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cant really trade for any1 w/out getting fleeced, as cash has zero leverage right now

the farm pitchers are a couple years away


seems like the best strategy will be to pick up reclaimation projects and hope they pan out

cliff lee is a clown.. figured this guy never really wanted to come here.. just didn't feel right about him... it is tough now.. phil hughes is going to have to grow up quick.. cc will need to win another 20 games, and AJ burnett needs to grown a brain and some gonads... we need another pitcher, especially if andy retires.....

TKF wrote:cliff lee is a clown.. figured this guy never really wanted to come here.. just didn't feel right about him... it is tough now.. phil hughes is going to have to grow up quick.. cc will need to win another 20 games, and AJ burnett needs to grown a brain and some gonads... we need another pitcher, especially if andy retires.....

if you need 4 days to decide on a 7 year deal from the yanks, that just shows you didnt want to go there

Yankees are screwed. We lost out on all the free agents, and we have nothing of value that we can trade that we don't need (we cannot trade Montero with Posada on the decline and Cervelli being absolute crap). We threw away all of Joba's trade value by stuffing him in the bullpen, and turing him into a pile of manure.

I have no idea where we go from here.

Pharmcat wrote:

TKF wrote:cliff lee is a clown.. figured this guy never really wanted to come here.. just didn't feel right about him... it is tough now.. phil hughes is going to have to grow up quick.. cc will need to win another 20 games, and AJ burnett needs to grown a brain and some gonads... we need another pitcher, especially if andy retires.....

if you need 4 days to decide on a 7 year deal from the yanks, that just shows you didnt want to go there

exactly..

in the daily news article, it states lee approached PHI

yea he was never interested to come here

The one thing he can't do is panic to try and match the moves the Phillies and Red Sox did. Signing Lee would of been huge, but making a spur of the moment trade is a mistake. If it takes the Yankees a few years for their prospects to develop then so be it, but he needs to shy away from making a sudden trade which will hurt their future. If their prospects (pitching specifically) are as good as advertised, we could see a new wave of prospects (Montero, Betances, M Ban, Brackman, Sanchez, etc.) making a big-time impact on the ML level in the near future.

Wade2k6 wrote:The one thing he can't do is panic to try and match the moves the Phillies and Red Sox did. Signing Lee would of been huge, but making a spur of the moment trade is a mistake. If it takes the Yankees a few years for their prospects to develop then so be it, but he needs to shy away from making a sudden trade which will hurt their future. If their prospects (pitching specifically) are as good as advertised, we could see a new wave of prospects (Montero, Betances, M Ban, Brackman, Sanchez, etc.) making a big-time impact on the ML level in the near future.

i agree, making a trade is out of the ? as cash has no leverage and teams will be looking to fleece him, aside from the high tag there is out there already when teams talk pitching to yanks

unless of course some top flight starter comes available, which isnt happening

Cliff Lee is not a clown. It's not like he picked the Nationals. He goes to a team that has just as good a chance as any to make the World Series. Does anyone know the figures?

Certainly spoke volumes upon who Cliff Lee believed was closer to a World Series not to mention to save wear and tear on his arm.

Money and playing for New York isn't every thing to a lot of these mercenary players, fellas...I still say for that absurd kind of money, the Yanks are better off in the long run if Lee didn't bite. There's more to wining than mortaging a ridiculous amount of money to a guy who Obviously does not understand what winning means to NYC.

With all the star power the Yanks have, it's still no excuse not to continue winning without Cliff Lee.

Cliff Lee left $50 million and 2 years on the table. I would say that is pretty clownish. If he doesn't win 2+ rings, this will be an awful decision by him.

Sark wrote:Cliff Lee left $50 million and 2 years on the table. I would say that is pretty clownish. If he doesn't win 2+ rings, this will be an awful decision by him.

Maybe in your mind, but he's still secured with a 100 million dollar paycheck, on top of the 25 million he's already made in his career. It's only an awful decision if he decides it is, and considering he's taken over a week to think about his decision... I'm sure it's the best for him and his family, despite how much money he left on the table.

I think also it's interesting to mention how Lee who could have been the #2 behind Sabbathia chose the Phillies where he could be just as comfortable pitching behind Halladay, Oswalt, and/or Hamels. Now, obviously he has the stuff to pitch at any part of the rotation but in a similar Lebron-esque move..he didn't want to be "the guy" but "a guy" in a great group of pitchers.

Does that immediately place the Phillies over the Giants front 4? I dunno...cause if last season proved anything it's that the Giants offense not only got to the Phillies rotation but also beat Lee TWICE. So what's in a name, Shakespeare?

Back to the Yanks, hey look...AJ Burnett has to pitch up to his contract. The Yanks went after him, gave him 16.5M last season, and he's still on the hook for 4 more seasons (check me on that). Since we were on the topic of EARNING your contract (see Jeter debacle)...AJ has to earn his keep. But if he doesn't, he's DEAD weight on the rotation and the Yanks hopes get even more dire IF Pettitte retires (probably won't though)...

No Grienke! He has a real mental disorder, and throwing him in NY would be horrific.

Cash will trade for a number 2 or 3 and pray that AJ can get it together, and Hughes can be lights out come post season.

Girardi needs to be Doc Rivers and rest his players more. Problem is the sox are much better so they might be in a tight race again.

Is anyone else really glad that there was no Mariner deal now? Maybe Lee would have liked it here, maybe not. At least we still have Montero. We also have Nova, who would have been part of that deal. Guess Nova has to step up because it's likely he is one of the Yankee starters out of training camp. -Jitpal

Yea, I mean the Yanks have needs, plural. Yea, would have been nice to get Lee but I mean, that still doesn't solve how the Yanks offense didn't look anything like the year prior top to bottom. Hopefully Montero is that guy. Now, a rookie is STILL a rookie...and much like how Cano needed a little time to mature, Montero will struggle but forcing the Yanks to harnass home grown talent in the 90s led to 4 WS. Why not continue to do the same here.

Again, high priced mercenaries aren't always the answer...sometimes you gotta go within.

I don't really consider this move lebron-esque. In baseball 9 players help you win the game, not just one and lebron went from being the best player in the league to deferring to the 3rd best player in the league.

Lee is a country boy and well he earned the right to chose where he wants to play. I can't fault him for turning down millions, people from Philly are a different breed from NY.

The phillies rotation right now is one of the best I've ever seen on paper, but the fact is injuries happen and well let's let the season play out. One of the positives of this is well we don't face Lee anymore (thank god) and would only have to face him in the world series. The phillies offense was brutal last year and I think with the loss of werth and another year of aging to ibanez, howard, utley, rollins, that well they could be defeated in the postseason.

Anyway, I don't think cash will rush into anything right now. The season doesn't start till april and rushing to make a trade now is desparation. I still wish we had traded for Haren last year but thats just me.

I'm not 100% sold that the Red Sox upgraded that much. They added two stars but they also loss beltre and martinez.

i think yanks should focus on the pen, try to stock it up

sign one reclamation project out of: webb, wang, young, harden, etc

trade for one middle of the road pitcher

convince andy to come back

Yea man, I've been saying this ever since Lee became a FA.

There is nothing that says the Yankees have to dump $160M at the site of the best FA. Bottom line is, you have to make the post season and then it's anyone's game. How many times have over night heroes stunned a favored opponent?

There are other ways..

Yea there is definitely no need to panic. We are returning the same team that was 2 wins away from the WS, and the team they lost to just lost their Ace, where as we still have ours. The only team that has upgraded is the Red Sox, and well lets face it, the Rays have downgraded heavily. We are still a top 3 team in the AL no matter how you look at it.

Lets say AJ reverts to his 09 form, which was still consistently inconsistent, but better then the '10 version. Phil Hughes continues to emerge, Andy has his 1 last hoorah and well one of our young guns emerges and grabs that 5th starter spot.

People need to realize here that the Sox got 2 very good players but at the same time, lost their 2 best hitters from last year. Yea pedroia and youk come back but Beltre was a gold glove 3b, no way youk can replace that. They upgraded but not as much as some people believe. Their bullpen is still atrocious and well lets see how lackey/beckett due before we make these guys champs already.

Cashman knows even where we stand is pretty good shape and now we can wait for a disgruntled player who doesn't want to be a part of a situation anymore and pounce on it.

I have a weird feeling Carlos Zambrano might be wearing pinstripes this season...

After all the problems he had, when he got re-inserted back in the rotaiton on august 9th, he went 8-0 in 11 starts, never surrendering more then 2 runs in any of them.

With Larry Rothschild as our pitching coach, we have a first hand witness to what went down in chicago and whether he'd be a good fit here. His contract ends after the '12 season with a possible vesting option for '13 but if you ask me that could fit perfectly into our budget...

Thoughts?