Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:The Yankees would push for Fields, though.

Why? So that they would have two third basemen? Unless they'd try to repackage Crede or Fields in another deal, I don't see the sense in it.

They might want to push for Ryan Sweeney, Jerry Owens or any one of a number of young pitchers.

Brian Cashman, you are not dumb enough to trade Alex Rodriguez, are you? Except perhaps at gunpoint?

I don't think Cashman's that dumb. But George Steinbrenner might just be.

Fields is what was said. I'm not familar with him. How's his prospective future compare with Crede? I'd assume they'd want the cheaper, younger player, if they're dumping A-rod.

As for the no trade clause. He could waive that. How hard would it be to persuade someone to do that? Boras is no pushover, but A-rod didn't do well when they 'wanted' him there this year. Think how bad it'd get if he vetoed a trade.

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:I'd assume they'd want the cheaper, younger player, if they're dumping A-rod.

You're assuming the Yankees want someone cheaper and younger? When have they ever gone for cheaper and younger?

Sheffield's got something to say

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6042616?FSO1&ATT=HMA

Well, shit, you got me. They haven't. Unless you want to make the case that they got rid of Soriano to make room for Cano (as opposed to acquiring A-Rod).

But, again, wouldn't that be at least some of the pretext of getting rid of A-Rod? If not part of the real honest to goodness reason?

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:Well, shit, you got me. They haven't. Unless you want to make the case that they got rid of Soriano to make room for Cano (as opposed to acquiring A-Rod).

They got Womack, who sucked, and having no other viable option, finally started a guy that was in contention for the AL batting title this year.

The Yankees do not trust young players. At all. Including Wang and Cabrera. Wang could have pitched Game 4 except for the fact that he was in New York City. Cabrera was on the bench against Bonderman.

(Would you have brought your best starter to a series elimination game with four days rest? Me too.)

But, again, wouldn't that be at least some of the pretext of getting rid of A-Rod? If not part of the real honest to goodness reason?

Unless it's part of some master plan to get wins by having opposing teams piss their pants with laughter over the entire season, I don't think so.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:I'll also take Joe Torre to replace Ozzie "Stupid" Guillen, too, you dumb reactionary NY jackals.

I can't let this one go, BRW.

What's reactionary about Yankees fans wanting to dump Torre? He is a poor in game manager. He has been a poor in game manager for years.

This year, he decided to throw the best third baseman he's ever managed under a bus in Sports Illustrated, allowing a player who has underperformed even more to take shots at him.

If he's not going to be a politically savvy manager, what's the point of having him?

11 years in the playoffs ought to be worth keeping Torre through the end of his contract. Getting the Yank-mes to the playoffs with as crappy a pitching staff as he had to deal with ought to count for something. Really, outside of Wang and a Mussina on the downside of his career, and the usually dominant Rivera, their pitching staff was downright mediocre.

Plus, two of his best power hitters, Matsui and Sheffield missed a good chunk of games. Still, they bitchslapped the Red Sox and the retooled Blue Jays never gave them any competition.

Yeah, go ahead and dump the guy who helped bring 4 World Series rings and two other appearances to the Wormy Apple. The sooner the Yankees hire Piniella, the sooner they become irrelevant.

vockins wrote:

tipcat wrote:The teams that won in 1996 and in 1998-2000 were short on real stars, but long on home-grown talent.

Andy Pettitte, OK. Other than that, there isn't a susbstantial difference between the number of free agent signings on the 96-00 teams and 2006

There was no megastar like an A-Rod, Giambi, Sheffield, Damon, or Johnson on that team. The 1996 team had a very different feel than 2006 in that almost all of their free agent signings were past their prime. Many of them were former stars whose luster had dulled (Gooden, Strawberry, Boggs, Raines, Fielder), yet they could still produce when needed. There was no one marquee player, except for possibly Bernie Williams and Kenny Rogers. Jeter was still a rookie. Rivera had yet to come into his own, and Posada was not yet a regular. All of these players were Yankee farmhands, not to mention Pettitte and also the forgotten Pat Kelly and Gerald Williams.

Of course by the time of their final world series win, they had many stars. Yet the nucleus still consisted of home-grown players and solid role players acquired from elsewhere, not stars. (Scott Brosius, anyone?)

The Yankees have not been the same since Paul O'Neill retired.

Yngwie Einstein wrote:11 years in the playoffs ought to be worth keeping Torre through the end of his contract. Getting the Yank-mes to the playoffs with as crappy a pitching staff as he had to deal with ought to count for something. Really, outside of Wang and a Mussina on the downside of his career, and the usually dominant Rivera, their pitching staff was downright mediocre.

The Yankees had the best overall pitching staff in the AL East. Perhaps the Jays were slightly better, but not by much.

There is no evidence that Joe Torre had much to do with the fact that the pitching in the AL East was total dogshit. He shouldn't be rewarded for that.

Plus, two of his best power hitters, Matsui and Sheffield missed a good chunk of games. Still, they bitchslapped the Red Sox and the retooled Blue Jays never gave them any competition.

It's not like those two are the only power hitters on the team, and Torre had nothing to do with the Red Sox making retarded trades, getting cancer, blowing out knees, etc.

Yeah, go ahead and dump the guy who helped bring 4 World Series rings and two other appearances to the Wormy Apple. The sooner the Yankees hire Piniella, the sooner they become irrelevant.

Wait, now it's OK to bring up the rings? Derek Jeter sucks cock, but Torre is the fucking man for the rings?

Did I say Derek Jeter sucks cock?

I'll agree with you that the Yankees had the best pitching in the AL East, but that is not really saying much when they faced the Orioles and Devil Rays for 32 games.

But if you want to bring back the glory days of the 1980s era Yankees, where Sweet Lou's teams finished 2nd, 4th and was in 5th when he was fired, I say please do in a hurry!