A “rebound season” for a 22-year-old?  Shouldn’t he establish a baseline from which to rebound?

I’m glad he’s doing well but did anyone really think this was more than just innings for him?  The level of competition is relatively low for him.

From what I understand, the AFL is a hitter’s paradise, with people having almost softball numbers. The numbers don’t matter much, good or otherwise. What probably matters is his health, and how his stuff looks.

Seems to me he is doing well.

SG, if you are looking for ideas, here is a suggestion: Can you evaluate Damon’s contract till this day? And what his numbers need to be in 2009 for the contract to be worth it? We remember the heated debate that the signing generated at the time.

My sense would be it has worked out decently for the Yankees, but some objective evaluation would be nice. Thanks!

Is it possible to get rid of that evil “Tragic Number” bar on the front page?  Or is it there forever and ever to remind us of our shame?  A scarlet “O”, if you will?

My sense would be it has worked out decently for the Yankees, but some objective evaluation would be nice

I think you’re probably right, but yeah i can put that in the pipeline.

Is it possible to get rid of that evil “Tragic Number” bar on the front page?

Yes, it is possible.  But I am going to keep it up until the postseason ends.  Go Rays!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3645977

It looks like Pettitte will come back and I’ll be very happy if he does, but not at 16 million a year.

Go Rays!

Seconded. 

Fine, I can suffer in silence for a couple more weeks.

I dislike the 2-3-2 format.  I dislike all the off-days.  I dislike Matzusaka walking a zillion guys but not giving up any runs.

I like the Damon contract. I like the Speedy Carl Crawford.  I like the Rays to end it tonight.

I like the Rays to end it tonight.

I would also settle for Beckett having his lunch handed to him in Game 6 as a close second.  But yeah, best to end it quickly.

We all know that Hughes is a no. 5 starter at best because he only throws 91 mph.  If the Yanks had traded him for Santana, they would have SWEPT the World Series BY NOW.

If the Yanks had traded him for Santana, they would have SWEPT the World Series BY NOW.

Wrong.

If the Yankees had traded him for Santana, WS wouldn’t have even been played.  Yanks would’ve been declared champions by a newly-established preemptive mercy rule.

IE-I was in favor of not trading Hughes for Santana, but obviously I was wrong. Santana could have been the difference maker for us to make the posteason, probably to win it all.

Seeing things in retrospective, I admit that I was wrong. I wish we had Santana for Hughes and Melky now.

Seeing things in retrospective, I admit that I was wrong. I wish we had Santana for Hughes and Melky now.

I still think it was wise to hang onto Hughes.  His career has barely started and if he can pitch the way many think he can, then the Yanks have a pretty nice future with Joba, Hughes and Wang.  Not to mention guys like McAllister, Brackman, etc. a couple of years away.

Why trade Hughes for Santana when you can wait a year and sign someone like CC?

Dakranker,

Many people knew there was a significant possibility that Yankees would be improved in 2008 by making the trade.  But what about 2009-2015 (or so).  Would you rather have Santana for those years, or a very cheap Hughes plus (quite possibly) CC?  (That’s not even mentioning Melky and whatever other prospects—Horne?  were rumored as part of the deal.)

Why trade Hughes for Santana when you can wait a year and sign someone like CC?

Santana and CC, might be a reason.

Anyway, Santana seemed like an ideal trade piece, great pitcher, seems like a nice dude.  But I’m happy with keeping faith in Hughes, as long as the rest of the “Santana money” is invested well.

There’s no way in hell Yankees could sign BOTH Santana and CC.  Even for their deep pockets, it would be utter madness to spend ~$50M/year on two pitchers.

Would you rather have Santana for those years, or a very cheap Hughes plus (quite possibly) CC?

I rather have CC plus Hughes. But who knows if we are going to be able to sign CC, I really don’t think we’ll land him. And if we fail to sign CC then I wish we had Santana.

(That’s not even mentioning Melky and whatever other prospects—Horne?  were rumored as part of the deal.)

I wish we traded Melky, that was the best part of the trade. Then we could have signed Rowand and instead of having Melky and Hughes we could have had Santana and Rowand.

I wish we had Santana for Hughes and Melky now.

Isn’t this a myth? Weren’t the Twins asking for well more than Hughes and Melky? I know there were plenty of names in the conversation and the package wouldn’t have been limited to just those two.

I wish we traded Melky

There was a trade on the table a while ago I think.. Melky for Mike Gonzalez. I’m still glad we didn’t do that.

Try to remember that Melky is only 23. Lots of room to grow and lots of time to figure things out.

And what exactly would 30 year old Aaron Rowand and his 96 OPS+ from last season have added to the Yanks - aside from needlessly bloating their payroll and perhaps blocking their best position prospect?

Weren’t the Twins asking for well more than Hughes and Melky?

IIRC, the last PUBLISHED asking price from the Twins was Hughes+Kennedy+Melky+Horne+another unnamed prospect.  I believe there were rumors it was actually more, and also I believe every time the Yankees gave in to the Twins demands they upped the price.  For example, I believe before the last one it was, “give us Hughes and we’ll do this”.  Yanks agreed, and then it was “well, we meant Hughes AND Kennedy”.  IMHO, I don’t believe the Twins ever intended to trade with the Yanks.

And what exactly would 30 year old Aaron Rowand and his 96 OPS+ from last season have added to the Yanks

To be fair, having him in CF would have helped last year.  Don’t know about this coming year or later ones, but he would have helped, though probably not make-the-playoffs help.

Let’s put it this way, Aaron Rowand has a career OPS+ of 104 in 3213 at bats.  How smart would it be to be paying him $10 million per year over the next four years for his age 31-34 seasons as a CF?  Acquiring Rowand would have been dumb, plain and simple.

Oh, but Rowand made some nice catches against the Yanks a few years ago, so my previous comment should just be ignored because, you know, what’s a few great snags next to 3000+ career at bats?

I’m not saying that signing Rowand was a good move for the future, but if we signed him because we lost melky in the trade for Santana, then we would have made the playoffs with Santana and Rowand.

Right.  But I don’t think anyone was arguing that the santana trade wouldn’t help in 2008.  People were against it because of 2009 and on.

Acquiring Rowand would have been dumb, plain and simple.

Oh, I agree he shouldn’t have been signed - or if he was (assuming they traded Melky) it should have been 1 year with an option, which wouldn’t have happened - because he’s not a long-term solution there.  Four years ago it may have made sense to sign him, but not now.  But yeah, LAST year he would have helped.  Figure maybe add two wins (tops) to the team.

Now, since we’re doing this all in hind-sight, we already know that two wins wouldn’t have made the playoffs.  Even if you take the, “we have Rowand since we traded Melky to get Santana” argument, I think that’s 4 wins tops, which still wouldn’t have made the playoffs.  So yes, I’m 100% agreeing that getting Rowand would not have been a smart move.  I just want to be fair to Dakranker; having Rowand last year would have added a win or two to the Yankees.

If the Yanks had traded him for Santana, they would have SWEPT the World Series BY NOW.

If the Yankees had traded him for Santana, WS wouldn’t have even been played.  Yanks would’ve been declared champions by a newly-established preemptive mercy rule.

Unfortunately, you are both wrong. I have seen that universe and it isn’t pretty. In a game against the Mariners Santana was pitching so out of this world good (7.1 innings pitched, a total of 3 bat to ball contacts) that the Mariners started a fight which led to a riot. From there it got bad. To make a long story short the next thing that happened was Snake Plisken rescuing the president from “A #1 Duke of New York.” I could have sworn he was dead, apparently not.

am i the only one at peace w/ how the 2008 season went?  it almost sounds arrogant (no offense to anyone) that we could be complaining about not making the playoffs in a year where we lost Wang and Posada for most of the year, and other players for big chunks of it. 

2008 was a lost cause, and the world didn’t end.  we saw joba emerge as a legit starter, yankee stadium come to a close, and a lot of dead weight/money coming off the books. 

Santana didn’t even look that dominant in the NL.  i’d be worried if the Yankees were stuck with that contract.  I look forward to going after CC and/or Tex.  Peavy being traded might be interesting too. 

There’s a lot to look forward to, and i’m surprised that people are still looking back.  especially in a year w/ the Rays proved to be solid.  The AL east was just too loaded this year to make a run w/ the injuries.

I konow. But I wish we had Santana for Hughes, Melky and Kennedy right now, but it’s easy to talk after seeing what happenbed this season. I was against it too because I had more faith in Hughes and Melky, but now I realize that Melky sucks and that Hughes throws a 91 mph FB.

that Hughes throws a 91 mph FB.

Now this is just a blatant attempt to get a rise out of people, right?  Right???

Santana didn’t even look that dominant in the NL.  i’d be worried if the Yankees were stuck with that contract.  I look forward to going after CC and/or Tex.  Peavy being traded might be interesting too. 

Santana didn’t look dominant??? Come on, he pitched 200 + innings of 163 ERA +. Don’t even say that he did not have a good season.

And now you want Peavy?? Who do you want to give up for a pitcher who had a down year and also missed time with an elbow injury?? I really don’t want to give up that much for Pevy.

kronic - I made my amends with the Yanks’ 2008 season somewhere in August.  Injuries and underperformance did the Yanks in and there’s really nothing that could be done.  Tampa and Boston were playing too well to catch them.

I’d be bitter if it didn’t look like the Yanks were trying to shift away from some of the older players and try to get some younger talent in there.  The bullpen and rotation are well on their way to a younger, talented overhaul.  The hitting/position players will take time, but I think it will be addressed with a trade or two, plus the 2009 draft.

There’s no way in hell Yankees could sign BOTH Santana and CC.

If the Yankees didn’t make it to the post season with Santana, and there wasn’t a Hughes ready for 09, I’d think it would be possible to pick up CC.

Front four of:

CC
Santana
Wang
Joba

Kind of puts all sort of pressure on the 1) Moose/Pettitte debtate and 2) whether Kennedy/Aceves/whoever is ready, etc.  And hey, with Moose and Pettitte coming off the books, it would be expensive, but not insane.

And I think Rowland as a placeholder for AJax is defensible.  More so if it was part of the Santana trade alternative world.  But 4 years of Rowland means AJax can ease into his role during Rowland’s last two years.  But it would be expensive and as of now, the Yankees can jiggle their various OF parts.

Man, whenever I think about the Santana trade, I keep thinking back to how much of a jerk/moron Bill Smith was.

Forget getting Hughes, Melky, Horne and maybe one other guy (Vasquez?), Smith had, ON THE TABLE, Lester, Lowrie, Masterson and Bowden.

And he passed them both up for:

Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Kevin Mulvey and Phil Humber.

What a jerk/moron.

ON THE TABLE, Lester, Lowrie, Masterson and Bowden.

Maybe.  Not sure if the Sox would have gone through with that one.

Theo was definitely not serious.  He was just trying to jack up the price so the Yanks would overpay.

When reached for comment after this game, Phil Hughes said, “Sign Lowe!”

Unless Bill Smith, Cashman, and Theo all write a book together regarding the Santana non-trade, we’ll never know exactly what the offers were and who was actually willing to pay what. 

We can sit here and hypothesize until the cows come home, it’s still pointless.

When exactly do the cows come home?

Curfew is 1 am, but some nights they stay out late while getting drunk.

am i the only one at peace w/ how the 2008 season went?

No.  I agree with your post, kronic.  This was a transitional year, and with some good luck with injuries, they could have been much more competitive.

At the same time, I don’t think it’s unfair to weigh the merits of a hypothetical trade for Santana.

John,

Please don’t say that “sign Lowe!” is your “re-sign A-Rod!” of 2008.

(To clarify: last year at this time I agreed with you that the Yankees needed A-Rod back but I politely suggested that you might not turn every discussion into a referendum on that one topic.  You can do what you want, of course; you’ve earned it.  Consider this a preemptive groan.)

Actually, the only reason I am doing it this year is because I believe it worked last year.

Unless Bill Smith, Cashman, and Theo all write a book together regarding the Santana non-trade, we’ll never know exactly what the offers were and who was actually willing to pay what. 

What if they all did an interview together?

What if they all did an interview together?

That would be more interesting than a Biden/Palin debate.

just to clarify, yes, I realize Johan dominated, but I think he continues to show signs that he’s on the downward slope of his peak.  whip was up, k rate was down, etc etc.

as for Peavy, it will be interesting to see how much San Diego could even get for him, considering his contract is pretty big.

What if they all did an interview together?

Jerry Springer-style.

as for Peavy, it will be interesting to see how much San Diego could even get for him, considering his contract is pretty big.

Pretty big?Do you even know his contract status??

Will earn $11M in 2009,$15M in 2010, $16M in 2011 and $17M in 2012 + the deal includes a team option for 2013 worth $22M or a $4M buyout.

That’s a very reasonable contract for a guy like Peavy. To get him, we’ll have to pay more (in terms of prospects) than we had to pay for Johan Santana and I don’t think he worth it.

Curfew is 1 am, but some nights they stay out late while getting drunk.

When the booze is gone, they go people-tipping.

ahem, moving on to this year, aside from the obvious moves, I think we should seriouesly entertain trading Nady, that’s a real sell high, and maybe considering buying lowe on Fukudome or maybe a swap for Randy Winn (one year left on his deal, good glove that can play all 3 spot, solid switch hitter) of some sort really make sense.

(Fukudome would be a larger gamble swap , Randy Winn we probably need to throw in something, I’m guessing that Winn makes more sense from a short term perspective, but Fukudome might be had for nothing or say Fukudome + prospect for Nady or something)

that would be a good idea if Fukudome didn’t suck.

—-Pretty big?Do you even know his contract status??

Will earn $11M in 2009,$15M in 2010, $16M in 2011 and $17M in 2012 + the deal includes a team option for 2013 worth $22M or a $4M buyout.—-

Yeah, i read those numbers yesterday, but was too lazy to re-look them up for this post.  I consider those numbers “pretty big”.  I’m not saying he’s not worth it, but rather that San Diego, b/c they are so terrible, will be looking to unload this contract w/ a sense of urgancy.  Plus, teams looking only to rent a player won’t be in the market for a peavy…only teams that want to build their rotation around him. 

Boston, Atlanta, Yankees, etc. 

In 2012, he’s essentially making 21 million if he sucks.  that’s “pretty big”.

I like Hughes and I’m glad they kept him.  Having said that: 10 innings.  Ten. 

My main hope is that he stays healthy and logs a fair number of innings.  Results are secondary.

When the booze is gone, they go people-tipping.

I hate writing LOL. But that deserves an LOL.