Raf wrote:

Mantle, Ford, Berra, Dimaggio, Dickey, etc were not drafted.

Yankees bought the best players then too.

Don’t forget Ruth, and several other members of what was in the 1910′s the “Red Sox Dynasty”, who became the core of the first Yankees dynasty.

Aww, who’m I kidding? I know you know all that.

butchie22 wrote:

the fact that the Pirates are allowed to do what they do is IMO equally disgusting.

The Pirates have competent baseball people in the front office, they’re not doing anything disgusting. They’re using their money to beef up the amateur side of operations.

butchie22 wrote:

There was no free agency back then! Players were bloody slaves in those days. Totally different times actually. Now the Yanks can go out and buy the best players from the free market(CC and Teix) and sometimes the worst(Igawa and Pavano). It was about drafting and trades before free agency and the Yankees excelled in that regard

Mantle, Ford, Berra, Dimaggio, Dickey, etc were not drafted.

Yankees bought the best players then too.

There comes a point where you have to separate gutty and gritty from a player’s actual abilities. Joe McEwing was gutty and gritty, but he was what he was – a bench player. As was mentioned before, Pedroia is g&g, but he has talent & skills to complement them.

Also, butchie, I prefer Melky in LF/CF. I’ll take a .280, 15 HR contact guy who plays good D and gets clutch hits. And if you’ve seen my comments on Granderson in some of the other threads, I wouldn’t want him to try to be a 40 HR guy at the expense of being a .230 hitter with 160 K’s. Sometimes you have to win without HR regardless of what stadium you play in.

butchie22 wrote:

Raf wrote:

butchie22 wrote:
I love how Yankee fans (not the only ones BTW) downgrade a player then want the best piece available ! Gardner’s not that great let’s expect to get more than a bag of balls for him……. Amazing and I thought I’ve seen everything under the sun……. Almost as crazy as how awesome Ajax was , until the goat he became after the front office threw out their spin. Shamelessly unbelievable….

Hey Butchie, I’m not downgrading GGBG, not at all. However if two teams want to “covet” him, then by all means let’s take the best deal. If they’re looking for an inexpensive leadoff solution, and they think GGBG is it, then more power to them. Likewise, if he becomes part of a three way deal where we get a piece we need more than a 4th or 5th OF/Pinch runner, then I’d consider that a no-brainer. Grandy and Damon (or another OF) make one of Melky / Gardner into extras anyway. Hell, even Hairston could fill in very adequately in that role and is more versatile.

Raf wrote:

butchie22 wrote:
Hopefully,but not probably that will stop with the next collective bargaining agreement.
It won’t. Yanks have been taking advantage of the system since they bought Babe Ruth from the Red Sox.

There was no free agency back then! Players were bloody slaves in those days. Totally different times actually. Now the Yanks can go out and buy the best players from the free market(CC and Teix) and sometimes the worst(Igawa and Pavano). It was about drafting and trades before free agency and the Yankees excelled in that regard The situation
It won’t change Raf? Really do you have a crystal ball on that bloody note? I don’t BUT something might be done to constrain the bigger budget teams (especially the Yankees then the Mets, Red sox etc so on).. By the same token, the small market teams should really be under the gun to make sure they spend rather pocket money as well. As much as people find the gluttony and spendthrift of the Yankees disgusting, the fact that the Pirates are allowed to do what they do is IMO equally disgusting.

Tresh Fan wrote:

Gardner will turn 27 next year. He’s at his peak…and what can we say? He’s a 4th outfielder/pinch runner that couldn’t beat out the likes of Melky Cabrera (carreer .716 OPS) for a full-time position. Now I’m no savant, but I’m betting you can find a busload of nimble pinch runners in the minors, all of whom are 5 to 7 years younger than Gardner.

Tresh spare me. don’t act like Melky is some world beater, remember that he lost out the centerfield job at one point as well. Melky is a fourth outfielder on a top tier team like the Yankees nothing more nothing less. I don’t think BG is a necessary cog on the team either BUT I did like the fact that they could plug in a guy like that from time to time.

GDH wrote:

Tresh Fan wrote:
Gardner will turn 27 next year. He’s at his peak…and what can we say? He’s a 4th outfielder/pinch runner that couldn’t beat out the likes of Melky Cabrera (carreer .716 OPS) for a full-time position. Now I’m no savant, but I’m betting you can find a busload of nimble pinch runners in the minors, all of whom are 5 to 7 years younger than Gardner.

Tresh Fan – . At this point find out who has the best piece and do this deal before the Sox and Royals sober up.

I love how Yankee fans (not the only ones BTW) downgrade a player then want the best piece available ! Gardner’s not that great let’s expect to get more than a bag of balls for him……. Amazing and I thought I’ve seen everything under the sun……. Almost as crazy as how awesome Ajax was , until the goat he became after the front office threw out their spin. Shamelessly unbelievable….

Tresh Fan wrote:

Gardner will turn 27 next year. He’s at his peak…and what can we say? He’s a 4th outfielder/pinch runner that couldn’t beat out the likes of Melky Cabrera (carreer .716 OPS) for a full-time position. Now I’m no savant, but I’m betting you can find a busload of nimble pinch runners in the minors, all of whom are 5 to 7 years younger than Gardner.

Tresh Fan – Nailed it. At this point find out who has the best piece and do this deal before the Sox and Royals sober up.

Gardner will turn 27 next year. He’s at his peak…and what can we say? He’s a 4th outfielder/pinch runner that couldn’t beat out the likes of Melky Cabrera (carreer .716 OPS) for a full-time position. Now I’m no savant, but I’m betting you can find a busload of nimble pinch runners in the minors, all of whom are 5 to 7 years younger than Gardner.

butchie22 wrote:

Hopefully,but not probably that will stop with the next collective bargaining agreement.

It won’t. Yanks have been taking advantage of the system since they bought Babe Ruth from the Red Sox.