As of 2/12 at 6:54 AM, Ron Villone is still a free agent. And from what I can see, I don't think the Yankees plan to resign him. Cashman has (repeatedly) stated that he will utilize Sean Henn as the primary lefty reliever to replace Villone, and apparently, is confident that he can assume this role. I don't believe that, given Henn's struggles on the major league level. But maybe being a reliever will allow him to utilize his stuff more efficiently. We've seen it before - Mo went from being a horrid starter to the best closer of all time. And Henn was, a couple of years ago, before Hughes and others arrived, the Yankees best pitching prospect after Chien-Ming Wang.

Either way, given the Yankees new penchant for developing talent from the farm, they offered arbitration to Villone, and if he signs with another team (right now it looks like the Mets and the Mariners are the front runners), they'll receive a compensatory draft pick.

I'm not sure why, but the Yankees seem to be emphasizing Villone's slowdown at the end of last season, but I suspect that is more related to Torre's (consistently) poor handling of the bullpen. He tends to ride his most reliable guys into the ground - Proctor and Villone were no exceptions - and consequently, they were worn out by the end of last year. Hopefully adding Vizcaino, a well-known innings eater, will take some of the burden off of Proctor. However, as I've said before, I'd much rather have them cut Mike Myers this offseason and re-sign Villone.