Straight from the Yankees’ Media Relations Department:

YANKEES DECLINE OPTIONS ON 1B JASON GIAMBI AND RHP CARL PAVANO

The New York Yankees announced today they have declined their options on first baseman Jason Giambi and right-handed pitcher Carl Pavano, making each player a free agent.

Giambi, 37, hit .247 (113-for-458) with 19 doubles, 32 home runs and 96 RBI in 145 games with the Yankees in 2008, making 112 starts at first base and 26 starts at designated hitter.  He ranked second on the team in home runs, recording his eighth career 30-homer season and reaching double-digits in home runs for the 13^th consecutive year.  Giambi’s 209 home runs as a Yankee rank 10^th on the club’s all-time list.

Pavano, 32, was 4-2 with a 5.77 ERA in seven starts with the Yankees in 2008.  He made his first Major League start and appearance of the season on August 23 at Baltimore, recording the win.  The victory was his first win and appearance since April 9, 2007 at Minnesota, after recovering from “Tommy John” surgery.  In four seasons with the Yankees (2005-08), Pavano went 9-8 with a 5.00 ERA in 26 starts.

The Yankees’ roster now stands at 36.

It’s a tough year to be a Yankee fan. With a $200 million payroll, the seats aren’t the cheapest MLB tickets, the beloved stadium is closing and the team has underperformed.

But New York Yankees tickets are still very popular with most games sold out. With the 56,000 seat Yankee Stadium closing, fans want to come one more time to the place that gave them so many memories over the years. And that may mean going to a New York ticket broker to visit Monument Park or do the roll call in the place they always have known and loved.

But it’s going to end very soon. With only seven games left, Yankee fans will say one last goodbye. It will be sad because there will be no October for the team either. If the fans want World Series tickets they will look to New York Mets tickets or Boston Red Sox tickets.

Many won’t and will forget sports until they gets New York Yankees tickets to New Yankee Stadium next year. Rather they will >find Broadway musical tickets, concert tickets for Madison Square Garden or Cheech & Chong in New York.

Whatever they look to do, these show will be more affordable New York City event tickets than the New York Yankees.

Well, the official press release is below, but I’m gonna add my two cents on the Ivan Rodriguez for Kyle Farnsworth deal. The swap sounds like a winner for the Yankees. Get a Hall of Fame catcher for a few months and then cast him aside when Jorge Posada is ready to return. You only give up a solid arm in the bullpen…

And that’s where the reservations begin coming in. Farnsworth had seemly found new life under Joe Girardi this year. His ERA is down over a full run from last season at 3.65 and he was only getting better as his July ERA was 2.16. On the other hand, you could argue that the Yanks are selling high as Farnsworth’s career numbers show his ERA at 4.42 while averaging close to a hit an inning.

Nonetheless, the bullpen has been the backbone of the Yankees this year and you hate to pull a Jenga block out of the building. Now Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras and Damaso Marte will combine to set up Mariano Rivera. On paper it looks okay…but you never want to mess with a good thing…

Then there’s the catching side of things. It’s hard to say that Jose Molina is the answer for a full-time catching job, but pitchers love to throw to him and he’s more or less shut down all running against the Yankees…then again, Pudge can do that too…still, Mike Mussina called Molina the best catcher he’s every worked with and it might not be coincidence that the Yankees’ pitching staff got smoking hot with Molina behind the plate (the best ERA in the majors in July).

Molina is hitting .226 while Pudge is hitting .295 so there’s no argument there. Plus, Pudge is a proven winner who has been critical to success in Texas, Florida and Detroit…But I just have this lingering doubt about taking Molina from behind the plate. I’ve heard Pudge get knocked for the way he’s called a game, but have really never paid close attention. Perhaps it’s all just people trying to hate on a legend. Pudge is a great offensive catcher with a great arm…but how will he handle the Yankees pitching staff?

Anyway, here’s the official word from the Yanks:

YANKEES ACQUIRE CATCHER IVAN RODRIGUEZ

The New York Yankees announced today that they have acquired catcher Ivan Rodriguez from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for right-handed pitcher Kyle Farnsworth.

Rodriguez, 36, was batting .295 (89-for-302) with 16 doubles, 3 triples, 5 home runs and 32 RBI in 82 games (79 starts at catcher) with the Detroit Tigers this season. Over his last 30 games since June 10, he is batting .382 (42-for-110) with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs and 11 RBI.

Signed by Texas as a non-drafted free agent on July 27, 1988, Rodriguez is a 14-time All-Star (1992-2001, 2004-07) and the all-time Major League leader with 13 Gold Glove Awards at catcher (1992-2001, ’04, ’06-07). He owns a .302 (2,584-for-8,549) career batting average with 520 doubles, 48 triples, 293 home runs and 1,214 RBI in 2,234 games over 18 seasons with the Texas Rangers (1991-2002), Florida Marlins (2003) and Detroit (2004-08). Rodriguez is also a seven-time Silver Slugger Award winner at catcher (1994-99, 2004), second-most all time behind Mike Piazza’s 10.

In 1999, Rodriguez won the American League MVP Award, batting .332 (199-for-600) with 116 runs scored, 35 home runs and 113 RBI for the Rangers. In his only season with Florida in 2003, he won the NLCS MVP after batting .321 (9-for-28) with 2 home runs and 10 RBI in a seven-game series against the Chicago Cubs.

Farnsworth, 32, was 1-2 with a 3.65 ERA with the Yankees this season, leading the team with 45 appearances out of the bullpen. In 181 games with the club over three seasons since being signed as a free agent on December 2, 2005, he compiled a 6-9 record with a 4.33 ERA (170.1IP, 165H, 87R, 82ER, 72BB, 166K, 28HR). The former Tiger made 60 or more appearances in five straight seasons from 2003-07, appearing in 357 games, fifth-most in the Majors over the span.