The Deal With Santana

Man Do I have Timing or what?? I said last week I was going to talk about Johan Santana, then late this week the Mets go and pull off a trade for him. Interestingly enough, a lot of experts believe the Mets got the deal because the Yankees walked away and the Red Sox lost interest and I personally would have to agree with that sentiment. Truth be told the Mets should be counting their lucky stars this week, because in the end the Twins got Greedy and Impatient and it cost them big. Now don’t’ get me wrong the Mets gave up 4 prospects to get Santana and they were pretty good prospects for the most part. But if you go back and look at what the Yankees and the Red Sucks where willing to give up to get Santana you have to start wondering how drunk the Twins GM was when he finally agreed to this deal with the Mets. In terms of over all value both the Sucks and Yankees were offering A LOT more, yet the Twins kept turning them down asking for more. Lets break this down shale we.

The Yankees were offering Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, and two other prospects. Melky has two seasons, 1024 AB and 286 games under his belt in the majors. He has led the league in OF assists 2 years in a row, and is a virtual spark plug in the Yankee offense. Hughs has been the Yankees number one prospects for the last 2 years, nearly pitched a No hitter in only his second Major League outing. He was brought into a pressure filled MUST WIN playoff game and was phenomenal. The Twins in this deal were getting two MAJOR LEAGUE READY IMPACT players that were barely in their twenties plus TWO other prospects that would likely be in the majors this year or next.

The Sucks took things a step further. They offered Coco Crisp, John Lester, and Two Prospects or behind DOOR #2 was the Jacoby Elsebury, John Lester, and 2 Prospects offer that was also on the table. In the First deal Crisp although a bust in Boston is a well established Major League CF, with a decent bat and glove. A Change of scenery would and probably eventually will do him some good. Lester is a top prospect with at least a full season under his belt. He missed half of this season and half of last because of Cancer. Don’t let that fool you thou the kid, has a lot of talent and is likely to be an impact player for the sucks one way or another. In the Second deal, Elsebury has 2 and a half months of major League experience under his belt a month of that is in the playoffs were he played a major part in the Sucks offense. Between his speed and his batting skills combined with a very good glove this kid could be and likely is the real deal. In Both deals offered the Sucks were giving up 2 players that were YOUNG, had the ability to make an IMPACT on the Twins roster, and obviously were major league ready. The Remaining two prospects would likely be ready to play in the majors this year or at the latest next.

Now what the Mets gave up to get Santana in the end value wise was much much less. Carlos Gomez has only played in 52 MLB games, and total 125 AB, Philip Humber has a grand total of 6 MLB games under his belt only 1 of which he has started. Both are considered good Prospects neither can be consider players that are likely to make an impact on the Twins this year. They might very well do that but it is less likely, because so far they have really not done much in the majors up to this point. This year will be a development season for them and they will either perform or need more time. Basically nobody can say either of these two are ready for the Majors because hey haven’t seen enough of the Majors. The Remaining two prospects the Mets gave up are Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra, both are considered decent prospects neither are expected to see the majors for the next year or two and when they do both are seen as back of the rotation guys if not eventual bull pen fodder. Their not bad prospects, they are all young cheap and have talent. But when you compare what the Twins WANTED from the Yankees and Sucks and what they eventually agreed to take the price tags just don’t’ match up.

What really blows me away is that after turning down the above deals from the Sucks AND the Yankees the twins went and made this deal when truthfully they would have been better off waiting for July. Why you might ask well let me explain. First of all come July a lot of teams will not be wondering about who in the roster is going to have a break out season, which rookie is really ready for the Majors, and they KNOW who is injured and likely not coming back before the end of August. Add that to the Pennant races where you will have the usual suspects (Yankees, Red Sucks, Cardinals ect; ect.) but also many teams that nobody realy saw coming. Case in point in the NL west you have the Dodgers, who are expected to be in the thick of the race but has a pitching staff that’s older then the great Pyramids. A young Lefthander that could very well walk away with the NL Cy young would be a HUGE boost to them in July if their close in the Division race. Then there are the Padres, the team that lost out on the playoffs thanks to the Rockies this year. They have a STRONG young team with Jake Peavy to anchor their Staff. Imagine if they added Santana at the end of July?? Not only would it give them a HUGE boost toward winning their division, but it would give them one hell of a 1-2 punch going into the playoffs. Then there is the Diamondbacks last years NL West winners who already made waves picking up Dan Haren this off season. Imagine if they made this trade in July, bringing Santana to the Desert now sporting a Rotation of Web, Haren, and Santana for the second half of the season. That’s just the NL West. Now imagine the teams in the rest of the NL in July would be looking seriously at adding an Ace to their team for a serious playoff push. The list would include the Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Possibly St Louis, and even Cincinnati. Then there is the Al besides the Yankees and Red Sucks you can’t count out the Angels, Tigers, Blue Jays, Indians, or the A’s for that matter. A lot of people would point out that most if not all of these teams likely would shy away from Santana because of his contract demands. Thing is thou most teams would be simply looking at getting him to get to the Playoffs and eventually the WS. How many big deals have we seen go down where a guys was traded with the team knowing full well they likely won’t be able to keep him when the season ends. To make the playoffs and go deep in them teams are willing to take that chance especially in July. At that point Santana would be better off waiting till the end of the season to garner a new contract, because if he is brought into any team and IMPROVES it, then the contract he will get in the off season will only get bigger. Then add more to that contract if they make the playoffs and Santana comes up big. Hell even if he is simply ok making the playoffs raises his contract even more. In the end Santana would. Have gotten a MONSTER deal had he been traded in July and waited to be a FA. Also the Twins would have gotten a MUCH better return because they would have had more teams in the mix for Santana, and teams would be willing to take Santana if nothing more then to bolster there Playoff chances. It is part of the game, that gambles are made more in July then they are in the off season. Why?? Well because from December to the end of May EVERY MLB TEAM believes they can win it all in the upcoming season. Yea most are out of their minds but you have to remember most teams will sign a proven FA and keep their prospects before they will make a blockbuster trade. Most teams want to see if what they have NOW will work for them before their willing to trade it away for a sure thing. More importantly most winter trades don’t’ pan out. July trades thou have a much higher success rates because most teams know exactly what their getting in return. Look at the Sucks last year. They traded for Gage-Me and he was having a GREAT year for the Rangers. He came to Boston and STUNK for them. The point here is in the winter most teams are not willing to take a chance for a sure thing. In July however most teams have to make that decision because most of their off season questions have been answered. A few new questions have come up and GM’s have very little time to find an answer before their team hits the point of no return in a playoff race.

In the end I’m glad the Yankees did not trade for Santana. Giving up Melky would have killed our offense, and would have weakened us in CF. Loosing Phill Hughs would have hurt the team as well. Santana would have been a boost but Hughs is a number 3 starter with the ability to be a number one starter at some point. Loosing both players would have hurt the Yankees with out a doubt. Then add to it the money we would have had to shell out to keep Santana. Sure the first 2 years would be great, but at some point Satan was going to have an injury season. EVERYBODY has one, and a lot of players never survive it. Hughs at 21 is likely to have an injury season but not at least for another 4 to 5 years. The same can be said of Melky who is also 21 and just starting to show off his true value to the Yankees in the field AND at the plate. I’m glad we did not trade for Santana simply because we have been down this road too much in the past 5 years. Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson were two guys that were sure thing trades the Yankees made and they both blew up in our face. Brown worse then Johnson but to be honest neither ever came close to meeting expectations. Then there is the Free Agents we have signed, Giambi, Mussina and Farnsworth were all brought in to help the Yankees win a WS. NONE of them have done this and the Yankees haven’t even seen the second round of the Playoffs since 2005, and DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED on Carol Pavano. My point here is the Yankees have been going out and getting the big names and it has produced nothing but nightmares. All they got was a bunch of guys that either, burst into flames, become PR nightmares, never produce like they were expected to, or simply get injured the entire length of their monster contract. Simply put going after the BIG NAME sure things has NOT WORKED. It’s time to try something different, it is TIME the Yankees mixed in some youth and brought in their own talent rather then over paying for a NAME only to have it blowup in there faces. The Yankees have made a commitment to their farm system starting last year when Cashmen restocked our farm and we have seen the fruits of that work already in Joba, Kenedy, Melky, Cano, and Wang just to name a few. These kids are just getting started and most of them have a very bright future ahead of them. Many fans feel that this is a mistake that the Yankees don’t grow their own talent. I mean players are not plants. Nope, the Yankees go out and trade everything for nothing or beg for free agents to join the ranks of Yankees. We need to invest in our future. So let’s start by teaching potential talent the ways of the Yankee and keep a loyal crew not a money hungry Name. The last group of home grown Yankees included the names of Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera just to name a few. As a young core of players-they did nothing special really right??. I mean all they did was win 4 WS form 1996 to 2000, won the AL East 10 years in a row, and have averaged anywhere form 90 to 100+ wins a season form 1996 to present. Just IMAGINE what this next young crop of home grown Yankees will do.

Next week I’m talking about the Mitchell Report, Roger Clemens and the Congressional Hearings that will be taking place in the up coming weeks. So!

Until Next Week

The Yankee Fan

Slow Start To Season

You know Yankee fans this season has just not started off all that well now has it?? Nope the first few weeks of the season we could not get a starter to throw more then 5 inning whether they wanted them to or Captain Hook Torre himself would allow them to or not. Regardless off that now the starting pitching is starting to perform, in the last 13games they have given up 3 runs or LESS, and believe it or not the Yankees are starting to put things together. I know I know after the loss today 1-2 to the M's that's kind of hard to believe but things are looking up for the Yankees. The starting pitching has done a very good job, truth is Wang's one bad outing and Iggy's ugly start are the only two poor starts from a Yankee pitcher this month. The rest of the month has been strong start after strong start. The BP has actually settled down even thou Vizcaino seems to be inventing new ways to blow ball games for us it seems the rest of the guys are settling in. Time will tell over the next few weeks but I honestly see the Yankees getting ready to go on a major tear to be honest. Here are some Key reasons why I think so and a few Key things that need to happen along the way.

BASE HITS WIN GAMES (Hell I'll settle for some hitting PERIOD) Truth be told the month of May has been pretty hard on most of the Yankee bats. A-Rod after a scorching start to the 2007 season has cooled of BIG TIME with only 1 HR and a .286 BA for the month. Giambi is not hitting any better .188 BA with 1 HR himself. Matsui is hitting .304 for the Month but in his last 10 games only .264, Robbie Cano has struggled the worst with his hitting .186 with 11 K's and then there's Bobby Abreu who looked just lost at the plate the last few days is hitting .222 in May. If the Yankees are going to take advantage of the great pitching their getting right now they have got to start hitting again. It's one thing when a few guys start slumping but right now only Jeter and Posada seem to be getting hits consistently or can be counted on to drive in runs. In the end thou we all know this won't last. A-Rod despite slumping is still hitting well above .300 and was bound to cool off from his amazing April. Giambi well he can be counted on to hit below his own weight average wise but he is likely going to pop a few HR's here and there as well, and he does get on base via the walk so he should improve as well. Matsui is slumping just a bit now but he had a good game today he will likely turn things around as well. That brings us to Bobby and Robbie both seem to be slow starters Robbie last year did not have a good first few months at the plate and Abrue always seem to be a late bloomer as well. Although Robbie seems like he may take a few more weeks to come out of it. Abrue on the other hand is hitting second or third in this lineup and is bound to break out at any time. What’s also important here is that the bats are slumping NOW much like the struggles with the Pitching and the Injuries I'd prefer a team wide slump NOW in May then in August and September. Remember its base ball folks it's a Marathon not a sprint.

The Pitching has to continue to do what it has done; Andy today threw a great game and got the bums rap loss because the offense let him down. Moose has had two very good outings Wang nearly threw a perfect game and YEA he had an ugly start the other day. I'm betting that his next time out he is one tough SOB to hit much less score on. I have a lot of confidence that over the next two months Moose, Andy and Wang are going to be VERY VERY GOOD for the Yankees. So the key falls on 2 guys and how well they pitch. First Rasner who has been nothing short of fantastic for the Yankees. You can't blame him for the average of 5 innings a start. Truth is Captain Hook Torre is terrified of him on the mound and will not give this kid a real chance. They constantly pull him in the 6 Th when he could very well work out of trouble. How good has Rasner been?? Take a look over 5 starts, Rasner has a 3.28 ERA which is DAM GOOD if you ask me. DeSalvo has been BRILLIANT for us in two outings and he should honestly be 2-0 right now. Truth is Wild Kyle, a Blind Ump and Mo cost him that game (Hell that sound like the start of a really bad joke don't' it??). If DeSalvo can keep pitching like this over the next few weeks the Yankees are going to be in VERY good Shape.

Next is what will happen when Hughes and then the Rocket join the ball club. Right now as things stand Rasner and DeSalvo are taking Roster spots that will belong to both Clemens and Hughes by the end of the month. Truth is thou the Yankees desperately need a long relief man to come in and eat innings when guys can't get out of the 5 Th and 6th innings. Truth is games like that happen and with a Bull Pen full of short relievers the pen is going to get over worked when this happens. Moose and Clemens are likely to have quite a few games where they simply run out of gas and we need a reliever to come in and give us a few innings to get to the 8 th or 9th. If I’m the Yankees right now DeSalvo and Rasner are auditioning for that very roll. So who gets the quick trip to the minors or out the door?? Vizcaino has not been all that good. Wild Kyle I honestly have no faith in, after that I'm not sure. What it comes down to thou is we need somebody that can eat these innings for us. Clemens who I have a TON of respect for I just don't see pitching all that great in the AL. Don't' get me wrong folks the Rocket still has gas in the tank but there is a reason he did so well in the NL. There is no DH and if you watched his starts he generally pitched 5 maybe 6 innings before being pulled from the game. What that translates to in the Al is a very overworked BP with out a long man. Hughes?? I love this kid and he looks like he is going to be amazing for the Yankees but he has been on a very strict pitch count from day one and although the injury helps control that some the Yankees are still going to be vary careful with him and how many innings they let him throw. With that in mind I can see quite a few games where Hughes will be pulled after the 6 Th which means we need a long reliever. Regardless of this Clemens to his credit will be a help to the Yankees he may not be as good as advertised but I'm willing to bet he will be good enough to win and should be better then Randy Johnson was last year with his 5 something ERA and 18 wins. Hughes is hard to call; I know he is going to be VERY good just how good is hard to say. Time will tell.

Ok folks so hear is what I'm thinking the next week or so is going to go for us. Starting this week we get the White Sox for Three Games in Chicago, The Yankees with Moose on the mound will take game one and Wang will pitch a gem on Weds day to take game two. Rasner will pitch well on Thursday but the Yankees will likely fall short and loose on Thursday. Then the BIG weekend series in NY against the Mets. We have DeSalvo, Pettitte and Moose going for us REMBER NL RULES so I'm seeing a three game SWEEP of the Mets as DeSalvo shows us he is the real deal, Andy and Moose tie up the Mets hitters and the Yankees FEAST on Mets pitching. This series will be HUGE because I see a lot of the bats coming alive in this series and starting to hit again which is important because we invite the Sucks into Yankee stadium that Monday Tuesday and Weds and by the way the Yankees will be on such a roll I'm calling for yet another three game sweep. So from now till Next Weds the Yankees if you ask me are only going to loose one game the bats are going to wake up and the Yankees are going to be on a roll. Call me Crazy if you want but this is how I see things. It will be interesting to see if I'm right. Hey I'm man enough to say I was wrong but I don't have to be all that wrong to still be right about the Yankees getting on a roll. So what do you guys think how will the next week pan out for the Yankees??

Till Next Week

The Yankee Fan

Youth or Free Agents??

So I have to apologize for being MIA the last few weeks. Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Insanity is to blame or in a nut shell real life got the better of me. Yea, Yea I know I post this thing once a week how hard can that be. Well considering that I can only post a blog once a week that should tell you how busy I am on a normal week, so when things get busy or crazy it’s just dam near impossible. The good news is that I have made some arrangements to avoid not being able to post a blog and over the summer when this happens to me again I should be able to introduce you my readers to some very dedicated and very talented Yankee fans who will be guest blogging for me. This week thou I’m quite ready to write so your stuck with me for now.

**UPDATED** Mind you I have been working on this Blog the last few days. As many of you know Roger "The Rocket" Clemens was signed buy the Yankees and at todays game Roger adressed the yankee fathful ala King Henery Style. Althou I'm not a big fan of the Yankees signing Clemens this is proably a good move buy the Yankees. Considering the injurys we keep facing and that Clemens in the rotation will help take some presuer off the rookies like Iggy, Rasner and others. The way i see it buy Mid June or sooner the Yankee rotation will be Wang, Pettitte, Musena, Clemens, and Hughs when he can come back Iggy till then. Honestly i think Clemens is going to struggle in the AL East and his efectivness will not be what it was in the NL the past two years. I could how ever be vary wrong. Eather way this is a bost for the Yankees rotation and good news for now. Welcome back Rocket and I REALY hope you can help.

In the last two weeks I have noticed that there is an interesting debate over the direction the Yankees have taken, this being the Youth movement or Free Agent signings of Veteran players. Now in a perfect world a team should be able to do both but unfortunately these days Free Agent pitchers are expecting long term deals and fat paychecks. Many Yankee fans have shown frustration over not signing Bary Zito a guy I my self was hoping would be a Yankee this year but frankly I’m glad the Yankees passed on him. Ted Lilly, Jef Supan, Gill Mech, and Jason Schmidt are also among others that fans are currently lamenting over because Cashmen passed them up. Others like my self applaud Cashmen’s effort in this winters Free Agent market, and see that he has given the Yankees an improved Farm system and has provided the talent for this team to win this year and many years to come. So the Debate is simple Youth or Veterans who are more valuable??

For Years the Yankees have been a Free Agent, and blockbuster trade type of team. They have traded young talent for current and established ball players, these players after these trades have been sigend to large contract extentions. In the Free Agent market they have never broken any single player records in terms of Pay but have signed many long term deals some as short as 4 years and some as long as 7 years. For the most part these deals have worked out for the Yankees Mike Musena has been a very good and serviceable pitcher for the Yankees. He has however had his ups and downs thou as he has gotten older, he has lead some to wonder if signing him to a 5 year deal was the right thing to do. Jason Giambi not one of my favorite players was signed to a 7 year deal and although his bat has been some what effective at times, his injury prone body and his inability to actually play first base has become a serious problem. Carol Pavano was the best pitcher on the Free Agent market at the time we signed him to a 5 year 20 million something contract. In his time as a Yankee he has racked up 5 wins and spent most of the time finding new and inventive ways to be injured. It’s likely he is going to be out for the rest of the season and if the Yankees are smart they will cut their losses by cutting Pavano loose at some point in the season. The Yankees acquired A-rod in exchanged for our up and coming second baseman Alfanso Soriano. Due to Soris inability to settle in at second and his inability to not swing at everything thrown to him is what helped spank the deal. A-Rod for his part has served the Yankees well even with the so called off year last year and he has started this season red hot at the plate. With A-rod came, his long term deal and in terms of money 14 to 16 million, in terms of years (so long as Alex does not Opt out this year which I don’t believe he will do) the Yankees have him for at least three more seasons. This is a deal that has worked out well for the Yankees despite A-Rods rumbles last season. He can field at third base, and his bat is invaluable in the lineup. Also at his age he is likely not to slow down production wise over the next three years. Other then the A-Rod deal most of these deals present problems for the Yankees. With Moose as much as I like him on the mound his last few seasons have been riddled with injuries and inconsistencies at times. If the Yankees wanted to move Moose to make room for a young pitcher they couldn’t do it because of Moo’s contract terms of length. The same can be said about Giambi, when you weigh the injury factor along with his inability to play the field well, then throw in the amount of money and time left on his contract moving Giambi in a trade becomes next to impossible. Randy Johnson whom the Yankees acquired from the D-backs just two seasons ago was traded back for a handful of young prospects. Part of the reason this deal got done was because Johnson’s contract only had one year left on it and the D-backs were willing to work out some sort of extension that only added a second year to that. Money wise Johnson was making less then what some of these guys on the Free Agent market were signing for. He was a short term investment for the D-backs and to them a smart move. Because of how his contract was structured in terms of length which is why Cashmen was able to move him.

Now before I move on lets take a look at where the Yankee’s farm system is in terms of talent. Over the last three seasons we have seen Robinson Canoe, Chen Ming Wang, Melky Cabrea, Scot Proctor, Sean Hen, Darel Rasner, Jeff Karastan, and finally Philip Hughs come up form the minors and have a real impact on this team. Obviously Melky, Cano, Proctor, and Wang have made major impacts to this team and Rasner, Karastan, Hen, and Hughs are just starting to make there presence known. What I don’t get is that many of the "experts" have called the Yankee farm system baron and used up. How is this so if we have managed to bring up players that have made major impacts on the team?? Truth is the Yankees farm system is weak but it’s not with out resources either. Wang, Melky and Cano were all strong prospects coming into the majors and its not surprising they have produced so well. Last season Karastan and Rasner were brought up to fill rotation spots for the Yankees and performed quite well in their short time on the team. The problem was there was no room at the time to see what they could really do for us. Why?? Well Johnson, Wright and Moose were all taking up spots on the roster. So when Cash goes into the off season he looks at all this young pitching we have just waiting for a chance to get on the mound in NY and he realizes he needs to make room for them. With the way the Free agent market is, how can you make room for those young pitchers?? If you sign Zito to seven years your Rotation is now crowded with Johnson and Wright. Plus you lock into Zito for 7 years which means he is not going anywhere any time soon. Ted Lily would have been the same only over 5 years. Cashmen traded Johnson and Wright retaining some very good prospects in return. He also moved Shef to gain another pitching prospect although in Sanchez case he may be the injury of the month sort of guy-Time will tell. So now we have Wang and Pavano in the rotation for this season and that’s about it. Considering what we know about Pavano it’s safe to say Cash knew he needed to grab another Vet or two to solidify this rotation. Some argue Zito was the guy to get. Maybe he was but remember if we sign him we are stuck with him for 7 years. I liked Zito personally but the last thing I wanted was to see the Yankees stuck with another Moose like contract where the pitcher is obviously aging and loosing his ability to be productive for a full season yet we are still paying him like he is. So the decision was made to sign Anddy Pettitte, at the age of 34 for 2 years. A much shorter term contract and talent wise on the same level as Zito. Then Cash resigned Moose, a move I’m still scratching my head over. Granted we only have Moose for a season possibly two if we pick up his option. My problem is Moose as good as he has been for us, he is still 38 and I think he is just not the guy he was when we first signed him. In the long run this may be a smart move considering Lilly, Mech, Supan and others were signing 4 year deals. With Moose we have him for this season only and have the option to keep him for a second or possibly do what we did with Shef and pick up the option, then trade him or simply let him go. What does this do for the Yankees?? Well remember we have Hughs who has recently proven he is ready for the majors, Karastan who despite his poor first start of the season is better then that, Rasner who has shown he can start for the Yankees when needed and be effective, Chris Wright who will be a very good young pitcher for the Yankees in a few years, Tyler Cliperd who is DOMINATING Triple A right now, and many other young prospects just waiting for there chance. Now granted having all this young pitching is great but they’re not all going to become great pitchers. Some we may trade for some help in the Catching department where we have nobody to take over for Posada when he eventually retires from the game, or perhaps a first basmen where the Yankees currently have NOBODY who can both hit and Field. What we have is one guy that hits home runs and barely hits his own weight over a season plus should probably be fielding first with a spatula. Then we have a guy that can field first base EXTEREMLY well but could not hit a ball if you put him on a little League T-Ball team. So having a lot of young pitching talent currently in the minors should allow the Yankees to grab somebody that can fill those two holes. But what about the guys that don’t’ get traded like Hughes, Olendorf and Kliperd?? Remember next year depending on how things fall Zambrano and Santana amoung others will be on the Free Agent market. Both are young and both would be good long term investments for the Yankees. Also the D-train will be available from the fish at some point and we all know it's going to happen. He would make an excellent pick up as well. CC Sabath will also be a Free agent. I personally would avoid him because his injury record is very much like Pavano the only diference is CC WANTS to be out there pitching. Now if the Yankees grab one of these guys to go with Wang next year, then throw Hughes in the Mix we have 3 strong pitchers. Now if Andy sticks around next season You have a starting rotation of Wang, Andy, (Free Agent Trade acquisition) Hughes, and there is still room for Rasner, Karastan, Klipered, Wright or another young rookie. The following season if Andy leaves the Yankees we have Wang Hughs and who ever we grabbed the season before again, three strong starters and YOUNG to boot. Kliperd is likely ready for the Majors so he comes up and we either sign trade or depending on some of the other young pitching simply stay where we are with what we have. The point here is letting the young crop of talent take the time to develop and more importantly give Cashmen room to make moves and changes that we never had the chance of making before. Because of the moves Cash made in the off season he should be able to make a deal to bring us a decent young catcher to take over for Posada in the next year or two. We should eventually get a decent playing first basemen that can both hit and field the ball. We could also make a trade for a starter if it comes down to that. We also should be able to bring up pitchers that can get the job done as starters with out having to sign guys that we are hoping will pitch well after basically stinking all season OR not have to trade away our budding young talent in the farm system for a guy that may pitch well now or may simply be mediocre at best. FELXIBLITY! The Yankees now have flexibility and it will play a key roll in their ability to win this season.

Do we trade away all this young talent and get our selves the big name big dollar players. Do we hold them up in the minors and con’t to sign big long term contracts?? Or are you like me and would rather see short term contracts signed and the young talent in the minors given a chance to help. The truth is with the amount of talent we have in Triple A finding a starter isn’t going to be to much of a problem. With the lineup the Yankees have scoring runs will not be a problem. Truth is we have the time and we have the offense to back up these young pitchers why not give them a chance and see what they can give us??

So I leave this question to you my readers what do we do?? Youth or Free agents? We can’t have both not in the world of baseball today with the long term big money contracts that are being signed. You can finagle it to some degree but the emphases, has to be one way or the other. What is the right direction for the Yankees Youth or Free Agents??

Till next week

The Yankee Fan