With Ortiz looking more and more like the Met’s Mo Vaughn and Manny gone, I am at a loss to see where the offensive power production is going to come from. Surely it is irrational to think that Drew will be as productive in 2009. Youklis—hardly. Enjoy!

Apparently the Yanks just signed Kevin Cash (see mlbtraderumors.com for details). Please, make it stop.

Who will be catching Wakefield now?

It was too much money, but they got the best player available. But then again, how has that worked for detroit?

Everyone does realize that if you took their team last year, took away Giambi and Abreu numbers and replaced them with Swisher and Teixeira’s, they still would end up with 50 less Runs then us and around 50 less RBIs then us.

I don’t get why signing Teixeira makes them the better team. All it does is replace the bat of Abreu and the HRs of Giambi. With the team just getting older, and hence the likes of Damon/Jeter/Matsui continuing to get worse, their offense is in the same place it was last year, as of now, if not worse.

If they go out and re-sign Abreu or sign Manny, then we can start talking about how they improved their offence, until then we still have a better offense

to be fair the signings do vastly improve the Yankees
1)The comparison with the offense of last year is true to some extent, but a bit misleading. Posada barely played last year too, and Matsui missed 1/2 of the season. We can also expect now that Cano will improve (although not to the 2007 level) and Swisher will be an upgrade offensively over Melky if they indeed use him and go with an outfield of Swisher/Damon and Nady. In 2007 the Yankees scored 170 more runs than in 2008. The truth probably lies in between, with a slight edge back toward 2007. My guess is 830-900 runs, which is a wide range, and depends a bunch on health issues.
2)They upgrade defense too. If they are smart, Swisher plays left, where he would be a plus defender. Removing Giambi and Abreu is a hugh plus defensively, as is Tex at first. The downgrade defense in CF and CA, two important positions, but I still think it is a net plus.
3)Of course their starting rotation is vastly improved. I expect them to resign AP, so they have a deep 1-5. Petitte is a competent back of the rotation guy, and Joba (if he lasts) is a huge plus as a #5 for 130 innings or so. They will then move him to the pen, which helps there, while Hughes can take the 5 role. Last year, the ptiching was much better than people credit it for, largely due to a surprising Mussina and a pen that pitched very well and comprised a whopping 40% of their total innings. While regression here is expected, they do have a lot of decent arms there, and they won’t need 40% of their innings there. Otherwise you can say that CC/Mussina is a wash, but having Wang back and Burnett is a boost (btw-did anyone notice that Wang’s ERA+ last year in 15 starts was worse than Wakes?). I like our 1-3 better, but they might be deeper. A wildcard is how our 5 pitches. After the all-star break, we lost a ton of games (7 straight I think) in which Clay pitched.

Clearly they are a strong contender. If they magically stay healthy (AJ, Posada [can he even catch?], Damon, Joba…) they are indeed probably slightly stronger than the Rays and Sox, but I would not say it is by much. I would be great if they slump out of the gate. CC and Tex are known slow starters. Would be nice to see the heat ramped up early.

Swisher+Nady+Matsui+Tex+Posada>Melky +Abreu+Molina+Giambi+random DH offensively. Not as much as one might think, but it is a real upgrade. Matsui was not so down last year (similar to 2007 but a lower HR rate), Posada merely needs to hit 250 with a 350 OBP to far far surpass Molina, and Swisher+Nady+Tex is at least as good (probably better than) Giambi+Melky+Abreu offensively. Recall that in 2007, with the same roster as 2008, the Yankee offense scored 960 runs! That was largely fueled by overproduction at 3B,SS,2B and CA, but still. Also, Cano himself was better than Cano last year, as his BABIP suggests.

Injuries will always play a role, they could with us (and did last year). I think it will be a very competitive ALE. Maybe the strongest division ever.

of course I agree. The problem with the Yankees of this decade is that overall they have neglected pitching (and defense) and focused only on offense. However it would now appear they have gone some distance in regaining pitching balance. They have improved an already decent offense. I would say that they will be in the top 3 in offense next year. The have also greatly improved starting pitching. Aside from their #4 (whoever it will be) the other 4/5 guys are reasonably young and good. That puts them to some degree more in line with the 90’s Yankee teams than this decade’s teams. Never once this decade have they had a rotation that compares in depth to that of the 98 team, but this one does (of course some of these guys are health risks). The Sox are stronger defensively and probably have a stronger pen (although it is hard to predict); on the other hand the Yankees have a slightly stronger lineup. The rotation is close, with the Sox better designed for the playoffs, and the Yankees with perhaps more depth, at least for now.

"We built a team through our farm system; they built a team through ticket sales. Who are the real winners? "

Really? Because Josh Beckett your ace is a farm guy right? so is Dice K? Manny Ramirez was?…guys like JD Drew, Jason Bay, Julio Lugo, CoCo Crisp, David Ortiz, and Mike Lowell???…you have 3 position players if you include Ellsbury (who as a Yankee fan I loved to see him bat lead off because he was lost at the plate) I’ll give you Pedroia and Youk they are very good players and I guess this year Lowerie…Paps and Lester as well…and thats basically it my friend…More then 70% of the players who have an impact on wins and losses were brought in so don’t give me that bullshit. The main reasons why you won rings (Manny,Ortiz,Pedro,Schilling,Foulke, Drew,Arroyo,Millar and the list goes on) were ALLLLLL brought in, for you to say you built your championships on the farm system is unreal and I will NEVER EVER take one of your posts seriously because that statement is as idiotic as you can get. Please think before posting…please..I just can’t get past that you made that statement unbelieveable…