As we sit on the eve of Christmas Eve and come ever closer to the close of 2008 and the entrance of 2009, it’s time to look back at the year that was…or is it?

Maybe this is a time where we put sports aside for 2 days and enjoy the family and friends that surround us.  A time where the television or sports seems to be the furthest thing on people’s minds.  A time where family comes together to cook a big Christmas dinner, where kids wake up on Christmas morning to find the gifts they “always wanted” under the tree and a time where we all realize how important family is to all each and every one of us, sports fan or not. 

So as you spend time with your families this Christmas, remember what’s really important and put aside your love for whatever team you plan on watching or rooting for and enjoy being with the people that mean the most to you during this holiday season.  I know, for me personally, I can’t wait to spend my Christmas with two amazing families, both of which I’m spending the holidays with for the first time and I couldn’t be more excited. 

I know there are bowl games coming up, I know there’s the Super Bowl to look forward to at the end of January, but enjoy the holiday season and all it’s meant for, whatever that is to you.  Sports will always be here and we’ll always be here to give you our opinion, but for the next few days, enjoy the people you have around you because who knows when you’ll get to have this much fun again. 

Merry Christmas to you and your families and here’s to a very prosperous 2009. 

Happy Holidays!

San Diego Padres’ GM Kevin Towers met with the media today and says the deal to send Jake Peavy to the Cubs is off.

According to Towers, Cubs’ GM Jim Hendry pulled the deal off the table and will move on.  A few obstacles to this deal was how the Cubs were going to unload Jason Marquis and the numerous calls they received about the availability of 2nd baseman Mark DeRosa.  Hendry had said before that they were not willing to trade DeRosa, but due to the number of phone calls from interested teams he’s received this week, he may have to re-think his position.

At this point, the Padres could rekindle talks with the New York Yankees, who were said to be interested, as well as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who really could put together the most attractive package for the Padres.  Could they possible include names like Jared Weaver, Nick Adenhardt and Brandon Wood?  Towers met again with team CEO Sandy Alderson as well as Peavy’s agent, Barry Axelrod, to discuss their position and if they are going to keep Peavy on the trading block or pull him off and start the 2009 season with him on their roster.

Other news…..

Speaking of the New York Yankees, they have apparently come to an agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers that sent Mike Cameron to the Yankees according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times.  But another report from Joel Sherman of the NY Post reports that the possibility of a deal is “remote.”  The Brewers were reportedly interested in Ian Kennedy and Melkly Cabrera.

Angels have offer out to Teixeira

According to Mike DiGiovanna of MLB.com, the Angels are reported to have offered a 7-year deal worth in the neighborhood of $160MM to 1st baseman Mark Teixeira.

It looks as if one of the biggest free agents out there has made his decision on where he’s going to continue his career, and it’s in a Yankee uniform.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees have come to an agreement on a 7-year deal that is reportedly worth $160MM.  Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman had flown to San Francisco to meet with Sabathia and had face-to-face meetings with the big left-hander for the past three days, prompting Sabathia to decide to make New York his next baseball home.  With his signing, it takes the Yankees out of the running for 1st baseman Mark Teixeira, who they had been rumored to have interest in.

The question now becomes, does this make the Yankees better?  I think a lot of baseball fans, Yankee fans especially, think it absolutely makes them better though I’m not so sure.  The one thing that I do think works in the Yankees favor is, they’re not signing an over the hill, past his prime, pitcher like they did when they brought in Randy Johnson and then Roger Clemens mid-season.  Sabathia is 28 years old and has his best years ahead of him, but I think 7 years may be a little more than the Yankees should have offered, though I’m sure that was the only way they were going to land him.  Keep in mind, though, Sabathia has an opt out clause in this contract that allows him to leave after the 2011 season…that could prove very interesting in a few years.

The good side of this deal for the Yankees is, Sabathia is going to be a work horse.  This is a guy that threw a career high 253 innings in 2008 and who came off a previous career high of 241 innings in 2007.  They’re going to get a guy who can take you deep into games and take a lot of pressure off the bullpen, which is something the Yankees need.  This is the kind of signing the Yankees needed to make or they’d be watching Boston and Tampa run away from them in the AL East.

They still have work to do on their 2009 team, they are in no way done making moves.  Though they’ve address one part of their rotation, they are still left with Chein-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain and Sabathia as their top 3, then you can look at Ian Kennedy and Philip Hughes, but with Hughes’ injury he’s a big question mark right now.  The other name being tied to the Yankees is former Red Sox and Dodgers’ outfielder Manny Ramirez.  According to some sources close to Hank Steinbrenner, he apparently is considering a run at signing him, but where do you put him when you already have Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera and Xavier Nady occupying those three spots?  I can’t see them dealing Damon or Cabrera, but Nady very well could be expendable.

The Winter Meetings will conclude Thursday night, but there could be a lot more to come before GM’s, agents and players depart Las Vegas.  Stay tuned….

According to several sources, the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs could be close to a deal that would send right-hander Jake Peavy to the Windy City.

There have been several versions of this deal written as far as what players would be involved and if there is a third team involved.  According to Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union Tribune, the Philadelphia Phillies may be that third team, but the Baltimore Orioles could be involved as well.  San Diego Padres’ General Manager Kevin Towers confirms that, though a deal is not done or has not been agreed upon, they have the list of names they want it’s just a matter of the teams agreeing to them.  “There’s a package there that would satisfy us.  Will they end up doing it? I don’t know.”

There are several names being thrown around and there are different scenarios that could play out with this deal, so it’s premature to say who’s going where just yet.  What we do know to this point is Peavy would be sent to the Cubs, the Padres are looking at getting Felix Pie who they’d flip to Baltimore for young left-hander Garrett Olson, the Padres would also get 2nd baseman Mark DeRose who they would then send to Philadelphia for young pitching prospects.  The other names that could be headed to San Diego are pitchers Sean Marshall, Michael Wuertz and Angel Guzman as well as Kevin Hart.

At this point, who gets the better end of this deal?  Would it be San Diego, who stands to get a lot of pitching help from both Chicago and Baltimore, if in fact the Orioles are involved?  Would it be the Cubs, who would be getting one of the better young pitchers in the game in Jake Peavy?  Until this deal is complete, it’s going to be up for debate until all the players involved start to make an impact on their respective teams.

There is a underlining story in this deal for the San Diego Padres.  If they are able to finalize the deal to send Jake Peavy to Chicago, it frees up money for them to re-start talks with long time closer Trevor Hoffman who they ended talks with a few weeks ago.  It’s not that the Padres desperately need Trevor back, they are more than happy to hand the role over to right-hander Heath Bell, Hoffman’s setup man for the past two seasons, who is more than ready to become the team’s closer if the Padres are not able to come to an agreement with Hoffman.

Day 2 of the Winter Meetings should be an interesting one and maybe we’ll see this trade finalized, maybe it’ll have to wait another few days.  Even if this deal isn’t agreed upon today, there are still several other interesting story lines to follow to keep us rumor fans salivating.

December 8th has been a date a lot of us baseball fans have looked forward to since the conclusion of, not only the baseball season, but the recently concluded GM Meetings a few weeks ago.

As the meetings get underway in Las Vegas, it means the beginning of very long days and nights of GM’s around baseball.  It means baseball fans sitting on the edge of their seats as trades are made and free agents are signed, those same fans clicking ‘refresh’ on their computers every five minutes, on every baseball website they can find, to see if there is any breaking news on their team. 

With the start of the Winter Meetings, it also means a list of concerns each team has to address.  Who needs pitching?  What positions do they need to fill?  Do they have the money to sign a big free-agent or do they need to think spreading the money out and signing several players?  Can they re-sign any of their own free-agents?

These and many more questions may be answered this week in Las Vegas, so put those fingers to your keyboard, type in your favorite baseball rumor site or any of your favorite baseball sites and hang on tight, this might be a fun week.

It looks like Greg Maddux has thrown his last pitch in the big leagues. 

According to a message sent from the office of his agent, Scott Boras, Maddux will annouce his retirement at the Winter Meetings next week.  A press conference with Maddux, his family and Boras will be held at the same hotel where the meetings are taking place.

Even after 23 seasons, Maddux still doesn’t cease to impress.  In his final start, pitching for the Dodgers against the Giants, it was vintage Maddux as he gave up just one run on two hits over six innings pitched.  If there was ever a way to finish a career, going out on the kind of game that only Maddux could throw, that was it.

Instead of me sitting here writing a long article on the career of the future Hall-of-Famer, I’ll let his accomplishments speak for themselves:

355 Career Wins (8th all time)

355-227 Career Record (.639 winning percentage)

3.16 Career ERA

8 Time All-Star

4 Cy Young Awards (1992-95)

18 Gold Gloves

Won at least 13 games in 20 straight seasons

This is the Greg Maddux that a lot of us saw growing up, through his many years with the Atlanta Braves with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, then having some great years with the Chicago Cubs, moving on to the San Diego Padres and finally the Los Angeles Dodgers.  This is, and will always be, one of the greatest pitchers of all time.  What’s more amazing to me, he didn’t kill batters with speed, but it was with finess and location.