THE WINTER MEETINGS

***BUSTER OLNEY ON THE YANKS***
Buster thinks the Yanks did a good thing all the way around: Vastly improved their rotation, kept all their youngsters, lost draft picks but gained a couple back, and reduced their payroll. Great, now all they need is 98 wins.

***LUPICA FEELS DIFFERENTLY***
Mike says they got one good player and two question marks (Burnett and Pettitte/Sheets), committed to high salaries for the next 3 years and haven't produced a team with good chemistry since 1998. Thank you, Mike.

Mike Lupica's favorite winter meeting story:
The Yanks want Doug Melvin of the Brewers, to pick up a portion of Mike Cameron's salary in the Cameron-Cabrera trade. After out-bidding the Brewers by a mere $61 million for Sabathia, I can't understand why Melvin wouldn't be anxious to help the Yankees out.

***INDIANS SIGN KERRY WOOD***
I know the guy is like a yo-yo between the DL and the active list, but the man can bring it. Picasner thinks this makes Cleveland dangerous. If they can stay healthy, they can win the Central going away. Chicago gets a lot more respect than they deserve because Ozzie is 'entertaining'. The Twins continue to be a magic act and Detroit has terminal clubhouse fever (Nobody wins with Sheffield).

***THE WESTERN DIVISION***
If the Angels don't get Teixeira, they will be very ordinary. Probably still win the division because the rest of the division sucks.

***THE EASTERN DIVISION***
Yanks/Sox at the top with Toronto close behind. Sorry Rays, Picasner thinks you just had one of those years when everything went right. Still, with all those good young players, they could end up in the mix. Peter Angelos is still trying to buy crab cakes without the crabs (Talks big, but won't spend the money).