1) Merry Christmas, and for those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, Merry Thursday!

2) I’m over the moon about the Tex signing, especially when you consider that they got him and Sabathia.

3) As for A.J. Burnett…I’m taking the John Wayne route on this, “I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my President and I wish him the best.”

4) I’m sick of the “Teh Yankz spent half a billion dollarz O noese!!!” meme. Half a billion over how many years? The use of the word billion is inflammatory rhetoric. Also, I don’t care how much they spend. The Rays almost won the W.S. last year and they don’t have any money. The Phillies did win the W.S. and they don’t spend close to what the Yankees spend. The Yankees had the highest payroll in baseball and didn’t even make the playoffs. It’s a silly topic.

b.we could just go ahead with a Swisher / Damon / Nady OF with Melky or Gardner filling in CF for defensive and/or if Nady bombs / Swisher fail to rebound. Damon in CF is risky but i highly doubt he’ll come anywhere close to 05 Bernie bad .

c. Matsui is the only true slugger in our OF mix right now, I don’t think we really should trade him.

trading one of Damon / Nady make some sense but if money isn’t a true issue then why?

As for Tex, I really feel that Cashman’s stealth approach was at least partially responsible for Sox owner John Henry’s decision to call Scott Boras’ bluff about higher offers. The thing is, Boston thought they had Tex. They didn’t fly down to Texas to use up some frequent flyer miles. Henry was furious when Cash swooped in and grabbed Tex, as he fired off another whining, sour grapes e-mail complaining of the Yankee’s spending, just as he did after the Yanks traded for ARod.

Anyway, did Cash make the difference in these deals? Who knows? But I think he deserves more than a nod. Perhaps a pat on the back and a, “well done Brian.” Or maybe, a, “way to go Cash, you rule man, were baaack!!!”

All I know is Cash and the Yanks have made my Christmas a lot merrier.

If anyone is traded, it’ll be for prospects. Yanks have signed Kevin Cash, which gives them 3 BUC (along with Cervelli & Molina).

5th starter spot is for some combination of Hughes/Kennedy/Aceves/whatever kid in the minors steps up.

Not sure who’ll play CF, but I think Melky/Gardner/Damon should be enough to handle it, with Nady/Swisher filling in in a pinch. If a starter is out for an extended period, then a trade can be made, but for the most part, the Yanks are pretty much set.

Another thing, I think we have to start looking at the decision against offering arb to all the FAs in a better light. It now seems clear they were serious about freeing up money so they could spend it. Perhaps had they been stuck with Abreu and Pettitte at high salaries they wouldn’t have been able to land Tex and CC (obviously the AJ deal influences things, but anyway…)

If a buyer is offering more money than everyone else to play in a town with more endorsement money than anywhere else you, and he gets his man, all he gets is a nod. Whether these deals pan out is now as much chance as anything else. But using the highest offer to sign your man is merely doing your job.

Yeah, AJ sours things a little, but it is a typical hi-risk/hi-reward kinda thing… and it was only money, so maybe it will turn into a worthwhile deal.

Anyway, big budget or not, I think Cashman has been really great this off-season. I believe he is a man on a mission.

If we get Holliday next year, we will have a VERY strong team. If Ajax pans out, an OF of Holliday/AJax/Swisher/Melky -or- Brett sounds very nice.

From an SI article of not that long ago:

“Teixeira instead signed with Boras and was projected as a first-round pick in the 1998 draft. But when the Red Sox asked him beforehand if he would accept a $1.5 million signing bonus, Teixeira thought he could do better. He tumbled all the way to the ninth round, where Boston finally grabbed him. “The Red Sox told everybody that I wouldn’t sign, and when it got to a late enough round they said, ‘Let’s take a flier on him,’” Teixeira told Baseball America in 2006. “So they spoiled me for everyone else.” Dan Duquette, then the Red Sox general manager, says it was common knowledge that Teixeira would be difficult to sign. “That’s why he went in the ninth round,” Duquette says.

The Red Sox still offered Teixeira $1.5 million, but Boras advised his client to go to college instead, take some time to mature, get an education, maybe even meet the girl of his dreams. Ever the ideal client, Teixeira turned down the money — “It was the most I had ever heard of a high school player turning down,” says Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall — and he met an industrial-design major named Leigh Williams at a party his freshman year. Today Teixeira and Leigh are married with two children, Jack Gordan, who is 2, and Addison Leigh, 1.

Teixeira does not like to revisit what went wrong with the Red Sox, lest he alienate a potential suitor. But the experience clearly bound him to Boras and made him somewhat jaded about the business of baseball. “