Talking Sports With John Cruz: Winter Talks

Are we still talking about trading Brett Gardner?

Now Rumors are swirling around about their closer Andrew Miller! Are you guy's nuts? Miller stays, Brett Gardner must stay as well.

Andrew Miller. Photo Courtesy by Arturo Pardavila III

The Yankees are willing to bring their "open to anything" approach to their Winter Meetings that takes place in Nashville, Tennessee.

Brian Cashman says that he continues to say that we will be receptive to pitches from other ball clubs.

Brian Cashman. Photo Courtesy by jimmyack205

"According to Cashman "If teams want to toss out an offer that includes outfielder Brett Gardner or closer Andrew Miller, for example, the Yanks will at least listen"(Hoch).

The Yankee organizations believe that they have a roster capable of being competitive in the American League East.

"Cashman's stance is more an invitation to be wowed than born from any specific urgency filtering out of the Bronx" (Hoch).

"I think it's about roster upgrades more than anything else," Cashman said. "We'll gravitate to the positional side, the relief side, the rotation side -- whatever I can make materialize" (Hoch).

The MLB.com and MLB Network will have the full wall-to-wall coverage of the 2015 Winter Meetings from the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

The Network will be launching 35 hours of live Winter Meetings coverage starting Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. The fans also have the option of doing live streaming of all news conferences on MLB.com.

While the "Big Boss" general partner Hal Steinbrenner has said that he expects to add at least one starting pitcher before next spring, the Yankees so far have stayed away from acquiring any big-ticket names in free agency, for instance, we let David Price go to our rivals the BostonRed Sox!

"Steinbrenner has often said that the Yankees shouldn't need a $200 million payroll to win a World Series, and as such, Cashman has actively pursued the trade market in another attempt to improve the team's youth and flexibility" (Hoch).

The bottom line is the Yankees had only about $12 million come off this past year's payroll. That is not enough folks.

I guess the timing doesn't seem right to make a play for any big names out there in the market. The fact is, over the next two years following the 2015 season; the Yankees will see the deals of Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia all expire.

Is that good news? That remains to be seen!

"The fact that we do have rather large commitments that we're tied into currently will affect the ability to strategize to every level, but it doesn't mean you don't have the ability to have those conversations nonetheless," Cashman said recently. "We will" (Hoch).

The Yankees still have the second base issue they need to address, and to be honest with guys we could benefit from having another starting pitcher. We just don’t know what we are going to get from CC Sabathia.

The rest of pitching staff is okay, but at certain times the staff is kind of suspect with the exception of Nathan Eovaldi.

So we will just have to sit back and see what kind of "wheeling and dealing," Cashman can do this winter. I leave you guys with the a Yankees Hot Stove Video, enjoy.