Some people have written that perhaps Wang makes money in Taiwan because he’s a Yankee…

Have we considered the possibility that the YANKEES make money in Taiwan because Wang is a Yankee? In terms of broadcasting, advertising, apparel sales… Wang could be making his own salary. It doesn’t seem very outlandish if you consider how many people are Yankees/Red Sox/Mariners fans in Japan or Phillies fans in Korea. These are HUGE media markets with very little connection to most teams aside from the ones that have their homegrown players.

Mj wrote:

The Yanks once gave Octavio Dotel $2M to rehab for most of an entire season. I have no issue with the Yanks giving Wang even twice that amount to do the same thing. There is absolutely no downside to keeping a guy that was once an effective pitcher and paying for the privilege to find out if he can be once again.
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Absolutely agree. Injury free, Wang won 19 games for 2 yr’s and was on his way to another great yr in ’08. Give the man a chance. Buy low.

GDH wrote:

Re: Swisher – I live in the SF Bay Area and usually only see the Yanks in Oakland – I always liked Swisher even then, and was pleased the Yanks signed him, and very pleased at the way it worked out. That said, there was at least one stretch where if he struck out looking one more time I was ready to throw a beer through the TV.

Absolutely. Between his bad May, bad July (or was it August) and generally horrible post-season at the plate, Swisher is far from the perfect player.

But as I wrote, and YankCrank and you said, Swisher doesn’t need to be perfect. He produced plenty for the team and the Yanks got him for guys that had no place on the Yanks 40-man roster going forward. Sure, the Yanks had the cash to pick up the tab on him but so did a host of other teams that needed OF help. The Mets and Cubs come to mind. Cashman got Swisher and the Mets/Cubs didn’t. Their loss (and Kenny WIlliams’ bizarre impatience) was our gain.

Re: Swisher – I live in the SF Bay Area and usually only see the Yanks in Oakland – I always liked Swisher even then, and was pleased the Yanks signed him, and very pleased at the way it worked out. That said, there was at least one stretch where if he struck out looking one more time I was ready to throw a beer through the TV.

GDH wrote:

Absolutely. And let’s not forget that at the time Swish was signed, there was no Tex – and no one really expected the Yanks to land him. At that time he was our starting 1B, and a backup RF. That gave the Yankees at least some leverage in being able to sit in the wings as the Tex sweepstakes took place. Whether Cashman was willing to start the season with Swish at 1B we’ll never know, but this trade panned out almost perfectly for the Yankees.

Never thought about that, very good point.

YankCrank wrote:

@ Steve Lombardi:
Brian Cashman traded a POS for, what MJ said, was “the team’s starting RF, 8-hole hitter and resident jokester who put out a .249/.371/.498 (129 OPS+) season with 35 doubles, 29 HR, 82 RBI.”

Interchangeable POS for Swisher? I’ll take it, and judging by how our season finished up, 29 other GMs would have taken it too. But they didn’t. Anybody could have had Swisher, Chicago basically gave him away for nothing, but Cash got him.

Absolutely. And let’s not forget that at the time Swish was signed, there was no Tex – and no one really expected the Yanks to land him. At that time he was our starting 1B, and a backup RF. That gave the Yankees at least some leverage in being able to sit in the wings as the Tex sweepstakes took place. Whether Cashman was willing to start the season with Swish at 1B we’ll never know, but this trade panned out almost perfectly for the Yankees.

@ YankCrank:
Given binary choices — Cameron for 1Y/$10M or Bay/Holliday for multipe years and lots of money — I’d definitely take the Cameron option also.

I wish the Yanks had signed him instead of stupid Kenny Lofton back in 2004 (in fact the Mets and Yanks both blew it that winter…the Mets should’ve signed Lofton as a one year bridge to Beltran and the Yanks should’ve given Cameron the three-year deal he got from the Mets to immediately put Bernie on ice).

Having said that, I’m not a huge fan of Cameron’s and never have been. Dunno why, he just has always annoyed me.

Also, in a previous thread I said it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Yanks to consider a one year, maybe $10 million deal for Mike Cameron.

Fangraphs did a nice little write-up on how, with what Cameron still offers and what he costs, he would be a better bargain than Jason Bay and still be more productive overall. Check it out:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/bay-vs-cameron/

I know he’ll be 37, and he’s not my top choice for Yankee outfielders, but if Damon bolts or is too expensive, i’d rather see a Cameron for one year than a huge deal for Bay or Holliday.

MJ wrote:

Continuing from a previous thread regarding some commenters’ desire to sign John Lackey:

http://riveraveblues.com/2009/11/the-case-against-lackey-came-two-years-ago-19828/

I couldn’t agree more with RAB’s point on this one. Lackey is fine but has enough warts to warrant the Yanks thinking longer-term here.

I agree 100% with that Lackey post, and it even further proves why we shouldn’t throw money at Bay or Holliday. Nice players, but they don’t fall within our long-term plan.