Once I was, in the heart of Red Sox Nation(New England) that “Yankee Suck” attitude is par for the course. I used to visit Massholia quite frequently because my brother went to graduate school at Havard. Bostonians/Mass folk remind me of Parisians. There is a sort of snobbism, rudeness that makes them the French of America. Sorry, mate about the generalizations but go to Cambridge, Somerville and the environs on a regular basis and you’ll see what I mean. BTW, New Yorkers are not as hospitable as Southerners BUT they are more personal and real than people in Mass(sic). The Yankee fans did act like morons with the arrogance during the Dynasty years no doubt, but the way people act in New England about the Sox (with the exception of Rhode Island that has a large group of Yankee fans) is double the idiocy. That whole 1918 syndrome was true, but tired after awhile. But “Yankees Suck”? That is middle school crap!

Oncewas, also Hank wants some premium free agents and quite frankly relative to the Jays, Rays and the Red Sox they could use some of that in the short term. If the Jays add a lethal bat like a Manny or a Thome, they are in the mix. If Tampa gets another bat and shores up their RISP by adding a good RISP bat they get better. The Red Sox need help with their bullpen ,but otherwise are good to go.

And by the way MJ, nice straw man argument here:

If you told me the Yankees would make no changes whatsoever to this year’s roster and go into 2009 with the same team, I’d tell you that they’re not a 4th place team.

The issue isn’t what would happen if the Yankees had the same roster in 2009. The issue is Hankie asserting his power and “getting the guys he wants” regardless of what others think. How did that work out, overall, when George was making those decisions?

You’re already on record as hating Hankie when he runs his mouth, do you really think the results will be good when he’s “the decider”?

For the record, I’ve never lived in New England (unless the most New York-infected portion of Fairfield County counts) and have never known anyone who could be described as a “Masshole” or ever chanted “Yankees suck”. So please don’t lump all Red Sox fans together.

One was , the century line is a technicality since 2000 (in spirit) is the 21st century so there!

Look, the Yanks don’t have a birthright to go to the playoffs and win every year. There have been smug and arrogant Yankee fans and I have called them out.
But these new skool Red Sox fans, there are a combination of the Yankee arrogance AND the old Mash**le attitude. Mate, I’m someone who praises other teams for their excellence and the Yanks for their current crappiness but I feel the same way about France that I feel about the Red Sox. Beautiful France, Ugly French (in a rude sense)…….Great Red Sox team, ugly Red Sox fans.

One other thing, the Yankee fan still has a right to talk smack about all the history over Boston BUT at the same time you are only as good as your last movie and Boston fans have a right to talk smack as well. BUT not the right to act like Mas**les and chant Yankees suck at a Patriots game! That is how immature and low, New England fans are. They are very classless AND have to resort to childish chants even when a baseball game is not on to bring up a nemesis? Stupidity!

BTW, I hated the stupid 1918 chants as well. Those 1918 signs were idiotic. Not as dopey as Yankees Suck , but still unreasonable.The Yankees didn’t suck ,BUT the Red Sox last won in 1918! One was a falsehood and the other (1918) was fact….Guess what guys they might be holding up 2000, 86 years from now !

One last thing, MJ and Once Was I didn’t think that the Yankees were this bad before the season began. I thought Tampa would be decent but not this good. I thought that Toronto would take the Wild Card and Boston would be in first place. I thought that these crappy early starts would catch up to them, though. It was dicey for the NYYs to go with two rookie Yankee pitchers. In essence, I thought that they might come in third BUT not do this badly.

Yeah, I knew the daggers would come out when the Yankee season went down the crapper.

I can only imagine what you’ll say should the Red Sox win another title. Oh, I can guess:

We won our three in a row, you smug bastard!

19-18!!! (Wait, that doesn’t work anymore)

Who’s Your Daddy? (Wait that doesn’t work either, and heaven help us if Pedro wins another ring with the Mets)

Wait, I got it:
26 titles, baby!
(don’t ask how many this century)

Don’t tell me that with an aging core, little help on the farm, and a spotty record with young pitchers, you think that the Yankees will inevitably start a new playoff streak.

Or do you?
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If you told me the Yankees would make no changes whatsoever to this year’s roster and go into 2009 with the same team, I’d tell you that they’re not a 4th place team.

So if you’re looking at this year’s team and telling me that the Yanks are finished and that their “spotty record with young pitching” dooms them since there is “little help on the farm” then I would suggest you go find a flux capacitor and zoom back to 2006 when the Red Sox finished in 3rd place.

Dude, you’re a smug bastard. And don’t tell me about all those millions of Yankee fans who claimed the WS as their birthright. I don’t know those people. But hey, Clay Buchholz had a better season than Phil Hughes, right? At least that’s what the media would have you believe.

Over and out. Write back whatever the hell you want to write. I’m going to go enjoy my weekend while you’re sitting there trying to come up with something intelligent to say.

Yeah, sign all the top FA’s. Who needs a $200+ million payroll when you can have a $300+ million one!

Buying FA’s has worked so well these past eight seasons.

No more so than you when you made the playoffs all those years in a row and acted like it was your birthright all along (I’m talking about your average Yankee fan, not you specifically).

Now the challenge is to figure out how to react to missing out without becoming the Braves. Don’t tell me that with an aging core, little help on the farm, and a spotty record with young pitchers, you think that the Yankees will inevitably start a new playoff streak.

Or do you?

Fourth place may become very familiar in the first few years at the new Stadium.
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Aren’t we smug and self-satisfied?

Butch,
the long term problem is that signing C.C. and AJ will take them long past their prime years and into their “old” age. That’s why I said “Even if Stein grabs a few free agents who work out, inevitably the team will remain older, less athletic and more inclined toward injuries.”

Furthermore, I don’t think there is any chance whatsoever that Hank sends the Captain away when his contract is up. So that is another player not only on the wrong side of 30 but he’ll be signed for three or four years when he is on the wrong side of 35. You mention Posada coming back. Yeah, he’ll help. But exactly how much? Even forgetting the fact that he lost a season to a bum shoulder, he’ll be 37 and possibly not an every day catcher anymore.

This team needs to bite the bullet and wave goodbye to people who are the cusp of their decline (Hello, Bobby Abreu, it was nice knowing you) and move forward to actually become younger and more athletic and less inclined to break down.

Teix is really the one guy I’d go after, and he might really lift the offense. But I’d hesitate over C.C. (and their are abundant reports that he is inclined to stay in the NL, on the west coast anyway) and never even consider Sheets or Burnett. The Yankees need to get younger in the field, and hope that the pitching they’ve stockpiled pans out.

I could see the Yankees, a couple of years down the road, with a very strong, young starting rotation, highlighted by Joba, Wang and Hughes, that can be as good as any. But if they aren’t smart and don’t develop or trade for younger position guys, they’ll still have trouble because of the collective age of their everyday lineup.

So the real question, to me, is whether or not Cashman et al made the right choices when it comes to drafting everyday players. Obviously Austin Jackson being an impact guy would be a big step in the right direction.