Yanks in Trouble for Years to Come

[BullWriter]

Copied from the SoSH message boards.  All salary quotations are obtained from Dugout Dollars

The Yankees ship is sinking. Money alone will not save them either.  Steinbrenner anger = impulsive decisions.

They made some very bad decisions last year (Kevin Brown, Vasquez, Lofton, Loaiza, Contreras in 03)

*They owe Giambi 82 million through 2009

*Mussina is making 19 million per year for two more years

*They owe A-Fraud 158 million over the next 6 years

*Yankee fans would argue that it's worth it but 126 million is a lot to pay Jeter for the next 6 years

*Sheffield gets 13 million per for the next two years with his injuries and attitude

*Vasquez gets 35 million over the next three years

*Bernie makes 12 million next year with a 3.5 buyout in 2006

*Kevin Brown makes 15 million next year

*Felix Heredia makes 2 million

*Steve Karsay 7.5 million

*Kenny Lofton 3.1 million

*Posada will make 30 million over the next 3 years

Without making a move their payroll is at $176.55 for 2005.

*Their starting pitching is old and expensive and below average -- Mussina, Brown, and Vasquez will earn a combined 44.5 million in 2005

*The bullpen is getting old and was exposed in the ALCS

*They have four injury-prone candidates for DH (Giambi, Bernie, Lofton, Shef) who will make a combined 43.6 million in 2005

The Yankees needs:

*Starting pitching

*Lefty in the bullpen

*Center Fielder

*DH

*2B

*1B

*Team Defense

*Team speed

So what will they do?

1. They almost have to sign Beltran to satisfy Steinbrenner. This solves center field while improving their team defense and speed and giving them another HUGE bat in the lineup. But what happens to Bernie and Lofton? Will Giambi be able to play first base every day or will he need to DH? And how expensive will Beltran be? How many years?

2. How much will they spend to improve their starting pitching? Pavano and Pedro will not be bargains.

Let's assume that they get Beltran and Pavano, which would add at least 30 million to their 2005 payroll bringing it to $206.55

3. They still need a second baseman since Cairo is not signed.

4. They still need a lefty in the pen and a stud lefty will not be cheap. They won't settle for a Heredia type player next year.

5. They still need a first baseman in case Giambi regresses again.

6. They need a backup catcher.

7. And they need a 5th pitcher.

Their 60 million dollar rotation would be:

Mussina (19 mil)

Pavano (15 mil)

Vasquez (10.5 mil)

Brown (15 mil)

??? (??? mil)

As we learned at the trading deadline, they have no talent at the farm to trade for Randy Johnson.

They are still paying Clemens and Contreras.

My point is that it will not be easy for Steinbrenner to buy a championship in 2005. They are going over 200 million in payroll and they are making poor choices with their money.

They look old, injured, and vulnerable in a lot of places. Have the Yankees jumped the shark?

Meanwhile Theo and the Trio keep getting better and better at improving the Red Sox.

What will Steinbrenner do?

[ChiTownBull]

if we sign pedro i think i would shoot myself.

i hope you guys sign his punk a$$ so we can keep on beating him in the future.

[Velcro]

if we lose the series, i hope you guys get him, but if he plays a big role in winning it, then i'd be fine keeping him, but i doubt he'd stay anyway.

[ChiTownBull]

if we lose the series, i hope you guys get him, but if he plays a big role in winning it, then i'd be fine keeping him, but i doubt he'd stay anyway.

i hope more than anything he stays with the bosux.

[KnightsRule]

i hope more than anything he stays with the bosux.

I feel the same way about Giambi, Brown, Lieber, Williams etc.. I hope Yanks are stuck with all those overpriced, overaged, underperformers.

[S p e n c e]

I have to agree about Giambi, he has not lived up to his potential since coming to NY.  But you are being too hard on A-Rod.  He is easily in the top 3 of active baseball players.  And in the top 3 of players over the past decade.  He had a down season, but he is still very young, and could play baseball for another 10 or 12 years.  He is a big part of the future for the Yanks.  And this is where I see to be the real problem.  They need to get back to building a team around younger players.  

What good would it be to bring in Randy Johnson for a season even if they could get him.  They would be in the same position they are in at the end of next season.  They need younger pitching and just a younger team all around.  I agree Beltran is almost certainly going to be a Yankee, but as far as Pedro, I think he is past his prime, and we need to look younger than him.

Peter Gammons said that the entire Oakland starting rotation will be Free Agents this off season and he said the Yanks could sign as many as 2 of them to add to thier starting rotation.  Could you imagine a rotation of Mussina, Zito, Mulder, and Vazquez.  I havent been able to find a full list of available free agents to confirm this, but Gammons really knows his stuff and he is usually right on about these kind of things.

I have also heard rumours of Nomar coming to the Yanks and playing 2nd base, but don't know how true that is.

[KnightsRule]

I have to agree about Giambi, he has not lived up to his potential since coming to NY.  But you are being too hard on A-Rod.  He is easily in the top 3 of active baseball players.  And in the top 3 of players over the past decade.  He had a down season, but he is still very young, and could play baseball for another 10 or 12 years.  He is a big part of the future for the Yanks.  And this is where I see to be the real problem.  They need to get back to building a team around younger players.  

What good would it be to bring in Randy Johnson for a season even if they could get him.  They would be in the same position they are in at the end of next season.  They need younger pitching and just a younger team all around.  I agree Beltran is almost certainly going to be a Yankee, but as far as Pedro, I think he is past his prime, and we need to look younger than him.

Peter Gammons said that the entire Oakland starting rotation will be Free Agents this off season and he said the Yanks could sign as many as 2 of them to add to thier starting rotation.  Could you imagine a rotation of Mussina, Zito, Mulder, and Vazquez.  I havent been able to find a full list of available free agents to confirm this, but Gammons really knows his stuff and he is usually right on about these kind of things.

I have also heard rumours of Nomar coming to the Yanks and playing 2nd base, but don't know how true that is.

To make the moves you mention above, the Yanks payroll would be above 300 million. Their luxury tax would be bigger then the #2 payroll in MLB. I highly doubt Nomar ends up with Yanks but hope he does. I do think George will want Beltran and he will overpay Bigtime. George is smart enough to know he needs pitching badly and he has no minor league players to trade and his MLB players all have huge contracts so if he trades them he will eat most of their contract and surely take on other teams unwanted contracts to get any pitching talent in a trade. It is just not simple as Yanks put themself in a real bad spot with 650 million of gaurenteed contracts on the team NOW and those players are not winning and a lot are very old.

[BullWriter]

I just wonder when George will realize that the solution for winning isn't just to throw money at the problem.  He's just digging the franchise into a giant hole for the future.  I'm no Yankees fan, but the fallout from this spending spree is going to be enormous if he keeps it up, which will be sad, because the Yankees ARE such a proud franchise.

Steinbrenner is going to turn them into the Redskins if he's not careful.

[Velcro]

I'm no Yankees fan

Really?

[BullWriter]

Really?

Just in case you couldn't tell or anything... I know how sly I can be about these things.   ;D