Yankees, Mets say Let’s Make a Deal

In a stunning Opening Week move, the Yankees and Mets have decided to trade their entire major league rosters to each other. Johan Santana is officially a Yankee. Alex Rodriguez, a Met.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman said that the move was made because of the way both teams’ rosters were set up. “We felt like our roster would rake in the NL East and the Mets had a team custom-designed to beat on American League contenders,” he said.

Managers Willie Randolph and Joe Girardi will also switch teams. Randolph coached with the Yankees for many seasons and knows the American League well. Girardi’s previous experience managing the Florida Marlins indicates that he knows his way around the National League.

Mets shortstop Derek Jeter, who was initially stunned by the move, said he would be happy with his new surroundings. “Now I can buy that house in Long Island I’ve had my eye on,” he said.

Should the teams both advance to the World Series, the games will not be played. Members of both teams will parade down the Canyon of Heroes and “New York” will go down in the record books as champions.

The Yankees are expected to pay the Mets $90 million to offset the differences in team payrolls.

A few briefs (not boxers)

• A-Rod caused some commotion yesterday when he claimed that last season he was drug tested 9 or 10 times last season. Normally, a player is tested twice unless they have previously tested positive for a banned substance (stimulant, steroid, etc). Yankees beat reporter Peter Abraham has more on this on his blog. Basically, Rodriguez needs to watch his words when he exaggerates things. Either that, or he’s been popping greenies. We’ll see if this story turns into anything substantial.
• The PED hearing in front of Congress last week really proved nothing, and hurt Clemens more than it helped him. Republicans called out McNamee as a liar, Democrats attacked Clemens. Bipartisan baseball? You’ve got it.
• Clemens also said at the hearing that Andy Pettitte “misremembered” a conversation the two had in 1999 or 2000 where Clemens discussed using steroids for years. Pettitte has been saying that he wanted to go out and tell the truth so he wouldn’t feel guilty. More signs point to Clemens lying.
• Finally, the New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks have at long last finalized the trade of Jason Kidd to Dallas. The trade had to be completely redone in terms of who the Nets were getting in return and involved coaxing Keith Van Horn out of retirement to include in the trade. Rules stipulate that Van Horn must make himself available to play for the Nets. More info can be found here. This is one of the most anticipated trades the NBA has seen recently and, quite honestly, it seems to have gone to ridiculous levels. Van Horn had to be included in the trade for the money figures to work out. You needed to bring a man out of retirement to add enough value to a trade? I still don’t fully understand how this works. Sometimes teams want to get a deal done so badly that they’ll overcome incredible technicalities and roadblocks to get it done.