Monday Morning: With the return of Andy Pettitte, and reports spewing that the Yankees were the front-runner to acquire Johan Santana, the 2008 Yankees looked poised to win their first championship since 2000.
Tuesday Night: With the Yankees “dropping out” of the Santana sweepstakes, and the Detroit Tigers pulling off the monster deal that brings them Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, the 2008 Yankees are in trouble.
If Boston does pull off a deal that brings them Johan Santana, I will honestly be jealous of Red Sox fans. Boston will feature a rotation of Johan Santana, Josh Beckett, Diasuke Matsuzaka, Curt Schilling, and Tim Wakefield. Come playoff time, Boston will be able to throw out an ace each night at their opponent to complement their offense. Yes Schilling and Wakefield are old, but Boston like the Yankees, will have the resources to replace them, and they will likely have either Clay Buchholz or Jon Lester, depending on who they trade for Santana, waiting in the wings to replace them as soon as next season. If they trade Jacoby Ellsbury, they will lose a huge talent, but they have Coco Crisp who’s a decent center fielder. Fact is, when you have a rotation consisting of Santana, Beckett, and Matsuzaka, and Boston’s 2007 lineup returning, he won’t be missed too much.
As far as the Detroit Tigers, well I’m shocked. Not only did I not expect Detroit to make a move, but they traded 6 prospects for two cheap superstars. Willis had a rocky 2007, but he’s still a gamer nonetheless. Willis, the 2003 National League Rookie of the Year, will be a solid number two or three starter for the Tigers and he wasn’t even the best player they acquired. 24 year old Miguel Cabrera was the second component of the deal, and he’s an absolute beast. Yes he has a weight problem, and fielding problem, but 34 Hr’s, 119 RBI’s, and a .320 BAA put’s those issues under the rug. Although Detroit’s Comerica Park is a pitcher’s park like Florida’s Pro Player Stadium, if you put him on a team like the Philadelphia Phillies or the Yankees, you can easily add 10 home runs to the 30+ he’s hit in the last three of four seasons. However, he’s bound to put up huge numbers in the coming future, as he hits in the same lineup as Curtis Granderson, Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, Edgar Renteria, Ivan Rodriguez, Placido Polanco, and Jacque Jones. If you add on Miguel Cabrera, you have Detroit’s entire nine man starting lineup. As a Yankee fan this hurt’s to say, but I would rather face the Yankee lineup than Detroit’s. If Cabrera was able to tally 119 RBI’s in a lineup that only featured Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, and ?.(sorry there was no one else), then imagine what he could do in a lineup that was third in the league in runs scored last year. As far as the 6 prospects traded to Florida, Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin could have bright futures, but the other 4 are questionable. At this point, Florida should change their name from the Florida Marlins, to the Hanley’s Florida Marlins, because Hanley Ramirez, the 2006 National League Rookie of the Year, is the only player worth having at this point.
So what about the Yankees? If Santana does go to the Red Sox, the best pitchers left on the trading block that the Yankees could get are Dan Haren and Erik Bedard. Bedard, who plays for division rivals Baltimore Orioles, will likely be out of the questions because teams usually don’t trade within the division. Dan Haren, who started for the American League (AL) in the 2007 All-Star game, is the likely candidate. He was third in the AL as far as ERA (3.07) last season, while winning 15 games and striking out 192 batters. He’s 27, so he’s still fairly young, and he will require less talent than Johan Santana, so he’s probably the Yankee’s best option at this point. My only problems with him is he tends to drop off late in the season, which is the total opposite of Johan Santana, and Haren has pitched for Oakland the last three years, where pitcher’s look a lot better than they really are, due to the ball park’s in the division.
I’m not dismissing the Yankee’s chances at a run to a championship, but they will have a tough road ahead of them. If they add a big pitcher like Haren, then they will be a playoff team in my opinion. However at this point, I feel Boston, Detroit, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Cleveland Indians, and are the top four teams in the AL.
Luckily there are more than three months until opening day and a lot could happen from now until then. Yet, as time goes by, the talent pool shrinks, and unless the Yankees make a big deal to sure up their young pitching staff, the team may be in for a repeat of last year: A lot of offense, with inconsistent pitching.
