12-31-2004, 03:15 AM
In all seriousness, this is huge. And probably Beltran, but this is a team that (including luxury tax) is going to have about a $300 million payroll next year. The farm system is completely barron. Jaret Wright is going to be an absolute disaster. Just horrilbe. Like 5+ ERA horrible. And with they payroll up at such a level and breaking the bank short-term to overpay for Pavano and Wright, where's going to be the flexibility to spend in '05, '06 when actual stellar free agent pitchers like Sheets, Prior, Beckett, Oswalt, Mulder, and Oliver Perez hit the market?
The Yanks will obviously once again win the division with well over 100 games, and assuming a healthy (cartilage free) RJ is fully healthy for the playoffs, + Pavano and Mussina, they should probably do fine in the playoffs.
But I honestly think that Sox coming back from down 0-3 not only killed the Yanks last season, but I think it probably crippled them for the next few.
Even the biggest fan of the Yankees has to look at multitude of horrible contracts, very very old lineup, and see that this team is steamrolling down the hill from their late 90s zenith.
The Yanks will obviously once again win the division with well over 100 games, and assuming a healthy (cartilage free) RJ is fully healthy for the playoffs, + Pavano and Mussina, they should probably do fine in the playoffs.
But I honestly think that Sox coming back from down 0-3 not only killed the Yanks last season, but I think it probably crippled them for the next few.
Even the biggest fan of the Yankees has to look at multitude of horrible contracts, very very old lineup, and see that this team is steamrolling down the hill from their late 90s zenith.