@ GDH:
Did you have to go and ruin my Thursday by mentioning Tony Womack? UGH!

@ #15:
One of Joba or Hughes + good prospect + mediocre prospect doesn’t get you Roy Halladay. That package you’re describing couldn’t get you Johan Santana, coming off a somewhat down year (for him) which also included the possibility of elbow trouble. If it couldn’t get you Johan, it won’t get you Halladay.

You’d need more and the price isn’t worth it.

@ Raf:
And it took Tony Womack being Tony Womack for Cano to get his slot too.

YankCrank wrote:

This why I don’t get Yankee fans who are so pissy and moany about Brian Cashman spending money. If we want our farm system to continue to catch up to our competition, we need to develop our own and use our payroll to our advantage as well.

Not only that, it has been shown time and time again that if it came to a choice between a guy on the farm and a FA, the Yanks will go with the FA. That’s the way it always has been. For all the talk of the “dynasty” it took Tony Fernandez’s broken elbow for Jeter to get playing time. For a while, the Yanks preferred Joe Girardi over Jorge Posada and for all his work in the 95 ALDS, Rivera didn’t start the season as the primary setup guy in 96.

@ MJ:
Excellent point on Halladay vs. Santana. Looking over the FA pitchers, Rich Harden and possibly Justin Duchsherer are the most appealing, even though everyone’s all lathered up over Lackey. And then once again, one of either Joba or Phil needs to step up and produce as a starter. The other wild card is Aroldis Chapman, who depending on the price could be the best value and best upside of the lot.

@ YankCrank:
I have no problem with Cashman spending $$, I would like him to watch the roster flexibility, especially now with last year’s FA signings, and not get too aggressive with years. If we go FA, I’d rather go second tier this year and stay away from long term deals.

I’d be willing to give up Hughes or Joba, a good prospect, and a mediocre prospect for Roy for one simple reason… We have what it would take to win another ring or two in the next 2-4 years. Roy vs. those other guys increases our chances. Am I trading away guys that could be studs in 6 years? Yep. Two reasons….1) they might not become studs, and 2) we are one stud pitcher away (plus or minus resolution on the Damom/ Matsui fronts) from being a dominant team for a couple of years. I’ll grab that whenever I can. CC, Doc and AJ are as good as any 3 combo out there (I think by a lot), throw in Andy and I could be the 5th starter and we’d still win a 100 games and be set up for the playoffs (okay, I wouldn’t make the post season roster).

@ MJ:
Agree completely.

When it comes down to it, we can’t compete with the Sox for a trade right now. They have a better system with more high-end talent, which is exactly why the Yankees need to continue just using the free agent dollar to their advantage.

This why I don’t get Yankee fans who are so pissy and moany about Brian Cashman spending money. If we want our farm system to continue to catch up to our competition, we need to develop our own and use our payroll to our advantage as well.

Yankee fans who want Cashman to win on a budget are completely unrealistic and blindly searching for another tool to wrongfully criticize him.

GDH wrote:

The rumors about Halladay are heating up, with the typical hype of a Yanks/Sox war over acquiring him. He turns 33 in May, he’s a beast, and he makes $13.3 million this year. Given he’d want at least 4 years and $80 million, as an extension, would you move heaven and earth to get him? Or do you stay in to drive the price up and then go a different route? Me – although I LOVE the idea of Halladay / CC / AJ, Roy has been injured in the past and he’s 3-4 years older than CC. I wouldn’t clear the farm for him.

I’m also intrigued by the Tigers wanting to unload Granderson and Jackson. Jackson is pretty clear cut, and an interesting case, actually. Power arm, faded in fall last year, still a question mark long term, but inexpensive. Granderson I like a lot, until I saw his contract. Even so, he’s making under $10 million until 2012. He’s an interesting fit should Damon want too much. I wouldn’t mind either of them for the right trade.

I wouldn’t trade anything for Halladay. It’s no different than the Johan/CC situation from a few years ago. Why trade the farm and then grant a huge contract extension to a guy when you can just wait a year and pluck other good pitchers from free agency (Cliff Lee, chief among them). If the Yanks want to bid on Halladay just to theoretically drive up the price on Boston, sure, that’s fine, but the truth is that Boston has higher-rated assets so it would be hard to drive up a price on Boston when we’d have to go deeper into our system to match what Boston can offer.

As for Granderson and/or Jackson, I say no thanks. Again, why trade what little MiLB depth we have when the answers reside in free agency? Neither player is particularly good enough to conceive of what the trade price would be.

If we were talking about Felix Hernandez, sure, I’d consider anything. But Granderson and/or Jackson? No way.

@ GDH:
Halladay is the same situation with Santana. Do we want to move some of our best prospects for one year of his services, then pay a very high price for a long-term deal for a guy to pitch through his declining years?

Halladay is a beast, as you say, but the Yanks have shown they will not pay that price. I doubt they stray from their plan. If the Sox wants to do that, go ahead and do it. We can’t make moves because we fear the Sox may.

As for Granderson, it’s a tough call. He did hit 30 HRs last year, but his fly ball rate is terrible, his splits against lefties are atrocious and he’ll most likely cost us Austin Jackson+ more. After looking at Jackson’s AAA season and everybody saying we may see some of him in 2010, i’d prefer to only move him for a better player than what Curtis Granderson offers.

The rumors about Halladay are heating up, with the typical hype of a Yanks/Sox war over acquiring him. He turns 33 in May, he’s a beast, and he makes $13.3 million this year. Given he’d want at least 4 years and $80 million, as an extension, would you move heaven and earth to get him? Or do you stay in to drive the price up and then go a different route? Me – although I LOVE the idea of Halladay / CC / AJ, Roy has been injured in the past and he’s 3-4 years older than CC. I wouldn’t clear the farm for him.

I’m also intrigued by the Tigers wanting to unload Granderson and Jackson. Jackson is pretty clear cut, and an interesting case, actually. Power arm, faded in fall last year, still a question mark long term, but inexpensive. Granderson I like a lot, until I saw his contract. Even so, he’s making under $10 million until 2012. He’s an interesting fit should Damon want too much. I wouldn’t mind either of them for the right trade.