Helton will help

The Red Sox will likely get Todd Helton a player the Yankees wanted a few years back and it will give them a big edge over the Yanks on the days when Mienkiewisc(sp) is in the lineup. But if the Sox give up Lowell it will be an overall negative for them. Lowell was their best clutch hitter for big parts of the season last year and was their best defender. Helton is a top defender but doesn't figure to give the punch that Lowell did...and his health is a question mark. Overall this would not be good for Boston so don't expect the Red Sox benevolence society aka the baseball owners to let it stand. The deal will sweeten for Boston. They may still play for keeps on the field in MLB but in the Selig ERA the owners have shown that they are not concerned about winning on the field as in playing boardroom games: Angels sent Donnelly to Boston for a sore armed minor leaguer, Schilling to Boston for a guy on the DL...don't get me started!

Yankees Pitching Progression

The Yankees have seen the effects of the Cashman plan now. They had a great offense last season even with the loss of two the games leading run producers. Arod could bounce back and Abreu is an underrated player who could do a lot more than last year too. Last year they were undone by poor starting pitching from Johnson, none from Pavano, and little room for error against teams with good pitching. Now there is a difference.. The Yankees would like to have a guy on the mound each game who can hold the opposition to 3-4 runs o er 6+ to 7 innings. Now they have that possibility with Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, and Igawa( who translates into a 4.40 range ERA). The fifth starter should be the top minor league pitcher who is ready for promotion to the bigs and here the menu is : Rasner, Karstens, Sanchez, Ohlendorf, and White. Phillip Hughes will be brought uip on club decision in September for a few starts unless necessity requires an earlier callup. This is the progression factor: Pavano is there if he earns it. If Clemens sign then Pavano might be traded before the deadline. Clemens spot would be replaced by Hughes in 2008 when Sanchez too would come up. The Yankees are creating the possibility of an all homegrown rotation headed by Hughes and Wang and including Igawa, Sanchez, Ohlendorf or White or Clippard.. a progression..nice.

Yankee Posibilities

One of the cool things about following the Yankees is that if you imagine the possible moves they might make, well many could happen, here are a few:
Add Johan Santana in trade- Yankees have three major league ready young arms in Humberto Sanchez, White, and Whelan plus JB Cox, Henn, Beam, and Britton. This is one that could happen and help both teams.
Add Miguel Cabrera in trade- This is the one player that the Yankees would like to add and then find a way to put him on the field with their other young stars Melky and Cano. The Yankees have some arms to trade but the Marlins seem to want a catcher and a CF. So this is one to watch for as the Yankees groom some AAA OF talent and Eric Duncan add a couple of reliever arms ( Beam, Britton) and this one could happen. Cabrera with the Yankees would play OF but I would let him choose 1B and that would be an all- world infield [ARod-Jeter-Cano-Cabrera].
Couldn't happen, well just let the Red Sox, Blue Jays, or Orioles get close on either one of these and it would happen!

Replacing Randy Johnson...

Andy Pettitte is now the top Yankee lefty starter. I expect he could win as many games as Johnson given similar run support. Kei Igawa replaces Pavano who gave nothing last season and Jaret Wright who filled in at times with excellence. Igawa may be able to get 12 wins and replace Wrights win total. Both Pettitte and Igawa figure to reduce the burden on the bullpen...Johnson had a high number of low inning starts and ineffective starts.
Mussina and Wang could each duplcate last years performance with similar results leaving the nig mystery as Pavano..the Yankees have options there in order: Rasner, Karstens, Sanchez, and Hughes..or they could sign Clemens or trade for a Number 1 from Minnesota, Oakland, or Florida where their abundance of good young arms and position players and young hitters would be enough to get a high priced starter. The Yankees believe they can succeed with good starting pitching behind their offense if they have a deep bullpen. Adding Vizcaino deepens the pen to the point where they have Bruney, Britton, Farnsworth, Rivera, Proctor, and Vizcaino coming off 50 plus appearances last season.. a solid base.

The Classic Yankees Style

The Yankees had a style in the 20's-30's they were an offensive machine most years ..Ruth, Gehrig, through DiMaggio. The 50's another powerhouse Dynasty. Steinbrenner has built o few offense powerhouse teams too... but the mostly didn't win... 2007 promises to be a throwback to the 50's-- solid pitching, superior relief, and great hitting. Power, yes , but not the staple--the bread and butter will be hitting and the defense will be led by solid starting roles... no Cy Young Awards.. solid -keep em in the game every day type pitching. Randy Johnson proved over the past two seasons that inconsistency hurts the team more than the good days help the team. The offense is a mental grind in baseball... watching pitch after pitch, each at-bat a battle..that's what makes the Yankees who they are on offense. They get mentally worn down by the days when it is so much easier for the opponent to score. They have decent team speed and superior base running but hitting is the key Jeter, Damon, Cano, and Abreu are legitimate 200 hit guys; ARod, Giambi, Matsui, and Posada can give 170-180 hits... add in the walks and you have a tremendous number of base runners and runs. So solid pitching is adequate against the league to produce 95-100 wins if the bullpen can hold leads and keep it close too...Vizcaino, Bruney, Proctor, Farnsworth, and Rivera look like an able group for 300 innings... the young arms will be there this year to fill the gaps..Britton, Beam, Rasner, Karstens, and Sanchez..so its back to the future --Yankee style

Johnson Trade- a sign of the times..

After the Yanks were knocked out by the Tigers ... I wrote that they would add young power arms this off season while others talked about Barry Zito, Schmidt etc.. The Yanks lost Matsuzaka to Boston where he may become the next Pedro Martinez. The Yanks gained ground yesterday when the traded Randy Johnson...yes that was a gain... they could replace Johnson's innings and performance with Igawa who projects to a 4.50 era and 12-15 wins if they could add another effective reliever...they did in Vizcaino. He has pitched in the AL on some talented teams like the CHISOX championship edition. He has the arsenal to be dominant for an inning...that completes the replacement of Johnson. Now the Yanks have to replace Pavano..assuming he will be unavailable or ineffective ..or both... that is where the new wave comes in ...young power arms: the Yankees have Humberto Sanchez, Phillip Hughes, White, Henn and a few others (Rasner and Karstens from last year) to plug into the fifth spot--- this is vintage Yankees: Have a strong offense so that you can afford to bring up young pitchers and still win. The Yankees can add Sanchez, Hughes, and maybe the new kid from Arizona over the next two seasons to have a potential for a home grown rotation--- wow--GO FIGURE!!!

New Year for Old Foes

The Red Sox are not the Yankee rivals that belongs to the defending Champion Tigers( still sounds weird) but the Red Sox are the team Yankee fans most enjoy beating so that's the real rivalry. The Red Sox for their part seem to exist in some strange nether world where all of the accomplisments are placed second to beating the Yankees. Something about that OH for 86 year thing that Yankee fans now understand. Yankee fan haven't won since 2000 and that is a lot longer than 86 years its 6 Steinbrenner years..that's about 100 years in interpretation to the rest of baseball..and he has spent about 100 years worth of salary. The Red Sox have loaded up and the league has shown its usual generosity like sending Brendan Donnelly for a prospect with a bad arm( again.. Schilling for Casey Fossum). The word on the street is that the Angels offered him to the Yankees in exchange for Derek Jeter and $100m the Yankees balked and only agreed to $99m but Boston out bid the Yankees with Phil Seibel. So obviously the Angels will win the league behind the 34-0 / 0.00 era performance of Phil Seibel... but if they don't Boston is the 'mortal lock '.