Brian Roberts should have been a Yankee years ago....I'm happy to follow him now as a Yank....he's old but he can bring experience. I believe the clubhouse will be so much better. We have some good character guys....I believe these guys will pull for each other and inspire each other....I'm hoping the yankee mystique can return in this new era.....Go Yankees! I'm very happy

ESPN says the Yankees will be paying $28 mil in luxury tax. I'm not sure how they know that since we don't know what will happen to A-Rod or who else the Yankees will sign though.

I can't wait for the season too. I really hope we have more pitching upgrades coming though.

Still so many holes to fill. Not sure what to make of the Matt Thornton signing...I've always liked him but we're not getting Thornton of a few years ago where he was 98 consistent. This guy's got some miles on him now. Looked like Farrell was afraid to use him in a big spot on the playoffs. Dude barely pitched...Feels like sloppy seconds here a little bit...Would've rather brought back Logan for the additional year.

Still having a hard time swallowing the fact that we let David Adams walk. I think the Indians just signed him. Crazy to let a more than decent-looking young 2B prospect walk that (dude played well at all the infield positions and he can handle the bat) -- and on the heels of losing Cano no less. Saw on the internet where someone said, 'outta Kelly Johnson, Brian Roberts and David Adams, watch Adams have the best year of the 3.' I agree with that. Stay tuned...Adams, Jayson Nix and Mark Reynolds all made up a trio of excellent infield depth. I wanted all 3 back yet not one was retained. But we brought back Brendan Ryan!!! Gigantic holes all over this infield, man....WTF???? A positive way of looking at 2B -- we won it all in 96 with Mariano Duncan playing 2nd. Dude was an aging vet at the time who put up a career year. Hopefully we can get something similar outta Johnson/Roberts. That '96 team had it in other areas though..

I really would've taken a flier on Chris Perez. Down year last year with his problems on and off the field but he's a power bullpen arm we could've got on the cheap. Nice move by the Dodgers here on a 1 year deal.

Go get Tanaka now. Don't F this up. Post the $20mm and then hammer out a deal, probably something in the neighborhood of what Darvish got. Would love to add Tanaka and Garza. Not sure if that's in the budget though.

Still needs to be addressed:

1 - starting pitching
2 - bullpen help
3 - quality infield depth all around
4 - another bat? Is Soriano enough here?

Do yourself a favor Cash and bring back Jayson Nix. Anything happens to Jeter, I'd much rather have Nixy out there everyday over Brendan Ryan. Wasn't that impressed with Ryan last year at all, the little we saw of him...Would also like to see Mark Reynolds back. I think we could bring back both Nix and Reynolds on the cheap and it would go a long way toward solidifying infield depth. I know Reynolds whiffs a lot but he's got great pop, is good insurance for Tex at 1st and he's a good defender that is surprisingly versatile -- who knew he could play all over the infield like that? I didn't.

Still think we might be one bat short. Kendrys Morales is the guy I really want but he may not be in the budget. Delmon Young is a guy that's out there -- we could get this guy cheap I'm thinking...Dude has always killed us in the past. Still young despite being around for almost a decade (I don't even think he's 30 yet), he's got some decent pop and good gap power. Might be a better everyday LFer over Soriano. Sori's bat is a key for us. Dude's getting up there -- better shot at keeping him healthy and fresh over the long haul if he's the primary DH. Grab Delmon Young on the cheap and let he and Gardner rotate out there and at the other 2 OF positions.. Kinda wish we didn't have Ichiro anymore. Great career but he's superfluous for us at this point. Dude has very little left..

Here's hoping we get some clarity on A-Rod soon. I can go either way -- either find enough evidence to overturn the suspension or uphold it...but tell us soon. If A-Rod's out for the year, who's playing 3rd full-time? Nunez? Really? I feel like we'll need more here...Not a lot out there though. We went old at 2B with Roberts; do we do the same at 3rd and bring in Michael Young? 37 years old, career .300 hitter. Dude could always rake -- does he have one more decent year left in him? Might be worth it here on a 1-yr deal..

Pitching is still a huge question mark -- starting and relief. Tanaka's the guy, man. After him, Garza then Santana. Those are the top 3 starters out there in order. And I'd really like one more hard thrower for the back end of the bullpen. Fernando Rodney's still out there. We grab this guy, D-Rob remains as the setup guy and then all of a sudden, I feel a hell of a lot better about the 6th/7th inning guys like Thornton, Claiborne and Kelley. Been watching a lot of Yankees Hot Stove recently -- those guys do a nice job. Jack Curry mentioned lefty reliever Eric O'Flaherty as an option for the pen. Missed a majority of last season with elbow trouble -- had to have TJ surgery. Curry thinks we should make a play for this guy like we did with Jon Leiber and David Aardsma -- grab him now while he's hurt, rehab him and hopefully have him available for the 2nd half of the season. Not a bad idea at all. Dude's still young, has a nasty sinker and is tough on lefties. Dude had an excellent yr in 2012 for the Braves: 3-0, 1.73 ERA in 57.1 innings...The year before that was even better -- 0.98 ERA in 73.2 IP. Curry mentioned that Brian McCann told him he's extremely tough (he caught him in ATL). Maybe he accepts a deal to come here and throw to McCann again. I'm down for this. Thornton and Cesar Cabral (maybe Vidal Nuno) hold it down from the left side until O-Flaherty makes it back. Not bad. Cash is usually all over moves like this. No doubt he's considered this already.

The rest is gonna have to come from within. Been hearing a lot about this 2nd baseman Dean Anna. Had a great year last yr in the minors (.331 BA, .410 OB%, 38 doubles in almost 500 ABs for AAA Tucson). .286 career BA over 6 minor league seasons. This is probably why we cut David Adams -- we probably think we have something similar or better with this dude Anna...Really want to finally start seeing some return on the Pineda trade. I think he's healthy now. If he's built back up to the point where he was with Seattle (95+ consistently with his heater) look out. Huge plus. Dellin Betances could be part of the bullpen and hopefully Manny Banuelos is healthy and can regain old form and be an option for the rotation. Still like Adam Warren for the rotation as well. Dude has better stuff than Hughes. I've always thought that..Look out for this hard-throwing righty Jose Ramirez too. This guy could be an option for the rotation or bullpen. With the holes and question marks we have all over the pitching staff, let's see this kid now! Take him north if he has a good spring. Kid supposedly hits 98 with his fastball, 93-95 consistently. We could use that at the major league level right now. Our situation might be a lot brighter than I thought...I can't wait for spring training!

Starting to think that we might be better off going after a Matt Garza/Fernando Rodney combo over signing Tanaka and doing little else. They're saying Tanaka's gonna cost over $100mm easy -- maybe closer to $120mm by the time the bidding war ends. Would it be better to sign a guy like Garza for half that (4 yrs/$55mm say, maybe less) and then Fernando Rodney (2 yrs/$20mm?)? That's $75mm in total commitment for TWO above average pitchers with over $25mm to spare -- more than enough left over to then go get a bat or another pitcher...if we're comparing what we could potentially go get with the Tanaka money.

The question is what's the better value here: 2-4 above average, proven MLB players or the one Japanese pitcher, a wildcard at that (hopefully he's no Irabu or Kei Igawa, probably not but say he ends up peaking as a 15-win, 3.50-4.00 era pitcher -- is that worth 120 million?)? See, they won't look at it like this though -- the Yankees will argue Tanaka's worth breaching the tax threshold for, but the 2-4 B-B+ level players in their primes together aren't. Not sure I agree with that...They may want to re-think that...What if Garza winds up producing similar or better stats than Tanaka (a distinct possibility--as is, Garza probably starts the 2nd game of the season on this staff right now, right behind Sabathia)? What if Fernando Rodney comes here and puts up 40 saves, a 1.00 era, throwing 95-100 mph with that ridiculous changeup (I dunno man, I love D-Rob but with him closing, everyone else moving up a notch in responsibility--i.e. Claiborne & Kelley in the 8th inning etc.--with nothing else in place -- that's not nearly as good a bullpen as we're used to seeing. Plus, Rodney, for all his crooked hat wearing, bow & arrow nonsense is still a top 5 closer in baseball, maybe top 3)? And what if we then had enough left over for an impact DH bat like Kendrys Morales -- a guy who could also spell Tex at 1st? Dude hit .277 last yr, with 23 HRs and 34 doubles playing at Safeco Field -- what kind of damage could he do at Yankee Stadium? 30+ HRs easy, no? Maybe closer to 35-40...Switch-hitter right in his prime that does a decent amount of damage from the left side (solid, about equal production from both sides -- like every switch-hitter, he just ends up with more ABs vs. right-handers). Also, I think he's over whatever lingering problems he may have had from that fluke injury he suffered at home plate after his walk off in 2010... And speaking of Tex btw -- is he completely healthy? Will he stay healthy and have the banner year we desperately need? What insurance do we have in place if he breaks down again or doesn't hit for the power we expect? With Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay no longer on the team, what's the plan for depth at 1B? Plus, we lost 30-35 HRs in Cano; another 30-40 with Granderson. That's around 70 HRs give or take. Ellsbury and McCann might make up about 40, maybe 50. Where are the other 20+ dingers coming from if Tex isn't up to par? What if Soriano can't give us 500-600 ABs anymore and his production starts to slip? I think Morales makes a lot of sense for us...

Apologize for being wordy..

To surmise, what's the better appropriation of $100-120mm -- on Tanaka by himself or on Matt Garza, Fernando Rodney, Kendrys Morales AND some other filler (Mark Reynolds, Jayson Nix, etc.) to round out the roster? I can see both sides -- if Tananka comes over here and becomes a true ace--a guy that could win 20 ballgames, at only 25 years of age I guess he's worth the money. If not, if he's nothing more than a 15-win pitcher that's nowhere near as dominant as he was in Japan (say numbers Garza could easily put up), I might prefer the package of 3 solid/proven B+ level talents + filler. Tough call. Tanaka's a real gamble -- if he succeeds, I feel like the team still needs more in certain areas. And if he's a bust or underperforms expectations, it could set us back years.

Another big question -- will that money be there if we lose out on Tanaka? I have my doubts. I get the feeling the Yanks think this guy's a big fish that's worth the money and anything else wouldn't be. Not sure I agree with that..

Finestrg wrote:Apologize for being wordy..

To surmise, what's the better appropriation of $100-120mm -- on Tanaka by himself or on Matt Garza, Fernando Rodney, Kendrys Morales AND some other filler (Mark Reynolds, Jayson Nix, etc.) to round out the roster? I can see both sides -- if Tananka comes over here and becomes a true ace--a guy that could win 20 ballgames, at only 25 years of age I guess he's worth the money. If not, if he's nothing more than a 15-win pitcher that's nowhere near as dominant as he was in Japan (say numbers Garza could easily put up), I might prefer the package of 3 solid/proven B+ level talents + filler. Tough call. Tanaka's a real gamble -- if he succeeds, I feel like the team still needs more in certain areas. And if he's a bust or underperforms expectations, it could set us back years.

Another big question -- will that money be there if we lose out on Tanaka? I have my doubts. I get the feeling the Yanks think this guy's a big fish that's worth the money and anything else wouldn't be. Not sure I agree with that..

Those are all great questions. I'm surprised by how quiet things have been in Yankees' land lately.

SupremeCommander wrote:I would like the Yankees to get their roster's payroll in check - but still spend the same amount of money, but on overhauling the farm system and how they do business. I personally think the Cardinals run the best organization in baseball and I would love for the Yankees to be able to grow talent like the Rays - but use their deep pockets to retain all their star players

I agree but that's clearly not their approach. I am definitely hoping that they keep Gardner. If you count his impact on defense, then I think he's much better than the the players being offered for him in trades are.