WHY YOU DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ

I've heard this one before. The Yankees said that Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford are not in their off season plans. If I remember correctly, that was a similar statement they made about Johnny Damon and one morning I woke up to the headline of " Here's Johnny" in the New York Post. Look, everyone knows the way Cashman operates, I just think that when it actually happens, everyone is taken by surprise, like "how did they pull that off?", much like I did when they signed Damon.

The Damon deal personally for me was great because we took him away from the Red Sox in the middle of the night. If Cashman were to pull off a signing of a Crawford similar to that, it would be " Wow". A Crawford signing would be more gratifying for me because we would take him away from the evil Rays. I don't have to remind you how much of a stud Werth is, but you see my point about division rivals. Reliever Joquian Benoit, the Rays setup man was also talked about. Take them both away from Tampa Bay. I like it.

Now, all my Anti-Yankee fans are reading this right now, some are deleting it, some are writing me a letter and it goes something like this: "Mighty Casey, Dude! The Yankees pay for championships. It's not fair. You guys make me sick! I hate the Yankees".

To that, I say this: This is baseball, the greatest sport in the world. You put the best team on the field to win. You don't play to win second place....ever. Plus, the Yankees don't win every year. Before 2009, there was a whole crop of amazing baseball stories, the Red Sox twice, White Sox, Marlins, and oh yeah didn't the Giants just win this year? Suck it. We're in the thick of it just like you guys.

Ok, enough of my rant, back to my point. Crawford was someone the Yanks always wanted. If you get him you spend big money though and that's my concern. Gardner at the end of the day is my choice, cheaper, younger and if he's the leadoff man, you will see production.

On Sunday at 12:01am Cash starts his pursuit of Cliff Lee. CC is already chatting it up, believe me. The Rangers are courting Lee good right now and they probably have the upper hand. To the Rangers credit, that ballclub is loose and they look like a good bunch to play with. Plus, there is a lot of talk of some sleeper teams about to jump into the fray; The Washington Nationals, Tigers, Angels and I never forget Boston, they are just as sneaky as the Yanks. The upside is I can't see the Lee wanting to go to Detroit. Kristen Lee can't stand New York, can you imagine the Lee's picking Detroit over the Big Apple? Sorry Will. Anaheim.... maybe. The Nationals? If Lee goes to Washington, he can change the whole face of that franchise. I doubt it though. In the end, it comes down to New York and Texas. May the best team win.

Let's just hope today's headlines denying any interest in some big free agents Actually means a big winter for the Yankees, with Cashman's slight of hand and all. It could be really interesting.

By the way, Let me remind all of you. The Yankees have tremendous players, and great characters on the team. People like AJ who bring pies, Jeter, our leader, Tex, CC and Swisher all have given life to the clubhouse... Hopefully if others like Lee and who knows who else can get to New York it will be even more fun. If you haven't already, be sure to vote for Swisher to host Saturday Night Live. That would be amazing and I send this out earlier in the week and I'll remind you again. There's a huge campaign to get him to host, it will be as great as when Jeter did years back... maybe even better. Check it out on Facebook: WE WANT NICK SWISHER TO HOST SNL.

Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.