[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Skipaway

I am not sure how is the Yankees considered a struggling team. It's not a great team, but it's a team with .561 winning percentage. It's not a situation like the Dodgers. Even if you consider all the long term big contracts as sunk cost, the left over budget will still allow the team to spend more than the Red Sox.

The increasing challenge for the Yankees these years have been all the poor teams are now not so poor due to the huge income increase from media contracts. So all teams can spend big bucks to tie up the best young talents they developed. There have been fewer talents on the free agent market for Yankees to bid on. Also teams used to trade talented but overpaid players to the Yankees. Now they are all rich enough to keep those still useful but expensive players. The kind of overpaid players that's still available are mostly useless ones.

I'm not sure from your posts whether you follow the Yankees but if you did, you would know that they have sucked in the past several weeks, like they are regressing to the norm that was predicted for them in preseason.

Astute comment about free agency competition. All the more reason to look to the farm and make astute trades for prospects to build a winner, is my point.

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

I agree - I think one of the biggest attractions about Cano right now and what makes it very difficult to let him go is, he's the next great Yankee bound for the Hall. With Jeter, the current face of the Yankees, fading away slowly, Cano is the next obvious choice to fill those shoes. AFAIK his image is clean for the most part (please correct me if I'm wrong) and follows that Yankee tradition.

Yeah, I really CANOt see them trading CANO! I am not so sure about how clean he is now, or how clean he has been in the past. One of his best buddies is Melky Cabrera, as you may know.

Originally Posted by canadiancreed

I'd feel bad for you but I can't see past the rage of seeing a team of supposed decent players keeping Miami and Houston company.

Please clarify this apparently interesting remark. You are outraged at the Yankees for being decent players who are failing? I think they had a good run in April but reality began settling in during May for these retreads.

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

You can't just release ARod

Bru, you are a smart guy but I think you don't understand the fundamental meaning of what a contract is.


The Yankees should try and trade him and agree to pay 50-60% of his contract yearly. But I don't think any teams would even be interested in that!

But then again, the organization knew the risks when they signed him. You underpay him for the first several years and then overpay him for the rest.

Pujols, Fielder, Votto and Mauer are going to go through the same thing.

When you give out those mega decade long contracts, you run the risk of having an albatross by the final 1/3 of the contract.

I don't think the Yankees are in that bad of shape.
Unfortunately they are in a position where they can NEVER go through rebuilding. The fan base simply will not allow it.
So instead your stuck with having to bring in established players who are expensive.
While other teams rely on a certain number of league minimums and arbitration players, the Yankees are either having to pay players 100% of their worth or overpay for them.

Thanks, but when I said "Tell A-Rod to take a hike. Cut him a discounted check for the balance," that meant the Yankees could release him, or trade him, but only after paying a SUBSTANTIAL portion of what's left of that dumb contract. By the way, I called it a dumb contract the day after it was signed. I cringe, though, to think that you are absolutely correct in this assessment: "Unfortunately they are in a position where they can NEVER go through rebuilding. The fan base simply will not allow it.
So instead your stuck with having to bring in established players who are expensive." As you may have perceived by now, I am not your typical Yankees fan.

Originally Posted by Skipaway

Why would trading Cano make any sense? These days teams value prospects more than before, so how much can the Yankees expect to get by trading half season of his service away?

In the mean time, the team is still in contention. Why give that up?

And players like Kevin Youkilis definitely isn't a problem. That's the kind of one-year stopgap measure the Yankees can afford when there are no better alternatives.

Think of the value they would get in return, though! But, I agree, Cano is not going ANYWHERE. Youk is OK, but obviously he is not long-term. To give Cashman some credit, none of the players I mentioned here are meant to be long-term with the exception of Cano.