Johnny Damon joins the Evil Empire

[joannes3000]

Arg... Looks like another great fantasy baseball team for Steinbrenner. Granted the contract is still being reported as preliminary, but anyway... 4 years, $52 million, hopefully another early playoff exit.

Go Braves!

[Plainview1981]

They never learn do they?

[Admin]

Yeah they never learn. What a stupid move to add the best leadoff hitter in baseball and a massive upgrade defensively in CF to a team with a bad defensive outfield. Its not coincidence that the Yankees havent won since Knoblauch left the Yankees. He was the leadoff hitter and table setter and it allowed Jeter to bat 2nd where he can be more free swinging. Granted Damon is no spring chicken, but a 4 year deal is a great signing for the Yankees and if they learned anything this year it was to be patient and not just rush out and sign him to the 7 year deal his agent wanted.

[Plainview1981]

spending money... Well, who have they upgraded with on

pitching? The more players they buy the further they

seem to be getting from the title.

Yes, they look better on paper.. but that doesn't mean

that it will look alot better on the field.

[chillzatl]

offense and outfield defense isn't why they didn't have a chance in the playoffs. It's becuase their pitching is old and busted. THey're just out buying talent instead of making their team better. Besides, Damon is a good leadoff hitter, but he's NOT a great defensive outfielder. He's got an average arm, at best.

[Plainview1981]

I don't sit on here and bash the Yanks... But it's

clear a trend has developed. Building a fantasy team

and doing little else. It appears Cashman has no

vision or anything.

[Admin]

the Yankees are fine with their pitching staff. There werent any sure things out there this year that would have upgraded the Yankees pitching staff and with Pavano coming back he alone will be a huge upgrade. Not to mention Randy Johnson should be closer towards his normal self (like how he closed out the year) this year. The only real problems in the bullpen were addressed by adding Farnsworth, Myers, and Villone plus they are supposedly going to be signing Octavio Dotel in the next day or so which could be a huge steal.

Damon is also an upper tier defensive CF. He does have a below average arm, but in a very spacious CF area its much more important to have a guy that can cover ground and Damon does that as well as any CF in baseball. He is also an incredible leadoff hitter and that will prove to be huge for setting the table for ARod and company and Jeters power numbers should increase this year as he gets a chance to swing for power more often.

Make no mistake, this was a great decision for the Yankees, unlike last year when they took Johnson over Beltran, 2 years ago when they took Sheffield over Vlad, and 3(or 4) years ago when they didnt sign Ortiz like they should have. There was nobody out there this year that the Yankees should have signed instead. He was the perfect fit for what we needed and we didnt have to give up any prospects for him like we would have had to do to get someone comparable like Juan Pierre.

[chillzatl]

First off, Damon is not regarded as a good defensive fielder. I don't care how much ground he can cover, his arm is weak enough that it makes him a liability. They're going to have to create a relay system around this guy, othewise every deep pop fly is going to move runners up. I don't dispute his lead-off ability. But he is NOT a good fielder (beyond getting to a ball, which you expect from a CF).

He was a good sign for them, because they HAD to have a better CF and a real leadoff guy. But offense hasn't been the yankees problem.

I disagree about their pitching also, mussina and johnson are OLD. Age is taking its toll on both of them. The yankees two best pitchers are chicone and wang, and neither of them are striking fear into anyone in the AL. Every year Johnsons fastball loses a little steam and stops moving like it always has. He got hit harder last year than he has in the previous decade, even late in the season. He had great games, but he wasn't the stopper that he was expected to be.

I expect the Yankees to haev a similar season to what ehy have had the last few years. Near the top in offense, lots of wins, first or second round playoff exit. The yankee magic is gone and there are clearly better teams out there now.

[Admin]

They wont have to change anything with the defensive alignment because Damons arm is stronger now than Bernies ever was and they won plenty of games with Bernie in CF, not to mention Damon makes plays that only a handful of CFs in baseball make. Yes his arm is weak, but its still better than Bernies and arm strength hasnt been a problem for the Yankees over the years. Its been Bernie not being able to get to balls like he should.

The Yankees have also had a major problem with offense in the postseason and that is where Damon will make a huge difference. He is a big game player and will help to set the table when the other guys are struggling like they seem to do every year in the playoffs (aside from Jeter).

Mussina and Johnson are certainly old, I wont dispute that. However, over the last 2-3 months of the season Johnson was dominant (not the Randy of 5 years ago, but still quite excellent). The only time he got hit hard was that rainy postseason game and I think the rain had a lot to do with that. He came back in relief later in the series and was awesome though. I dont expect much out of Mussina. I expect him to be the #3 or #4 starter at best. I expect Randy to be very good, then I expect Pavano will rebound and be the #2 guy. Despite what you think here, Wang is an excellent pitcher and while he doesnt blow guys away, he has one of the best hard sinkers in the game already and gets tons and tons of groundball outs. His sinker is quite devastating. I am not counting on another big season from Chacon, but I wouldnt rule it out either. He has always had the stuff, but couldnt show it in Colorado.

The Yankees magic is gone, I wont argue with that. This isnt the same team that other teams expected to lose to and there are 2 other teams in the AL that might still be better in the White Sox and Angels, but we shall see.

[Plainview1981]

I'm just saying a change in gameplan would good..

1.Get rid of Gary Sheffield... One of the worst playoff

players I've seen.

2.I do think both Johnson and Mussina are too old. Randy

is bound to get rocked sooner or later. If it's this year,

the Yanks are really busted.

3.Yeah you got Farns... But really, who knows how he will

react after what Happend in the postseason last year. He

had a good year last year, but he;s been bad more than he's

been good in his career.

it's going to be hard for the Yanks with Gary and Arod being less than steller in the playoffs.

[joannes3000]

Quote:

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I expect the Yankees to haev a similar season to what ehy have had the last few years. Near the top in offense, lots of wins, first or second round playoff exit. The yankee magic is gone and there are clearly better teams out there now.

---

Agreed. Both NY teams love to stockpile offense and then forget about their pitching staff. Look at the Mets, with their own version of murderer's row and nobody worth writing home about after Pedro pitches.

Granted, I think the Yankees have an above average staff with Johnson, Chacon, Wang, Pavano coming back, and Moose, but I'm still not convinced that they will have enough pitching at this point to be more than paper champs. But I'm pretty sure there will be more roster tweaking by Lord Steinbrenner, even after they just paid out $43M in luxury tax.

[Admin]

off of their payroll from last year, even after the Damon signing. They aren't being financially irresponsible this year for the first time in ages and its pretty nice. We are trying to keep what limited prospects we have and make smart FA signings and trades and its about freakin time.