BREAKING NEWS: Yankees Agree To Sign Kevin Youkilis

Not a lot of details yet, but according to Ken Rosenthal, Kevin Youkilis has agreed to sign with the Yankees for the 1 year and $12 million they offered him.

Youkilis will have to pass a physical, and details are still coming in, but if this is true it gives the Yankees their temporary solution at third base while Alex Rodriguez recovers from his hip surgery, and gives Joe options on how he wants to rotate both of them through third and DH when A-Rod gets back to keep them both healthy.  The Yankees have needed to make a move to address the lineup holes, and now they have.  More details to come...

** UPDATE 5:25PM- Joel Sherman has confirmed Rosenthal's report, and also started talking about the Yankees moving to get a deal done with Ichiro by week's end. **

The Young Guys Most Likely To Contribute In 2013

(Opening Day catcher?  Don't rule it out.  Courtesy of the AP)

There's still the possibility of a blockbuster trade, something I think almost all of us are secretly hoping for after the excitement-less Winter Meetings.  But with the Yankees holding firm on their free agent signing plans for this offseason, and with that plan assuredly continuing into the next offseason when the payroll goal will loom largest, the likelihood of the Yankees having to use their top-level Minor Leaguers as more than just emergency filler or roster expansion fodder is very high.

We all know the Yankees don't have much high-impact, high-level talent in their system, but that's not to say they don't have players capable of contributing as useful bench or bullpen pieces or even winning a starting job if it comes to that.  The only "top" prospect with a shot at making the show in 2013 is Tyler Austin, and even that is a longshot, but here are some other guys who could see some significant PT at the Major League level next season.

The Truth Finally Comes Out

Say it ain't so, Alex!

Because nobody in the MSM can think of anything worthwhile to ask or write about now that the Winter Meetings are over, Alex Rodriguez was stuck answering questions about his rumored centaur paintings of himself in house.  After years of speculation, and quite frankly hope on my part that it was true, A-Rod finally shed some light on the subject.

“No, I do not have a painting of my upper body on a Minotaur.  I don’t know where they get that stuff.”

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  I can't believe that it's not true!  What a crushing blow to my ego, my hopes and dreams of what the world could be, and the very foundation that this blog was built upon.  I mean come on, Al!  I've been down with the A-Taur since the word go.  Do you think I would have gone through all the trouble of making multiple Photoshops, rattling off hundreds of A-Horse jokes, and always trying to remember to refer to your feet as hooves if I thought you didn't actually have these paintings??  What kind of an idiot do you think I am???  Wait, don't answer that.

Needless to say, this day is already off to a horrible start. I could slip a joke in here about how the hip injury and required surgery is even more severe when you're dealing with a 4-legged centaur, but it just wouldn't be the same now knowing what I know.  I don't normally drink at the office, but I might have to find something to put in my coffee to get me through the morning.

(Never forget)

P.S.- Yes, I wrote this post assuming that A-Rod is actually too dumb to know the difference between a centaur and a minotaur.  There's no way he's that slick.