WILL THE BILL HALL DEAL JEOPARDIZE CHAVEZ?

We all love Eric Chavez but nothing has been accomplished between he and the Yankees. All we know if that he made a statement earlier this winter that he’d like to come back to baseball and not retire and that he’d like to come back to the Yankees. Read HERE. The Yankees in turn reciprocated and expressed interest back. That’s it. Nothing more.

Then today, We come to find out that Bill Hall, a second baseman and outfielder… a guy with a pretty decent bat has just signed a minor league deal with the New York Yankees. This was announced by Mr. Hall himself on Twitter with his hashtag #IWANNARING. You can read about his deal HERE but in a nutshell, the Wall Street Journal maps it out for me:

"The Yankees have agreed to a minor league contract with utilityman Bill Hall and invited him to big league spring training. If Hall is added to the Yankees' 40-man roster, he would get a $600,000, one-year contract and have the chance to earn an additional $600,000 in performance bonuses."

Now that lends the question, will this deal jeopardize any of the other signings that the Yankees have been trying to put together? Jon Heyman of CBS Sports says No. Read his report HERE. In short, he believes the Yankees will continue their pursuit of Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez. But I say "Wait a minute! Weren't the Yankees bitching about money?" How can they possibly sign Hall and assume he'll make the team, then can they really try and sign a DH type AND Eric Chavez too? The numbers don't add up.

We’ve heard all winter about how the New York Yankees have been crying about money and for the most part, they’ve stuck to their guns. So, will they still pursue someone like Eric Chavez, who they could use as that backup to Alex Rodriguez at third base and his trusted bat off the bench or will they forget it because, well, he might be too expensive?

And let's examine the Raul Ibanez Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui triangle? Who will step forward as the “cheapest” alternative as a lefty bat that Joe Girardi’s been suggesting we need? Everyone believes it will be Ibanez, but is that because the Yankees floated that to take people off their scent and snatch up someone like Hideki Matsui instead? Will Johnny Damon's asking price of $5 million go down to $2 million to come back and play in the Bronx? Joel Sherman reports that from what he can tell, the Yankees don't intend on spending more than $2 milllion on a DH, read HERE. Interesting. But you see what I mean though right? I play this game too… no one really knows anything, but speculating sometimes makes for good conversation.

Look, there is no question that if Bill Hall does well, he’ll be up in the Bronx and get paid, and good for him. He seems to be a stand up guy and a gutsy player. My only point is, what about the guys the New York sports media have been propping up all winter? Are they now too expensive because we keep putting money out for players like Bill Hall? It’s just a question, I’d love to know the answer….After all, it’s almost Spring Training…

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