"I'm Just Saying" By Cameron

Today we have a guest blogger, a fellow Yankee Die Hard fan - Cameron. You may have heard me talk about Cameron before as he inspired my "I'm Just Saying" blog. Cam has a wealth of knowledge about the Yankees and this is what he has to say about their current state and yes...next year

Yes Its the 2nd week in September and all I can think about is next year already. Its gonna be an interesting offseason for the Yankees in so many different ways and now is the time to start focusing on how we get this team back to the top of the East. I firmly believe that only a few moves need to be made to get this team back to where it belongs.

2 Key acquisitions need to be made this winter that could change the outlook of this team immensely. First and foremost…do what ever it takes to sign CC Sabathia. Second, lure and woo Mark Texiera. Both of these guys are young, in their prime and have a history of staying healthy.

Guys we previously considered “untouchable” last year are gonna make for very good and interesting trade bait for other teams and if the Yanks play their cards right, we could make out like bandits this winter. Guys like Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Wilson Betemit and even Robbie Cano as
well as bullpen pitchers like Jose Veras, Damaso Marte and Edwar Ramirez. We need to say bye to all these guys except maybe Cano but I think we may be able to make a marquee deal with him as the centerpiece this offseason.

We have guys
like Abreau, Giambi, Pavano, Pettitte and Mussina all becoming free agents this year and we need to sit down and decide who stays and who goes. Obviously we aren’t bringing back Pavano by any means. The tougher questions are the other guys. Pettitte and Moose I believe we’ll bring back next year.

I’d like to see
us part ways with Giambi and Abreau. If we sign Texiera, we arent gonna need to pick up Giambi’s option so we can let him go and Id really love to see us move
Nady to right feild, play Johnny Damon in left field and start playing Brett Gardner in Center full time next year, and keep Justin Christian as our 4th outfielder. So if we go with an outfield like that…we really have no more need for Bobby Abreau who has been nothing but streaky in his 2 and a half years in
pinstripes.From what I understand, Hideki Matsui is expected to be back next year. I’m kinda iffy on that but what choice do we have. I DON’T like the idea of having a full time DH, especially since Jorge Posada will be back next year and playing little to no defense. So if we can find an effective way to rotate Posada and Matsui at the DH role, that could work. We need to keep Pudge and Molina behind the plate for next year. I’ll be honest I don’t know if either Pudge Rod or Jose Molina are expected to be free agents or not, I haven’t heard anything so at this point I would expect them both to be back.

Now assuming that
we can stay for the most part healthy next year God willing…I firmly believe a rotation of 1. C.C. Sabathia, 2. Chien Ming Wang, 3. Mike Mussina, 4. Andy Pettitte and 5. Alfredo Aceves can be a strong enough rotation to win the east next year. A starting rotation like that and a nice looking bullpen with Joba
Chamberlain and Mo Rivera in the 8th and 9th innings and guys like Brian Bruney, JB Cox and Mark Melancon…Phil Coke can be the long reliever and/or 6th starter when necessary. Id like to see either Alan Horne or Chase Wright from Scranton AAA participate in our bullpen, both are starters in the minors and can all be long relievers or 6th starters on days when one of our starting 5 cant make a start.

Here’s a lineup card I would personally love to see next year.

1. Johnny
Damon LF

2. Derek Jeter SS

3. Mark Texeira 1B

4. Xavier Nady RF

5. Alex Rodriguez
3B

6. Hideki Matsui / Jorge Posada DH

7. Robinson Cano 2B

#8. Jose Molina / Pudge
Rodriguez C ##9.

Brett Gardner CF#

I have the asterisk next to Robbie cuz I’d like to see him get dealt, but until that happens, I’ll have to assume he’s back next year.## Not sure whether either Pudge Rod or Jose Molina are gonna return
or notYou may notice I have A-Rod batting 5th instead of 4th. My reasoning is quite simple really…He’s proven time and time again that he’s just not comfortable being the centerpiece of our lineup. I think batting him 5th even 6th if necessary may get him to see different pitches and if he plays to his potential could add a spark to the bottom half of our lineup. That and hopefully
he wont find himself in the situation he has failed in so many times this year which is the typical 7th 8th or 9th inning, runners in scoring position, Yanks down by 1 or 2 and A-Rod either strikes out, pops up or most commonly grounds into a double play. I can go on and on about A-Rod or A-Fraud as Laura likes to call him, but I’m getting tired and irritated just thinking about him. I really do believe that batting him 5th as the protector rather then the protected could to wonders to our lineup.Lets be honest though, Girardi wont make this extremely necessary move that could really make our lineup more potent. Thus just one of the many reasons I wish the Yanks would say goodbye to Girardi, but that initself is a whole other long and drawn out blog in itself.

Long story short…I believe Girardi is to blame for a good 30 % of our losses this year with his never changing the lineup and leaving tired inneffective bullpen pitchers in too
long and taking out pitchers who are doing good too soon. But I’ll back off Girardi because like it or not, he’s coming back next year so we need to figure out how to win with him as our manager. That being said…expect A-Rod batting 4th
as usual next year.To wrap this long blog up…I know its a long shot being able to sign both CC Sabathia and Mark Texiera, but the Yanks need to do everything necessary to sign both these guys and get rid of all the guys I said above. If we unload all the necessary players and sign and trade for the right guys, I
feel we are truly a few good moves from being back on top of the East. From one disgruntled Yankee fan to another…Lets hope this winter is one of the best winters ever, or it could be another long season next year.