Yanks release 24 to make room on roster for Bartolo Colon

The New York Yankees announced that they have released 24 players from their 25-man roster, including perennial All-Stars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, to clear room for right-handed pitcher Bartolo Colon.

“Yesterday, we were informed by Major League Baseball that we could no longer get away with counting Bartolo as only one man,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “Technically, we were supposed to release 57 men to account for Bartolo, but [Bud] Selig said he would cut us a break this time.”

This marks the largest roster move in the organization’s history since 2009 when the team was forced to clear out their entire minor league system to make room for a CC Sabathia rehab start.

Slimmer CC Sabathia now down to seven chins

Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia followed an exercise program this offseason that resulted in the ace shedding five chins and is now down to the lowest number of chins of his playing career at seven.

Following early spring workouts, Sabathia said he could feel the difference.

“Having fewer chins has really helped with my balance on the mound,” Sabathia said. “But the hard part now is to make sure I keep the chins off.”

While the Yankees commended Sabathia for his chinloss, the team is disappointed that non-roster invitee Bartolo Colon put on 62 chins and keeps eating the other non-roster invitees.

Ruben Amaro: ‘Sit. Roll over. That’s a good Yankees!’

After allowing the Yankees to play around with the idea of signing Cliff Lee for a few months, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro snatched Lee from the Yankees mouth and commanded the team to sit like a good Yankees.

“Who’s a good boy! Yes! You’re such a good boy, aren’t you!” Amaro said of New York, who really deserves a treat. “You gave up Cliff Lee all by yourself! Didn’t you! Yes you did! You didn’t try to fight me or anything because you know who daddy is! Yes you do! Yes you do!”

Sources indicate that while New York still has a CC Sabathia and an Alex Rodriguez to play with, they were seen wallowing around the house looking sad and incredibly pathetic.

Werth, Reggie Jackson meet to discuss Reggie Jackson

The New York Post reported that Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth met with former Yankee Reggie Jackson last Friday for lunch.

On Monday, Werth denied that Jackson tried to recruit him to play for the Yankees next season and insisted that Jackson spent the bulk of the meeting talking about himself, pausing only to ask if Werth could “get at this [bill].”

“I couldn’t get two words in. Not two words,” said Werth of his meeting with Jackson, who is a long-time family friend. “Even if I wanted to talk about playing for [the Yankees] next year, I couldn’t find a break in the conversation to bring it up.”

Jackson, a Yankees official, also met with Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia after the 2008 season in an apparent recruiting visit.

“He went on and on about his days with the Yankees,” Sabathia said of his lunch with Jackson. “He did stop to say ‘slow down, you’re not even chewing’ at one point, but he’s Mr. October, so I just let him keep talking.”

The truth of the Cliff Lee situation shall set us all free

We give a then 45-year-old Jamie Moyer $13 million after a sub-par 2008 postseason and now we send Cliff Lee packing after plowing through the eventual World Series champs like he was Tiger Woo…ok, nevermind. But something ain’t right here, Rube.

I heard on 97.5 The Fanatic this morning that the Phillies presented Lee with a contract extension offer about a week before the deal went down and within hours of presenting a counter-offer to the club, Lee was headed to Seattle for prospects.

If the above is true, then the Phillies essentially offered Lee a contract extension knowing he wouldn’t accept it right away and were talking to Toronto about trading for Roy Halladay in the meantime.

To me, that’s pretty damn shady of Ruben and the Phillies to dismiss Lee just because you want to bring in Roy Halladay. As great as Halladay has been and will probably be for the Phillies, I think Lee has earned the right to be treated as a king in this town for what he did this year instead of being heandled like Adam Eaton’s soiled draws.

Personally, I wouldn’t have made the deal if it strictly came down to keeping Cliff Lee or taking Roy Halladay. Halladay’s got the deeper resume, but you can’t do any better than 4-0 and shutting down the Yankees twice in the postseason, so I’m not tinkering with a great thing.

The only reason I initially liked the Halladay deal was because of the rumors about Lee wanting too much money and wanted to walk after the season.

Of course, most of this will fade when Halladay heads out there and does what Halladay has done for some time now, which is dominate anyone holding a bat 60 feet away from him, but we still have to wallow in this mess for the next couple months. What would make it worse is if Halladay or Cole Hamels goes down at some point — or worse — if Cliff Lee pitches out of his mind in Seattle and we’re left wondering what could have been in Philly for 2010.

I just want the truth of what really went down because it’s sounding like the Phillies screwed Lee over and if that’s the case, it’s going to be hard to stand behind a team that rolls that way when he gave you the most thrilling pitching performances this franchise has ever seen.