wow! as soon as you blink something happens. the yankees just traded for ivan "pudge the fudge" rodriguez. thats great and all, but the truly wonderful thing about this deal is who the jankees gave up for the 14-time allstar. kyle "the wrong end of highlights" farnsworth. woohoo, yayy. this is a joyous day for any avid yankee fan who got to watch the team play on a daily basis for the last 3 years.
granted hes been pretty good for the most part of the 2008 year, but there was a quiet feeling he would snap back to the real kyle we know on any given pitch. this guy caused more male pain than elizabeth taylor. a guy with immense talent unable to harness it. a guy who always made you sweat (the bad sweat not the good sweat). thank g-d he didnt get paid by the hour. a guy who got bailed out by mariano so many times, mo was hired by pacman jones just in case.
anyway im off the topic. it truly is a good trade for both teams. the tigers get the bullpen help they were looking for (pepcid ac gets a big boost in the detroit market). they unload an aging catcher with a contract that runs out at the end of the year, who was splitting time anyway with brandon inge for a 32 yr old back of the bullpen type guy, in which they desperately needed. the yankees on the other hand, get a legendary defensive catcher who, while he is 36, is still batting .295. assuming the yankees are picking up the remainder of his 2008 salary they will be responsible for about 1/3 of a $12 million price tag (thats a $4 million rental). not bad considering posada is out for the year and jose molina cant hit a beach ball. pudge is free at the end of the season so there are no contractual obligations beyond september, make that october. they are still able to cut the payroll like they plan(within the next 2 years the oversized contracts of abreu, giambi, moose, and pettitte will all be gone). posada will be back next season( didnt love the four-year deal btw- what exactly are they gonna do with a 40 yr old catcher/1st baseman).
what im really getting to is the fact that cashman is dominating the phones. his last couple moves have been genius. this year alone he found ponson in a bar and he has gone 4-2. salary: minimal, $150,000. he got sexson to back up giambi and play vs lefties for $390,000. and those were the dumb moves. cashman traded 4 minor leaguers ( jose tabata is highly rated but has many detractors, ohlendorf could still be solid one day) for xavier nady and reliever damaso marte( which then opened the door for the pudge trade). production/value-wise, nady is at the top of the list. .325, 14, 60 for $3.35 million. its been a long time since the yakees traded for a bat like this and are not grossly over paying(if ever). they both will be free agents at the end of the year and likely will return. with injuries(posada, matsui, hughes, bruney) and ineffectiveness (hughes, kennedy) the entire look of the team has changed since the beginning of the season. whoever doubted the yankees and girardi and cashman before are surely nervous that the new-look yanks are not going down easy. i love the new way of doing business. keep the prospects, avoid signing free agent for massive contracts, and look for value over star-power. the old way had this team losing in the playoffs evey year and losing money while doing it. in the coming seasons the plan is to have a younger, less expensive but still talented unit. it took a couple of jaret wrights and pavanos but they figured it out.
now if only they can somehow unload jeter and a-rod.
jimmy sports
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