First, a word from the Big Man himself, announcing the deal:

Now, onto the good stuff, which Larry alerted us all to…

Good news for Yankees fans: CC Sabathia has signed an extension to remain a New York Yankee. The details of the extension are not known at this point.

Sabathia announced the extension himself, on Twitter and in a video you can see here. It’s nice to hear that CC wants to remain a Yankee for the rest of his career.

UPDATE: ESPN reports that Sabathia’s contract has been extended for an extra year and an additional $30 million, taking the deal through 2016. The deal also contains a vesting option for $25 million in 2017 with a $5-million buyout. The 2017 option automatically vests unless Sabathia goes down with a left shoulder injury.

Mike Axisa at RAB calls this deal a “best case scenario” for the Yanks. I agree. I think it’s cause for celebration for Yankee fans.

Ken Rosenthal reports on the state of negotiations between MLB and MLBPA over the next collective bargaining agreement. The top line takeaway is that everyone expects a deal to be done before free agency opens, but Rosenthal also has some information on the details of the agreement.

Draft slotting:

Rosenthal all but calls slotting dead in the water, which is certainly happy news for my Monday morning. Slotting is a new good, lousy, horrible, very bad idea (to put it mildly) that would make it much harder for teams to sign high school players in the later rounds and thus would cause more talent to go to college baseball at the expense of the minor leagues. Additionally, this is a solution in search of a problem (well, other than the problem of owners having to fork over too much of their potential profit to run an organization anyway), as the brief period in which small market teams shied away from the best prospects over fears of being unable to sign them is basically over. Indeed, far from the Yankees and Red Sox lousing it up, it was the Pirates and Nationals who drew the ire of Commissioner Bud for “overspending” this year.

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Though the Yankees have reportedly offered C.C. Sabathia a contract extension prior to free agency opening, Sabathia still intends to utilize his opt out clause before the deadline, according to Jon Heyman. This is presumably to give other teams an opportunity to submit bids, on the off chance that someone wants to go crazy in order to obtain the Yankees’ ace. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t mean much more than that. Absent said craziness, no other team is in a position to outbid the Yankees, and there’s no indication that Sabathia is likely to pitch his home games anywhere other than the Bronx in 2012. Still, it will lead to some tense weeks for Yankee fans once it’s official, even if we’ve expected this since the contract was signed.

Nothing we didn’t expect, but the Yankees have officially exercised their cub options on both Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher. Cano will make $14 million next year and has one more option for 2013, barring some sort of new agreement being reached between the two sides. Swisher’s option is for $10.25 million and, though some people have suggested not picking it up, was every bit the no-brainer Cano’s option was. $10.25 million is a bargain for a player that’s hit as well as Swish has over the previous three seasons, and it would have been downright crazy to run him out of town for a couple of draft picks. The Yankees may still shop their starting right fielder around the trade market as they search for some pitching help, but there was never a chance they weren’t going to pick up the option.

With their victory last night, the St. Louis Cardinals claimed their 11th World Series championship. Those 11 titles make St. Louis the second most decorated franchise in Major League Baseball. On the other hand, they could win the next 15 World Series in a row…and they’d still be second best, one title shy of the Yankees. That’s….I don’t even know. I was going to say “crazy,” but that really doesn’t do it justice. Let’s just say the Yankees win. Relentlessly.

On a less happy note (and I don’t know about you, but there’s something poetic about the fact that we’re going to get our first snowfall the day after the baseball season goes away), here are some notes to pass along about the next week or so of the offseason.

• The start of the offseason clock is going to be pushed back to 12:00 A.M. Monday. This is basically just so the offseason kicks off during the week, as opposed to over the weekend.
• Along those lines, C.C. Sabathia has until 12:00 A.M. Thursday to opt out of his contract, though reports are that the Yankees are working hard to get an extension for C.C. in place before that. Free agency will open at 12:01 A.M. Sunday. At that point, free agents will officially be allowed to negotiate with new teams.
• Nick Swisher has a limited no-trade clause in his contract, and the Yankees are waiting for him to submit his list of teams he can block a move to. After they get said list, they’ll pick up his $10.25 million option.

Jon Heyman reports that the Yankees and Brian Cashman have officially come to an agreement on a contract extension for the general manager. They’re waiting until the conclusion of the World Series to officially announce the deal, but everyone has been expecting this anyway, so it’s hardly Earth shattering news. Joel Sherman reports that the extension is for three years, which is basically the standard term in the Bronx, it seems.

Via Chad Jennings, the Yankees have announced an agreement with WCBS to continue broadcasting games in 2012, with the two sides continuing to work towards a long term agreement. Both John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman are expected to return as broadcasters.

Personally, I’m glad the Yankees are staying put. I have to make the occasional weekend road trip up to Delaware, and can pull in WCBS for the entire trip. On the other hand, I’m pretty disappointed they won’t be making any changes to the booth. I’m fairly ambivalent about Sterling (though it seems they really ought to be able to get a much better broadcaster for the flippin Yankees!), but Suzyn Waldman couldn’t be much worse at the job, in my opinion. God love the woman for what she’s accomplished in her career, but she’s just not cut out for that job.

ESPN New York’s Wallace Matthews reports that the Yankees’ brain trust discussed the possibility of signing Carlos Beltran during their organizational meetings in Tampa:

Not long ago, it was considered a slam-dunk that the Yankees would pick up Nick Swisher‘s $10.25 million option for 2012, despite another miserable postseason performance.

Now, it’s not so clear.

The reason? Carlos Beltran, a free agent after seven up-and-down, and mostly down, seasons with the Mets. Beltran is being shopped hard by his agent, Scott Boras, and his name came up in discussions at the Yankees organizational meeting in Tampa on Wednesday.

“He’s on our list,” said a team official who was present at the meeting. “But we have to make a decision on Swisher first.”

The notion that this is a bad sign for Swisher is probably an overstatement. The organization isn’t going to leave any stone unturned during these meetings, especially not when it comes to one of the better hitters available. We don’t know the seriousness of the discussions, and they certainly could have just been due diligence. In any case, Beltran certainly is an option, so it would be irresponsible of the organization not to discuss him.

None of that should affect Swisher’s option, however, which should be picked up regardless. At $10.25 million for just one season, the option is certainly a bargain for a hitter like Swisher, and it would be downright insane for the Yankees to buy it out and let Swisher walk for mere draft picks. I don’t think the Yankees will have a new right fielder next season, but even if they do they will almost certainly pick up Swisher’s option and trade him, most likely for a starting pitcher.

You don’t see Scott Boras walk a statement back very often, but now he’s saying his comments about Robinson Cano wanting to negotiate a new contract were “in jest.” The actual wording of the statement/report aren’t really that clear, but I think what Boras means is that his statement that Brian Cashman wasn’t returning his phone calls was a joke. Obviously, ignoring phone calls from the agent of one of your best players is not something a GM should be doing, so someone may have spoken to Boras about it, prompting him to clarify. I assume Cano still wants a new contract if he can get one.

No surprise here, but George King reports that Scott Boras says in no uncertain terms that Rafael Soriano won’t be using the opt out clause in his contract, and will be returning to the Yankees in 2012. Boras engages in a lot of prattle about Soriano but, suffice it to say, there’s no way Soriano could get a better deal than what he has left on his current contract right now, so he’s electing to stay with the Bombers.

Heckuva job Randy.

Well, it was only a matter of time before this came up:

Cano’s agent, Scott Boras, attempted to contact general manager Brian Cashman about redoing Cano’s deal and has been met with silence.

“I called Cash to ask about dropping the options and he hasn’t returned the call,” Boras told The Post.

The Yankees hold two options on the 29-year-old second baseman for $14 million next season and $15 million for 2013. There are $2 million buyouts for both years. The options, which were part of a four-year deal worth $30 million signed by Cano when Boras didn’t represent him, are a package deal and can’t be split.

There have been rumblings about this since Cano hired Boras, and it certainly makes sense from Cano’s stand point. He’s become one of the best hitters in baseball (though certainly not the best in the A.L. as “some say,” according to King), and it certainly behooves him to get some more guaranteed money now. You could argue it’s in the Yankees’ interests to lock him up now as well, rather than waiting for him to become a free agent in the latter part of his prime in two years.

Of course, the Yankees have a well known policy of not re-negotiating contracts, and Cashman may be loathe to make an exception for Cano. Personally, I hope that isn’t the case. Every rule has its exceptions, and this looks like a clear example of a case where the Yankees will benefit from a new contract as well. At the very least, I hope this doesn’t get ugly.

Oh, how I love the Post. Anytime I’m in the mood to read an article full of ill-advised, poorly constructed arguments filled with pretention and hyperbole, I can always count on them to fill that need. Today, Mike Vaccaro decided to take aim at Texas Rangers ace C.J. Wilson’s postseason performance, and its potential impact on his stock in free agency.

“It was the latest slippage in an October career that has thus far been scattered with banana peels over these last two seasons. Wilson is now 1-5 the last two years, and also now owns the decidedly dubious distinction of having lost the All-Star Game, an ALDS game, an ALCS game and now a World Series game in the same year, a Pick Four from hell any time, especially in a walk year.

Such is the plight for a guy like Wilson, who has played much of his baseball in benign anonymity, whose pretty regular-season numbers can inspire thoughts that he would be an ideal addition to the Yankees this offseason. But there is a difference between the figures that dance on a computer screen and the performance you see on a baseball field.

And the harsh truth is this: in October, with eyes at last lasered on him, Wilson has looked ordinary, if you wish to be kind. If you wish to be harsh, there are other adjectives that’ll work just as well.”

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