Via Wayne Coffey Monday:

The Yankees signed Martin last December, days after Cliff Lee left the pinstriped world wobbling by having the audacity to take somebody else’s money. The move was treated as little more than a consolation prize, a kewpie doll the Yankees came home with after the grand prize had gotten away.

The consolation prize may turn out to be the Yankee’s most important acquisition of the offseason. Martin could wind up being much more than someone keeping Jorge Posada‘s position warm for Jesus Montero.

To be honest, I and several others here were doing some head scratching when the Yankees signed Martin. And many of us were underwhelmed by the various reclamation projects that made the opening day roster, including Jones, Garcia, Chavez, and Colon. Granted, it’s only been a dozen or so games, but Chavez has already contributed, and Garcia’s first start was more than adequate, Bartolo has shown at least the ability to miss bats, and I have to agree with the assessment that Russell Martin’s signing helps the team this year, on offense and defense.  The Yanks might very well not be in first place right now without their contributions. Overall, midway through April, there have been some pleasant surprises from this group.

This being my first post here, I’d like to thank Steve Lombardi for maintaining this blog, and for giving me a place to go to read and talk Yankees for these past few years. Thanks Steve.

Via Pete Dougherty of the Times Union yesterday:

DirecTV has been granted an extension until Thursday “in order to continue negotiating with the goal of reaching a new agreement,” YES Network reported this morning.

The contract between the satellite company and regional sports network expired at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.  (Click here to vote in our poll about the DirecTV/YES Network dispute.)

The extension will allow subscribers to see at least five additional Yankees telecast. Today’s game is on the Fox network, but the next five — Sunday against the Tigers, and a four-game series against the Twins — are scheduled for YES.

For those of us out-of-towners who watch most of the Yankees games via Extra Innings Package, this is season defining. I’m not sure who’s the bad guy in this mess, but if DirecTV drops YES, the fans are the big losers.

Interestingly, YES stayed on throughout the game and was not blacked out as usual, requiring a channel switch to the 700′s, where extra inning content is located.