Rich–I don’t buy your analogy. The Yankees are not the Knicks, and MLB is structured much differently than the NBA. You’re comparing apples and oranges.
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There are differences and there are similarities, but I think the similarities outweigh the differences.

One difference is that there is no salary cap in MLB, but there is an onerous Yankee tax. That tax was a major reason why Hal opposed the Santana trade.

The most important potential similarity revolves around whether or not the organizational decision makers make costly short-sighted moves in order to try to squeeze more out of an aging core. That’s what killed the Knicks (e.g., they refused to trade Oakley for Kobe when Charlotte drafted him).

Cash and Hal resisted that philosophy when they refused to trade top young talent for Santana.

That brings up another difference. There is no minor league system in the NBA. The question then becomes what do the Yankees do with their minor league talent. Do they sell low for quick fixes, or do they continue with the philosophy that caused them to reject the Santana deal?

It appears that you would have them sell off minor league talent for quick fixes. If the Yankees follow that course, they will not have replacements for Damon, Abreu, and Matsui, because A-Jack and Tabata would likely be required to make any significant trade. Similarly, they would lose a potential heir to the catching position because they would likely have to trade Montero.

If you do make those short-sighted trades the difference between the Yankees and Knicks begin to fall away.

Your argument is further weakened by the fact that of the players you list, only Mo has lived up to his reputation this season. Jeter, A-Rod, Posada, and Pettitte have all suffered injuries since ST that may be related to age. They have also underachieved. If they had performed up to expectations, this argument might have been unnecessary.

If not, Basura, please be sure to update your scorecard on me, OK?

No thanks, you’ve previously wrote me that some of these were just “spitballs”. You’ve made some very good suggestions but for every “Get Lohse” you might be right about (though I wouldn’t want him for 4 years) there’s a “Rotation of Wang, Pettitte, Hughes, Chamberlain, Mussina, and Kennedy
should be sufficient” out there. When you remind us of your home run calls don’t forget some of the clunkers.

Rich–I don’t buy your analogy. The Yankees are not the Knicks, and MLB is structured much differently than the NBA. You’re comparing apples and oranges.

And I’m not trading the dwindling but still productive years of Jeter, Mo, Jorge, Pettitte, and even A-Rod to make Yankee Stadium Scranton North.

The future is now.
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If this franchise relegates itself to that mindset, they will become the New York Knicks.

Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two step forward. That time is now.

WRT–You don’t mess up one part of your pitching staff to maybe fix another. We know what Joba is as a reliever on the ML level, we have no idea what he is as a starter.

I’m not interested in a third screwed up kid pitcher at this point.

Last I checked, the Yankees were 11-0 in games when they were leading after the 7th inning
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Huh, guess the Yanks should just keep their shitty starting pitchers and hope for the best up til the 8th inning. That way they can finish 60 – 0 in games they’re leading after the 7th inning and finish 65 – 97.

Hey, Steve, doesn’t it suck when people continue to bring up past mistakes instead of dealing with the issue at hand? Wink, T.J. Beam, wink, wink.

But anyway… Let’s not reopen the Joba stater/reliever issue. It’s easier to replace a setup man than a starting pitcher. With the Hughes injury, it’s more important than ever to get Joba in the rotation — and he’s going in the rotation no matter what fans or radio hosts think. He does have an innings limit and the date for the transition is still midyear. Hopefully by then Robertson has made it to the big leagues and is a sub, or someone else has stepped up. However we look at it, he’s going to the rotation, and the team needs him. He doesn’t have to be an ace in ’08. He simply needs to be a solid three, which is what they expected out of Hughes and (as of yet) have not gotten.

Last I checked, the Yankees were 11-0 in games when they were leading after the 7th inning. FWIW, Orel Hershiser and Steve Phillips were saying on ESPN that its getting around the league that you better have a lead against the Yankees before the 8th and maybe even the 7th inning if you want a chance to win.

Also, I thought Joba was on a strict innings leash (around 150) that didn’t have him starting until after the All-Star Break. So what do you do until then?

I wouldn’t touch Joba until the off-season, if ever again.

Basura – you missed the time, when I was in grammar school, that I told my friends that the Partridge Family was a real band.

And, you also missed the time that I thought, “Wow. Some people need to get a life.”

All, FWIW, on Lohse – I did revise my recommendation on him once the market shut him out – - and I said the Yankees should have offered him a one year deal. And, looking back now, that would have been a great move, no?

If not, Basura, please be sure to update your scorecard on me, OK?

Lohse wasn’t a back of the rotation pick as insurance.Now look at what happened?Ooops!Rasner will be OK for the time being but the Yanks need to either get Joba in the starting rotation,sign Freddy Garcia and try to make a trade with a non-contender in July.Cashman should have traded Igawa last year to a pitching starved team for a middle reliever.Igawa’s presence can only hurt not help the team.Rasner will be OK so they can live with this for the time being.
Look,Santana heads out there,the Sox had the better offer for Santana.For the Yanks to get Santana ,they would have had to overpay.In addition,the Yanks 4 and 5 would be who?Igawa and Mussina?That isn’t musch better than what they have now and the Yankee payroll would be what:325 million after luxury tax and the Number 2 team,the Tigers have a 138 million dollar payroll!I know that money comes off next year BUT where does this stop?