Meh

CB: What grade would you give the Yankees farm system (A, B, C, D, or F)? JC: When we were ranking on farm system rankings for the Prospect Handbook, I had the Yankees at No. 9, while other editors ranked them from No. 2 to No. 6. They take a little bit of a hit with the Montero trade, though I really like Jose Campos, whom they got back in the deal. I’d give them a solid B. http://ht.ly/8xHaZ John Manuel said they were going to be in the top 5 in the book, again this is before the Montero trade so thats going to hurt them but not as bad as straight losing him cause we did get Campos back and Noesi had lost his rookie status anyway.

Andrew Bailey requested $4.7 million and was offered $3.35 million from the Red Sox when arbitration figures were exchanged Tuesday. Bailey, who was acquired from the Athletics in late-December, is arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter after posting a 2.07 ERA over his first three major-league seasons. Look for the two sides to settle somewhere around $4 million. -Rotoworld.com I suggested a 3.5 million salary, I believe UserName said no way he gets over 1.5 million. Heck they might even settle at $4 million.

CC is an Ace. There's probably like 7 ace type pitchers in baseball, Lee, CC, Halladay, Verlander, Kershaw, Lincecum and maybe Felix. Not in that order either. Lester is a #1 but I wouldn't call him an ace. CC has the advantage over Lester, this year anyway. I think Lester starts maturing a bit more and CC will start to decline in years to come. Still a close call though. I will say Beckett is better than Pineda but I think the difference there washes away the difference between CC and Lester. I just think both have down years from their 2011 seasons. Nova and Buchholz is pretty close too... I think I should of put Kuroda here but I like this match better cause they're around the same age. Both had good stuff, Buchholz has better stuff but Nova's the better pitcher if that makes sense. I'd give the advantage to Buchholz though. Kurado vs Bard, not close.... Hughes/Garcia/AJ vs Aceves/Padilla/Cook/Miller. If you take the worst Yankee starter here, AJ and the best red sox have to offer here... Aceves I think the Yankees will take it. Cause AJ will give you 200 innings and Aceves pitched 110 inning last year, so even if he's really good, you might not see him over 150 innings.

The one HUGE mistake your GM made was letting Seth Smith go to the A's for nothing. I mean you should get on the phone with Beane right now and offer up a B prospect, that way he gets more out of the deal than he gave, just accept you made a mistake. Something like Alex Wilson and maybe Lars Anderson cause beane seems to like him and he's blocked and lost most of his value by now.

What in the world? Your payroll is going to be over 180 million this year... it's up from last year. What do you want? Do you want to have a higher payroll than the Yankees? It's crazy how red sox fans are getting worse than some of these Yankee fans I see on message boards. Just stop man... the red sox will have the second highest payroll unless the angels or phillies sign Fielder, which they won't. Stop complaining, you could be a Royals fan, you could be an A's fan.

I agree the yankees rotation isn't as good as the red sox, red sox should just sit back and relax.

Horrible news for the man and the Tigers. As well as the Yankees cause they'll have some competition in the DH role now.

He is... I said my 2013 rotation would be CC, Hamels, Pineda, Nova and Banuelos.

The Yankees didn't want any part of Wilson... I don't blame them and isn't MB 33? He's also not a top of the rotation type pitcher, he's more of a 2 on his best days

I'm not saying they'll get him but what I am saying is if he's out there they will go for him. Unless Pineda and Nova team up to have cy young type seasons and Baneulos destroys Triple-A and comes up kind of like Moore did at the end of last year.

cause CC, Hamels, Pineda, Nova and Banuelos is a lot better than "CC-Pineda-Nova-Bunuelos-Hughes"

The Yankees will have over 50 million coming off their books. Ok, we will likely re-sign Martin. (I think he gets 6.5 million this year so 8 million might not be too bad of a number) Same goes for Mo Rivera. The rest is kind of dead weight(felicaino, kurado, garcia, etc) Also I don't see us bringing back Logan so we could save even more money, unless he has a GREAT year. Cause a 3rd time arbi player for an alright lefty is kind of meh in my book. The Yankees will be poised to chase after Hamels or Cain if Hamels doesn't get to the finish line. robertson and Gardner will both likely see big raises, Joba might too. Hughes as well. First time arbi guys are Dickerson and Cervelli. Dickerson will likely be gone by that time too.

Bailey is projected to earn 3.5 million. 1.2 is a joke man... Robertson is going to get at least 1.8 million and he's not even a closer. Sweeney signed like 3 or 4 days ago too for 1.7 or 1.8

The Yankees are going to hit with or without Montero... they needed pitching. I hate to give up any talent in any deal, TBH but it had to be done I guess.

Maybe you're right. I'm not the biggest Betances fan so maybe I undervalue him. Getting Butler would mean expanding the budget by 3 million(given we have 2 million to spend and Hughes is making 3.2 million next year so hopefully we can get it done. I wouldn't expect any type of moves until the Montero-Pineda swamp is official though.

Hold the phone... Woah. Yankees and Royals are talking trade right now. The frame work of the deal seems to be Billy Butler to the Yankees and Hughes to the Royals. http://sports.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981025602 http://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-city-royals/2012/1/15/2709464/mlb-rumors-yankees-royals-trade-could-involve-billy-butler-for-phil I would have to assume it's more than Hughes, as anyone would. It's hard to gauge what the Royals would be looking for but Hughes, Betances and maybe a lower prospect with a decent ceiling would work. Inserting Butler in the lineup would be within our budget and would cut down on our SP depth, but we'd still have either AJ or Freddie in the wings as well as Warren, Phelps, Banuelos and Mitchell. Edit: this was also in a KC newspaper I believe yesterday.

All contracts like that are non-guaranteed. If Ellsbury signs a one year deal it'll be non guaranteed too.

Well Phelps and Warren are ready or at least should be ready to come up. Phelps for sure, Warren might need just a tad more time in the oven. I just don't want to waste resources going for another starter when we could use the money on a Carlos Pena type signing. but you are right, never have enough pitching. I really wouldn't mind adding a guy on a minor league deal like we did last year with Garcia and Colon.

Buster_ESPN Buster Olney Talent evaluator on Jorge Vazquez, NYY DH candidate: "He doesn't have a position, but he can flat-out rake. He just mashes."

eh, I don't really want Oswalt. His back issues kind of scare me, I think the Red Sox would be better off giving Edwin Jackson a three year deal. He's a really good pitcher and it's not like you have pitching prospects who are ready right now. In three years Barnes should be ready to take over Jackson's spot.

how so? you don't think you can get by with Bard in your rotation? I mean if you start the season with mcdonald and sweeney in RF... damn dude.