Opinion

According to several reports published today, the Yankees are close to acquiring center fielder Curtis Granderson from the Detroit Tigers, in a three-way deal with the Diamondbacks and Tigers, which involves the Yankees giving up Phil Coke, Ian Kennedy, and prized outfield prospect Austin Jackson.

Late last night, I had reported that the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Tigers were dicussing a three-team blockbuster trade at MLB's Baseball Winter Meetings.

Last night, the trade was vetoed and the teams went back to talking to work on it.

Today around 1:30 p.m., the trade was finally executed.

The Yankees landed center fielder Curtis Granderson.

Pitchers Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy were acquired by the Diamondbacks.

The Tigers were able to pick up outfielder Austin Jackson, and pitchers Phil Coke, Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth.

When I saw the trade yesterday that sent Clay Rapada from the Detroit Tigers to the Texas Rangers, I thought it might have been the start of something.  It was like the calm before the storm.

And sure enough, today the storm came through as Detroit sent Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson their separate ways, in a three-team blockbuster deal.  Granderson was sent to the New York Yankees, while Edwin Jackson was sent to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hall of Fame journalist Peter Gammons announced earlier today that he is leaving the ESPN network at the conclusion of the 2009 Winter Baseball Meetings:

"My decision to leave ESPN and move on at this point in my life has been conflicted. I owe a great deal of my professional life to ESPN, having spent more than half of my 40 years in journalism working for the network, and the choice to move on was made with nothing but the strongest feelings for the people with whom I worked. ESPN gave me a great deal more than I gave it, and will always be a huge part of who I am.

No one ever said doing the right thing would always be the most popular thing.

There is a 3-team deal in place that would send CF Curtis Granderson to the Yankees; RHP Ian Kennedy and RHP Edwin Jackson to the Diamondbacks; and LHP Phil Coke, Daniel Schlereth and CF Austin Jackson are sent to the Tigers.

This deal is horrible for the Yankees. Austin Jackson was their top ranked prospect and set to start in CF for the squad this upcoming year. In Scranton-Wilkes Barre he hit .300 with 4 homeruns and 65 RBIs. He added 24 stolen bases in 132 games. He currently is 22 and will be 23 starting the '10 season.

The Ace List

It’s finally that time of year, folks. This is what we’ve been waiting for since the Mariners fell out of the AL West race back in July: the winter meetings are finally here.

Day one was relatively uninteresting, with no major news taking place. There were a few minor signings and arbitration decisions—however none of them involved the Mariners so I’m not even going to talk about them.

There were a few developments on the Mariners front, though.

The Winter Meetings kicked off this morning, and while no blockbusters have been reported as of yet, the buzz has been quite good regarding players like Curtis Granderson, Brad Penny, Milton Bradley, and even Edwin Jackson. The Twins are traditionally lesser players this time of year, 2007 excepted, but that hardly dampens the fun of watching deals get made and forecasting which teams will come out winners in the annual Great Trade Melee.

According to sources of ESPN's Buster Olney, Andy Pettitte will pitch in 2010, and his return is just a matter of working out a deal with the Yankees .