Farnsworth Deal Stalls as Gordon Leaves NY

*** Farnsworth Deal is Official - 3-years, $17 million ***

With Tom Gordon signing a 3-year $18-million deal with the Phillies, the market for Kyle Farnsworth has suddenly expanded, apparently stalling the fireballer's reported deal with the Yankees. The Rangers have added themselves to the Farnsworth hunt and have made an offer that is "competitive" with the Yankees' reported offer in the neighborhood of 3-years and $17 million. Like the Yanks, the Rangers already have an established closer (Francisco Cordero) and are pursuing Farnsworth as a setup man. Nonetheless, most still expect Farnsworth to end up in New York as planned, and the current stall is only an attempt to get a few extra dollars from the notoriously generous Yankees.

For the conspiracy theorists, there's an alternative explanation for the stalling. Two years ago, the Yankees delayed the signing of Gary Sheffield beyond the arbitration deadline so they wouldn't have to give up a top draft pick to the Braves, something that had angered Atlanta GM John Schuerholz. His recent statement that Farnsworth is joining the Yankees may be an attempt to force the Yankees to sign him before the Dec. 7th arbitration deadline. In response, the sudden stall in the negotiations may be a ploy by the Yankees to create a reason for waiting until Dec. 8th.

Like most things, there's probably a good amount of truth to both sides of the story.

*** Turns out there wasn't much truth to either - the deal was done before the deadline, and Farnsworth didn't get any extra money ***