Sportsfrog.com

As it became apparent to me that my Yankees would not be making the playoffs for the first time since 1993, I was a little sad. Then I began to think that this might be a good thing. That it might be time to re-think the Yankee approach, which has recently been fielding a team of mostly OLD guys. While I am thrilled that Jorge Posada received a lifetime achievement contract, I don’t think he should be doing much catching when he is 39.

The season itself was over when Wang went down. Then Hughes and Kennedy, leaving the rotation to the likes of Sidney Ponson. The Joba incident was a comedy of errors, perhaps risking the career of the team’s most promising pitching prospect.

So I figured perhaps the “brain trust” in Tampa would sit back and approach things in a different fashion. This year’s trade for Nady was an atypical Yankee move, because he’s not a star, just a solid player. Gone are the days of the late 70’s when the Yankees could buy an all-star at every position. There are more teams competing for free agents, thanks revenue sharing.

And then Hank spoke….. And now I know the Yankees are in serious trouble. Hank doesn’t seem to understand a few things that are germane to baseball and actually has two different plans that he wants to utilize. The only problem is that these two plans contradict each other. His statements follow:

If Johan Santana was a free agent this year, you can bet Hank Steinbrenner would not have taken ‘no’ for an answer.

“Suffice to say, there’s not going to be any more, on my part, of trying to keep everybody happy. If I want somebody, I’m going to go after him,” Steinbrenner told The Record by phone this afternoon.

Ok so Hank would go out and get Type A free agents. He would not take no for an answer. That’s plan #1.

Because of those injuries, the major league roster “might not be as difficult to fix as you’d think,” said Steinbrenner, whose chief concern is at the root level.

“The biggest mission, for myself, is making sure the farm system is stronger than it’s been the last few years,” Steinbrenner said. When it comes to prospects, “I want more.”

That’s plan #2. What Hank doesn’t realize is that when you sign a Johan Sanata you have to give up draft picks… so where do these prospects come from? So will the Yankees buy the entire Dominican Republic? They are already in the middle of a Latin American scouting scandal.