Cooler Heads?

Some relief today as more doubt appears to be creeping into this Mike Cameron situation. I wish it was over, but the tentative belief here is that Milwaukee and New York won't be able to find a compromise between now and the start of Spring Training at the very least. The Yankees really need to operate in the mindset that Milwaukee needs to dump Cameron way more than they need to acquire him and/or dump Igawa. I think that's course of action they're taking as you can't even get a straight answer in regards to the terms of the deal. Some have us taking a chunk of what's owed Igawa while others have Milwaukee picking up a portion of Cameron's deal. To me, the sticking point is who wants to rid themselves of which bad contract more.

The Manny stuff still prevails, but the more I think about Manny, the more I come to the realization that the two parties will never reach a basic agreement. I'll take Manny for one year. 20 mill plus another 5-10 in incentives. That's it. I won't consider anything else. Let Manny and Boras pimp the Yankees for a better deal with another team in a better economy next year while the Yankees pimp Manny's bat (never his glove, he's the DH or nothing) for ring number 27.

Obviously this will never happen. The player and the agent won't make that kind of concession and there's the very tricky situation of moving Hideki Matsui and his no trade clause.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it today, a platoon in center between Melky and Gardner is the best decision. Melky was good enough to start in center last year. He's good enough to start this year -- especially when you're talking about replacing him with a man who's more than ten years his senior and hits for average just as poorly as Melky did when he was sent down to Scranton.

What I do is start Melky and keep Gardner on the bench. Then in the 7th inning of every game, regardless of the situation or score, I pull Damon from left, slide Melky over and put Gardner in center.

Obviously I value defense over offense in the outfield. But it's needed if you look around the diamond. Every other position on the field is occupied by a player who is expected to contribute more with his bat than his glove. And seeing how hits that fall in the outfield amount to extra bases, this late inning defensive upgrade will take more pressure off the bullpen and help ice games. You're also helping Johnny stay fresh when he hits free agency next year. Cuz he sure as hell ain't coming back.