Friendship is an odd thing when you think about it. Sometimes you develop a best friend because of proximity. That happened with my first one, Jimmy Conrad, because he lived around the corner. That one ended when his parents split up and I have never been able to figure out why. My second one was Tom Cairoli. Unlike Jimmy who was two years younger, Tom was a year or so older. And whereas Jimmy was a dominant personality, Tom was a meek one. He lived in the next town over (New Milford). And I probably would have never met him other than that he was in my bowling league. Bowling was way bigger back then. And who knows how we became best friends, but we did. The poor guy probably still has emotional issues and scarring from the association. This is one of our stories.

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Matt Diaz, a right-handed outfielder the Yankees have been searching for, has apparently agreed to a minor league deal with the Yankees with a Spring Training invite. The news was reported by Marc Carig and Mark Feinsand as sourced by this Major League Trade Rumors post. Diaz fits the Yankees’ needs in several ways. He is old (35 in March). He is cheap and he will only be around for a season.

Seriously, Diaz has a career .770 OPS in parts of ten seasons, but more importantly, has a career .863 OPS against left-handed pitching. He can play left or right field and isn’t a total disaster at either but has not shown the ability to throw out runners over the course of his career.

Diaz could be useful in small doses against left-handed starters and to face those tough lefties out of the bullpen late in the game. But this is hardly heady news.

In other news, the Mariners DFA’s old friend, D.J. Mitchell when they signed Raul Ibanez.

Even though I predicted this day would come and have steeled myself against it way back on February 28, 2012, and even though his contract is on the high side of his value and would probably be regrettable by 2015, this still sucks. Jolly Old Nick Swisher is no longer a member of the New York Yankees. Allowing Russell Martin to walk stung and was bewildering. But allowing Nick Swisher to prance to Cleveland and to play on Terry Francona‘s side is downright painful.  Nick Swisher was fun. He made me smile. My wife loves him and enjoyed laughing at his antics. She will personify a lot of Yankee fans today. Her disappointment will be the same as many. God save 2014 at all costs, Hal. Attaboy.

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The writing brain is a funny thing. This post was going to be all about Kevin Youkilis and how a hated enemy is suddenly a Yankee. The feelings of this signing were so mixed up and tangled that any attempt at staying on the journalistic side and not the fan side were impossible. The deal led to thoughts of other enemies that were hated and then suddenly Yankees and that was what the topic here was supposed to be. It was all planned out with a list that included Reggie Jackson, Wade Boggs, Johnny Damon and Sparky Lyle. The research led to the stats pages for all of those players, but once Lyle’s pages were under the microscope, all thoughts of the original topic got blown up. The more Lyle’s numbers were put together and considered, the overwhelming thought became, “How come this guy is never talked about as a Hall of Fame candidate?”

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The New York Yankees signed Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Hiroki Kuroda to one year contracts. Russell Martin was allowed to waltz away fairly cheaply to the Pirates. Ichiro Suzuki‘s agent says he is tired of waiting for the Yankees and is now listening to other offers. Nick Swisher is in the rear view mirror. The only contracts the Yankees have added so far are roster fillers like Jim Miller, etc, and one year deals that more than likely will be off the books for 2014. Curtis Granderson, Phil Hughes, Robinson Cano and Joba Chamberlain are all dangerously close to free agency in 2014. We have all heard to the point of nausea that the Yankees have given themselves a hard cap of $189 million in 2014. What nobody is saying is that as of right now, there is only about $96 million tied up for 2014.

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We have already heard that Mariano Rivera is coming back for another go at it. Andy Pettitte seems on his way back as well. Derek Jeter is mending in Tampa and is said to be on target for the start of the season or soon after. For Yankee fans and baseball fans, the inevitable has been pushed back one more time. It looks like the old guys are going to work together at least one more time.

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The Blue Jays pull off a killer deal with the Marlins. The Blue Jays sign Melky Cabrera. The Tigers sign Torii Hunter. Hiroki Kuroda wants to play in southern California. Russell Martin is highly sought after. And the Yankees…the Yankees…have not done anything yet. And when they do, it will be for bit parts for one season. Those bit parts will have an average age of 37 years old or something. Welcome to the new reality.

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Robinson Cano proudly posted that on Twitter today he became a citizen of the United States of America. Such an act used to have a lot more significance in this country than it does now. But for this old-timey baseball writer, such an act is a very cool thing. Way to go, Cano. Welcome to citizenship. If you click the link for his tweet, you will also see a picture of the proud ballplayer holding a flag and his certificate. Nice.

Lee MacPhail passed away today of natural causes at the age of 95. MacPhail’s life work of baseball brought him recognition in the Hall of Fame. But his long legacy also leaves good and bad memories for long-time Yankee fans.

The son of another Hall of Fame executive, Larry MacPhail, Lee MacPhail got his start in baseball working for his father when the elder MacPhail was an executive with the Brooklyn Dodgers. When Larry MacPhail became an executive and part owner of the Yankees, Lee followed him there.

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