Weekend News & Notes

It was a pretty quiet weekend here at AB4AR, mainly because yesterday was my company holiday party and also because I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with the flu.  But there were a few things happening in Yankeeland worth mentioning, so if you've been indisposed like I've been here's what you missed:

- The Kevin Youkilis signing became official on Friday afternoon with the Yankees putting out a press release.  Good to see that there weren't any problems at all with Youkilis' physical and the Yanks now have their Opening Day third baseman.

- The number came in for the Yankees' 2012 luxury tax bill and it was for a hair over $18.9 million, up from last year's total of $13.9 million.  New York has paid over $224 million in luxury tax penalties since 2003, so use that as a reminder for why they're striving to get below the tax threshold for 2014.

- Joel Sherman reported that the Yankees have signed veteran IF Gil Velazquez to a MiL deal.  He'll probably get an invite to spring camp but he's certainly not going to be in the running to fill in for Jeter if he can't go.  More like replacement MiL depth.

- Ken Rosenthal reported that the Yankees and Angels talked about a trade for Vernon Wells at the Winter Meetings, a sign that Anaheim knew they were going to go after Josh Hamilton.  They have too many outfielders and not enough spaces for all of them now, but even if they ate all the money I wouldn't want Wells.  He's absolutely shot.

- Nick Cafardo connected the Yankees to free agent outfielder Michael Bourn, saying that some people believed they were "quietly interested" in him.  They already have Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki, so it's not like they need another speedy slap hitter, and Bourn isn't going to take a 1-year deal, so I wouldn't put a whole lot of weight in that rumor.