Gom

That's fine. I don't think it's likely, just possible. No worries.

Why not? Didn't they win four out of five at one point last decade? I'm not saying it's likely..but if the Yankees start drafting as well as they should, and signing right players, why not? The Yankees were a Sandy Alomar homer and a Luis Gonzalez blooper away from winning six in a row.

Lebron resigns with Cavs or goes to Knicks. I think he goes to Knicks if they can get rid or Curry. Curry and Mobley for McGrady, and Lebron comes to NY is a near certainty.

Valid points. I honestly don't pay attention to the minor leagues. However, I see other teams catching up to the Red Sox and their player evaluation, so just for that alone, I think teams will close the gap. However, valid points.

Mark Teixeira says hello. Don't put too much faith in your scouting and analysis. What trade have you really made that has put your team over the top the last few years? As for scouting, hard to argue with a group that got Youk, Pedey, Paps, and Lester. However, as a Yankee fan, don't be surprised if you hit a dry spell. The Yankees had the homegrown core of the last two decades, and then hit a dry spell. There were many of us who thought we'd keep churning out farm system stars. The Yankees money is finally going in the right places. The Yankees may be able to shave 30-40 million off their payroll in the next few years and continue to outperform other teams at a very high level. If this money is ever put back into scouting and development and is effective, forget it. You may see a repeat of the 1950s.

Agreed. Unless Halladay swung a good stick, you would have been out in 4. My opinion, anyways.

The problem with Hughes starting is the whole innings limit thing. Personally, I agree with you if I had to pick one in the rotation. Next year we have the Hughes Rules.

Easy, killer. Dipre and I can play nice when we want to. We just choose not to most of the time.

I can't see the Yankees going after Holliday. It doesn't make sense, not with next year, having Mauer, Crawford, Dunn, Beckett, Lee, and Halladay as free agents. This is another reason why the Red Sox won't spend as much. I think that Mauer is the real prize. I would think both teams would prime themselves for next year. If the Sox go balls to the wall, you're basically giving the Yankees one or two of these next year without them breaking a sweat.

Yup. Funny, though.

This was the best article I ever read on the Yankees financial superiority. Read on...and enjoy. How much did you laugh reading this? :thumbsup:

I'm not sure on Joba and Hughes. Joba's decreased velocity is a major concern to me. He ramped it up to 96 in the playoffs, but that's still 2-3 MPH down from last year. I think all these rules screwed with his head. I know I'm guessing here, but I would swear I could see this guy thinking during a game "Ok, I got two strikes with my fastball...let me try my curveball...oh wait, my changeup, or maybe the slider...I mean, I do have four pitches...etc". I think with the Yankees depth in the pen, he should just go out and throw. Go as hard as you can, as long as you can....attack the hitters. He'd probably go farther in games if he just went after the hitters instead of pussyfooting around [how do you like that reference?]. As for Hughes, I think the Yankees should start him out in the pen. Wait to see how the pitchers do...and if need be, start lengthening him in June/July, so that by August he's in the rotation. I am worried about his meltdown in the playoffs. Plus, and I know some here will believe me...he wasn't anywhere near as good as his numbers indicate. What I mean to say, from what I saw of him, he had probably the most amount of luck of any pitcher who pitched for the Yankees in recent years IMO. I would see every at bat, he would miss his spot by a foot or more, and the batters would just miss. In the post-season, those misses were getting hammered. I'm not sold on either one, but I'm not down on them either. I think the jury's still out on them. As for the DH spot, a rotating DH won't work. This is why I like Matsui. If Matsui DH's 6 days a week, once a week you can give Arod, Jeter, or Posada a day off. However, Matsui is one of the rare lefty hitters who can hit lefty pitching, and he is murder on righties. He is a much better hitter than Posada in that he can hit good pitching. Another thing the Yankees could do is that they could go after a centerfielder, and then shift over Melky/Gardner over to left. In my opinion, Damon is such a liability in the outfield that his ability to play left field is pretty much insignificant compared to Matsui's inability to play out there at all.

Two out of three is possible. All three? Highly unlikely. The Sox need an outfielder, so they will probably get either Bay or Holliday. My guess is that they will bring back Bay. I can't see them going for Holliday, mainly because they can bring back Bay for less years and money. Can they trade for Halladay? Yes...and the just might. If I was Toronto, I wouldn't take anything less than the two best prospects from any team. I don't think you can get this deal done without Buchholz or if we jumped in there, without Hughes or Joba. I think a real sleeper team is the Phillies, who still kept their top prospect...can you imagine a rotation topped by Halladay and Lee? Their window is shrinking, they've got two or three years and then we will start seeing the fall off from Utley, Rollins, and Howard, IMO. Also, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Braves get into the fray. Their system is solid, and let's face it...especially in the NL, Halladay is a difference maker. I can see the trading for Halladay and dumping off Lowe, who has some value and/or Vazquez for a combination of salary relief and to recoup some lost prospects for Halladay. I just can't see the money for all three. I fully expect the Sox to pull of one, and quite possibly two. However, with about 40 million added to the payroll for Hall and Holl, and then to top it off with a approximately $40 million for a guy who's going straight to the minors, I can't see it. Not when the Yankees, who have more money, would be interested in two out of the three. This isn't last year, when the Sox weren't interested in CC or Burnett. The only reason the Yankees got involved with Tex IMO was because Henry f***ed up.

I'm kind of up in the air about arbitration for Damon. On one hand, I think they should offer it to him. On the other hand, I kind of hope he rejects it.

Dipre, this was a good thread in my opinion, which is why I re-posted it. Going forward, let's leave the personal attack out an merit the moves themselves and not he details we argued about. Let's be adults about this and go forward. Agreed? Ahh...the thread you've all been waiting for...dreading actually. For I am convinced that Cashman read my column and followed it nearly to a T last year, and the end result is a championship. Two years ago, he ignored me and we missed the playoffs for the first time since 1995. Without further ado...and in no particular order...here we go. 1. Avoid Holliday. As good as his stats may be, he is not worth the money. First of all, his tenure in Oakland was nothing to write home about. An .832 OPS is more indicative of his performance in the AL instead of the insane 1.023 OPS with the Cardinals, in a weaker division and league. Also, he was horribly exposed in the NLDS. Of the 36 pitches he saw, 34 were inside fastballs. He hit one homerun, on you guessed it...a curveball. Considering the money he's going to command, would you rather have Damon AND Matsui short term or Holliday long-term? Let the Cardinals and Mets fight it out. Plus, with Arod, you need a lefty to even it out. Considering he will command a long-term contract, let him go back to the Cardinals or to the Mets, or as a suprise, the Giants. I doubt the Red Sox are dumb enough to take him on. 2. Resign Molina. 2 years/$4M. This may be the most important move the Yankees make. Posada was exposed as being an absolutely terrible defensive catcher. Anyone who watched Game Six of the World Series objectively was outright disgusted by how terrible he is behind the plate. Molina ended the season with a CERA that was a run and a half lower than Posada. His lack of framing nearly destroyed Pettitte. He still has a decent arm, but how many times does someone try to steal? It's all about the pitching, stupid. The Yankees beat the Phillies with nearly no production whatsoever from 1/3 of their lineup. Cervelli is decent, but could use another year of seasoning. The Yankees have too much money invested in pitching to NOT sign Molina. 3. Resign Damon. Two years/$18M. Abreu set the standard, which is going to be fair. Ideally, I would like to see a one year deal, but it won't get done with Boras. If he balks, let him walk. After playing the first few years in KC, then going to Oakland during their heyday, then the Red Sox and then the Yankees...I can't see him going to a middling team. This is tough because of Boras. A take it or leave it offer. His home/away splits are putrid, he is a by-product of Yankee Stadium...but since we play half of our games in Yankee Stadium, it's beneficial. Offer him arbitration and hope he takes it. One year at $13 million would be a Godsend. Then the Yankees can look to Carl Crawford next season as they are only on the hook for one year. If he rejects it and they can't work out a deal, we got two draft picks. 4. Resign Matsui. One year/$7 million. A professional hitter with the ability to hit lefties and righties, his market is limited as there are many DHs on the market. Winning is it's own drug, and the reality is we're starting to see what we saw in the 90's...players WANTING to play in New York. Winning does that for you. 5. Resign Pettitte. One year/$12 million. Pettitte will pretty much go year to year at this point. I don't think he will retire, he still has the ability to pitch effectively. He wants to come back, and the Yankees want him back. 6. Sign John Lackey. 6 years/$100 million. Throw the kitchen sink at this guy. His numbers are comparable to AJ Burnett, and he should command about the same amount of money. A quartet of CC, Lackey, AJ and Pettitte and we can book another trip to October. 7. Non-tender Wang, but bring him back. One year/$5 million. You can never have enough pitching. With four spots wrapped up, you leave a spring training competition between Hughes, Chamberlain, and Wang for number five, with the two losers going to the pen. I am of the belief that the 5th spot should always be a competition in the hope of catching lightning in a bottle. Plus, it will allow Girardi to stretch out the pitchers so they can save their arms for the post-season. This was the reason for going three deep in the playoffs. Where does that leave us salary-wise? Molina is a wash, and so is Pettitte for the most part. Wang saves you a million. You save $6 million on Matsui, $4 million on Damon, and $5 million on Nady. That means breaking even and getting Lackey. Not only that, but Nady projects to be a Type A...so you don't even lose draft picks by signing Lackey. The bullpen is unchanged. Cashman has assembled a bunch of pitchers who are interchangeable that there is no reason to go outside of the organization. Let Giradi figure out what to do with Marte, Coke, Aceves, Gaudin, Chamberlain/Hughes or both, Robertson, Kennedy, Bruney et. al. This leaves a LOT of roster flexibility. Let's face it...this is an older team. Their core players are all on the wrong side of 35. Sooner or later, these players will start to decline. Jeter quieted his critics by turning back the clock defensively. Arod rebounded. Posada will continue his decline into oblivion. I fully expect Posada to catch a pitch next year, throw his glove down, and stomp on it. His contract the next two years will hamstring the Yankees. Mariano defies the odds, and is quite possibly the most amazing pitcher I've ever seen. Most fans will see things as continuing. Father Time has a say in this. The Yankee players under 30 are nothing to write home about. Cashman has to manage the money until some of his players, the Jacksons and Monteros are ready. The Yankees cannot afford any more long-term deals. Short term deals at a higher AAV is a better risk. A lesson to be learned from the Red Sox this year. They went into the season looking like they had a pitching surplus. It was a deficit by the end of the year. Burnett, Joba, Wang, Hughes, and Pettitte have had injury issues. I wouldn't be surprised if all of them played an important role. I also wouldn't be surprised if all of them got injured. Let's face it...when it came to injuries to their staff, the Yankees were INCREDIBLY lucky this year. Next year is the key. With the probably emergence of Austin Jackson, and the free agency of Carl Crawford, we could see two if not three changes in the OF. I am a huge Crawford fan. With the excess in the pen, look to the Yankees to possibly package Melky with some of their surplus pitching to Tampa for Crawford and throwing him in CF. Gardner is not a major league hitter, and Melky is a weak stick as it is. Putting Gardner in there as well makes them a very weak team at the end of the lineup. Cashman has done a good job in accumulating assets. This would allow him to use some of these chips in a deadline deal or to replace those that need replacing, and at a very low cost. End result: Salary wash. Lackey replaces Gaudin. Next...I will try my hand at Fixing the Red Sox.

I find it very hard to believe that the Sox will sign the best hitter, trade for the best pitcher and sign the best international free agent while the rest of baseball watches. Couple this with the fact that this will cost them over 40 million to next years payroll for Hall and Holl and probably a total outlay of 40 million for Chapman....with their primary competitors, the Yankees, shaving 40 million off their payroll and sitting on their wallets.

Boras got killed last year with his non-superstars if I remember correctly.

Easy on the crack pipe my friend. You are saying the Red Sox should trade for the best pitcher on the planet and then presumably sign him to an extension, since trading him for the boatload of prospects it will take isn't worth a one year rental, then sign one of the top two hitting free agents for somewhere between 60 million or so for Bay or 100 million for Holliday and then probably another 40-50 million for Chapman. Meanwhile expect the Yankees who are shaving about 40 million in expiring contracts to do nothing.

It's funny how some of you are giving up already.

The problem with offering Damon arbitration is that he might accept.

I'm going to throw up saying this, but Dipre is correct in this thread...again. Don't believe all the spin. Think for yourself.