AL East

Andy Pettitte will not be ready by Opening Day, but will he be ready by mid-season?

Months of rest, vacation, and time seem to not be enough for Andy Pettitte. He continues to leave fans and the Yankees anticipating his decision to return for the 2011 season.

After Brian Cashman told reporters that Pettitte is “choosing at this stage to not start 2011,” Pettitte’s decision seems to be made up. But why hasn’t he announced his retirement yet?

Or at least stated to his team and fans his decision?

The narrative of Joba Chamberlain has shifted so often the past four years it's easy to forget where it left off from one season to the next.

He's gone from phenom reliever (2007) to promising starter (2008) to struggling starter (2009) to mediocre reliever (2010).

In a continuing effort to shore up their starting rotation and bullpen, the New York Yankees inked Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Boone Logan to one-year deals, thus avoiding salary arbitration with the trio of young hurlers, according to MLB.com.

Hughes, who earned $447,000 last season, agreed to a deal worth $2.7 million after coming off his best year in the majors.

Poor Jon Rauch.

In an offseason where every reliever and their mother is getting two or three-year deals, Rauch can only muster a one-year deal.

Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein has once again kept his record intact—he has never gone to an arbitration hearing with one of his players during his tenure as general manager of the Red Sox.

This afternoon, the Red Sox avoided arbitration with their center fielder and closer, coming to terms with Jacoby Ellsbury and Jonathan Papelbon on one-year deals that will keep the parties out of pending arbitration hearings.

As we fast approach the start of another baseball season, let's return to a familiar question: Who's better, the Yankees or the Red Sox? 

The Red Sox made more upgrades to their roster during the offseason, but the Yankees were the better team last year.  So where does that leave us?  Let's take a look, position by position.

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The New York Yankees are getting close to an agreement on a one-year contract with Andruw Jones, according to Tim Brown via Twitter.

After just a few days being told to sign Rafael Soriano to a three-year, $35 million deal by the owners, the Steinbrenners, general manager Brian Cashman has some good news after losing their first-round pick this upcoming draft. 

With Jones, they finally get a good fourth outfielder that can play all three outfield positions and give regular starters some rests. 

Courtesy of Yankees 'n More

Turns out GM Brian Cashman meant what he said a few days ago when declaring he would not be giving up the New York Yankees' No. 1 pick for any of the players remaining on the free-agent market.

He just didn't bother to check first with ownership, and they held a differing view.

Courtesy of Yankees 'n More

You remember the Detroit Tiger's Armando Galarraga, right? Would it help if I had umpire Jim Joyce stand next to him?

Just months after a bad call at first base cost Galarraga a perfect game, the right-hander has been designated for assignment, meaning his time with the Tigers is quickly coming to an end.

With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season perspective on the relative strengths (and weaknesses) of all 30 major league teams. I have broken the article down into three installments, and will publish one of the segments each day this weekend.