I think the Yanks are going to make a big move for Pat Burrell.

Further to Antone’s point, why would the Yanks want to have a Christian/Gardner/Melky platoon at one of the corners?
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I don’t know about the corners (I was thinking Damon/Nady), but I think those guys may be slotted to play CF, or resting one of the regulars in the corners, or being a LIDR. But I suspect the Yanks will want to shore up their defense. Maybe they think Melky will bounce back, maybe they think they can get away with a platoon of these players, I don’t know.

Of course, as I said before, there is a lot of time between now and Opening Day 2009.

Further to Antone’s point, why would the Yanks want to have a Christian/Gardner/Melky platoon at one of the corners? How would Nady/Christian/Gardner/Melky be better than Nady/Abreu at the corners?

Nady replaces Abreu. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a revolving door of Damon, Melky, Christian & Gardner in L/CF. Assuming Matsui’s a fulltime DH. Duncan will probably get another crack @ the corners and 1b.
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Raf, you logic doesn’t work there because Nady is already on the team. He can’t replace Abreu because then someone has to replace Nady’s production. If you think Melky/Christian/Gardner/Duncan is good enough to do that, then god bless you because I certainly don’t.

Obviously a trade could happen but I think most are arguing that the Yankees should dump Abreu regardless of whether there is a trade or not and I don’t see them having enough in the OF to do that right now.

I don’t see Abreu declining THAT MUCH offensively..he’s been pretty consistent the last 4 seasons and is actually having a better season than last year.

2005 0.286 0.405 0.474 0.879 126
2006 0.297 0.424 0.462 0.886 126
2007 0.283 0.369 0.445 0.814 114
2008 0.289 0.364 0.462 0.826 119

His walks have gone down but I’m pretty sure that is because A-Rod is batting behind him. His power has been consistent for the past 4 seasons, so his OPS decline is mostly due to the decrease in walks.

“Corners” meaning LF & RF.

Who replaces Abreu from this group? Assuming Matsui has to DH. I really don’t see a better option.
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Nady replaces Abreu. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a revolving door of Damon, Melky, Christian & Gardner in L/CF. Assuming Matsui’s a fulltime DH. Duncan will probably get another crack @ the corners and 1b.

Other than that, there’s the FA route, trade route, and the non-tender route.

A lot can happen between now and Opening Day 2009.

No to Abreu. Declining offense and defense. If the Yankees sign him, they are dumb.

I beleive that ZR had Abreu at a -17 a week or two ago.

MJ, I agree with you on Abreu ,there is no better option. Abreu likes it here and is pretty good relative to the alternatives presented.And who says that Sabathia and Texeira are both coming here? Teams are now flush with money so CC could easily go to the Angels( where he wants to play) or Texas where Hicks will make him the pitching version of Arod(paywise that is). Mark T could also land in Texas again too or even Boston. Then again Vlady would sure look good in pinstripes , even better than Abreu so who knows……..

Very gruesome…all the good hitting options might be worse in the OF defensively than Abreu: Dunn/Burrell/Manny/Vlad/Ibanez/Alou…

…and for the guy who said Juan Rivera…yes, Juan Rivera who has played in all of 76 games combined the last two seasons, who has never had 450 at bats in a season and never walked more than 34 times and has posted an OPS+ of of 91 and 87 the past two seasons, that is the guy we want to replace Abreu? I don’t see that happening.