Written by Greg Fertel
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02 June 2007
With the depressing Yankee game over, I'm about to head out, but I want to say a few things really quick that have been on my mind.
The Yankees may put together a run and squeak in for a wild card this season. They might even manage to pull off a miracle comeback and win the division. I'm not at all convinced of the invulnerability of this Red Sox team. If they do, it'll just delay the inevitable. This Yankee team needs to be retooled, and it needs to be retooled with long term vision.
We've been struggling against time with a "Win this season" attitude since we lost Clemens, Pettitte, and Wells following 2003. It looked like we had it all figured out before 2005, but it did not. There is a big, big free agent year coming up after next season. Everyone from Carl Crawford to Johan Santana to Jake Peavy to Rafael Furcal is a free agent. Seriously,
look at the list, its amazing. That is when we should plan to make our move. We'll be free of the salary demands of Clemens, Giambi, Mussina, Pettitte, and others by then.
The team needs a breather. The farm system needs a year. If we keep trying to win each individual year without concern for the next, we're going to run out of options one day. On that day, things are going to get really bad. We don't need to go into full time rebuilding mode, but we do need a breather for a season.
I'll be back late tonight, and I plan on writing something about the draft and recapping the day's games.
