Vernon Wells Is Worth HOW MUCH???

Sources say the Yankees' share of the Vernon Wells contract will be about $13 million over the last two years of his deal.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) March 24, 2013

I'll have more on this tomorrow, but the more that comes out about the Vernon Wells situation the more flabbergasted and pissed off I get.  You're telling me that not only did the Yankees willingly add 2014 salary in the form of Vernon Wells, they added salary at a $6.5 million per year clip???  For Vernon Wells???  That's the same deal they gave Ichiro and he's been way better than Vernon Wells the last four seasons.  Now the Yankees will head into NEXT season owing eight guaranteed figures to two declining, late-30s platoon outfielders.  Not exactly smart business for a club trying to operate on a budget.

It doesn't even matter what type of prospect or non-prospect they give up in this trade, when you agree to pay that much more for two years of Vernon Wells you're the loser of the deal.

2013 "Knowns/Unknowns" Recap

There are more questions than answers in Yankeeland heading into the start of the regular season in a week, and that's nowhere near ending with the current situations of Derek Jeter, Phil Hughes, Clay Rapada, the bench competitions, and the seemingly imminent Vernon Wells trade.  If you aren't up to date on what is still up in the air and what isn't, here's your chance to catch up.

- The Infield

- The Outfield

- The Rotation

- The Bullpen

- The Bench

Just a reminder, phase 3 of the 2013 AB4AR season preview starts tomorrow with the first of the "2013 Season Preview" series.  Over the course of the next week, I'll be previewing the 2013 season for each roster group (lineup, rotation, bullpen, bench) and making my final predictions for the 2013 season.  It's gonna be a hoot.

DL Trip Coming For Jeter

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

As good as things were looking when Derek Jeter got back on the field and back into game action at shortstop two weeks ago, that's how bad they're looking right now after that game action led to inflammation and pain in the ankle, missed game time, a plan to play in only MiL games for the remainder of the spring, and what is now looking like a guaranteed start on the disabled list when the Yankees open regular season action in a week rather than at the top of the lineup card.

Things took a pretty negative turn when the whole MiL games plan was announced a few days ago.  If Jeter was healthy enough to play in MiL games, he would obviously be playing in Major League games.  The inflammation in the ankle was a bigger setback than the Yankees wanted to let on and we wanted to believe, and from the moment he woke up that morning with stiffness in the ankle a DL trip became inevitable.