34Celtic wrote:You're arguing that we didn't have Matsui or Sheff last year. We succeeded because we had Abreu, Melky and Bernie. Our bullpen was also a lot better.
A better trade idea would be something like Abreu and $$$$ for Scott Linebrink....we dont need another starter.
Pettitte
Clemens
Moose
Wang
Hughes
Karstens----he proved at the end of last yr and so far this year that he is capable. We have money invested in Igawa and hope our staff can turn him around.
We also have Desalvo who looks legit.
If were gonna downgrade our outfield, we need to get someone who can help us. Not a 2 month fill in
Abreu played 58 games. Last year outfield on a daily basis was Melky, Damon and Bernie. This year it would be Melky, Matsui and Damon. How is that worse? How was our bullpen a lot better? Last year we have Villone, Veras, Beam and instead we have Vizcaino, Henn and Bruney. Our pen is essentially the same and arguably better because Vizcaino is an upgrade over the 3 guys we don't have. It has just been overworked. Have you not been arguing that these early season woes are because we don't have starting pitching, thus the bullpen is tired, thus they keep blowing leads?
I think we do need another starter and another reliever. This is why the deal is for Sanchez and Lowry. Linebrink isn't the answer and his cost is too high. Dealing Abreu for Linebrink alone is not a good deal. You keep looking at this year, forget about this year, it is largely set, I am talking about next year. Roger isn't back, Pettitte is most probably not back, and who knows how healthy Moose will be next year. That leaves two guys who will be back in Wang and Hughes. Who else? Do you have faith in Pavano? Igawa? Do you have complete confidence that the minor league success a lot of our young arms are having will have similar success in the majors at Yankee stadium? Also maybe you can point me to a solid lefty for the starting rotation that is easily available? Looking at the list of free agent starting pitchers I see Zambrano and Buehrle as the two top guys available. Both will be heavily sought after and there is a good chance Buehrle will go back to the White Sox considering he is their best pitcher without question. No other good lefty starter. We need one. Don't tell me we can have a rotation with all 5 being right handed and get away with it. Zambrano would be nice but he will be expensive and he is also right handed.
Put Lowry in the pen this year, next year he starts. The way it is shaking out he is our 3 or 4 next year. I can't see another option. Abreu is gone after this year anyway. As I explained, I don't see us losing much on offense, defense gets better and we add 2 young arms. Sanchez, who would be part of the deal, is nothing to scoff at either. After reading about him, I am impressed. He also a left handed guy out of the pen. Great for when we get rid of Myers after his arm falls off this year. Mid-90s sinking fastball(great for double plays and strikeouts) and a plus changeup. Supposedly works well on back to back days too. So no Farnsworth syndrome. His control has been a bit of a question, so we can afford to send him down to AA/AAA this year and let Nardi work his magic on it and we have ourselves a guy that is projected to a be top setup man or an above average closer.
DeSalvo is a 5th starter at best and Karstens is solid but he is not a starting pitcher for the New York Yankees. Lowry can be an excellent 3 or 4 pitcher in this league. Phil Hughes is that dominant fly-ball/strikeout pitcher, followed up by a dominant ground ball pitcher, followed up with a lefty with pinpoint control and excellent breaking stuff. Our top 3 in that situation are all very different looking pitchers to keep opposing teams off balance. I don't see how this can be a bad move especially because Abreu is done after this year. We can replace what Abreu provides us pretty easily but what Lowry provides we cannot so easily. -Jitpal[/i]
and I mean good, this guy is hitting his prime and has a wonderful approach to the plate he's also a guy who can go 6 to 7 IP having him as a number # 4 or 5 SP would be the right thing to do , seeing how Hughes has to rehab w/ a couple of starts and Roger is no guarantee at his age.
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