Like the class act he is, Mariano Rivera resigned with the Yankees for 2 years/$30 million dollars.  Sure, other teams offered him more, but Mo doesn’t play that.  He’s a Yankee.  Besides, $30 million is nothing to sneeze at, even if you are as great as Mo, but especially because he’s over 40 years old.  Try explaining that to Jeter…

"Because Derek Jeter, for lack of a better word, is good."

Borderline diva Derek Jeter also resigned for 3 years/$51 million – but really, its either 3 years/$54 million if the Yankees buy out the fourth year player option or 4 years/$59 million if they don’t.  Jeter has been out there saying he’s not happy with the way the negotiations were handled, but frankly, when the Yankees offered 3 years/$45 million and Jeter rejected it and then the Yankees bid against themselves just to make Jeter happy…  well, I don’t have much sympathy for Jeter.  3 years/$45 million was not a fair offer, it was a generous offer, because even if it was a pay cut from Jeter’s previous salary, it still makes him the richest middle infielder in baseball.  But Jeter is mad about how public things got and Brian Cashman’s suggestion that he shop around if he thought their offer was unfair despite Jeter’s testimonial to the Yankee brass that he wouldn’t even talk to other teams.  Well, when Jeter turned down a generous offer like 3 years/$45 million and let his representation call it a “baffling” offer and the media said he was greedy…  What did he expect to happen?  He was being greedy, and that’s fine; this could be the last contract that he gets, and he has every right to pursue every  last dollar.  But the bottom line is that the Yankee’s first offer was an overpayment, they sweetened the deal and he still wasn’t happy because the negotiations weren’t all hearts and flowers.  Anyway, Jeter got his money, shot his mouth off – great.  Let’s hope this is the last we hear of this for the next few years.

The Red Sox signed Carl Crawford for 7 years/ $142 million… that’s a spicy falafel ball.  Think about it this way – he makes $2 million less than Mark Teixeira. That seems a bit crazy to me.  I speculate about whether or not the Yankees were ever really interested in Crawford… I know they’ve been singing his praises for years, but I’m starting to wonder if they were doing that just to drive up the price a little… I never thought Crawford would get this big of a deal.  I understand that he hit well in the three spot in limited duty there last year (49 games: .323 avg, .364 OBP, .526 slugging, 7 home runs), but I don’t think anyone expects him to blossom into a power hitter, and as his speed dissipates with age, Crawford will be extremely overpaid… kind of like Derek Jeter at the end of his last deal.  It’s also a bit curious why the Red Sox signed a speedster to play the smallest left field in the league, but what do I know?  Maybe he’ll be great for all seven years, but I wouldn’t bet on it.  I also don’t get why this is a brilliant move… why is paying someone $20 million a year to his singles and steal bases brilliant?

Finally, did you hear what Luke Scott said about the President?  It was very 2008:

“[Obama] was not born here,” Scott asserted to Answer Man in the session’s last segment. “That’s my belief. I was born here. If someone accuses me of not being born here, I can go — within 10 minutes — to my filing cabinet and I can pick up my real birth certificate and I can go, ‘See? Look! Here it is. Here it is.’ The man has dodged everything. He dodges questions, he doesn’t answer anything.”

What a loser Scott is.  The president should respond with the following statement:  “I look forward to meeting Mr. Scott next fall after the Orioles win the World Series…  Oh wait, I forgot – the Orioles are horrible.  Suck on that, Luke.  You’re a born loser.  ‘No you can’t!’  Sucka.”

(I was going to write something about the Giants demolishing the Redskins, but I figured, what’s the point?  The Redskins are AWFUL.)