Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Teixeira Is A Yay-Yankee

By all accounts, the Mark Teixeira to the Yankees is a done deal. It's being reported by pretty much every news outlet known to man. All I can say is hot diggity dog. I am extremely overjoyed that the Yankees nutted up and brought Teixeira into the fold. I think it's an incredibly smart move and the Yankees were wise to make it happen. Mark Teixeira was pretty much Boston's main target this offseason and now they're left in the cold. They still have a pretty decent lineup but it would have been a million times better with Teixeira hitting behind David Ortiz.

Am I the only one who is now thinking that Teixeira wanted to play for the Yankees all along? I know he's a big Mattingly fan. I believe Donnie Baseball is his idol. And wouldn't you think if he really wanted to play for the Red Sox he would have signed that deal like a month ago. The only real contender in the running for Teixeira prior to the Yankees stepping in were the Red Sox. The Orioles and Nationals were fooling themselves if they thought they had a chance. I'm really starting to think that he had no interest whatsoever in playing for Boston. I love it.

My friend and co-worker Jeff thinks that the Yankees are unbelievable for pulling this off, questioning how I could be a fan of this, even calling me an f'n a-hole. The Yankees now have the 4 highest paid players in baseball. So if you're a Yankee fan, fully expect to hear a lot of chatter about the team trying to buy another championship and that the Yankees are bad for baseball. Hogwash I say. Hogwash. As I told Jeff, wait until opening day to see what the Yankees final payroll is. They had $88 million come off the books this year and they still have a shot at coming in under that amount. Even more comes off next year when the contracts of Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon expire. And who is to say that Cashman doesn't have other cost-cutting moves in mind? I think that the Teixeira signing is a precursor to another move as the Yankees outfield just got a lot more crowded. Nick Swisher now joins Xavier Nady, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Melky Cabrera, and Brett Gardner in the OF. Swisher can play CF but I don't see that happening. I wouldn't be shocked if the Yankees find a way to deal Matsui or Damon.

The real question now is how interested are the Yankees in Manny Ramirez? I don't see that happening now but who really knows?

Merry Christmas Yankee fans! Santa Cashman just hooked us up!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe it!!! Wow what a Christmas present! They should definetly try to trade Hideki Matsui and/or Johnny Damon. I hope Gardner and Nady are around for the long hall.

Alex H said...

Haha, i actually made a post on C2C a few days ago saying that maybe Teix wants to be a Yankee.

Anyway, i'm still thrilled!!!

Happy Holidays!

Jason from The Heartland said...

Huge acquisition, yet another in a tremendous string of signings this off-season. They addressed all the major needs--rotation, first base, overall offense and defense, getting younger but also better. I really wanted this to happen but, after they signed Sabathia and Burnett, didn't think it would. Wow, just wow.

Happy Holidays from The Heartland, everyone!
http://heartlandpinstripes.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

Tell Jeff, your friend and co-worker, that he should read my NY Times article about being a Yankee fan. Maybe it'll keep him off your back! I posted it here.

http://janeheller.mlblogs.com

Anonymous said...

Larry Wayne Jones(Jeff) here...I have to respond to the "she fan" article...while I do agree that it is fully within any team's right to spend whatever they want, it still doesn't mean it's in the best interest of the game itself. I know I'm not the only fan who thinks that when any major free agent comes up, they are either going to Boston or New York, and that's it. It just takes the fun out of things for other teams. Now, I'm a diehard Braves fan, so I know I don't have it that bad, because at least they tried to toss some $ around, just didn't work out(though I am estatic they did not sign A.J. Burnett for that kind of $- good luck with that one). It just seems that there are only a few teams that are major free agent players every year, and I honestly think it's bad for the league. I understand the Yanks are paying $20 mil+ in luxury taxes, which is fine, but what actually bothers me the most is that the Yanks can make a bad signing (Carl Pavano, Jared Wright, etc) and it doesn't kill them because they seem to have a bottomless pit of $. If my Braves, for example, paid big $ for a guy and it didn't work out (Mike Hampton anyone?), the salary ramifications truly hinder the organization's ability to add any additional pieces they would like. The Yanks don't have that problem, and can easily eat a bad contract if necessary. THAT is why many baseball fans want to see the Yanks fail, and since the days of Brosius, Charlie Hayes, Sojo, etc...you know...ROLE players, the Yanks have not won anything with a team of superstars and their bloated salaries, and that makes fans of other teams happy! I also know the Yanks are supposedly cutting salary and may in fact have a smaller overall payroll than last year, but in 2008 they spent over $70 million more than the next closest team! So...in my eyes, and many others, it DOES look like they are trying to simply buy another World Series ring, and many fans don't like that and want nothing more than to see them fail!

J-Boogie said...

Amber- I totally agree. I do think Nady is the easiest to trade b/c of his low salary. I'd love to see him stick around also.

Alex- very astute observation. It was always in the back of my mind b/c of the Mattingly angle and because it took so long to come to terms with someone. It's like he was waiting for the Yanks to figure it out.

Jason - I never really thought they would sign him either after dropping all that dough on CC and AJ. Cashman has done a wonderful job this offseason, possibly his finest hot stove campaign to date.

Jeff- I understand your points but I fully believe tha smaller market teams could pony up the money if they really wanted to.. Problem is they don't. They bank the money they get from revenue sharing and the luxury tax, both revenue streams include a lot of NY money, rather then investing it in some players. You know that some owners don't care about putting a winning product on the field. They just want their pockets to get fatter. You have to spend it to make it. Maybe if they dropped the $ on a player of Teixeira's caliber it'd put a few extra bucks in the seats and would sell a lot more of that team's merch. I'm glad that the Yankees aren't afraid to lose money to try and win. They're great for baseball. If they didn't spend the money everyone would complain that the rest of the league was no longer splitting the luxury tax or the added revenue the Yankees generate by spending money on these guys.