They're definitely in a rut where they seem to battle for the wild card until the last week of the season. The last year I was optimistic was 2003 when they brought in Millwood, Wagner and Thome, and they just couldn't put a hot streak together.

Unloading Abreu was a good thing as it freed up money, plus the guy doesn't play hard every day. His power disappeared and I think he's on the downside of a very nice career. Pat Burrell had a lot of potential, but strikes out far too much.

Ryan Howard pretty much single handedly carried the team into the play-off race last year after Abreu, Lidle, Bell and Cormier had been dealt. I like the moves that our new GM has made. It's certainly a different vision than Ed Wade.

I disagree about Abreu, at least in the extent of time I've seen him in a Yankees uniform. He's been great at the plate, with an amazing OBP, and I think part of the power problems he's had were with the fact that he was pressured to produce for a lineup that lacked big swing power. I think he should get a bit of his stroke back, I'd say at least another 5-10 dingers, with that short porch in right field in Yankee Stadium this year.

And I haven't seen any of the "slacking" which characterized him in Philly...as far as I'm concerned, he's a 100% defensive improvement over Sheffield. Offensively...if A-Rod can come back strong this year, and Matsui will get back from injury, and Giambi plays well at first, Abreu's OBP should help out tremendously even without Sheff's cannon line drive homers.

I'd take him over Sheffield, no doubt, but I don't think he was ever pressured into being the power producing guy. The years his homers nosedived he was playing with Ryan Howard, so there was no big swing power lacking in Philly. He even expressed concern over this.

Also, he isn't exactly a pull hitter as he relies on hitting into the gaps and going the other way, so I don't think he'll get a lot of the cheap dingers into the short porch. He'll still hit 40 doubles and should be close to .300. His defenseused to be spectacular as he had one of the strongest, most accurate arms in baseball. He's still pretty decent although the arm is a little erratic.

One thing you hit on was the fact that his OBP is good as he garnered a lot of walks. He probably takes more pitches and runs deep counts than anyone in baseball.

He's 33 years old (although some have said he's about 37), so he should have 3-4 more productive years. He has been injury free for his career up to this week. While I can't root for the Yankees, I'd like to see him do well.

Tomorrow night, YES is broadcasting the Yankees/Twins exhibition game!! YAY!! Even though it's not in Yankee Stadium, and even though it's not a real game, and even though it doesn't count, it's freaking baseball!! On TV!!!

I'll be watching SB, but on to my Mets.....

They're on SNY right now ! They're playing the Tigers in their first exhibition of the pre-season.

Keith Hernandez, who is never one to pull any punches, says he's AMAZED, that all of the veterans are in such great shape, indicating that they've been working out all winter, etc...

If they're all business, they should repeat in the east, and hopefully their bats won't go cold in the post-season again.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself. For now, let's just savor the fact that BASEBALL'S BACK !!!!

This is where I miss not having the YES Network in texas

Yeah Bowa's still there. They do have plenty of candidate's in Mattingly, Bowa and if they wanted to bring in Giradi. However, I still don't understand why they let Lee Mizzili go?

I forgot they let him go. He has a very good baseball mind, and I think he'll manage successfully for some team eventually. He's a guy you would want to keep.

Letting Mazzilli go was a message from Steinbrenner to Torre, plain and simple.

Maz was one of "Torre's guys" and being that he can't fire Torre, for fear of backlash, poor Maz became a pawn.

In other words, a veiled message, win or else.

His contract has a $16 million club option for 2008 which we may pick up if he's got a solid year. The Yankees have an outfield phenom prospect in Jose Tabata, who is primed to be the next purveyor of the outfield, so if he can develop major league maturity between now and 2008, it shouldn't matter if he ages too much.

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And I hated (as those who frequent the Yankee thread know) the move to get rid of Mazzilli. I think he's a quality coach, and I wish he'd be the one to take over after the Torre dynasty. I'm not sold on Mattingly at all, even though I loved him has a player. I'd rather see them give Girardi a shot, let Mattingly manage the AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre team first.

BTW - I seriously hate this thread rating crap. Who gives this thread 1 star?

Personally, I love this thread.

Check out my thread in "Help/FAQ" in response.

Who knows? Probably people who NEVER post in here and are too bitter that football season is over HOO RAY!

I agree, Girarid proved he can win with almost ANY amount of talent last year in Florida and Mattingly has yet to prove himself. I think Joe would do a solid job (if he can maintain a good relationship with King George)

Or...not.



I think Girardi was a decent-good manager here, but it's not like he had zero talent and had a turd of a team. No knock against Joe, but I see Fredi Gonzalez doing a similar job here next year.

BTW, Irish - Scorsese's win vid in your sig was removed.

Thanks, I updated it

I just heard on the radio today from the Giants beat writer that Zito abandoned that new delivery about 3 minutes after he announced it. I guess he took some advice from coaches as well as some other trusted individuals. Huge sigh of relief here!

Mets - Cardinals and Yankees - Twins

Both on right now.

The Yankees/Twins game is on NOW?? I thought that it was going to be broadcast live at 7:00 pm tonight. Well, I guess it's just going to be broadcast, but not live!

I have a question for all of you. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I am constantly bombarded with steroid talk on the radio, newspapers, etc... because of Barry Bonds and the Balco case originating from here. I don't want to make this a steroid/Bonds issue, but I'm curious if the rest of the country talks about steroids in baseball as much as they do here.

Somewhat down here, but I can see how much more over in San Fran with all the Barry talk.

Just check out any sports website such as ESPN, FOX Sports, SI. That's ALL they talk about. So yes, even here in texas, that's all they're talking about (besides Spring Training)

I agree. The biggest baseball topic remains steroids where I am. John Rocker apparently has recently admitted using human growth hormones while playing. I also heard that David Bell's name has been associated with past use as well.

David Bell's name coming up in steroid talk was a shocker to me... honestly I feel like my entire life of loving baseball has been a sham. I started understanding baseball as a child in the early 80's, which is apparently when the steroid era began. So my entire life I've been watching guys that are juiced. I feel like I'm a baseball purist, and the fact that guys are using Human Growth Hormones or whatever, bothers me. Especially since I have never been able to enjoy my favorite sport during a time when players were clean. Ugh...