On the Yankees beat

id take whatever we can get really. you can never have too much pitching as mr steinbrenner would say. id like to see some of our young guys come up and pitch. i mean i dont know how hughes is lookin in AA but i know his stuff is dynamite and why not give him a shot? i can understand if you dont want to overuse him at a young age but why not at least put him up to AAA and see how he does? i understand we wont get willis/zito i just hope everyone else here who replies does as well. russ ortiz was designated for assignment by the diamondbacks so why not give him a shot? he was great a couple years ago. also hopefully dotel will be fine and we can look at him as a big trade aquisition

Last night they did what I was talking about. Each reliever had his job, each performed it. Wright was yanked just in time. If Fasano had walked, he was gone sooner. Perfect use of the talent we have allready. Add Dotel soon enough and we have adequate if not excellant relief corp. We need a serviceable starter. How did Jason Johnson slip our radar and land in Boston? We could have cleaned up his act as well for some starts in August and September. I think we shouldn't waste time and get someone who may or may not be there. How about Smoltz? He all but asked to be sent here to go against Glavine in Oct. How about Kris Benson or really bite down hard and send Hughes, Duncan and Melky to Florida and CASH for Cabrara and Willis together. Miguel can play left. D train is a PROVEN leftie. Hughes can get going in Florida with Joe G, and come back to us as a freee agent later in life ala Clemens etc.

Would be great to get a good starter, but how likely is that? Everyone wants pitching, and most of them have more talent to trade than we do.

Going for a solid reliever may be our best bet. The way this season has gone, we're going to need depth more than anything else.

If we do get another starter, it should be a diamond in the rough sort, like Small and Chacon last year.

why was Rivera in the game last night? Why was Farnsworth in the game? Why couldn't Villone go longer? Torre's bullpen management has been AWFUL.

Its a tough call; I think the Yankees need a starter to replace Wright but it is easier said then done. Apparently, Smoltz is available. He is 39 and and would be a stop gap at best. But you cannot give up anything real for him. I also think they should have kept Smalls and tried him in the rotation, replacing Wright and see how it turned out for a few turns through the rotation. I trust Brian Cashman, lets see what he comes up with...

Jeff Weaver is available. We could pitch him out of the bullpen, too, since he did such a great job for that one inning in '03 against the Marlins. Wait, Torre left him in for two innings? I blacked that out of my memory.
Unfortunately, it seems like slim pickings for both relievers and starters, so I'd rather they didn't trade any prospects for retreads. I hoped they'd get Jason Johsnon off wavers, or maybe Russ Ortiz even. Just someone who can go more than five innings.
And how did the Red Sox get all those great young arms? And why, in God's name, did we draft a short stop last year instead of Hansen?

They should go after a starter, one who can eat up some innings, then their bullpen would be just fine. How about Smoltz? And if Pavano comes back Smoltz could always pitch out of the bullpen also.

The Yankees are not (hopefully) going to give up the young talent they have for a stop-gap rent a player. They should set their sites on guys like Kyle Lohse or Joel Piniero. These guys give the coaches options as they can start or come out of the bullpen.

The priority goes to pitching. It doesn't matter whether it is a starter or reliever. With the way "Clueless" mis-handles the entire pitching staff, any good relatively fresh arm is a plus. By no means go after any NL pitcher. The stats\performances of NL pitchers are misleading due to the widening talent gap between the AL and NL. The list continues to grow concerning very good NL pitchers coming over to the AL, and getting pounded. The most current example being Beckett of the Red Sox. Conversely, if an average AL pitcher goes to the NL they dominate. Arroyo is a perfect example of this. Even Ponson is having success with the Cards, and he was horrible in the AL. The only NL pitcher I would even think about is Smoltz, and that would be as a reliever, which he doesn't prefer to do. If he had a change of heart, and we didn't have to give up Hughes, or anyone currently on the 25 man roster, then maybe. Stick with AL pitchers because you know what your getting. Radke, Lohse, Wickman(if available), Zito(don't mortage the ranch). My main target would be Eddie Guardado of Seattle. Putz has put him out of a job, and I'm sure both he and Seattle are ready to part company.

The price of acquiring a starter would be too high.

It's more important to keep their prospects.

If Villone, Beam, and Smith pitch regularly, the pen should be OK.

I don't have much problem with Mo pitching last night. He didn't throw that many pitches the night before, and today is an off day. Yeah, a combo of Smith and Beam probably would've done the job, but what if they came in and it BECAME a save situation? Would've been much harder to put out the fire then....see Saturday's Nats game.

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And how did the Red Sox get all those great young arms? And why, in God's name, did we draft a short stop last year instead of Hansen?
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I'm guessing the Sox got all those young arms because they drafted well and DIDN"T TRADE THEM FOR SHORT-TERM HELP!!! Which is what a lot of fans here and elsewhere are suggesting. Regarding Hansen, seems there was a feeling within the organization that they wouldn't be able to sign him....his agent is Boras, did Yanks have a problem with Boras back then? Maybe that's why.

Jason Johnson to the Sox may be a great deal (for us). Or did you all forget how he got smacked around by the Yanks not so long ago?

As someone up thread pointed out, when NL pitchers come to AL, they bomb more often than not. Thusly, Willis is not guaranteed to succeed. And he's had a so-so season so far. And he looks like he's one pitch away from a blown elbow.

In any case, I don't see Yanks making a deal for a high-end starter or reliever down the line, if only just because everyone asks the moon and the stars when they trade with Yanks.

The Red Sox do trade prospects for short-term help - they just have a deeper pool to choose from, becasue they have drafted better than us recently.

As to Willis, i don't agree with everyone who says he isn't worth it for one reason or another. The bottom line is I don't think the Marlins are going to trade him to anyone, but if they were the Yankees would be foolish not to try and acquire someone who could be a staff ace for the next ten years or more. For all those who talk about getting younger - remember Willis is the same age as Robinson Cano. His future is all ahead of him.

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mediocrity!musings praisers baseball!predominately besieger dagger!Cameroun!

mediocrity!musings praisers baseball!predominately besieger dagger!Cameroun!

champions:fortunately concurrency abets.seditious!parking ...

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Sirius:Boone bayed counterproductive reincarnated uncanny infection ...

mild abolitionists Alfonso!inception Tchaikovsky?- Tons of interesdting stuff!!!

mild abolitionists Alfonso!inception Tchaikovsky?- Tons of interesdting stuff!!!