Quote: PenWing said: You do realize the Yankees are pretty much no better than the Tigers this year, right? Well, except for that payroll. And the Tigers have played pretty much the whole season without Ordonez.
Quote: The Yankees need to throw in the towel now, while they can get a lot of stuff for their players. They need to rebuild, and the sooner they realize that, the sooner they'll be back on top.
I have to disagree. While the Yanks are greatly underachieving this season(Sheffield, A-Rod, and a few members of the bullpen being the only exceptions) and don't appear to be the best of the best at this point, they are still much better than the Tigers(no disrespect intended), and as long as they have the kind of money they do, they will at least be competitive. As PJP said, they are a very old team, but Bernie Williams, Kevin Brown, Tino Martinez, Ruben Sierra, Tom Gordon, Mike Stanton and Paul Quantrill are all in the final year of their contracts. So they'll have a chance to get younger through free agency this offseason. That's about as much of a rebuilding process as you'll see from them, and about as much of a rebuilding process as they need, truly.
They don't have much of a farm system(and, despite the number of high picks they've had recently, neither do the Tigers), and that's been the same for years, so it's not going to stop them much. Teams like the Yankees and Red Sox simply operate on a different level than everyone else. They don't need great farm systems, and if the payroll difference between the top teams and the bottom teams continues to grow larger(creating more "small market" teams that surrender their in-house stars to free agency), they probably won't ever need them.
Besides, even if they wanted to "rebuild" the way you're suggesting, they'd have a really tough time going about it. How are they going to "get a lot of stuff for their players"? Most of their contracts are untradable. Nobody's going to take Giambi. Almost no-one can afford to take on Randy Johnson, Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez. Perhaps the only teams that can are hated rivals(Mets and Red Sox). The only thing they can or should do is take the money they'll be getting with Kevin Brown, Bernie Williams, etc. gone(or, in Bernie's case, resigned at a significantly lower price) and try to go after some of the big name free agents that will be available. Tim Hudson and B.J Ryan will probably be resigned by their respective clubs, but they'd be ideal for Yankee stadium. Even with Randy Johnson's velocity down and Sheffield's bum shoulder, they still have a pretty good core of guys in A-Rod(29), Jeter(30), and Matsui(30). Pavano(30) is too good to give up on yet, as well. They won't exactly need to bring in a whole new team.
Quote: Joe Mama said: He'll be in Arlington by August.
That was the popular rumor a week ago, but a rumor was all it was, really. Clemens isn't coming to Arlington. At least, not unless the Astros practically give him away, which they have no reason to. Clemens doesn't want to leave Houston, and the Rangers don't appear to want him bad enough to sacrifice top prospects, for a variety of reasons:
1.He's 40, very expensive, and will almost certainly either return to Houston or retire the following year(he's practically said as much).
2.His last year in the AL wasn't exactly dominant, a 3.91 ERA. That translates to an ERA in the mid 4's with the Ameriquest Field factor. Not exactly something you'd pay $20 million for.
3.The Rangers are a young team and are not in a "must win now" position, the way Houston was last year, with the core of the franchise being aging stars like Biggio and Bagwell.
4.As successful as Buck Showalter has been in Texas and elsewhere, he is notorious for clashing with star players. He clashed with Randy Johnson in Arizona(which is what got Buck fired there, and eventually killed the Johnson to Texas trade talks last year), he clashed with A-Rod, and rumor has it his presence was a factor in Roger Clemens deciding to go to Houston(this was before the Astros had signed Andy Pettitte, which many believe was the clincher) rather than Texas a year and a half ago. Clemens has been the recipient of very special treatment in Houston(not having to travel with the team on the road, having his own extra-sized locker space, a personal training room all his own, etc), and that kind of thing is very un-Showalter. Since Buck has a lot of clout in the organization(he's the reason John Hart still has his job, literally and figuratively), if he said no to Clemens, he'd probably get his way.
Quote: Arroyo's 27. Clement is 30. Miller is 28. Renteria is 29. Youkilis is 26. Nixon is 31. Ortiz is 29. Not too old, methinks. Granted, Timlin, Myers, Schilling, and Wells are up there. But the rest of the team is either in or around their prime. Not like the Crankees.
Heh, I like how you sneak Kevin Youkilis in there.
