My prediction for 2009 roster

1. Yankees will sign two free agent starting pitchers to go with Pettitte. Hopefully, The rotation(5) will be as follow,

CC(L)
Wang(R)
Pettitte(L)
Burnett/Lowe/Sheets,etc...
Joba(R)-No.5-Innings limitation
Hughes, Kennedy or Aceves wait on AAA
Aceves or Giese as a long man or spot starter in the bullpen

2. Yankees sign one impact bat to protect A-Rod. Someone has to sit on the bench. Hopefully, the lineup(9) will be as follow,

Damon LF/CF/DH(L)
Jeter SS(R)
A-Rod 3B(R)
Manny LF/DH(R)
Matsui LF/DH(L)
Posada C/1B(S)
Cano 2B(L)
Swisher/Nady 1B/CF/RF(S/R)
Melky/Gardner CF/LF/RF(S/L)

Bench(4):
Swisher/Nady
Melky/Gardner
Cody Ransom
Molina

3. Bullpen(7) is set as follows,

Mo(Closer)
Marte(Setup man)
Coke(Lefty specialist)
Burney.Veras.Edwar(6.7th inning)
Aceves/ Giese(Long man/spot starter)

Yankees sign Marte for 3 years with one year club option

See, I told you guys to relax and not to jump on Cashman right away. One good thing for Cashman is he is very honest. 3 years for 12 million is a good deal which is below market. Not to mention Marte is more than a lefty specialist and Yankees don't have a good lefty in the bullpen for long long time. 4 years is a little bit longer than I thought, but it doesn't matter because 4th year is a club option. Yankees can turn that down easily.

Good start for Yankees this important off-season.

Doesn't make sense

Just in case you guys miss those posts regard of Marte and Cameron I posted earlier, go check them out.

Yankees decline Marte's 6 million option officially. If Yankees don't work out a new deal with Marte at near future and let him test free agent market, this doesn't make sense, especially when you consider Cashman and Yankees have been search for lefty relief pitchers for a long time. Once Marte get to free agent market, he almost certainly can get better deal from someone else.

Why trade away young talents in the farm system and let Marte walk away? Of course, we still have Nady. But, don't forget not only Marte is the main guy Cashman target for at the first place and Cashman said he won't do this trade for two month rentals but also Cashman make this trade when our bullpen is in good shape and only concern is the lack of lefty relief pitchers in the bullpen.

I know Phil Coke is impressive, but is it be better off having two lefty relief pitchers in the bullpen and one of them has some experience? If Cashman has so many faith in young pitchers in the farm system, why bother to trade for Marte? If Cashman start believing relief pitchers are crap shots and don't have to spend tons of money on them, why bother to trade young talents for Marte, especially when you consider Joe Girardi show the ability to manage bullpen unlike Joe Torre. Let alone let Marte leave for one-year deal and sign other lefty relief pitchers on free agent market on long term deal. Not to mention Yankees probably don't know them much.

I only can come up with three reasons why Cashman does this.

Firstly, just like Luis Vizcaino. Marte hurt more than Yankees lead us to believe or they don't think Marte can perform well in the AL East, so they rather collect two draft picks and go after other lefty relief pitchers on the free agent market.

Secondly, Yankees don't want to set new bar for relief pitchers by picking up his 6 million option. They prefer to go after other cheaper options in the free agent market or simply work out a multi-year deal with Marte.

Thirdly, they know they are going to lose a lot of draft picks for signing top free agents this off-season. They rather collect draft picks from let Marte going and then pay those for signing other top free agents.

As for Cameron, I don't mind Yankees trade for young center fielder. But, I rather have Melky or Gardner for center fielder than paying Cameron 10 million for that job. Let alone trade some values in our farm system for him. People may say, Cameron is a one-year stop gap for waiting Austin Jackson. You never know what prospects may turn out to be. Austin Jackson may never pay off or he may need more time. You go out to get a young center fielder or give Melky or Gardner a chance to play. If Austin Jackson become what a lot of people expect him to be, don't worry, I am sure Yankees can find a position for him anyway.

Hopefully, we can know what Cashman's plan very soon.

Updated: Check out this latest news regard of Cameron's trade with Brewers on Newsday. I know the stock of Melky and Kennedy had dropped a lot. Are you kidding me? Brewers want us to give them Melky and Kennedy for Cameron and pay him 10 million dollars. Even if Cameron is a free agent now, I still need to think about getting him to play center fielder for us. Let alone trade Melky and Kennedy for him. Ha, No. Are them insane?

Updated: According to NY Daily News, Yankees are on their way to settle a three-year deal with Marte. See. I know a lot of fans jump on Cashman immediately. Good to hear.

So far so good other than Pavano's shocking news

From Peter's the LoHud Yankees Blog,

Cashman said that the Yankees are interested in retaining Marte and could sign him to a new deal after they decline the option.

As for Bobby Abreu, I spoke to one of his agents today, Chris Leible. They have had no conversations with the Yankees whatsoever since the season ended. They believe Abreu can get – and should get – a three-year deal. Abreu will be 35 when next season starts and the Yankees are unlikely to bring him back for three years.

See, Cashman is not going to let Marte walk away if he is healthy after trading away young talents for him and Nady.

As for Abreu, his defense is getting a point that hurt us. No to mention he is not getting any younger. I won't bring him back for more than two year deal. The last thing we need is another aging verteran needs DH spot.

Keep Marte

According to NY Post, Yankees are not planing to pick up Marte's 6 million option. Of course, Yankees should know more inside information than we did. This just likes when Yankees decided to trade Proctor to Dodgers for Betemit. When Betemit has not been good for Yankees, Proctor ended up with hurting and on the DL. If Marte was hurting at the end of season more than what Yankees told us, this definitely plays a big role on not picking up his option.

I know Phil Coke was impressive at the end of season and Yankees have a lot of options for bullpen in their farm system. However, I think Yankees should and will keep Marte. Except Closer, middle reliever pitchers seems to perform differently every year. It not only will be good to have two lefty in the bullpen and one of them are an experienced verteran, especially when you consider how many troubles Yankees have to find a good lefty in the bullpen for many years but also have options as many as possible in the bullpen.

If Marte is healthy, I don't think Yankees will let Marte walk away because of money. Think about this. Marte is the main guy in the Nady/Marte trade. Cashman wants Marte and a good lefty badly and Pirates came back for a bigger deal which ended up with Nady in the deal. I don't think Cashman will trade away young talents in the farm system for two month rental.

If Yankees end up with declining Marte's 6 million option and he is healthy, I am pretty sure Yankees have settled a 2-3 year deal at cheaper annual rate with Marte. I don't think they will risk to lose him by letting him test free agency market. If I were Marte, I would be happier to get a 2-3 year deal than getting his option picked up. If I were Yankees front office, it would be better off signing Marte at 2-year deal at cheaper annual rate. Let us wait and see. Don't rush to make a judgment and overreact. It may be just a wrong information from Post and King.

8 in a row, Our bombers play like a championship team

When you look at the way Yankees play since All-Star break, are we going to lose game? I am just kidding. We are going to lose some games eventually, but I like to sweep Red Sox in their ball park if Ponson can put up another magic show tomorrow night. Of course, I won't be upset if Yankees lose the final game of series since we have already taken a series from Boston in their ball park.

However, think about it. If we sweep Boston, we will tie with Boston at second place of AL East and wild card leader, specially when you consider Boston is going to face Angels while we are going to face O's at home.

Back to the game, Andy is the man. Andy was in trouble from get go, but I know he will battle out to give us a chance to win this game which is very important when you consider the matchup of final game of this series.

The only time gets me nervous is 7th innings when Veras puts two men on with one out and Ortiz and Manny are coming up. I don't have problems with the performance with Kyle and Veras these two days because you can't expect them to be perfect all the time even though our bullpen have been closed to be perfect. Guess what? Marte came out to strike out Ortiz and Edwar got Manny to fly out. Well done, guys.

Of course, Edwar and Robertson pitch well the rest of game. Mo will be well rest if we need him tomorrow. I think Yankees fans no longer get nervous when we get into the bullpen. Joe Girardi and Dave Eliand deserve a lot of credits the way they handle the whole pitching staff.

I feel we have a special and championship team and we may be able to witness some special thing happen this year, not because we are winning now. The pitching we get from starters and bullpen, the amazing defense and the fundamental sound offense that does a lot of little things right. Our bombers play like a championship team.

Let's pray Wang and Hughes come back soon. Can't wait.

Great Job, Cashman

I think I make a right observation about Cashman's attitude toward to trade deadline, so there is a good lefty reliever pitcher coming soon. I mentioned three things Cashman should do before trade deadline. Amazingly, Cashman did pulled out a 2006-Abreu like trade to fill out two of three things we need in order to get into playoff. I will say this now. If Cashman can get us a no.3 or 4 starting pitcher by eating salary without giving up prospects, we are going to increase our chances to play baseball in October.

I know we may get Wang, Hughes and even Pavano back very soon, but we can't count on that. On top of that, We can't look at September and forget Yankees needs someone to be Ponson's insurance in August because Ponson has been extremely lucky in my opinion. Especially, we are not sure we will get Wang, Hughes and Pavano back or not. Even if we don't make a chance for a starting pitcher, maybe give someone down the farm a chance to show what they have if Ponson or Rasner have further problems again.

I like this trade because this reason I mentioned on preview post as well, not because it seems we don't give up too many prospects which you never know.

This not only can help Yankees this season but also next season

Great Job, Cashman.

We will go deeper in the playoff this time if we get into playoff..

This is the only good thing I can think about when our offense suddenly disappeared this season for some reasons. Our pitchers will be more used to pitch in these low-scoring pressure games which happen all the time in October.

The pitching as a whole has been better in the MLB this season. This forces Yankees to go back fundamental stuffs, such as moving runners and getting runners in less than 2 outs. They will need that during playoff.

But, I will be happier if Cashman can give us another bat before trading deadline. I think Cashman need to choose to improve either offense or pitching. If I were Cashman, I would choose to improve pitching. For example, a lefty reliever pitcher and a no.3 or 4 starting pitcher will be good.

At the same time, we may not need to trade because the answer may be in our farm. You never know. I have been heard couple of names who pitch well or hit well in our farm system. Giving them a chance may the only thing Cashman need to do.

Is a lefty relief pitcher coming too?

This is another feeling I got when I was listening to Cashman's interview on ESPN 1050. I think Cashman realize we need to get at least one good lefty reliever pitcher from outside. This is the move for not only this season but also future that I agree with on a preview post. On top of that, the trade market for lefty relief pitchers have developed. These kind of chances won't come by every time.

Damaso Marte and Brian Fuentes are two good lefty relief pitchers who may be available on trade market. I think Brian Cashman is waiting and hoping the price for this two pitchers to drop until the last day of trading deadline.

I got a sense Cashman will make deals that make sense for Yankees for long-term plan, not to save this season. He may make some small deals or trades to try to save this season, but don't expect him to trade good prospects in our farm to get big time players. I hope he won't do this as well.

We are not going to win every game the rest of season...

I have a few minutes break from my works I need to be done in 2 hours. We already played one -third of 2008 season. My first impression is AL East going to be the toughest division in the major this season. Our bombers are going to have a big task on their hands to get into playoff.

I have no problem on sending Damon home on Matsui's single with two out because we have to take chances to score first run of ballgame. You never know what will happen. It may only take one run to win this ballgame. On top of that, I don't trust Shelley Duncan on that spot. The more I saw Shelley Duncan playing, the more I believe he couldn't hit well enough in the major because he can't deal with breaking pitches. Don't get me wrong, I like Shelley's passion and energy, but it seems that's not enough if he keep hitting like this. I sad this before, I think we should consider to let Shelley figure out in minor if we can't give him enough playing time. But, again, Ensberg doesn't hit well as well. That's why we keep having problems with lefty.

I also don't have problems on pitching Veras and Hawkins. Girardi is right. We can't use the same guys everyday and blow out their arms. Others in the bullpen have to step up. If Joba is still in the bullpen, we never find out who is his replacement. Some people may say we may not lose this game if Joba is there. Come on, guys. Even though Joba and Mo pitch three scoreless innings, it doesn't guarantee we are able to score one run to tie the game. Even if we tie the game in the 9th inning, we are still going to lose this game later if the rest guys in the bullpen can't step up. In my opinion, our bullpen is fine. You can't expect them to be perfect all the time. They have been pitched very well this season. Not to mention we have more capable arms down the farm system.

This is one of those games you tip your cap to opposition pitchers and move on to the next game. If we somehow can win next two games to keep winning series, we will be fine. We are not going to win every game the rest of season. But, damn, Can we stop making every lefty like a Cy Young winner? Brian Cashman really have to figure out to get us some good or great right handed batters before trading deadline while we are waiting for the return of Posada. At least, he has to do that this off-season.

The brightest spot of today game is Rasner pitching well. It seems to me we find another good arm(Rasner). Unfortunately, we couldn't score for him. This sounds a familiar problem, right? In my opinion, we haven't came out this offense slump yet.

I can't wait to see Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Rasner, Joba, Hughes and Kennedy all pitching well at the same time. We are going to beat a lot of opponents. I expect Wang and Pettitte picking up their games when the weather is heating up. Not enough spot? Are you kidding me? I just hope they all stay healthy. It's not going to hurt to give Mussina, Joba, Hughes and Kennedy extra rest once a while. It's also not going to hurt to not to overextend Wang and Pettitte's outings as well.

Great win for Yankees, not so good for Wang

I am sure tons of people will show up to say, " See, I told you, Wang is not an ACE" after this outing. I am kind of sensing this happening at my preview posts. Even after that great outing at Fenway park last Friday, a lot of people still come out to say that Wang was just lucky because Red Sox hit so many balls hard without getting good results and he was not dominant at all. People expect ACE is a power pitcher with high strikeout numbers. Wang is a contact pitcher with great command and the ability to pitch deep in the game. He never will be "ACE" in a lot of people's mind if he can't pile up strikeout numbers.

Wang was terrible without question, but he pitched great three games in a row before this one. You can't expect him to be perfect all the time because he is human being like everyone else. This is just a reminder how good Wang has been for Yankees, especially how many innings he has eaten up for us. We just simply can't take him for granted.

Baseball is a team sport. I am glad to see Wang's teammates pick him up this time after he has been picked them up so many times. LaTroy Hawkins, Billy Traber and Brian Bruney come up big tonight, especially Hawkins and Bruney. I still feel the same way before season starts which Hawkins will be a good addition for Yanks. I concern Yankees' bullpen a little bit when we have Moose, Hughes, Kennedy up for next three games. We really need an off day to reconstruct the order of our rotation.

Anyway, Moose will go for Yankees tomorrow against Josh Beckett tomorrow. Let's wait and see what will happen. I often hear people saying, Wang is not an ACE because he is a one-pitch pitcher. When his sinker is off, he is in trouble. I want to ask these people one thing, If Beckett doesn't have his curve ball, will he be in trouble as well? In my opinion, Any pitcher without his best pitch will be in trouble, no matter what his best pitch is. And then people will come out to say, that's why he is not an ACE because he can't gut it out like a lot of "ACES" will be able to do. I am not sure how many "ACES" will be able to gut it out against Red Sox when they like Wang without sinkers, sliders and changeup all night. Wang may be able to do that against weak opponent, not Red Sox.

I also have one more question for you guys. When I watch Wang struggling through all night, I don't understand one thing. Why not just throw some four seamers for strike which Wang has around mid 90s when he don't have command on two seamers, sliders and changeup all night? When Wang try to command new pitch in the major league level which is not easy, I am sure the command of his sinker will take some hits as well.

I hope Posada or Molina will be back soon, I think Wang probably will be a little better than he was last night if one of them was there instead of Chad Moeller. Wang is not one of those pitchers call their own pitches, such as Moose. He need a good catcher to rely on, especially on the day he has nothing to offer.

Yankees vs Pirates

I still won't worry about starters during spring training. As long as they stay healthy, I won't panic for outcome of spring training games. I know Hughes doesn't pitch well, but I rather they struggle in spring training than regular season in order to find out what is wrong with them.

After watching all spring training games so far, I can sense one thing for sure. We definitely need a long man in the bullpen because they all need tons of pitches in order to go through inning no matter how they pitch. Of course, I mean Hughes, Kennedy, Mussina, Joba(once move him back to rotation) except Wang and Pettitte.

As for Bobby Meacham's issue, Of course, I miss Larry Bowa because of not only being a good third-base coach but also his great personality. I knew Bobby Meacham waved A-Rod home again and this time almost let him get throw out again, but I don't think this time is his fault because pirates' short stop(I think) cover very well for that play. Once Bobby Meacham know more about opponents in the AL East, he will be fine.

I still like what I see from Traber, especially you consider he obviously doesn't have his stuff today and also pitch to righties as well. If A-Rod don't throw that double-play ball away, his line will look much better. By the way, the defense of both teams in this game are ugly.

The more I see from Brett Gardner, the more I like. Opening day roster?? You never know. Joba also officially announce in the bullpen before the game. Man, I like Yankees have those happy problems and difficult decisions to make among a lot of different competitions.

Finally...We got some lefty relief pitchers

Yankees just signed these players below for minor-league deals
RHP Scott Strickland
LHP Heath Phillips
LHP Billy Traber
C Jason Brown

I think the most interesting signing is Billy Traber. The past three seasons, Billy Traber got killed by right-hand batter, but left-hand batter hit just AVG .213 OBP .294 SLG .348 OPS .642. I think We may got our lefty specialist.