now thats levitation homes

TMS wrote:

BigSm00th wrote:

TMS wrote:if Cash can still re-sign Damon i'm much better w/this trade... having Damon as the DH & as a 4th OF option in place of Gardner is fine w/me.

I think this deal increases their ability to bring Damon back. Boras has to be a tad more sensible now, as the Yankees don't necessarily need Damon back. i also doubt who is going to pay him the money they're asking (boras wants essentialy the same contract damon got 4 yrs ago from what i can gather).

If you bring Damon back, you keep him at 2 and move Granderson down to 5th or 6th in the lineup?
Jeter SS (R)
Damon DH (L)
Tex 1B (S)
Arod 3B (R)
Granderson CF (L)
Posada C (S)
Cano 2B (L)
Swisher LF (S)
Cabrera RF (L)

that lineup would absolutely mash, not to mention granderson's speed in CF plus cabrera's arm moving to right are major upgrades. gardner is still on the bench as a pinch runner/late inning defensive replacement for swisher. love that.

are the yankees bringing hairston back? i really like his ability to play multiple infield positions, he's like a new age version of randy velarde, perfect for giving off DJ and arod days off as they get older.

love the move.

that's the lineup i'd hope to see next year too... we'll see if Damon & Boras come back down to Earth w/their contract demands... if not, then i'd go after Jermaine Dye on a 1 year deal to add some righty pop to our lineup & be our DH... we seem to be a bit lefty heavy & we do have to play half our games outside YS this year.

I like Granderson a lot; I think this was a pretty good deal. Would've loved to have hung onto A-Jax but I realize you gotta give to get and we just got a very talented player right in his prime. I few concerns with the lineup BigSmooth put up here (which I do like btw) --

(1) Granderson protecting A-Rod in the order - My biggest concern (the two others are minor) - With that lineup, I would think opposing managers are gonna walk A-Rod to get to Granderson everytime, esp. lefthanders who Curtis stuggles against. Is he up for that challenge? How will he react to that type of pressure? Don't know if I love him hitting 5th - to me this guy's a top-of-the-order hitter... The easiest thing to do would have him leadoff despite the high strikeout totals and have Jeter slide back down to the 2 hole (I think Grandy strikes out a little too much to hit 2nd and I'm not sure if he's a situational hitter at all (though he does pull the ball to right pretty well which could help hitting 2nd).. As good a leadoff man as Jete is, his skills and approach at the plate are perfect hitting 2nd as he's demonstrated in the past). Or maybe I shake it up a bit and hit Curtis 3rd and hit Tex. 5th (probably won't do this seeing how Tex flourished hitting 3rd after A-Rod came back). Have to think about it a little and I'm curious what you guys think but as of right now, I don't love him in the 5th spot. Protecting A-Rod in the order is very important - is this guy the man we want there? I really think I'd bring Matsui back now instead of Damon. Bring back Godzilla and put him right back behind A-Rod where he belongs. Problem solved...Ya think Damon would resign here to be a fulltime DH anyway?

(2) Swisher in LF - Swisher's OF play really got better as the season went on -- he caught everything in sight and it even looked like his throwing got a little better toward the end of the season and into the playoffs in terms of accuracy, arm strength and decision-making. LF at Yankee Stadium is tricky though. Different ballgame...We need a good glove out there. To me, Damon was super shaky but I guess he did a decent job. He had speed to outrun some mistakes along the way; Swish really doesn't. Ahh, maybe were OK with Swish in left -- I guess he's either on par or slightly better than Damon out there who I really thought was suspect at times.

(3) Melky in right - Defensively it's a no-brainer - Melky's really become a very good OFer imho and he's got a cannon for an arm. Still, will he hit enough to play RF? I guess now with Granderson on board and with the offense Swisher provides, we'll have enough to cover him out there. Melky did a good job and was pretty clutch during the season at times but overall offensively (and we saw it in the playoffs before he got hurt), he's really not a bigtime hitter. You don't see many good teams with a light-hitting RFer like Melky Cabrera around...

What do you guys think? Not a big deal?

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091209&content_id=7782804&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

I think we gotta go get this kid, even if he's still a little bit of a project (throws flame but he looks a little wild and the secondary pitches look like they need some work). Still, 21-year-old left-handers that throw close to 100 MPH don't exactly grow on trees. All it will cost is some coin -- no players, draft picks, etc. I think he's young enough with a high enough ceiling where it would be a tremedous investment even if we had to overpay a little bit. Also interesting to note is that this kid just hired the Hendricks brothers to represent him. These are the guys that represent Pettitte and we just re-uped Andy on a one-year deal. Cash has always had success dealing with these guys when it came to Pettitte. Maybe this helps us. Hopefully Cashman and the Yankees' relationship with these guys gives us a little bit of an edge over these other clubs when the time comes. We'll see..

Finestrg wrote:Just reading on the Yankees' web site that young Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman plans on holding an audition soon in front of scouts for several MLB clubs including the Yanks.

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091209&content_id=7782804&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

I think we gotta go get this kid, even if he's still a little bit of a project (throws flame but he looks a little wild and the secondary pitches look like they need some work). Still, 21-year-old left-handers that throw close to 100 MPH don't exactly grow on trees. All it will cost is some coin -- no players, draft picks, etc. I think he's young enough with a high enough ceiling where it would be a tremedous investment even if we had to overpay a little bit. Also interesting to note is that this kid just hired the Hendricks brothers to represent him. These are the guys that represent Pettitte and we just re-uped Andy on a one-year deal. Cash has always had success dealing with these guys when it came to Pettitte. Maybe this helps us. Hopefully Cashman and the Yankees' relationship with these guys gives us a little bit of an edge over these other clubs when the time comes. We'll see..

I would absolutely give that kid a shot. You can't just pull flame throwers out of trees. Apparently the kid has a ton of potential.

TMS wrote:if the Jays' demands are too high for Halladay, i say just sign Justin Duchscherer... he won't cost us any of our prospects, only draft picks & cash... he put up some impressive stats his last season (2.54 ERA 1.00 WHIP 2.10 BAA 3-1 K/BB ratio) albeit in only 141 IP... still, that's a big upgrade over Joba or Hughes in the starting rotation & will allow us to keep 1 of those guys as our setup man

Come on man...think dynasty. I don't think the cost is to high when you consider you're pretty much set-up to win for years to come. Should be no problem to extend Halladay. I wouldn't let Joba or Hughes get in the way of history man:)

TMS wrote:

Rookie wrote:

TMS wrote:if the Jays' demands are too high for Halladay, i say just sign Justin Duchscherer... he won't cost us any of our prospects, only draft picks & cash... he put up some impressive stats his last season (2.54 ERA 1.00 WHIP 2.10 BAA 3-1 K/BB ratio) albeit in only 141 IP... still, that's a big upgrade over Joba or Hughes in the starting rotation & will allow us to keep 1 of those guys as our setup man

Come on man...think dynasty. I don't think the cost is to high when you consider you're pretty much set-up to win for years to come. Should be no problem to extend Halladay. I wouldn't let Joba or Hughes get in the way of history man:)

i've already said i'd be willing to give up Joba or Hughes AND Montero & another lower tier prospect to get my hands on Halladay... but i dunno if Cashman will be willing to do it... believe me i want Halladay here just as much as u do & i wouldn't let any of our unproven young players to get in the way of it... i woulda done the same w/Johan but i didn't kill Cashman for passing up on that opportunity either... turns out he did the right thing, we ended up signing CC & won a championship & still have our young talent to use in a trade for someone like Halladay.

Oh...never mind then:)

TMS wrote:White Sox & Royals are reportedly both high on Brett Gardner as both teams are looking for cheap leadoff man options... if Cashman convinces Damon to sign a 2 yr look for Gardner to be dealt to 1 of those teams for a prospect... Cashman & Kenny Williams have a good working relationship, & the Royals could definitely use Gardner in CF & batting leadoff, which would allow them to move DeJesus down to the #2 hole where he's probably better suited... we just took Jamie Hoffmann in the Rule 5 draft from the Nats deal for Bruney so Gardner is likely gone this offseason.

I'm pretty sure Gardner still has options and can be sent to the minor league where he can play everyday. I think Gardner will be there in spring training competing for a roster spot. He can then be sent to the minors and be called back up if/when needed. There's no way we're trading him, atleast that's my opinion