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Chad Huffman went from being talked about an outfield option in San Diego to a player on waivers all in the course of a year. Huffman was claimed by the Yankees today ending his four year stint in the Padres organization that drafted him as a second round pick in 2006.

Huffman spent last season at Triple-A Portland where he hit .269/.361/.469 with 20 homers and 30 doubles. Known for a patient eye he drew 57 walks and 115 strike outs. He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Padres began to sour on Huffman in 2008 when he was playing in Double-A. Despite the league being known as a hitters paradise Huffman hit .284/.383/.419 and while it wasn’t the average of on base skills they were concerned about it was his ability to constantly hit for power.
Some will argue that Huffman was playing in pitcher friendly Wolff Stadium while with San Antonio but it’s not to say it’s any worse then a move to Petco Park in San Diego.
Hufman rebounded last season as his home run totals did return to 20 and he did rake 30 doubles again but when the team needed a spot for non roster invitee Matt Stairs it was Huffman’s spot that was taken.

While the Padres denied they were shopping Adrian Gonzalez, one has to believe that had he been traded and Hufman hit better then the 1-for-23 he did this spring it’s possible that Huffman may even have cracked the Padres opening day roster.
But with Gonzalez still on the roster it keeps Kyle Blanks in left. The Padres don’t seem to want to remove Tony Gwynn from the lineup since his father is the teams most storied player so that leaves Will Venable, who is capable of playing center, in left field.
While the addition of Jerry Hairston may be said to fill the role of a utility player it’s clear the Padres plan to play him at second base in place of David Eckstein on more then a few occasions.
Huffman doesn’t figure to play much of a role for the Yankees this season and unless he’s traded else where may find himself playing the role of Shelley Duncan this year.

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Good grief is there anyone who wasn’t invited to camp by the New York Yankees?

Boone Logan and Royce Ring have been fighting for the second lefty spot in the pen. Logan is guaranteed north of 500,000 while Ring is guaranteed a pair of Yankee pants.

While Ring has pitched 4.1 scoreless innings this spring with 5 k’s, a walk and a single hit allowed Logan hasn’t done anything to lose the position. He’s countered with 6 innings of 2 run ball strike out 4 and allowing just a walk and two hits. It’s worth nothing that the walk and two hits allowed all came in game against Pittsburgh on 3/9.

Ring last appeared in the majors with the Braves in 2008 sporting an ugly8.46 ERA and last year was released prior to the season by St. Louis.

Even if Logan breaks camp with the Yankees he’s no sure bet to remain the second lefty for the club this season. Meaning Ring could reemerge later this season if he remains with the club. Even should Ring fail to remain a Yankee I have a feeling that some team will give him a chance based on the above reasons.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Randy Winn, 35, has signed a contract with the New York Yankees.  The signing of Winn at $2 million could be the biggest sign to date that a reunion of Johnny Damon and the Yankees is not in the cards.

Of course until Damon does sign elsewhere there will always be those rumors.

Winn finished his fifth year in San Fransisco with a .262/.318./353 line with a career low 2 home runs. He is still known as a good defensive outfielder and can offer some team speed with steal totals of 16, 25 and 15 over the last three seasons.

Not known for his power Winn has been able to hit and walk his way on base to be a productive member of a ball club. In 12 big league seasons he has a career .344 OBP including .353 and .363 in 2007 and 2008 while with the Giants.

In New York he figures to share the left field job with Brent Gardner likely seeing the majority of his playing time against right handed pitching.

The combination of Garnder and Winn likely would bat at the bottom of the order.

Brian Cashman and the Yankees held firm with Damon and agent Scott Boras insisting they would only sign the outfielder to a deal worth $2 million.

For what it’s worth the Oakland A’s are still believed to be interested in Damon at a lesser salary. Boras and David O’Brien have done a good job of keeping the option of Atlanta in the press and the Detroit Tigers have reemerged as a possible destination over the last week.

If the Yankees are indeed out of the running for Damon then his anticipated contract for 2010 drops dramatically. The Yankees were the one team that was believed to be able to pay $4-5 million for Damon. It’s possible that Damon may end up signing for the same amount as Winn has. That would have been unbelievable

at the start of this winter.

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On and off again this winter we have heard that Johnny Damon and the New York Yankees haven’t been talking about bringing the outfielder back. Damon had been wanting a three year deal from the Yankees worth in excess of $10 million annually.

The 36-year-old had a tremendous 2009 season, finishing with a .282/.365/.489 batting line, 24 home runs, 82 RBI and 107 runs scored in 550 at-bats.

With Hideki Matsui signed by the Angels and Melky Cabrera traded to the Braves the Yankees currently have Brent Garnder listed atop the depth chart in left field. Gardner finished last year hitting .270/.345/.379 with 3 homers, 23 RBI, and 48 runs scored while stealing 26 bases last year.

That alone has many believing that despite Damon, his agent Scott Boras and the Yankees not talking that something will eventually get done to bring him back to the Bronx.

Brian Cashman and the Yankees front office either have little interest in bringing back Damon or they have played their cards excellently to avoid paying him a huge contract. With the number of teams interested in Damon dwindling his value has also went down. Leaving some to suspect that the Yankees will now swoop in and sign him.

It’s been back and forth between Mark Bowman of MLB.com and David O’Brien of the AJC to whether the Braves are seriously looking at Damon. Damon to Atlanta would be great for the Braves as it would allow them to put him in left field which would allow Jason Heyward to stay in the minors and get needed at-bats he’s missed since his latest string of injuries.

Last winter Bobby Abreu signed a $5 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels. It may take that to happen for the Braves to have a real shot at him. Though some believe the Braves may only be able to sign Damon should he fall in the range of $1-2 million, a number no one can truly see him falling to. For example Colby Lewis recently got $5 million over 2 years and he spent the last two years in Japan after no success in the majors. There’s simply no way Damon gets paid less then Colby Lewis.

The Detroit Tigers were linked to Damon in the last few days but management denied they were even considering him. Considering the Tigers are financially stressed and have been looking for at-bats for Ryan Raburn it’s easy to see why these two aren’t a pair.

There’s always the chance he could join the New York Mets but Boras and the Mets are at odds over Carlos Beltran’s recent surgery.

One thing is for sure. We haven’t heard the end of this one.

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If the report of Ken Davidoff of Newsday is to be believed then the Bronx Bombers are in the mist of finalizing a one year deal worth $5.5 million with former first-baseman Nick Johnson.

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