Zell's Pinstripe Blog

     A New York State Assembly committee has subpoenaed Yankees team president, Randy Levine. They also subpoenaed Industrial Development Agency Chairman, Seth Pinsky. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, (Democrat from Westchester) questions whether or not the public funding should be used to pay for the new Yankee stadium.

     On the other hand, Randy Levine claims that every single cent of the stadium will be paid by the Yankees organization. I was just listening to both Randy Levine and Richard Brodsky on WFAN with Mike Francesa, and they both defended their ideas. It will be interesting to see who wins in the end.

Officials for the city and the Yankees have already appeared before the committee and provided documents, but Brodsky continues to investigate. Brodsky said the Yankees and the city have denied him records related to additional public financing requested by the team.

Brodsky has accused city and team officials of secret negotiations that altered property assessments to make the deal legal and to provide a free luxury suite for city officials. Brodsky says the project won’t create enough permanent jobs to justify the public funding.

Both the Yankees and New York Mets have asked the city for more public bonds to finance their increasingly expensive ballparks, which are scheduled to open this spring.

Both teams have given long lists of reasons why they want more public bonds, including construction delays, government requirements such as security and fireproofing, and design changes such as enhanced scoreboards and bigger food service areas.

The Yankees are asking for another $259 million in tax-exempt bonds and $111 million in taxable bonds, on top of $940 million in tax-exempt bonds and $25 million in taxable bonds already granted for the $1.3 billion Bronx stadium.

The Mets are requesting an additional $83 million, after the $615 million already approved, for their $800 million Queens park.

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“I guess it makes for good political theater because it’s the Yankees, but when it comes to valuable taxpayer dollars, decisions should be made on return, not rhetoric,” Bloomberg spokesman Andrew Brent said. “The deal leverages a federal program and will result in New York City getting back more tax revenue than it will cost and the South Bronx getting thousands of new jobs and more than $1 billion in private investment.”

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Foxsports.com reports:

Sources have told FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal that the Braves have talked to the Yankees about Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady as they seek an upgrade in left field.

From MLB Trade Rumors: (Jon Heyman)

3 UP: THE MICHAEL YOUNG ISSUE  /  Young likely to move to 3rd base, not a new team