Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by NYKBocker:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Last decent free agent signing was Allan Houston and LJ in the same offseason.

Would love to keep Lee but its not like he's a viable alternative to a major free agent signing. I take it Lee would like to stay with this team, which is great, but he has to keep perspective on the direction of this team with regard to his contract.

But nothing is going to work out for this team unless it starts killing it in the draft.

Just a little correction. It was Houston and Childs that were FA signings that year. LJ was trated for Mason.

i forgot about that. good job.

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by NYKBocker:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Last decent free agent signing was Allan Houston and LJ in the same offseason.

Would love to keep Lee but its not like he's a viable alternative to a major free agent signing. I take it Lee would like to stay with this team, which is great, but he has to keep perspective on the direction of this team with regard to his contract.

But nothing is going to work out for this team unless it starts killing it in the draft.

Just a little correction. It was Houston and Childs that were FA signings that year. LJ was trated for Mason.

i forgot about that. good job.

Weren't we very close to signing Tim Hardaway instead of childs?

Posted by JohnWallace44:

Posted by kam77:

Posted by Andrew:

If the Knicks want to resign Duhon, they can do so after they sign their prize FA. Holding a spot for him will take up about 6M in cap space.

According to KBY its a 7.8 mil cap hold for Duhon in 2010.

In theory we can sign LeBron and Bosh, max out the cap, and then sign our own Free Agents correct?

A few weeks ago, a progressive and bright general manager predicted that no fewer than 20 teams would see their on-field decisions impacted by the nation's economic trouble, a guesstimate that, at the moment, seemed stunning in its scope.

But now we know for sure that all 30 teams are being dramatically shaped by the financial problems, whether they have money or not. The confirmation of this came with word that the Yankees decided not to offer arbitration to right fielder Bobby Abreu.

This is the clearest sign, as yet, of how baseball's hot stove has gone cold this winter.

A month ago, the thinking within the Yankees' hierarchy was that offering arbitration to Abreu was an easy choice, a slam dunk. At 34 years old, Abreu was a productive player for them in 2008, hitting .296 with 20 homers and 100 RBIs, and an on-base percentage of .371. The thinking, a month ago, was that Abreu would probably command a multi-year deal from some other team -- probably in the range of $10-12 million a year -- after earning $16 million last season, and if he took that deal, the Yankees would get draft-pick compensation.

If Abreu accepted arbitration, the Yankees would have a productive player on a one-year deal for something in the range of $16-18 million, the kind of thing they would have embraced in recent seasons. It's the kind of gamble the Yankees are in a position to make, as the pre-eminent money powerhouse in the sport.

But as teams like San Diego and Colorado began their payroll cutbacks, the economic dominoes began falling in baseball. Often it has been written that U.S. society, at large, reflects the shifts that have occurred in baseball, most notably the destruction of the color barrier by Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby in 1947. This winter, however, it is Major League Baseball that is following: As the Dow Jones has dropped and fears have mounted, many teams have essentially decided to not spend money, like most U.S. consumers.

A month ago, the notion of Abreu as a $16 million player didn't seem so outrageous. In the current climate, however, executives with other teams believe Abreu might be fortunate to make $8 million. It appears that no other team will offer Abreu anything close to what he would make in arbitration with the Yankees.

So the Yankees could no longer justify gambling an arbitration offer to Abreu for the sake of draft picks.

Posted by King1:

13 players in the NBA last year averaged a double-double and Lee will average one this year. DO you think someone is going to offer Lee a MLE like Jeffires and Jerome James had? It cracks me up how everyone wants to trade him for Tyrus Thomas, Bayless and other players that havent put up any numbers in the league. The bidding for Lee will start at 45 million and I bet you could have easlily got him for that before the year started. If you reshuffle the draft for his year he is picked 8 and look at the money the players before him received. They should have signed him or traded him before the season.