New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays Tickets

Devil Rays News:

Rocco Baldelli continues to be in play as the Devil Rays continued their conversations with other teams Wednesday at Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings.

According to one Major League scout, the Rays are asking for a starting pitcher and a position player for Baldelli.

"Major League players," the scout said. "Both have to be Major League players."

The scout went on to say a starter and a prospect with a "high ceiling" would probably get a deal done, but the Rays won't back down from their demands.

According to a Rays official, the team does not have set demands for Baldelli. The official would not even confirm their interest in trading the 25-year-old center fielder. Instead, he said the Rays have identified to other teams players who are available from their roster and have asked the other teams what they might give them in return for those players.

The White Sox were interested in Baldelli, according to a report in Wednesday's Chicago Tribune. In that report, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen expressed a desire to upgrade in center field while also looking to find a leadoff man. The story cited an unnamed source who said the White Sox were interested in Baldelli.

While Chicago was a club with plenty of starting pitching to dangle, including right-handers in Brandon McCarthy and Javier Vazquez, Wednesday night's trade of Freddy Garcia to Philadelphia makes a deal with Tampa Bay less likely. Vazquez began his professional career in Houston when Gerry Hunsicker, the Rays' senior vice president of baseball operations, was the Astros' general manager, so he was thought to be a possibility for Tampa Bay.

Executive vice president for baseball operations Andrew Friedman described Tuesday's action as "positive movement on multiple fronts" but characterized Wednesday's as "a less productive day."

"Less progress than [Tuesday]," he said. "But part of that is we advanced a lot of different conversations yesterday. Today things were a little stagnant. But we're getting to a point where hopefully we'll be able to improve our team."

Friedman said the Rays will not make an "emotional decision just for the sake of getting something done here."

Yankees News:

The ink on Mike Mussina's new contract with the Yankees had been dry for about a week, but with the recent Thanksgiving holiday, the Bombers delayed making the signing official until today.

"I was hoping it would be a simple process and it wouldn't get drug out," said Mussina, who didn't appear to be shopping his services on the free-agent market. "My first choice was to stay with the Yankees, so it wasn't my first choice to be looking around elsewhere. I'm glad that [general manager Brian Cashman] and everybody else wanted me to stay and keep playing for the team."

Rather than pick up their $17 million option on Mussina for 2007, the Yankees opted for the $1.5 million buyout and brought the right-hander back with a two-year deal worth $23 million, with some of the money deferred for luxury tax purposes.

Mussina turns 38 next month, but he remains a key part of the Yankees rotation for next season. Besides Mussina -- 15-7 last year with a 3.51 ERA -- the Yankees will also have 19-game winner Chien-Ming Wang at the front end of their staff.

Mussina's return to New York was also important considering the dicey situations surrounding two other starters. Left-hander Randy Johnson and right-hander Carl Pavano are both expected to be part of the Yankees rotation in 2007, but they come with health issues.

Johnson, 43, is coming off back surgery and while his early progress has been positive, the Yankees are unsure if the Big Unit will be ready by the start of Spring Training.

Pavano is coming off a 2006 campaign spent entirely on the disabled list due to a myriad of injuries that started in the spring and continued throughout the season, including an incident in which Pavano hurt his ribs in a car accident he never reported to the team.