Report: Yanks Are "Going To Be Bold" In Tanaka Bidding

There's still no update on when the new posting rules between MLB and NPB will be agreed upon and put into place, but that hasn't slowed down the Masahiro Tanaka rumor mill.

In an article for Yahoo! Sports yesterday, Jeff Passan reported that the Yankees are "going to be bold" when the time comes to submit the posting bids for Tanaka.  Passan cited an unnamed source with knowledge of the Yankees' strategy, and while the information from those type of sources always has to be taken with a grain of salt, this specific bit of information does fall in line with the aggressive approach the Yankees have already taken in scouting Tanaka.

With some predicting the winning bid being at or above $75 million, the Yankees are in prime position to flex their financial muscle and blow everybody else away with the highest bid.  That would certainly be a bold move and one that might signal more serious intentions on their part to be a bigger player this offseason.  Tanaka has been drawing a lot of comparisons to Hiroki Kuroda lately, and paying big posting bucks for a 25-year-old version of Hirok would be a smart move for the future of the Yankee rotation.

Jeter And Sabathia Are Healthy Again

One thing Derek Jeter never did during the regular season was get healthy.  That was evident to anybody who watched him play and made even more evident by the quickness with which he landed back on the DL every time he did try to come back.

Now that the season is over and he's had time to rest his injured ankle, it sounds like Jeter is finally healthy again, or at least damn close.  Joe confirmed to the media earlier this week that Jeter has started his offseason workouts, which he wasn't even close to starting at this time last year.  It's just preliminary conditioning stuff, and Joe did say Jeter won't begin baseball activities until January, but that's still a great sign.  A few months of regular conditioning work are what Jeter needs to try to regain his lower body strength.

If that wasn't enough good news, Bryan Hoch reported last night that CC Sabathia has also gotten over the hamstring strain that ended his 2013 season and has started throwing again.  You'll remember that CC's regular offseason throwing routine was disturbed by his elbow surgery and those delays could have had something to do with his year-long struggles.

Sabathia and Jeter are 2 players the Yankees need bounce back years from if they're going to contend in 2014.  Knowing that they're both healthy enough in early November to start their offseason workout programs is a positive step towards those bounce back goals.