The Yankees have signed 31-year old lefty swinging outfielder Jon Weber to a minor league deal. Weber played in 117 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 136 for 451 (.302 avg, .879 OPS) with 63 runs scored, 14 homers and 69 RBIs. Weber has yet to play in the major leagues but he’s a true professional ball player. He might get his chance with the Yankees next summer if they have a rash of injuries in the outfield.

30-year old righty swinging outfielder Shelley Duncan has refused a minor league assignment by the Yankees thus becoming a free agent. Duncan played in 11 games for the Yankees last season and he was 3 for 15 (.200 avg, .400 OPS) with 1 run scored and 1 RBI. He also played in 123 games in AAA-ball last season in which he was 125 for 452 (.277 avg, .916 OPS) with 85 runs scored, 30 homers and 99 RBIs. Duncan finished up his career in the Bronx playing in 68 games for the Yanks in which he was 32 for 146 (.219 avg, .701 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 8 homers and 24 RBIs. The Yankees won’t miss Duncan as they didn’t really have much room for him anyway.

27-year old lefty swinging 2B Robinson Cano finished in a tie with Zack Greinke of the Royals for 17th place in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. Cano played in 161 games for the Yankees last season and he was 204 for 637 (.320 avg, .871 OPS) with 103 runs scored, 25 homers, 85 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Cano has now played in 5 years with the Yankees and he has played in 734 games in which he is 875 for 2,855 (.306 avg, .818 OPS) with 406 runs scored, 87 homers, 394 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. Former Yankees’ Coach Don Mattingly predicted at one time that Cano will win a batting title. I agree with him about that but I don’t see him ever winning this award because he will likely always have someone on the Yanks that has a better year than him.

34-year old righty swinging 3B Alex Rodriguez finished in a tie with Chone Figgins of the Angels for 10th place in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. A-Rod missed the first month of the season but he still played in 124 games for the Yankees in which he was 127 for 444 (.286 avg, .933 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 30 homers, 100 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. A-Rod has now played in 2,166 games in his 16-year major league career and he is 2,531 for 8,304 (.305 avg, .965 OPS) with 1,683 runs scored, 583 homers, 1,706 RBIs and 297 stolen bases. Alex Rodriguez might have a hard time winning another MVP Award after admitting this season that he used performance enhancing drugs. The baseball writers don’t forget things like that.

35-year old righty swinging shortstop Derek Jeter finished 3rd in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. He played in 153 games for the Yankees last season and he was 212 for 634 (.334 avg, .871 OPS) with 107 runs scored, 18 homers, 66 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. Jeter has now played in 2,138 games in his 15 years in the Bronx and he is 2,747 for 8,659 (.317 avg, .847 OPS) with 1,574 runs scored, 224 homers, 1,068 RBIs and 305 stolen bases. The Captain has a few more good years in him so don’t be surprised if he can win one of these awards in the near future.

29-year old switch hitting 1B Mark Teixeira exploded on the scene for the Yankees last season as he finished 2nd in the voting for the American League MVP Award. He played in 156 games for the Yankees this year and he was 178 for 609 (.292 avg, .948 OPS) with 103 runs scored, 39 homers and 122 RBIs. In his 7 year major league career, Teixeira has now played in 1,060 games in which he is 1,167 for 4,023 (.290 avg, .923 OPS) with 669 runs scored, 242 homers and 798 RBIs. There is no reason to think that Teixeira won’t continue placing high in the voting for this award as he has an almost perfect spot in the Yankees’ batting order.

Joe Girardi finished third in the voting for Manager of the Year in the A.L. behind the two managers he knocked out of the playoffs (Mike Scioscia and Ron Gardenhire) as he complied a 103-59 (63.6%) record during the regular season. He has now led the Yankees to a 192-132 record (59.3%) during his two years as skipper of the Yankees. It will really be hard for Girardi to win this award with the Yankees who are always expected to be great because of the size of the payroll.

29-year old lefty starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting in the American League behind Zach Greinke, Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander. Sabathia pitched in 34 games (all starts) for the Yankees last season and he was 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He only allowed 197 hits in 230 innings while whiffing 197 batters showing how good his stuff was last season. Sabathia has now pitched in 288 games (all starts) in his major league career and he is 136-81 with a 3.62 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. Look for Sabathia to be in the running for a Cy Young Award as long as he stays healthy every year he pitches for the Yankees because of the back up he gets from the offense and the bullpen.

UPDATE: Sabathia also finished in a tie for 21st for the American League MVP Award with Michael Cuddyer of the Twins and Victor Martinez of the Red Sox. It’s kind of amazing that he finished so low but he will likely finish higher next season.

28-year old switch hitting outfielder Freddy Guzman and 32-year old righty starting pitcher Josh Towers have each rejected an assignment to AAA thus becoming free agents. Guzman played in 10 games for the Yankees last season and he was 1 for 6 (.167 avg, .310 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 RBI and 4 stolen bases. He has now played in 47 games in his major league career and he is 20 for 95 (.211 avg, .529 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 1 homer, 7 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Towers pitched in 2 games (0 starts) for the Yankees last season and he was 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. He has now pitched in 139 games (112 starts) in his major league career and he is 45-55 with 1 save, a 4.95 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. The Yankees won’t miss either of these guys next season or down the road.

The New York Yankees have seven potential free agents but they will likely only try to keep two of them. The Yankees would like to bring back Andy Pettitte and either Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui to be the DH in 2010. Jose Molina, Eric Hinske, Jerry Hairston and Xavier Nady will all be likely looking for new teams in 2010. The Yankees only really have two holes to fill over the winter. They could use another starting pitcher and definately a new starting LF. Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, Jermaine Dye and Vladimir Guerrero would be the likely targets in LF. Personally, I would go after Bay just to twist the knife on the Red Sox once again. The need for another starting pitcher depends on what the Yankees are going to do with Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. In my opinion they should keep them both in the bullpen making it probably the best one in the majors. Jon Garland, Rich Harden, John Lackey, Joel Pineiro, Jason Marquis, Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn and Randy Wolf would all likely interest the Yankees. But, in the end John Lackey will probably be the biggest target for the Yankees. If the Yankees don’t re-sign Jerry Hairston they will likely look for another veteran infielder for the bench. Mark Loretta, Robb Quinlan, Rich Aurilia, Kevin Millar, Nomar Garciaparra and Chad Tracy would likely interest the Yankees. The Yankees likely won’t make a lot of moves this winter but the ones they do will be big ones.