The bullpen gets stronger. Mo might get a few times off during the season in circumstances where he would have been used, potentially prolonging his career and, perhaps more significantly, prolonging his effectiveness this coming season and next.

Of course, signing an ace reliever doesn’t give the team the starter that it needs.

But it also does nothing to prevent signing a starter.

I see too much Goldmanism creeping into The Banter, especially in the comments.

For me, that’s the bigger problem.

It is curious that the Yanks went so high with the dollars as it appeared no other suitors were in that vicinity?

It seems to me that you would rather wor in Joba as a starter again then to trade him while his stock is relatively low. Honestly, how much worse could Joba be that Mitre?

Chamberlain was jerked around so much and everyone knows the Yanks have no patience to try out young pitchers. If going in to Spring Training they let Joba know he is the 4th or 5th starter, it might be the confidence boost he needs.

When he came on the scene Joba was all about energy and confidence. His mound antics are over the top at the end of innings, but it is obvious he feeds on the adrenaline (And a lot of pizzas).

I think that adrenaline and energy was what was missing most from what I saw of his limited time in starting.

Roger Clemens was very effective in career of keeping the fire going throughout the whole game, but that may or may not have been the effect of steroids?

I hope Joba gets another shot at starting. He had 4 pitches and that is two more than he is able to use as a setup man.

Joba looked like the heir apparent to Mo, and this (Signing of Soriano) is likely another blow to his confidence.

It will be interesting to see how and if he bounces back from this as a Yankee or as trade bait?

“He had no interest in paying Soriano $15 million a year, not when it was going to cost the Yankees a prospect in June’s draft. But Cashman was feeling pressure from ownership to make a move; he agreed to take on Soriano against his wishes. This was one of the few times since 2006, when George Steinbrenner withdrew from the day-to-day operations, that Cashman had been overruled.”

[8] that’s interesting. if i remember correctly gammons was who reported on the role of levine with the whole torre stuff.
i don’t really trust gammons’ information, but with that said, if randy levine is in fact making “baseball” decisions, which i think he is, i find that disturbing (even more disturbing than his mere presence).

I’m more meh on it than anything else, but that’s because the rotation looks like C.C. and, um, er, ah, Hughes, and um, er, ah, rain? Plus I expect Toronto to be better and even Baltimore to be competitive, rather than lying down. It doesn’t address the main issue, but that can’t be fixed anymore (Bonderman being the good option is not a good place to be.)

Come back, Andy! We need you.

Oh – and the real news would be if Steve Lombardi WAS impressed by anything the Yankees did. Dude is a negative nellie (as my Mom would say). I normally wouldn’t say anything, but the article was linked and we’re ok to comment. I stopped following his blog. Always complaining about something. Sorta sucked the fun out of it for me. Different strokes and all that.

[2] i guess “we won’t surrender a draft pick for soriano” replaces “bubba crosby is our cf” in cashman speak lore.