Yankees Rumors: Teixeira, Manny, Mussina
According to Newsday’s Ken Davidoff, a Yankees insider thinks that Manny Ramirez is more likely than Mark Teixeira to sign with the club. Hank Steinbrenner and the Yankees haven’t ruled Manny out of their plans, but that doesn’t mean they’re likely to sign either Manny or Teixeira. The Yankees’ priority is starting pitching this offseason.
Davidoff wrote Thursday that “it would be a shocker” to see the Yankees offer Teixeira a contract of 10 years and $200MM. Last year, Tex turned down an eight-year offer from the Rangers worth around $140MM.
According to Peter Abraham, Mike Mussina’s agent, Arn Tellem, arrived in Pennsylvania to talk with Mussina about his future. Abraham speculates that Mussina will announce his retirement "sometime soon." In September, Mussina said if he comes back he would play three more years to try and reach 300 wins.
Junior Would Return To Seattle
According to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times, Ken Griffey Jr. is open to returning to the Mariners as a free agent. Griffey’s agent, Brian Goldberg, said that his client is “open minded” about returning to play in Seattle, where he played for 11 seasons.
Goldberg added that Griffey wants to talk with the White Sox about returning to play in Chicago. The White Sox declined Griffey’s $16MM option this week.
Griffey, who hit .249/.353/.424 last year, has said that he wants to play for three more seasons.
Moyer Wants To Stay With Phillies
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Todd Zolecki, Jamie Moyer wants to help the Phillies defend their title next year.
Moyer said that he hasn’t spoken with the Phillies about returning, but he’s optimistic about his chances of playing in Philadelphia in 2009. The Phillies have a core of Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, and Joe Blanton under control for ’09.
This year, Moyer had an ERA of 3.71 in nearly 200 regular season innings before pitching well in the World Series.