New York Yankees

I’ve posted a few profiles of Yankee prospects last night and this afternoon and despite the fact that they seem kind of random they aren’t.

According to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports , the market for Blue Jays lefty reliever Scott Downs is heating up and the Yankees, along with the Red Sox, are said to be the favorites to land him. The Mets, Reds, and Twins are also said to be involved.

Depending on which reports you believe the Yankees were either very close to acquiring Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Dan Haren the other day or they weren’t close at all.

Either way one of the bigger obstacles the Yankees are facing internally is figuring out a way to add the $29 million Haren will be owed over the next two years and still finding a way to budget the $20 million or so per year that it would take to land Cliff Lee this offseason.

Nothing really happened between the Yankees and the Diamondbacks regrading RHP Dan Haren today. That hasn’t stopped the usual suspects from passing along information they’ve heard throughout the day.

Early morning reports

Buster Olney of ESPN tweeted :

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is one shy of hitting the 600 home run mark.

He can hit 800 by the end of his career, but he won't hit Cooperstown with the rest of baseball's legends...ever.

This situation best relates with Mark McGwire, but even he wasn't close to the required number of votes to get in the Hall of Fame.

He got 25 percent of votes, but players need 75 percent to get in. McGwire was maybe the most exciting hitter to see when he was in his prime, just like how A-Rod was in Texas, or when he's chasing history.

Before inter-league play, the New York Yankees played the New York Mets in an annual exhibition game for the Mayor's Trophy. The proceeds went to charity, usually sandlot baseball.

Players on both teams didn't care much about winning the game. It was, after all, merely an exhibition game, but for the fans, it was much more, especially for one Yankees' fan.

George M. Steinbrenner became the principle owner of what had become New York's "other" team in 1973. His primary goal was to change that, which meant the Yankees had to be better than the Mets.

Baseball analyst Ken Rosenthal reported that the world champion New York Yankees are the front runners to acquire pitcher Dan Haren.

Haren of the Arizona Diamondbacks has been a consistent pitcher since 2005.

Last season, he had an ERA of 3.14 and picked up 14 wins. Note the fact that the D-Backs had a losing season.

The Yankees have been looking for an above-average starter to fill in Andy Pettitte, who is injured, and to have an always-stockpiled starting rotation.

Despite General Manager Brian Cashman's continued claim that the Yankees do not need another starting pitcher, the team continues to pursue the top names.

New York is reportedly actively pursuing Arizona Diamondbacks' starter Dan Haren. The two teams have gone as far as naming names and proposing deals. An agreement has not been made as of yet.

It was a big night for the Yankees, who sat through about an hour and a half wait through a rain delay to beat the Royals 7-1 last night.

Here are some notes:

On a night when it rained on Alex Rodriuez's 600th home run quest, Jorge Posada's milestone RBI stole the spotlight.

After a base clearing three run double by Robinson Cano in the top of the first inning,  Posada followed with an RBI double of his own, and thus reached 1,000 RBI's in his career.

With his milestone RBI tonight, Posada is now the 12th Yankee to do so, joining fellow catchers Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey, as well as long time teammate Derek Jeter.

But it's not just Yankee legends that he's joining.