yankees228

A few more things... I really don't think it's only going to take seven million dollars to retain Matsui. I could be wrong, but I just don't see him going for that little money. Granted, the only people that think he can play the field are himself and Arn Tellem, but his offensive production was really good this year. I agree that they should add another pitcher, but that leads to another question. What do you want for Hughes and Joba next year? Personally, I want Joba in the rotation next year from day one, without any rules to worry about. But then there would be no room for Hughes. I understand that you can never have enough starters, but, Gom, how do you look at Joba and Hughes long term? Lastly, I would prefer to leave the DH spot open. A-Rod, who has been injured the last two years, is signed for the next eight years. They have to do everything they can to preserve him through as much of that time as possible, and next year would be a good time to start. I would be opposed to A-Rod DHing around forty games next year. I think it would also be wise to give Posada some significant time at DH next year. If they want to keep his bat productive through 2011, they should consider having him catch fewer and fewer games. I wouldn't mind seeing a rotation in the DH spot between A-Rod, Posada, and somebody like Hinske (when A-Rod and Posada both play the field). EDIT: By the way, nice work Gom.

Wait, Gom, in this post you're advocating that they offer him arbitration and that it would be a great thing if he accepted. Yet, in another post, you said the problem with offering Damon arbitration is that he might accept it. I would have no problem with Damon being offered arbitration, and subsequently accepting, but how do you actually feel about it?

Right I understand. One more thing though. You said that you're not advocating for the Sox to necessarily extend Halladay, just that you want him for the 2010 season, and then possibly extend him or Beckett later. Don't you think, considering his NTC, that he's going to ask for an extension in order for the trade to be completed (like Schilling, Johnson, and Santana, for example)? Has Halladay said otherwise?

Fair enough. Thank you for the explanation.

Yeah, who knows how the market will shape up this year. We'll see how he plays it. I still contend that Damon accepting arbitration wouldn't be the worst thing for the Yankees.

Gom, there's a very good chance that the Red Sox could reasonably have that type of offseason. They can certainly sign Holliday/Bay and Chapman. There's not a doubt in my mind that that is possible. They can also trade for Halladay. Judging by the Yankees recent track record (Santana) I don't think they're going to be willing to part with the necessary prospects to be a legitimate factor in the Halladay sweepstakes. I do hope I'm wrong though. At the same time, the Yankees could bring back some of the players whose contracts have expired (Damon, Matsui, Pettitte, and Nady), and they could sign Lackey. All of those things can definitely happen in the same offseason. There is one area of contention that I have with E1. I admit that I don't know enough about the Red Sox farm system to make a fair assessment, but I would be a bit surprised if the Blue Jays traded him to the Red Sox (especially considering it's in the division) without demanding Buchholz. Granted, E1, you know much more about these guys than I do, but I just think the Blue Jays would be hesitant to deal him within the division if they weren't blown away. Regardless, nice work.

Well, I think that could be good and bad. They would have to overpay for him over for that one year, but at least they would get their wish of being able to take it year to year with him. I wouldn't be too disappointed if Damon ended up accepting arbitration. Also keep in mind that Boras is literally going to do everything he possibly can to find Damon a multi-year deal.

Well, I can't give you an opinion from a Red Sox fans point of view. However, as I've said many times on this board, I have a ton of respect for the Red Sox, for a variety of different reasons. It's one of the main factors that plays into why I don't have this hatred for the Red Sox like many Yankee fans do. Obviously I hope they lose every time they play, because it would help the Yankees. Anyway, I think way too highly of them as an organization to even think for a second that they're going to fall out of contention. I expect them and the Yankees to be the class of the American League, year in and year out.

Fair enough. I find that to be a very fair view on thing as well. However, I don't think that even the most pessimistic Red Sox fans feel that B is a realistic possibility.

Right, but, as you said, the Red Sox were offering the additional two years in the form of vested options. It would have taken the contract to ten years (what Boras was initially seeking), and it would have pushed the possible total value of the contract over 200 million dollars. Based on that fact, I would say the two offers were pretty comparable.

Except, according to what E1 posted, it seems that the contracts were pretty close, with the Red Sox possibly having the highest offer. It seems like Teixeira wanted to go the Yankees, as he has said in the past.

Yeah, I just don't think anyone can use that as a piece of evidence for a possible conspiracy, because, if LSU was being helped out, I don't think they would have been flagged in that spot. What's much more likely is that the crew that day was just very quick to flag excessive celebration.

Definitely.

I think it's very possible that they all were contributing factors.

I'm sure they did have genuine interest, but the fact that they didn't pursue it further, considering what the Mets got him for, leads me to believe that a possible motivation would have been the availability of CC Sabathia.

Except, after LSU took the lead, they got flagged for an excessive celebration penalty, which seemed equally ridiculous. If the referees are trying to help LSU, why flag them after they scored?

If they let Damon walk, who do you want in left?

Oh absolutely. At the time, I was a huge proponent of making that trade. However, in the context of the conversation we're having, that's irrelevant. You said the Yankees made a reasonable offer to the Twins for Santana, in an attempt to counter my argument that they were willing to wait for Sabathia. By all accounts, that appears to be false.

Also some interesting stuff on Granderson. http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/hardball/up_the_granderson_edition_3dMJxbniZ9yTBAPI94rtSK

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/roy-halladay-rumors-thursday.html More of the same stuff regarding Halladay.

What do you mean? Hasn't the whole point of this been to discuss the fact that the Yankees turned down a good proposal? Gom's constant point has been that Cashman screwed up, by not accepting the deal.

Yeah, but how much over $450 million dollars do you expect they would have went? With Santana, instead of Burnett, they would have been up over $500 million, and they are only a couple of years removed from handing out the biggest contract in the sport's history. As I said before, I think one of the main reasons that they didn't trade for Santana, was because they were willing to wait for Sabathia. If that's the case, and it's nothing but logical speculation on my part, it seems to say that they only wanted one of them. Listen, I understand where you're coming from, I just think the Yankees do have their limit, and this would have crossed it.