Welcome to 2008

Happy New Year, and welcome back. Now, where did we leave off? Oh, that's right...

From today's MLB Hot Stove report:

Having completed most of their heavy lifting before the winter holidays, the Yankees will now turn their attention toward making smaller tweaks in hopes of upgrading their club before Spring Training, with their bullpen the most logical area of addition. New York committed more than $400 million in new contracts to retain Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Bobby Abreu, but in doing so, has largely kept the skeleton of the 2007 roster intact -- a roster that was eliminated in four Division Series games by the Indians. With chances of a Johan Santana deal stagnant, the Yankees appear prepared to pin their hopes on the right arms of Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy to help them reach the next level.

So as 2008 opens, the landscape - surprise! - doesn't really feel all that different than it did to wind up 2007, when baseball took a holiday sabbatical. There may be some less-prominent moves that change the board in the next few weeks, but for now, know this -- 42 days until pitchers & catchers.