Penny, Big Unit could be free-agent bargains

Saturday, November 15, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

• Tampa Bay owner Stuart Sternberg says it is unclear whether the Rays have a future in St. Petersburg, in an Aaron Sharockman story that will undoubtedly be viewed in that area as the first indirect warning of a possible move by the franchise.

• Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin says that it sounds like the Yankees "are overbidding" on CC Sabathia.

He's right. There is a reason for the high bid. The Yankees believe that in order to lure Sabathia to New York, they will have to pay a New York surcharge, so to speak. And because they have money to spend, they intend to use their financial might to overwhelm others at the table, much like a guy in a neighborhood poker game who shows up with $100 bills.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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