"It doesn't matter now," Rivera said. "It's over. Thank God it's over. It was manageable. 'Geno' did a tremendous job. Thank God we were able to do what we did, to put me on the field every day so I would have a chance."

"More than anything else, we want to see what options may be out there for us and decide whether picking his option up is best suited for this club to try to move forward," Amaro said. "He had a solid year for us. I like the man personally. He's a great person and a great teammate, but I also believe in trying to improve and sometimes change can be for the better. It doesn't necessarily mean we're going to, but it's just something that we're thinking about."

* Prosecutors in Clark County, Washington have dropped misdemeanor marijuana possession charges in exchange for Tim Lincecum paying $377 in fines, which is apparently standard procedure for first-time offenders who cooperate with police.

* So much for watching him pitch in the Arizona Fall League on MLB Network tomorrow. Stephen Strasburg has been scratched from his scheduled start in the league's Rising Stars Game because of a strained muscle in his back.

* White Sox general manager Ken Williams admitted this afternoon that free agent Scott Podsednik is unlikely to be re-signed "based on what he wants."

* Free agent Hideki Matsui has ruled out returning to Japan following his MVP-winning World Series performance.

* Mark Mulder has a connection with new Brewers pitching coach Rick Peterson from their time together in Oakland and Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin said today that he's contacted the oft-injured southpaw's agent.

By relying exclusively on CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Andy Pettitte throughout the postseason the Yankees became the first team since the Twins in 1991 to win the World Series while using only three starting pitchers.

Minnesota won that year behind the trio of Jack Morris, Kevin Tapani, and 23-year-old 20-game winner Scott Erickson, and in a cruel twist of fate that happens to be the first postseason that I can remember watching.

I was eight years old, newly obsessed with the Twins, and living in St. Paul at the time, so naturally it seemed to me that they would be making it to the World Series just about every season for the rest of my life. They haven't been back since. Anyway, enough about the unfortunate timing of my Twins fandom.

Minnesota only needed to use a three-man rotation for two rounds in 1991 and Elias Sports Bureau put together an interesting stat about the history of pitchers starting on short rest since the playoffs expanded to three rounds in 1995. Despite the Yankees' recent success the numbers aren't pretty. Short-rest starters have gone 22-35 with a 4.68 ERA in 480.2 innings during that 15-year span, including a 5.24 ERA in four starts this postseason.

Success tends to breed copycats and the Yankees riding three starters to the World Series this season will no doubt increase the likelihood of other teams giving it a try, but short rest simply hasn't been very kind to pitchers in the playoffs. In fact, only once since 1995 have short-rest starters produced a winning record and an ERA under 4.00.

Kansas City jumped into the option-related fun being had across baseball today by declining 2010 options on Coco Crisp, Miguel Olivo, and Yasuhiko Yabuta.

Acquired from the Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez last winter, Crisp hit just .228/.336/.378 before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum in late June.

He's not a sure thing to be fully healthy by spring training and either way choosing a $500,000 buyout over an $8 million option was an easy call. Ramirez, incidentally, went 7-4 with a 2.84 ERA in 69.2 innings for the Red Sox while making less than Crisp earned from the buyout.

Parting ways with Olivo is a more interesting decision. He batted .255/.278/.444 in 84 games last year, at which point the Royals re-signed him for $2.7 million. Now after hitting .249/.292/.490 in 114 games this season--a 60-point OPS jump in significantly more playing time--the Royals have opted against bringing him back for $3.3 million.

If he was worth $2.7 million then he's certainly worth $3.3 million now, but perhaps the Royals finally (and smartly) got tired of watching him making an out 75 percent of the time.

In perhaps the biggest no-brainer decision of the offseason, the Phillies have exercised their $9 million option on Cliff Lee for 2010.

While speculation about Roy Halladay dominated the headlines leading up to the July 31 trading deadline the Phillies sent prospects Carlos Carrasco, Jason Knapp, Jason Donald, and Lou Marson to the Indians for Lee and watched as he went 11-4 with a 2.78 ERA in 17 starts between the regular season and playoffs following the deal.

Prior to the trade Lee had a 3.14 ERA in 22 starts for the Indians and was the reigning AL Cy Young winner after going 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 2008, so there should be little doubt that the 31-year-old left-hander is among the truly elite starting pitchers in all of baseball.

Expect the Phillies to pursue long-term contract talks this offseason and expect Lee to begin negotiations with a proposal well north of $100 million.

After some non-denial denials from both sides, the White Sox and Royals made things official with the three-player trade reported yesterday: Mark Teahen to Chicago for Chris Getz and Josh Fields.

For a full breakdown of the deal check out my lengthy analysis from yesterday. Short version? Teahen is overrated and probably not worth the money he's about to make. Getz and Fields are nothing special, but they're cheap and somewhat useful. Good trade for the Royals.

Interestingly, general manager Ken Williams announced immediately that Teahen will be the White Sox's starting third baseman, with Gordon Beckham sliding across the diamond to second base. Initial reports had Chicago targeting Teahen to replace Jermaine Dye in right field and that may still be an option if Williams ends up making a run at someone like Chone Figgins via free agency.

For now though Teahen is back to being a poor defensive third baseman rather than a poor offensive right fielder. In related news, the White Sox have declined their $12 million option on Dye for 2010, predictably choosing to buy him out for $1 million. Dye had a strong 2008 and hit .302/.375/.567 with 20 homers in the first half this season, but absolutely fell apart in the second half while batting just .179 in 60 games. Dye has bounced back from extended slumps before, but he's 35 years old now and letting him go was a no-brainer at that price.

For months now the assumption has been that the Brewers would trade J.J. Hardy this offseason and they wasted no time getting a deal done, sending the 27-year-old shortstop to the Twins for 24-year-old center fielder Carlos Gomez.

The deal makes sense for both sides. Milwaukee soured on Hardy during a career-worst season, sending him down to Triple-A while committing to top prospect Alcides Escobar as the long-term answer at shortstop. They also have an opening in center field with Mike Cameron leaving via free agency, and while his bat remains a question mark Gomez is among the elite defensive outfielders in the game.

Minnesota has long been rumored to have interest in Hardy and the fact that his demotion to Triple-A pushed free agency back another season no doubt appealed to the budget-conscious Twins. Gomez fell behind Denard Span and Delmon Young in the Twins' outfield pecking order, rarely playing down the stretch, and has made little progress offensively since coming over from the Mets in the Johan Santana trade.

Milwaukee picks up a speedy, Gold Glove-caliber center fielder with tons of physical tools who still has plenty of time to develop further offensively. Minnesota gets a relatively young shortstop who's under team control through 2011 and prior to struggling this season batted .277/.323/.463 with 26 homers in 2007 and .283/.343/.478 with 24 homers in 2008. Some trades just make sense and this is one of them.

Shoulder problems limited Brandon Webb to just one start this season and he underwent surgery in August, leading to speculation that the Diamondbacks weren't planning to exercise his $8.5 million option for 2010.

However, when Webb made it very clear that he wasn't interested in working out a new deal the Diamondbacks were faced with a tough decision. They either had to take an $8.5 million risk on Webb being somewhat healthy next season or let him hit the open market, where he seemed highly unlikely to re-sign with Arizona.

This afternoon Arizona made what was probably the right call, picking up Webb's option and keeping their longtime ace around for at least another year. Webb has not been cleared to resume throwing yet after going under the knife, but barring setbacks he's expected to be ready for spring training and obviously when healthy he's worth far more than $8.5 million.

Certainly he's a huge risk and given his uncertain status the Diamondbacks may have just flushed $8.5 million down the toilet, but if they wanted any chance of keeping Webb in 2010 and beyond picking up his option was ... well, their only real option.