week in review

The Week the Hot Stove Really Heated Up

After a negotiating process that made their shortstop a little grumpy, the Yankees finally signed Derek Jeter to a contract this week — a deal with a creative fourth-year player option that could earn him lots of additional money if he somehow wins any more Gold Gloves between now and then. But that signing was expected. What the Red Sox did, however — signing Carl Crawford to the first contract in Boston history worth in excess of $20 million a year — was not. (With their Plan B gone, the Yankees quickly added a reported seventh year to their offer for Cliff Lee.) The Mets, meanwhile, didn’t make much of a splash — not that they were expected to — and walk away from the Winter Meetings with Ronny Paulino and D.J. Carrasco. But what happened this week that didn’t involve breaking-news tweets?

The Giants ran all over Washington at the Meadowlands.

The Jets played the Patriots on Monday night. It did not go well.

The Knicks won their fourth, fifth, and sixth games in a row, while Amar’e Stoudemire remained atop our Knicks Power Rankings.

The Rangers lost to the Senators in a game that included a Chris Kelly hat trick, then beat the Senators in a game that may or may not have included blood-flicking.

George Steinbrenner was not elected to the Hall of Fame, though we made the case that he should have been.

John Skelton, a Fordham alum playing for the Arizona Cardinals (and the Official Favorite Athlete of this blog) saw his first NFL action and will start on Sunday.

Keith Fitzhugh turned down a job with the Jets to keep a steadier one as a train conductor.

And we talked to Walt “Clyde” Frazier and eagerly await the use of “feckless and reckless” in an upcoming Knicks broadcast.

That’s it for us. Have a nice weekend.

The Week the Hot Stove Really Heated Up