A brutal trade is Babe Ruth for cash; an albatross is Carl Pavano. I think we need more perspective.

Agreed that Damon has lived up to his contract on the offensive end, but it was a mistake to assume he could still play CF. Sure, Beltran would have been an anchor out there but again he hasn’t been a difference maker for the Mutts ether.

Navarro is the one that hurts but it’s hard to see Torre or Girardi playing him enough to realize his potential. Maybe 2008 would have been the year, but it took him three half-seasons to establish himself. And he’s still not good enough to supplant Jorge.

All that is besides the point however – signing another 1B to a 6 or 8 year deal after the Giambi albatross would be brutal especially with many expiration dates (Jete, A-Rod, Jorge) about to be due over the same time frame.

The bigger point that you ignore is that RJ was instrumental in getting the Yankees the 2005 divisional title. Things like that are important to me…otherwise, you can throw away every season that doesn’t end in the World series. What’s more, Damon (OPS+ of 115, 97 and 118 with the Yanlees) has been very productive in 2 of the three years that the Yankees have had him at a fraction of the price of Beltran. In fact, only in 2006 was Beltran much better (OPS+ of 96, 150, 126 and 129 with the Mets).

Words like disaster and brutal are way out of line to describe the RJ trade. Regardless of how you label it, suggesting that the Yankees were crippled by it is pure folly, unless you consider cripled making the playoffs for three of the four years since the decision.

Just brutal.

A Kennedy Triple to CF; Molina Scores; Finley Scores

Perhaps a Gold Glove CF would have come in handy on this play?

Perhaps the loss of 150 runs last year couldn’t be predicted, but that’s not the question; the question is how you’re going to get a good chunk of them back. Personally, I think they’ll have no trouble as long as Swisher reverts to his 2006-7 form, Cano hits .290+, Posada’s able to catch regularly and hit roughly his career numbers, and Gardner maintains a .350 OBP.

OK, not all of those things have to happen – but at least three of them do, and not one of them is a slam-dunk.

I’d still love to see them find some way to improve in CF, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

His range factor as a Dodger was average. Baseball Prospectus gave him a 104 RATE (2 runs above average) in LA. In RF at Yankee Stadium he’d be fine. At least better than Abreu but with a better bat.

Adding Manny (over Abreu) would balance out Swish at 1B (over Giambi). For less money the offense is about the same with the potential to be much better if Cano, Jeter, and Swish bounce back to career norms and with Posada and not-Melky full-time.

Manny is exactly the contract to get for long-term flexibility. Dunn maybe too if they can get him for four years or less.

I don’t know if Pete is right, but if you go by what Cashman has been saying, Pete might be correct. However, Cashman usually does not tip his hand. All this talk of blowing CC away with an offer, makes an already expensive move worse.

I mean, CC won’t be bad, just maybe risky. I will be anxious to watch Cashman. I have faith in the guy. He usually surprises. It LOOKS like CC now, but maybe Cash will pull a rabbit out of his hat.

But that is not the issue.
Manny has proven he is a selfish scumbag.
Manny could well be a great hitter for another 4 years, if he chooses to be.
But Manny is playing for himself… for the HOF… to be on the all-time HR list.
I don’t care how good he MIGHT be…. Manny should never be a Yankee.

I agree the Swisher trade was an excellent move, especially when you consider ‘value for value’. What exactly did we give up? Cashman fleeced the ChiSox.

I agree with the school of thought that we need offense more then pitching. Our pitching is better then it appears. Check out our ‘Fielding independent ERA’. Our defense last year killed us. Matsui, Bobby, Jeter, Giambi and a bad year for Cano. In 2009, add Posada to our list of below average fielders.

We need to STOP getting one-dimensional sluggers. On this front, Tex is very tempting. Considering baserunning and defense, ARod, Cano and JD are more ‘well-rounded’, but most of our other players are offense only. We must get away from his model. I don’t want all glove-not hit guys, but we need more balanced players.

We should not worry about too many OFers. AJax should have one spot, but there are no quarantees. This is the last year for JD and Matsui. We need OFers. Hopefully, we can get Holliday and maybe Crawford. While neither are ‘hugh sluggers’, they are the type of players, along with Swisher, that we need to target.

Say NO to Manny.
Tex would be great, but is not a must have.
There is more then one way to skin a cat.
Beware of instant gratification at the cost of flexibility and our future.

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12, why do the Yanks have to sign Tex for 8 years? 6 is plenty. I’ve even advocated going for just 4 and blowing him away with cash ($27M/year, say). All talk of a ten-year deal aside, Boras would _LOVE_ to get Tex back on the market in 4 years, because that’s how Boras gets paid (see the A-Rod and JD Drew opt-outs). And IF the Yanks end up having a lot of players for only a few spots, well, they cross that bridge when they come to it. I love Montero, but right now he’s a 19 year old who hasn’t played a year in a full-season league yet, much less seen advanced pitching. If they have a log-jam, they can always make trades, or do what they have to do. They somehow managed to survive with Giambi’s long-term deal, and Tex is likely to have a greater value due to being younger than Giambi was when he signed, and being able to play 1B well.

william, change “Randy Johnson” to “Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon”, and then you’ve got something. Besides, never once did I say they shouldn’t have traded for Unit. All I said is they should have signed Beltran too!

You argue, oh the Yanks won the division in ’05 and ’06, and the Wild Card in ’07, and it wasn’t hitting they needed in the playoffs (not sure I buy that part either but I’ll leave that aside), so not having Beltran didn’t matter.

But 2005 was a fluke season; as Small and Chacon prove, they got damn lucky. Their pythag was 90-72 and I’m afraid to look up their 3rd order record at BP. Remember how much time Sheff and Matsui missed in 2006? Fortunately they were able to trade for Abreu! Imagine how much better than could have gone if Beltran was on board. Or did you forget T-ball Long that quickly?

The Yanks would have been better off in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, AND now (and for the next couple of years as well) with Beltran on board.

Maybe. Reports are LAD offered 3/60. Blow that AAV out of the water for long-term flexibility. Give a fourth year option based on plate appearances. Would another team go 4/100? I don’t think so.

Add in Sabathia at 25/year and Pettitte at 13 for 1 year and Swisher, and they still come in (25 + 25 + 13 + 5 = 68) 20 million under the 88 million they shed.

Then there’s this lineup:

Damon CF
Jeter
Matsui DH
A-Rod
Manny RF
Posada
Nady LF
Cano
Swish 1B

In bigger parks, start Gardner in CF, move Damon/Matsui to LF, Manny to DH, and Nady to RF.

[7] Fair enough…I agree that the Yankees do need offense, but they don’t have to have Teixeira. If you want pure offense, Manny probably is the better guy to get. I like Tex and hope the Yankees do get him, but he isn’t Arod or Pujols. I don’t think it would be horrific if the Yankees don’t get him as [6] suggests.

[8] The Yankees are not built to tread water for a couple of seasons. Before you know it, Jeter, Mo, Posada, etc. will be on the way out and Arod will finally start his long delayed decline. The Yankees have enormous resources and should be prepared to use them.

As for the draft picks, the Yankees should be receiving compensation of their own, so losing a first rounder isn’t cripling. As nice as it is to build through the draft, the reality is that you have to make trades and sign free agents as well unless you want to suffer through long stretches of losing.

Sign him for 3 years at 75 million. Big money, sure. But pay extra for long-term flexibility. Play him in RF at home (he’ll be no worse defensively than Abreu and he has the better arm) and DH him on the road. To me it’s a no-brainer:

1. Shorter contract by half
2. Clear upgrade over what they had
3. Cover (on-field and off) for the overly sensitive 3B

Besides, everyone assumes that both Matsui and Damon will stay healthy. That hasn’t been true for the last two years. Trade one if you can for bench depth. If not, you start Damon in CF with Gardner as a LIDR.

It’s a good fit for today, but not tomorrow or next week.