff Niemann expected to make major league contributions next year.