Tropicana Field sucks.  Badly.  So no surprise that the Rays want to get out of there.  But how would you feel if they came to one of the Tri-states?  Here is a quote from an article at http://blogs.villagevoice.com

Normally, the Tampa Bay Rays complaining that their home stadium is a dump wouldn't be news here in New York, given that 1) people have been complaining about Tropicana Field since before the Rays even debuted there in 1998 and 2) the Rays only enter New Yorkers' radar in the odd seasons when they threaten to break through the Yanks-Sox oligarchy in the A.L. East.

All that changed this week, however, when Peter Gammons, former star of ESPN and the $20 bill, mentioned in his MLB.com column that "there are smart people in the Major League Baseball offices wondering if there's hope of even discussing a potential move of the Rays to New Jersey or Southern Connecticut over certain protests from the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies."

My argument is forget the obvious choices, Brooklyn, Newark, Jersey City, The Medowlands, New Haven and Bridgeport.  My first choice would be White Plains, NY.  Thirty minutes from the city it is pretty large for a suburban city.  There is ample space around the city to build a stadium.  It could be a kind of Oakland A's type team, feeding off the location so close to New York like the A's feed of San Francisco.  If this location doesn't work out I would locate it in Greenwich, CT.  It is a similar town to White Plains except it is fifteen minutes farther from the city and it is slightly smaller.

I know many of you think that a White Plains Rays could hurt the Yanks but I don't thinks so.  Although for any Mets fans, the Mets would take a major hit.  The Yankees are to engrained in New York to ever lose fans to a suburban team.

Are you for the Rays relocating to New York?  If so where?  Comment and answer the poll.

Juan Miranda.  He's the only DH on our depth chart right now.  Even though Miranda is OK, we're the Yankees.  So here's my plan:

Keep Miranda.  The guy is acctually a beast against righties and he doesn't have Scott Boras as an agent (cough-cough-Johnny-Damon-cough-cough).  But then the question arouses; who to play when facing a left-handed pitcher?  Well here's my solution.  Sign Mike Cameron.  He won't cost nearly as much as Damon.  Put him, Swish, Miranda and Posada in a platoon at DH. 

So our line up could look like this:

Jeter SS
Granderson CF
Texeria 1st
A-rod 3rd
Posada C
Cano 2nd
Swisher RF
Miranda DH
Cameron LF

This:

Jeter SS
Granderson CF
Texeria 1st
A-rod 3rd
Posada C
Cano 2nd
Swisher RF
Cameron DH
Cabrera/Gardner/Hoffman LF

This:

Jeter SS
Granderson CF/LF
Texeria 1st
A-rod 3rd
Posada C
Cano 2nd
Swisher DH
Cameron CF/LF (RH)
Cabrera/Gardner/Hoffman RF

Or this:

Jeter SS
Granderson CF
Texeria 1st
A-rod 3rd
Posada DH
Cano 2nd
Swisher RF
Cameron LF (RH)
Cervelli C (RH)

With all this line up flexibility Joe could stock the line up with lefties or righties depending who were facing.  He also could give the DH to Tex and have Miranda play first or even give Jeter, A-rod or Cano a day at DH and have Pena play their positions.  This is the perfect way to use the DH for an aging team.

Now the question is, you have Melky, Gardner, Hoffman, Granderson, Cameron and Swisher for 3 outfield spots. Even though I hate to say it, I think its time to part with Gardner.  The White Sox have been interested in Gardner and Melky is much better at the corner outfield positions.  The White Sox also have just what the Yankees need, a relief pitcher.  I know a starter is more important but I'd rather go after Sheets on the FA market.  Matt Thorton could be the perfect set up man for Mo, letting either Joba or Hughes take the 7th inning.  Thorton posted a 2.74 ERA last year and I think we could get him with Gardner and a minor leaguer such as Zach McAllister.

If only I was Brian Cashman...

With the HOF voting list coming out and baseball getting ready to honor great players, I thought it would be a nice time to reopen a great post about the Yankees giving their honors.  Bernie Williams will always be a borderline candidate to deserve make Monument Park  Bill James considers him a lock to make the HOF, so he probably should make it, but there are the skeptics.  Here's the original post by rothstein:

Continue reading this post »

If you are a Twins, Marlins, Nationals, Rays or Orioles (insert other small-market team here) fan it may not be that your team does not have enough money, it is that they are not spending it.  All of the aforementioned teams are in the top six for operational income.  In fact the Marlins and Nationals had almost $45 million of revenue respectively!  If the Marlins spent about $37 million of that money their payroll would have been approximately the same size as the playoff-making Rockies, while making only $9 million less. That is approximately the same amount as Nick Johnson's contract over two years, and he played a whopping 25 games for them this year.  So next time you hear someone say that the Yankees bought their championship, tell them that their team had the money to do it too.

This just in from Bob Nightendale of USA Today... The Yankees are hearing offers for Nick Swisher.  I'm not really sure who they'll have play right field.  They could put Melky there and have Gardner play center.  But then that puts big pressure on them to resign Damon and Boras knows exactly how to handle that situation.  Do you guys have any thought?  Should the Yanks trade Nick Swisher.  I don't really think the Yanks should trade Swisher unless he is part of a package to get someone good (like Crawford or Doc Halliday) into NY.

From what it seems like, many more people are blogging about the Yanks in the offseason this year.  You can contribute this to their World Series win.  However, you must remember that this free agent year is not to sharp, so no major moves for the Yanks are expected to be made, which would normally counter that WS push.  I have a different theory on why this is happening. All the other NY sports suck.  Between the Knicks, Nets, Giants, Jets, Rangers and Islanders, New York winter sports are pretty awful.  With so little else to be excited about, many New Yorkers (well maybe not Mets fans) are turning to baseball, in its offseason.  Here is some stats on New York sports teams that play in the winter.  The combined record for all the previously mentioned teams this year is 26-38.  That's a not too stellar .406 winning percentage.  In the past two seasons they are 182-224 (ouch).  On the note of ownership, a Russian tycoon is taking over the Nets, the Islanders owner is trying to get them out of Long Island, and the Dolan family, the owners of the Knicks and Rangers who hired Isaah Thomas, are trying to sell Cablevision to focus just on their sports teams (not a good thing).  Even New York talk radio is giving spots to the Yankees offseason moves normally devoted to football or hockey.  So in conclusion, lets hope the Yanks bring home number 28 next year because it doesn't look like the Rangers or Islanders will bring home number 5, the Giants number 4, the Jets number 2, the Knicks number 3, or the Nets number 1.

This offseason will not be a big one for the Yankees.  However, I can see them signing a left-fielder and trading for a starting pitcher.  Marlon Byrd is an excellent choice for left and he can hit sixth (behind Matsui who we should sign).  It's time to let Damon walk and Robbie Cano should be hitting in the two-spot anyway.  A trade for a quality three starter or the signing of Jarrod Washburn, plus the resigning of Andy Pettite fills our rotation holes.  You guys have any more ideas?