In a column today about Billy Wanger, Murray Chass lists some of the big name free agent relievers who will be on the market this winter: Trevor Hoffman, B. J. Ryan, Bob Wickman, Todd Jones, Octavio Dotel, Kyle Farnsworth, Tom Gordon, Roberto Hernandez, Mike Timlin, Tim Worrell, Ugueth Urbina, Matt Mantei and LaTroy Hawkins. Timlin is reportedly close to re-signing with the Red Sox. It’s likely that Boston and New York will engage in a bidding war for B.J. Ryan, or Wagner or maybe even Everyday Eddie Guardado. Anyone else on that list get you all hot and bothered?

Hey, in true glutton fashion–this is a Yankee site after all–how about throwing caution to the wind and signing both Ryan and Billy Wagner? Never happen I know, and maybe it wouldn’t even be money well spent (Wagner is getting on in years for one, and there’d be whole lot of ego out there in the pen), but a boy can have his Christmas List can’t he? If the Yankees can manage to assemble something close to what they had in 1996, or what the Angels and White Sox had this year, that would be tremendous. They can probably do it cheaper than inking Wagner and Ryan, but it seems inevitable that at least one high (over?)-priced reliever will be wearing pinstripes next year.

According to Tyler Kepner and Sam Borden the Yankees will not keep Neil Allen as their bullpen coach next year. Maybe this creates a job for Guidry before he moves into the high-profile position of pitching coach. It makes sense to me that Joe Kerrigan will eventually get that gig. But who knows, maybe Gator gets it and Kerrigan slides into the pen.