Baseball

Nick Johnson has reportedly signed a 1-year/$5.5 million contract with the New York Yankees.

His signing clearly states that Johnny Damon's time as a Yankee is over.

Damon is 36 and saw his asking price of 2-years/$26 million from this morning drop to 2-years/$20 million as he tried to stay in pinstripes.

The move is not only curious considering he'd have cost only $4.5 million more a year than Johnson and Hideki Matsui only cost the Angels $6.5 million.

The Yankees signing of Nick Johnson basically means the end of Johnny Damon's tenure with the Yankees.

Especially since Damon's agent, Scott Boras, has not backed off his contract demands of at least three years and at least $13 million per season.

Unless Damon does what Alex Rodriguez did back in 2007 where he came personally to the Yankees to re-negotiate his contract and take less money, Damon won't be wearing pinstripes in 2010.

As a longtime fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, color me unimpressed with their Hot Stove League activity thus far.

First of all, I really wasn’t all that thrilled that Ned Colletti had his contact extended as General Manager.

The Seattle Mariners have become the team to beat in the American League West with the additions of Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee. They now have a one-two punch in both their lineup and pitching rotation that makes them stronger than any other team in the division.

Newsday's Ken Davidoff is reporting that the Yankees have agreed to a one-year deal with Nick Johnson worth around $5.5 million.

The deal is pending a physical, but is pretty much done.

This is a great move for the Yankees. While Nick Johnson will be limited to a designated hitter role on this Yankees team, I see that as a good thing. There is no doubt that this will increase the odds that he can stay healthy for the entire season.

Sigh. I just finished watching the Red Sox press conference introducing Mike Cameron.

Charming. Charismatic. Humble. Relaxed. You got to see so many of the reasons why managers love Cameron, and what I had been hoping to see over at Clark and Addison sometime this winter.

That said, first off let me say that I was wrong. I didn't think it was possible for the Cubs to let Cameron pass them by. Somewhere, I suspect that Lou Piniella is still muttering things under his breath about it, and perhaps about Jim Hendry as well, but it's done. He ain't coming.

If you were looking to pick your greatest ever Athletics lineup, based on single-season offensive performances, where would you start?

For a team with a storied 109-year history, there are options from every era and at every position.

The outfield might be as good a place as any, with a host of Hall of Fame members and All-Stars among their number.

How about the stars from the championship-winning teams that three-peated in the mid 1970s?

The World Series is one of the most important sporting events of the year, and touts a longer history than any other major American sports championship. The 2000's have been a tumultuous decade for Major League Baseball, with the steroids controversy, Barry Bonds and the third major home run chase, and serious Red Sox-Yankees over saturation. With the decade coming to an end, here's a look back at each World Series over the past 10 years, from worst to first. Today we chronicle #10--#6.

Nationals’ team president Stan Kasten was a guest host on a local sports radio talk show a couple of days ago, and was it typical Stan: schilling tickets for the team, liking all the moves the club has recently made, and promising the moon for long suffering Nationals’ fans.

Yada yada yada.