Since the Yankees signed CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett last week, things have been pretty quiet in the Hot Stove League of Major League Baseball. The economy, despite what Scott Boras might tell you, is definitely a huge factor as Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, and to a lesser extent, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn remain team-less. But since rumors continue to circulate, you know that phone calls are being made, albeit a bit less with Christmas approaching.

The latest rumor has the Yanks talking to Ramirez and sticking him in front of A-Rod in what would be a pretty ridiculous lineup for a few years. You have to wonder how deep the Steinbrenners’ pockets really are, but let’s face it…doing that would make New York AL East favorites even if the Red Sox land Teixeira (which is either becoming doubtful or Theo Epstein is playing the media) and the Rays field basically the same team that went to the World Series in 2007. And it would piss off Sox fans to no end, giving them more reason to despise Manny Being Manny.

And Cubs’ GM Jim Hendry has reported that the Jake Peavy trade may be re-visited. He didn’t want to part with as much salary as San Diego wanted him to, and he didn’t want to include Mark DeRosa in the deal, but apparently Hendry is still very interested in pursuing the powerful right-hander.

Oh, and Rafael Furcal shunned his former team, the Braves, for his more current former team, the Dodgers, this past week. If you are yawning, I don’t blame you. And if you’re a bitter Braves fan, I don’t blame you either.

So what will happen between now and January 1? I don’t think much. And if you are a marginal free agent (see list above), the unemployment line beckons a bit louder. And that can’t be good for anyone, especially those pesky player agents.

Move over Manny Ramirez – Plaxico Burress is taking over your philosophy. Gary Myers of The Daily News writes that in the wake of Burress returning to the team following a team-based one-game suspension that Plaxico is just being Plaxico.

He plays hurt, he plays great. He’s not getting arrested and he’s not testing positive for drugs. Not a bad investment, right? He’s just in his own little Plaxico world on issues like showing up on time and then acting indignant having to explain what he did to get himself suspended.

Plaxico’s Sept.22 predicament? He had to take his young son, who is not quite 2, to school that day. It sounds better than the dog ate his playbook, but not quite something that normally falls into the category of being the emergency he said it was. He indicated there were other circumtances involved, but would not elaborate.

He said “there is nothing to tell” about domestic disturbance calls from his house in June and August.
For anybody who has been faced with the dilemma of getting a child to school when you are the only option, it can be a challenging situation when you also have a job that requires your presence. But there are usually solutions: You drop them off and go to work, assuming they are going to school in the same time zone in which you live. Or in a household where transportation for a child is an issue, you hire a babysitter, which for those in Burress’ tax bracket, doesn’t put a strain on the checkbook. Or you ask a friend for a favor. At the very least, you call the boss and say the car pool broke down.
Not when Plax is being Plax.

“It’s not like I purposely missed out or that was my intention,” Burress said Monday. “It just seemed to happen that way and I didn’t feel any reason to explain to them what happened or why I missed because I don’t feel it is really anybody’s business. It is like I told them, if I had a decision to make as far as my family and my son and things like that, I wouldn’t change anything about it.”

Myers goes on to make a good point that while family comes before football, Burress could have gotten a babysitter or someone else to take his child to school that day. Of course, nobody knows Burress’s personal situation, so maybe he didn’t feel comfortable leaving his child in the hands of someone else.

But that isn’t Myers’ point anyway. His point is that Burress continues to do what he wants to do and sticks it in the Coughlin and the Giants’ faces. And what a shame too, because he’s a fantastic player on a fantastic team that could potentially win another Super Bowl this year.