The Yankees are Paying these Guys?!

Opening Day 2007 and the best lineup in the game came to bat in the first inning. Talent after spectacular talent, young, cheap and talented: Tampa Bay was that much better than the Yankees in talent. Baldelli, Dukes, Upton, Crawford will someday be the the big TB machine, they are awesome talents, and the Yankees don't matchup beyond Rivera, Jeter, and Arod, they don't have the athletes that TB has. So why are the Yankees paying TB and the rest of baseball. The commissioner and his boys have pulled off one of the biggest heist/flimflams of baseball history with the Yankee tax. Forcing the Yankees to pay double for lesser talent that is thrown at Tampa and the 2--time champion Marlins is a crime. The Yankees for their part would be fair to burn up their roster and put the AAA squad out there. But Steinbrenner cares and he won't, but the Commissioner and his boys should be laughing all the way to the bank...they have even convinced the world that payroll wins titles even though the Yankees will be o-7 at the end of this season unless they can beat the rest of baseball on and off the field...most unlikely, but they, unlike TB and a few others, will try.

Opening Day

If this were October, the Yankees would be in trouble Pettitte, Mussina, Pavano would be at a disadvantage against most of the likely contenders(Detroit, Boston, Minnesota, and Toronto).
This is not October and the Yankees have time to develop more pitching talent. Next season looks better yet with Hughes and Wang between Pettitte and Igawa and some young flamethrowers(Sanchez,Betances,among others) in reserve. This year the formula is solid starters and shut down relief for as long as it takes. The Angels used this formula in 2002 and it can work in front of a productive offense. The Yankee weakness is their overall defense which is why they added Mientkiewisc and his pitcher's bat to their lineup to stop the easy hits past 1B. The Yankees will have to rely upon their toughness this year. They are not even in the top 10 in talent on the field and have to overcome three far more talented teams in their own division( luckily one of them is Tampa who refuse to win) but Boston and Toronto have superior talent but so far have not shown the will and toughness to knock out the Yankees. This should be a wonderful season for those who like offense and scoring.