Yankees Future

[Bermanater3]

Do the yankees make a move for Johann Santana this offseason as it appears he'll demand a trade and the twins won't be able to re-sign him...

Assuming we Do Not Re-Sign in the next year or year after Abreu,Damon,Giambi,Clemens,mussina
possibly- arod

* Thats a lot of loot coming off the books in the upcoming years do the yankees make any major additions or do you think we look to really develop players and stop the spending spree?

I wonder if tabata will be ready in 2 years

[Jitpal]

I really don't think it is worth trading for Santana. Look at the Twins as an organization, they like cheap, projectable players that they can control for years on very little money. Once their players become big, they will let them go on free agency, just like Santana will be let go. Here is the thing, on the open market Santana's contract will be huge and will limit the amount of teams that can sign him to maybe 4-5 tops which include the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Cubs and possibly another wild card team in the mix. However, at his current salary nearly every team will want him, especially those that are one good pitcher away from winning it all. You put him on Toronto and you have Halliday, Burnett and Santana. You put him on Anaheim and you have Lackey, Saunders, and Santana. I can list more but I'm sure you get the idea. His price for a trade will be excessively high. Think of having to deal Wang, Kennedy and Jackson for Santana. Do we have enough left? Considering we think Wang and Kennedy will be in our rotation next year. That might not even be enough. I think as long as those couple teams I mentioned don't trade for him we should be ok in getting him to sign from some 300 million or so in winter 2008.

I don't see any of the guys you mentioned coming back except Arod. Arod will be back. Also figure Farnsworth, Pettitte and Pavano are not here. Damon probably is here considering his contract isn't up until after 2009. So look at it like this:

Starting Pitchers:
1. Wang
2. Hughes
3.
4.
5.

Relief Pitchers:
LR:
MR:
MR:
MR:
SU:
SU:
Closer: Rivera

Catcher: Posada
Catcher 2:

1B:
2B: Cano
SS: Jeter
3B: Arod
LF:
CF: Melky
RF:

Bench:
Damon
Matsui
Betemit
?

So there are a lot of holes to fill. You figure some guys from the minors come up and fill in some holes like starting pitching. Figure Kennedy and Chamberlain for the starting pitching jobs. Edwar and Britton probably in the pen. Tabata in right field. Maybe Miranda at 1B/DH. So there are still a lot of spots open.

Ideally, I would like to sign Joe Nathan for one of those bullpen spots, maybe Mo's successor. Teixeira for 1B. Eric Byrnes for LF. Beyond that I'm not really sure. It's hard to tell where things will shape up but that is what I would do/work with. -Jitpal

[nykgeneralmanager]

I'm not sure about what the Yanks will do about Santana. I think the reason they refuse to give up all of these pitching prospects is so they aren't in the situation where they ARE forced to give Santana $30 million a year. On the other hand, they can be saving them for a trade with the Twins. In the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't deal Hughes+ for Santana. I'd be more willing to part with Joba and others, but who knows what it would take.

As for Tabata, he'll be ready by late 2009/early 2010. He will most likely spend the entire 2008 season in AA, unless he forces a promotion at the end of the year. If he does that, he'll be a September callup in 2009 (or an injury replacement). Austin Jackson will likely arrive at the same time as Tabata also.

[Chach]

If I were the Yankees, I would avoid signing Santana, make Joba my set-up man until Mo retires/leaves and make Joba my closer for the next decade, and then use my unlimited resources to sign position players. You guys have a good pitching depth in your farm system so I think it would be wiser to spend your resources on position players, who are aging and have no minor league replacements like Clemens and Mussina have. mahalo
~Chach~

[Jitpal]

If I were the Yankees, I would avoid signing Santana, make Joba my set-up man until Mo retires/leaves and make Joba my closer for the next decade, and then use my unlimited resources to sign position players. You guys have a good pitching depth in your farm system so I think it would be wiser to spend your resources on position players, who are aging and have no minor league replacements like Clemens and Mussina have. mahalo
~Chach~

I would not keep Joba as a permanent member of the bullpen. He has electric stuff and he is capable of being a number 1 starter. We also have guys like Whelan who some consider to be closer material and failed starters due to health reasons such as Sanchez and Ohlendorf who are or will be in the bullpen and have the stuff to be good members there. It's better to have a rotation of Wang/Hughes/Chamberlain/Kennedy/5th starter than Wang/Hughes/Kennedy/4th starter/5th starter. -Jitpal

[MaRBuRy aNd JaMaL]

I wish their was a way we can snatch Johan without giving up Hughes.

[AGGiE]

We could wait until he becomes an free agent.

[throwbackewing33]

yea joba aint stayin in the pen

[Chach]

Well nyk knows how I fear for Joba's shoulder so I'd want to keep him as healthy as possible.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove0 ... id=2742549

while 2006 sandwich pick Joba Chamberlain, who fell out of the top 10 picks due to serious concerns about the state of his shoulder, threw extremely well in the Hawaiian Winter League.

Now perhaps Keith Law misspoke and meant to say something about his elbow or knee or something, but I've heard that the Red Sox completely dropped Joba off their draft board because of his shoulder. Not only that, but he has been pulling a Papelbon, being a top flight starting pitching prospect but absolutely lights out as a reliever. If his shoulder is a future issue, I think he might be best served in the pen.

Then again, depending on the type of damage to his shoulder, a scheduled lifting routine in between starts may keep his shoulder in better shape. All depends on what his shoulder looks like. mahalo
~Chach~

[cmaff051]

Papelbon wasn't a top flight starting pitching prospect.

[MaRBuRy aNd JaMaL]

I'm loving our pitching.

Wang/Joba/Hughes

should be interesting. Karesteins is only going to get better.