Well, TRUE YANKEE(TM) Jorge Posada is back for 2008 and the three years after that. Although he said he was going to go through with the whole negotiating with other teams thing because he never had the chance to do before, the Yankees offered him 4 years for 52.4 million and he took it. Hallelujah.
Signing for four years means Posada will be a 1B for at least two of those, though it is conceivable he could be a catcher for all four (though perhaps in a backup role) since he didn’t really start catching until he was in his mid-20s. I am unreasonably happy that Posada is staying here, and that he really meant it when he said the Yankees were “number one in his heart” because he is certainly the #1 catcher in the heart of the fans.
This signing is likely to be followed soon by Mariano Rivera unless he is really crazy. Rivera has been a bit standoffish about resigning, though most people view it as an inevitability. If(When?) he signs for three years it is conceivable he might not hold the closer’s job for all three but it’s hard to predict that sort of thing.
The most wonderful pitcher in the universe, Andy Pettitte, is someone who there will likely be no news about for a while. Hopefully the Yankees tactics of sending Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain to his house making sad faces will bring him back into the fold. I don’t know if Andy can pitch as well as he did for one more year, but even if he declines I would be surprised if it reached Mussina levels of implosion as he does not freak out the same way. There is no way to replace him, I will be eternally sad if he does not return.
