New York

With ace Johan Santana out until at least the All-Star break with shoulder surgery, the New York Mets are desperately in need of starting pitching.

As it stands now, the Mets' rotation consists of Mike Pelfrey, R.A. Dickey and Jon Niese.

Pelfrey was excellent for the first half of last season but struggled down the stretch. Dickey was one of the few bright spots in another mediocre year for the Mets. Niese looked solid at times but is still young and still maturing.

Next season Pedro Feliciano will be making the short trip to the Yankees from the New York Mets. The 34-year-old lefty relief pitcher will join what is already a star-studded pitching staff.

According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the Yankees will finalize the contract today that would bring Feliciano to the Yankees for two years with a contract worth $8 million and an option for the 2013 season if the Yankees choose to keep the left-hander.

The New York Yankees have to divert whatever attention is left from all the Cliff Lee drama, but there is no denying the painful disappointment still lingers.

Losing Kerry Wood to the Chicago Cubs was unexpected, but the signing of former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin gave the first ray of hope thus far in this offseason.

Why is signing Russell Martin such a positive? For two reasons:

New York Mets pitcher Oliver Perez continued to struggle with his command in his fifth start of the winter with the Tomateros de Culiacan.

The 29-year-old left-hander walked six and yielded two runs on three hits while striking out five over six innings, as the Tomateros defeated the Naranjeros de Hermosillo, 13-2.

Spring training may still be two months away, but the cold winter months have had little success subduing MLB's offseason hot stove.

The fall of 2010 has been an eventful one in the baseball world, even with the free agent class being as thin as it is.

As always, there are some teams that have added tremendously to their chances of World Series title contention in 2011, and plenty more that have been set back further, whether by their own missteps or by the unexpected choices of those they pursued (cough...Cliff Lee...cough).

As Christmas approaches, fans of the New York Yankees have been left with nothing but coal in their stockings.  This isn't by any means meant to be a slight on recently acquired catcher Russell Martin whose signing makes for a decent "stocking stuffer."  It is the big prize though that has so far eluded the Yankees.

Brian Cashman struck out in free agency this winter, something he's rarely done in his brilliant career as the New York Yankees general manager.

Cashman failed to acquire the Yankees' primary offseason target, Cliff Lee, and in doing so, the Yankees were beaten to Carl Crawford by their hated rivals, the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees need pitching help. We all know this.

The Yankees just got burned in the Cliff Lee negotiations, as he turned down the Yankees' offer and went back to the Phillies.

With the Yankees rotation right now being CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and a struggling A.J. Burnett, they have two huge holes in it.

Andy Pettitte is tossed between retiring and coming back for 2011. A lot of people in baseball have a feeling Pettitte may in fact call it a career this winter.

The New York Yankees have an abundant amount of money to spend after losing out on signing Cliff Lee, who went to the Philadelphia Phillies.

All possible options will be tried, as cash is never short in New York and especially when the team is in need. Nobody puts Baby in the corner; not the Phillies, not Lee and certainly not a lack of free agents.

Late Monday night, word came out that not only was there a mystery team in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, but that they had won his services.

The Phillies got back the piece they sorely missed last post-season, and in the process put another 500 pounds of pain on the Yankees off-season.