GDH….

All good points. Lackey vs. Roy?? I see the merits either way. Lackey doesn’t have a million innings and only costs money, but Roy is proven in the AL East, and is, IMO the better pitcher. If you ask me who I’d rather face in a post season adversery, it’s probably Lackey. That said, either one would get the job done in my quest for a second dynasty around the Core 4.

And I’m not really in favor of Lackey for the same reason (years) and a few others. I see Lackey and Halladay about the same way – Halladay is much better, but older and more costly (prospects). Lackey’s value is inflated because of the weak crop of FA this year, and he pitches in a weaker division, and not that well against Boston and Tampa. This would be a better year to try Boston’s ’09 strategy of reclamation projects than ’09, and if it doesn’t work then there are better FAs available next year.

@ #15:
Trade Phil Hughes, Austin Jackson and a surplus prospect for Roy Halladay. With him in the rotation, it’s hard to argue that we wouldn’t stand an excellent chance of repeating in 2010, and maybe in 2011.

After that, you’d have a tough time on Old Timers Day telling the two teams apart. Assuming they would take only 2 out of Hughes, AJax, Joba and Montero – and preferably Hughes and Ajax – I don’t mind the trade, but I worry about the years on the extension. If you want to sign a top pitcher for five years why not sign Lackey and keep the prospects? The years bother me, especially since Roy – as good as he is – has about 80,000 miles on him.

@ YankCrank:
my mistake I read one of the previous messages wrong.

Corey wrote:

@ YankCrank:
I never said anything about trading Joba. Not sure where your going with that.

I never said anything about a trade. I was just responding to Steve and saying I agreed with his assessment of Phil Hughes.

@ YankCrank:
I never said anything about trading Joba. Not sure where your going with that.

Corey wrote:

I disagree, it’s not the same with Joba. He has the pitches (and they are good), he just has a horrible pitch selection.

What I meant was the same as Joba was that, although they were both solid relievers, they were both drafted as starters, developed as starters (Joba briefly) and the Yankees want to continue to develop them as starters. If they don’t develop into the starter the Yanks though they’d be, the backup plan is something they know they can be, damn good relievers.

Both are pitchers are different in many ways, I was just referring to that one similarity.

YankCrank wrote:

With that in mind, it’s the same deal with Joba. This kid was drafted as a starter and was a great starter in the minors. They’ll exhaust every possibility to see if he can be the starter they thought he’d project into, and if he doesn’t he’ll be a damn good reliever.

So with THAT in mind, we all need to be that thing that 99% of Yankee fans aren’t. Patient.

@ YankCrank:
I disagree, it’s not the same with Joba. He has the pitches (and they are good), he just has a horrible pitch selection.

Steve Lombardi wrote:

If the Yankees want to keep Hughes, that’s fine. But, if they want to keep him and start him, they better be prepared for some less than stellar results.

I agree with this. Phil, despite his solid year, has a lot of work to do. That includes consistent command, building innings up and developing another pitch. He did develop a pretty nasty cutter in the pen but he has work to do.

With that in mind, it’s the same deal with Joba. This kid was drafted as a starter and was a great starter in the minors. They’ll exhaust every possibility to see if he can be the starter they thought he’d project into, and if he doesn’t he’ll be a damn good reliever.