It's finally next year....BASEBALL IS BACK!

[Thrillhouse]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

First, Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle for not a whole lot. Then, getting Craig Wilson for Shawn Chacon?! All of this, without giving up Hughes or Tabata?

On behalf of all Yankees fans, thank you Brian Cashman.

Yeah, the world series may well have been won by New York this past weekend. If, and I say if their injured players can come back than the yankees will be tough to beat. They have been doing great with guys like Melky, Terrance Long, Andy Phillips, etc.

I want my team to get the wild card (or division but theres too much ground to make up) but if not.... I would love for the yankees to beat the sh... out of the tigers in the first round.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Thrillhouse

Yeah, the world series may well have been won by New York this past weekend. If, and I say if their injured players can come back than the yankees will be tough to beat. They have been doing great with guys like Melky, Terrance Long, Andy Phillips, etc.

I want my team to get the wild card (or division but theres too much ground to make up) but if not.... I would love for the yankees to beat the sh... out of the tigers in the first round.

If they can get Bernie and Phillips off the field, that's worth some wins right there. I don't like the decision to dump Aaron Guiel though; if anyone should have gone, it should have been Phillips with the acquisition of Wilson. Andy is one of "Torre's Boys" now, though, so he may be entrenched in a roster spot.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

If they can get Bernie and Phillips off the field, that's worth some wins right there. I don't like the decision to dump Aaron Guiel though; if anyone should have gone, it should have been Phillips with the acquisition of Wilson. Andy is one of "Torre's Boys" now, though, so he may be entrenched in a roster spot.

The whole thing is that someone has to catch the ball at first, and Phillips is really the only guy who can do that on the current roster.

Adding Abreu pushes Bernie out, although Lidle will help about the same - good pickups, although they're still quite vulnerable when they throw the ball, it might not matter if they average 11 runs per game.

Massive deals - why would the Pirates make that trade? It's not like Wilson would be expensive in arbitration, since they NEVER PLAY HIM. I get the salary dump, to the only team that can actually take on the entire salary - OK, Gillick is a tools guy, so he got terrible prospects back. That's fine, it happens. But Chacon for Wilson? A valuable commodity for a terrible scrap-heap definition of replacement level?

In the immortal words of Happy Gilmore, "Why don't you just give him the trophy?"

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

The whole thing is that someone has to catch the ball at first, and Phillips is really the only guy who can do that on the current roster.

True, I'd forgotten that aspect of it. At least his at-bats will dip, though.

The pitching staff still worries me quite a bit, as you pointed out.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

True, I'd forgotten that aspect of it. At least his at-bats will dip, though.

Wilson will take ABs against lefties, too, so you prob won't see too much Andy Phillips . . . at least, comparatively. Then again, Wilson's 1B defense isn't exactly stellar, so who knows what Torre will do, after factoring in the "Cult of His Guys".

Originally Posted by KSigkid

The pitching staff still worries me quite a bit, as you pointed out.

Yeah, but again . . .scoring 1,000,000 runs solves a LOT of pitching problems . . . I just couldn't be that worried, especially with Matsui scheduled back at the end of the month.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Yeah, but again . . .scoring 1,000,000 runs solves a LOT of pitching problems . . . I just couldn't be that worried, especially with Matsui scheduled back at the end of the month.

True, although isn't there a history with guys who try to come back from similar wrist injuries?

I'm probably just being too nitpicky though. A month ago I thought the Yankees would miss the playoffs, and hopefully these additions, plus the comebacks of Shef and Matsui, will prove me wrong.

[The1calledTKE]

Is there such thing as clutch? Some people would call David Ortiz clutch because he always seems to get the big hits when needed. Others like to argue that he is just a good hitter under pressure but no different than anyone else.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

True, although isn't there a history with guys who try to come back from similar wrist injuries?

A little - his injury is pretty similar to Derek Lee's, and he f-ed himself trying to rush back. However, most 'clean' injuries (breaks, not ligament issues) are better for the wrist - he might show some loss of power, but other than that the history isn't too negative for him. Add in that he plays through nearly everything, and I'd expect solid stuff, although maybe a slight dip in 'counting' stats.

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I'm probably just being too nitpicky though. A month ago I thought the Yankees would miss the playoffs, and hopefully these additions, plus the comebacks of Shef and Matsui, will prove me wrong.

You'll be proven wrong, I'm pretty sure of it. Most are guessing that Lidle and Abreu are each worth about 2 wins over the guys they replace in these last 60 games . . . an increase in 4 wins from the previous (WC-leading) squad should be more than enough to win the division, or run away with the Wild Card if the Sox get hot.