ghost of miles

It really is too much sometimes. You might want to get a neck brace for the next week or 2 so you don't get whiplash. No kidding! Especially since there's now a story out quoting Cashman as saying that Andy told him after the postseason ended that he was leaning towards retirement. If Andy doesn't come back, it's all the more imperative that they land Lee, and I still don't think that's going to happen... I think Lee & his agent are playing the Yankees for as much leverage as they can with Texas. Still, it's nice to dream about a C.C./Lee/Pettitte/Hughes/Burnett rotation for 2011... but I think two fifths of that scenario are not likely to be there. In which case Ivan Nova will be put to the test immediately, and somebody else like Andrew Brackman or Manny Banuelos will have to ramp up quickly for a shot at some MLB starting time. I do not want to see us trade the farm for Zach Greinke, who I think would be seriously vulnerable in the hot lights of NYC.

This tweet, fwiw: If that's true, then I think it may be time to go ahead and settle in for a few years of rebuilding, Cliff Lee or no. I'd love to see the Core 4 make one last run at a championship, but even if Lee's added to the rotation next year (which, again, I doubt will happen--I still think he goes to Texas), that leaves us with big question marks after CC and Lee. (Phil Hughes, despite his impressive W-L record in 2010, remains a question mark for me). If it's a no-Lee and no-Pettitte situation, then NY's really in big trouble. One more year of Pettitte would've given us time to develop some more of the pitching prospects in the pipeline, but maybe we're about to lose another pitching heart to a Texas home. C'est la vie if so--I'm still going to enjoy watching Jeter, Mo and Posada play their final days (but was really hoping we'd get one last chance to see Pettitte, who pitched so well this year when he was healthy). It's been an incredible run, and although I can't see NY slipping back into the kind of mediocrity they wallowed in throughout the 1980s and early 90s, I do think they may be nearing the end of their automatic-playoff-trip era, millions or no millions. UPDATE: maybe he is coming back after all. Ahhh, the Age of Twitter! It's thrown the rumor cycle into hyperaccelerated overdrive.

Jon Heyman tweet from this morning: Um...OK, not sure I buy the "Yankees-will-get-what-they-want" line, esp. since Lee does seem to be saying to the Rangers, "Just give me a six-year offer I can't turn down." But assuming Heyman's source/theory is right, we're looking at NY probably offering a ridiculous contract (6 yrs/150 million or more? Hell, 7 years, if they're that determined to get him?) in order to sign a 32-year-old pitcher who actually wanted to play somewhere else but just couldn't say no to a bigger pile of cash. I don't really see that working out well for NY. Although I'm glad we didn't give up Jesus Montero to get Lee this past summer, I think at the time he was thoroughly jazzed about going to the Yankees, and then he discovered that he liked Texas a great deal. After his half-season with the Rangers, I have to wonder if Lee will feel as if he's selling his soul to go pitch for the Yankees. I do not think he would have felt that way if he'd arrived in NY in July 2010.

Interesting update on the Cliff Lee situation: Tim Brown reporting that Lee has said a six-year offer from Texas brings him back. I don't think there's any question that the Yankees will offer him six; the question is whether or not Texas will extend past their reported five-year limit. My guess is they'll come up with some way to do that... and it would confirm my feeling all along that Mr. Lee is going to stay with the Rangers. If that's the case, the Yankees better hope that (1) Andy Pettitte definitely comes back (2) Ivan Nova blossoms quickly into a reliable/good starter (3) Phil Hughes learns how to get batters with two strikes out (4) AJ Burnett reverts to .500 form . Frankly, that's an awful lot of hoping. AL East is Boston's for the taking IMO, Dan.

Yes, that chart makes Fenway look pretty Little League itself for Mr. Gonzalez.

Several hours ago there were reports that the limo driver for Gonzalez was tweeting that he had taken AG back to the hotel, not to the airport, which helped fuel speculation that negotiations were still going on. And your supposition about the luxury tax is in line with the reports I was coming across right after the news broke.

MLB Trade Rumors says Gonzalez is going to Boston after all. Red Sox say they have the parameters of an extension, but no extension at this time will be done.

Wow, just wow re: Jayson Werth. Funny comment over at Over the Monster envisioning Bosox GM Theo Epstein in the midst of ongoing negotiations with Gonzalez and his agent (rumors are they may still be talking): Non-satirical from ESPN's Buster Olney:

Yes, please, let's all calm down and refocus while I cue up a nice Oscar Peterson record in the background.

This week's Night Lights show offers a look at the prelude to Dave Brubeck's rise to fame with the Brubeck Quartet, focusing on his time on the West Coast in the late 1940s and the music of his early octet and trio: Playland At The Beach: Dave Brubeck's Early Octet And Trio Next week: "The Arrival of Victor Feldman."

Dan: in terms of Crawford or Werth, I'm speaking only to 2011, not to the long-term wisdom of signing either. Either player would make an already-strong offense that much stronger. BTW, re: the bullpen, how many years are left on Papelbon's contract--one? I'm just wondering how soon Bard will become the new closer. I can't speak to the rest of your 2011 bullpen situation. Per your note on the contract extension, all kinds of reports on Twitter right now that the deal fell through, at least for now, because of negotiation disagreements between AG and the Bosox. Some reports indicate that there's still a possibility he ends up with them, though.

Dan mentioned the Gonzalez possibility at some point here recently. I think if Boston also adds Crawford or Werth that you have to make them favorites to win the AL East next year, even if the Yankees succeed in landing Lee.

SI.com's Jon Heyman reporting via Twitter that the Red Sox may have made a play for Mo Rivera, offering him a three-year contract, but that Mo's going to stay with NY for fewer years and less money (2 yrs/30 million). Also says the Angels may have been prepared to offer him three years. Dan: if true about the Bosox making a play for Mo, what do you think? Was it just a ploy on their part, or do you think they really would have wanted to sign him? Other hot-stove hearsay: the Yankees will up their offer to Jeter, possibly to 4 yrs, possibly 16-18 million annually. That sounds about right to me and Jeter should accept it, if true.

If anybody has Jack Wilson's recording of David Baker's "Soft Summer Rain" from Wilson's 1969 Blue Note album SONG FOR MY DAUGHTER, could he or she PM or e-mail me? Many thanks in advance.

Sports Illustrated 'sTom Verducci has a column up comparing the Yankees' approach to Jeter unfavorably with the Orioles' approach to Cal Ripken at roughly the same age/career point. Jsngry, I meant it only in the sense that strategically speaking, no, it's not a good idea to sign Jeter for another 4 years at a very high rate of pay-so it would be good news for AL East and other foes if they did so. But I don't care, even if it impedes the Yankees' performance to some extent in the next several years... I think Jeter needs to end his days with NY and end them relatively happily. He needs to compromise quite a bit on his contract demands, but the front office needs to do some compromising as well. 3/60 million or 4/70 million is still what strikes me as a final middle ground, but I'm not sure either side's inclined to move that far. Question for Dan: is there anybody on the FA market you want to see Boston pursue? Carl Crawford? Jayson Werth?

Yes, it's become quite the soap opera, hasn't it? Not handled particularly well by either side, IMO, though I don't think it's going to put any kind of significant dent in Jeter's "legacy," or what-have-you... more like a Joe DiMaggio-style footnote. Truth be told, I've actually moved against the tide and become a bit more sympathetic to Jeter in recent days; although his salary position is undoubtedly excessive, I think the front office has come dangerously close to trashing the team's most iconic player in decades. Yes, 4 yrs/70-75 million will be much more than he's "objectively" worth, but I think they should pay it to him. (And if you're a Yankee-hater, don't you want that outcome anyway? ) To me, it's worth it to see him finish his career as a Yankee without too much more acrimony. The notion that he has nowhere else to go may be true to a large extent, but the coupled notion that therefore NY doesn't have to pay him as well as A.J. Burnett next season ( ) is galling. Again, they're now trying to compensate for spending way too much money on other players in recent years...but as others have pointed out, starting to crack the fiscal whip with Jeter as your first target (OK, second, I suppose, after Johnny Damon this past year) seems a bit much. Another alternative might be to keep the offer at three years, but up it to $60 million. There's a rumor that the Yankees might be willing to go up to 3 yrs/$50 million, but no more than that. I love the Yankees' team and their players, not their front office, which does tend to shove its aging stars out the door (not like other teams don't do this as well, though). But I'd also add that the picture of the Yankees' budget situation is a bit more complex than what the media offers--see this analysis and especially Money to burn?. Yes, the front office's pockets are undoubtedly somewhat elastic, but perhaps not to the extent that they have been in the past. My pretty-obvious guess is that they're trying to leave as much room as possible for a fat offer to Cliff Lee. Javy's salary is now off the books, which frees up $11 million, and Nick Johnson's departure gives them another $5 million to add elsewhere. I'd wager that all of that "freed" payroll is earmarked for Cliff Lee, but they'll need more than $16 million a year to sign him, that's for sure. Dave: while I am indeed perversely tracking the Jeter situation, it's also making me already begin to long for spring and actual baseball again. Went back tonight and watched some of my favorite highlights from the past several seasons... and here winter's barely begun. Here's hoping the Core 4 stays intact for one more trip around the sun.

I've opined before about my growing appreciation for various-artist anthologies, particularly of the (formerly) Fantasy jazz variety. Here are two that are going for very good rates right now: The Riverside Records Story ($15 and up new) The Contemporary Records Story ($19 and up new) ...I lucked into a truly "like-new" copy of The Prestige Records Story for just $7 recently, but unfortunately that was apparently an aberration. OTOH, check this one out! The Debut Records Story for $9.99 I have all of these sets (save the Riverside, which will hopefully show up in the next day or two) and they're really well-done anthologies of the labels, with booklets to match in terms of quality. Even though many of us will already know (and have) most of the tunes on these sets, it's really fun to listen to them in a label-retrospective mix... at least, when you can do it at these prices. And the booklets give good historical background on the labels as well.

This past week's Night Lights show paid tribute to Billy Strayhorn with a program featuring interpretations of his music by the Duke Ellington orchestra, Ellingtonians such as Johnny Hodges, Ray Nance, and Ben Webster, John Coltrane, the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, and Strayhorn himself. The program is now archived for online listening, just ahead of Strayhorn's birthday (Nov. 29): The Billy Strayhorn Songbook There's also a video clip on the program page taken from a vintage Ellington documentary that includes Ellington talking about Strayhorn before and after his death, as well as some footage from the memorial service for Strayhorn in 1967. Next week: "Playland at the Beach: Dave Brubeck's Early Octet and Trio."

Anybody else having problems with the search function for songs and albums on AMG lately? One example today: I'm trying to pull up a list of all the artists who've done "Three Coins in the Fountain." It's giving me a grand total of two (and I tried searching using both "Three" and "3"). Not the first time that I've run into weird issues of late, and I was just curious if anybody else was encountering similar bugs.

Kevin--I mentioned that BNBB thread precisely because it did have an amusing angry-villagers-with-pitchforks quality to it. (Wasn't there some sort of petition involved, too?) OTOH I was certainly glad that they did put out those titles, and I bought them both the day they came out. MC was right, yes, but at the same time seeing the titles in used bins all over Boston would indicate to me that somebody at least bought them new when they were released... unless you were seeing promo copies. In both my record-store and DJ experience, I've rarely seen promos of Blue Note reissues come through, though I know bigger stores and stations may have gotten them; I always got the impression that BN was reluctant to send them out (quite possibly because the jazz reissue market is so small to begin with that they actually feared hurting sales through promo distribution, instead of enhancing them. That was my theory, anyway, FWIW). I'm sorry, on another topic, that the Mosaic Singles series didn't work out. I had high hopes for that as a way of continuing to reissue interesting/less-than-big-name jazz titles, but evidently not enough buyers for them...

Highly recommended from this Indiana-based big band: Amazon link: Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra CAROL OF THE BELLS I'm going to see their annual holiday show at the Jazz Kitchen in Indy early next month.

Keeping holiday-weekend late hours, up working on the website page for this week's Night Lights Billy Strayhorn program. Still not sleepy... maybe I should watch a movie.

Pulled out the Fats Navarro/Tadd Dameron Blue Note/Capitol collection tonight and listened to it for the first time in years--God, what a wonderful 2-CD EMI set! Good booklet by Carl Woideck, too... made me think of all the other great two-CD EMI sets that came out in the 1990s, almost all of which are listed in this thread. Here's an old-timer question--anybody else remember the "We Demand the Release of the Wilkerson and Braith Doubletimes!!" thread on the old Blue Note bulletin board?

A-Rod's contract is a de-escalator--by the time he turns 39 in 2014, he'll be earning $21 million a year. Nobody will argue the point that his contract was ludicrously excessive, but it does tail off as time goes on. Goodspeak, I think Hal Steinbrenner is a more hardnosed businessman than Hank, who "negotiated" the A-Rod contract; hence the hard line last year with Damon and the unwillingness to give DJ an A-Rod-like contract in 2010/11. And nobody should be terribly surprised that somebody at Derek Jeter's level has the kind of pride, ego, and competitive drive that he has, even to the point where he may allow it to supersede team goals in terms of continuing to play shortstop or asking for more money than he's objectively worth... Cal Ripken, anyone? The biggest mistake anybody's made here so far (putting aside the novel circumstances of negotiating a contract in the age of Twitter) is Close taking the battle public with his "baffling" remark (and presumably DJ can be blamed for that as well, since I doubt Close would say anything without Jeter signing off on it to some extent). Cashman's response may have been too stinging, but Close should have realized that as much as Yankee (and some other baseball) fans love Jeter, they are not going to be too sympathetic to an aging player coming off the kind of season that DJ had using such a high starting point as a contract demand.

In non-Yankee hot-stove news (I'm sure many are wanting a break!), Jsngry and I had a fun exchange off-board the other night about this fellow: Evidently there was an interview with him on the MLB Network recently. What an amazing player, one of my favorites from the 1970s and 80s... (and as I told Jsngry, I have his Strat-O-Mat card for the '77 season...you wanna talk about a bad&*# hitter!) who are some other favorites of that era from posters here?