Inking A.J. Burnett to a long-term deal may have been a good idea, Tuesday night's abysmal performance notwithstanding. Signing C.C. Sabathia was almost definitely a great idea and if Mark Teixeira keeps hitting and fielding the way he is, fans of the New York Yankees may finally get over the retirement of Tino Martinez.

 

But for those same fans - people who have spent the last two days, at least, wondering what Jedi mind trick the rival Boston Red Sox are using this season - the best deal of the 2009 MLB campaign may have been inked without anyone outside of the team's TV network, YES, and Cablevision, a triple-play provider for the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region that also happens to own Long Island-based New York Newsday, longtime employer of the great Jimmy Breslin.

 

For it was in an unannounced deal this spring that the two regional media giants agreed to pursue a plan that would see the Yankees become baseball's first team to have its games streamed live over the Internet within its home market.

 

As John Ourand and Eric Fisher of the SportsBusiness Journal report, citing anonymous sources, the streamed games could start later this season for people who pay for Cablevision's TV and broadband services.

 

"The move is part of an overall renewal of Cablevision's YES Network affiliation deal that was signed earlier this spring but never officially announced," the reporters tell us.

 

Those of us who follow the Yankees - and their controlling PR team - know how the Yanks like to ("oh my goodness gracious") stage every major announcement involving the club.

 

This statement from Cablevision seems to confirm that approach: "We have nothing to announce at this time, and we typically would not comment on this kind of offering until it was in front of our customers."

 

So what does this mean for fans, the game, and service providers such as Cablevision?

 

It's the first time that there's been a major effort to actually try in-market Internet streaming of live games. Clubs have tried it in the past - mostly those that have a stake in networks that already broadcast their games on TV - but it's never worked out. Part of that's because it isn't clear how the streaming would affect MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's favorite euphemism for punishing the Bronx Bombers for their popularity - "revenue sharing" - and partly because of operational hurdles.

 

It's worth a mention here that - should this service come to fruition - it will dovetail with another new service from Cablevision that meshes nicely with Internet video streaming, which requires high data-processing rates to be worthwhile. It was just over a month ago that Cablevision unveiled its new high-speed Internet and WiFi services.

 

Officials at the Bethpage, New York-based company on May 11 began offering the nation's first 101 megabits per second high-speed Internet service. The service - which leverages DOCSIS 3.0 technology and will be called "Optimum Online Ultra" - serves  both wired and wireless customers, for a fee of $100 per month.

 

Think SlingBox on speed.

 

Of course, if the Yankees don't figure out a way to beat the Sawx (0-7 so far this season against the Beantown club), it won't matter to New York fans whether they can watch their team on an iPhone, BlackBerry smartphone, laptop, netbook or LCD TV.

 

One (not so) bold prediction: Sabathia restores order versus Brad Penny tonight.