Who will fill the needed bat in the lineup when Tex lands in Washington or
back in LA and Manny stays put (Manny won’t sign until Christmas/New
Years. Boras will drag them both out as long as possible.)

What I’m
saying is that  lot of you are proposing putting out $20-25M per year (for 6-8
years, depending on the player) for either of those players when the
Yanks just sunk a $23M per year deal on Sabathia with another $15-16
being earmarked for Burnett or Sheets and most likely something in the
area of $12-14M for Pettite.

$80M off the books, $53M back on in
pitching alone (estimated). And it has been said that Cashman didn’t
want to dump the bank this year (hey, you never know what comes out
next year when Damon/Matsui come off the books!). So you pick up Bobby
at $16M (he’s worth it, check the stats. check the consistency. he’s
the only one that has it!) and you platoon Abreu/Damon/Nady with OF/DH
roles to keep everyone fresh.

Then you keep Gardner/Melky competing in CF. I noticed about Melky that
whenever Cano was doing well, offensively, so did he. Melky is the kind
of guy who needs to be competing constantly. Competing with Gardner for
that everyday CF position will push him to be as good as he can be. I
expect him to come out of the dugout with a stronger bat after the
shellacking he took by being sent to AAA.

Next year, when Damon’s
contract is up, you have Melky/Gardner to replace him AND play CF.
Abreu’s bat stays in the lineup to protect A-Rod (who feels comfortable
having Bobby around him) and to keep the consistency. I also noticed
that when Bobby was hot, the Yanks won. He helps set the tone. He’s the team pendulum.

I also like the prospect of Swisher at first. His defense is legit and
having another switchy in the lineup with Posada could drive any
pitcher out of his mind. Swisher is the kind of low pressure role
player that is needed. If the Yanks bring back Abreu (PLEASE!), they
have a quietly dangerous bottom half of the lineup.

Gardner, Abreu,
Damon can all pull extra bases out (Damon/Abreu led the team in
steals). Robby will come back a hitting machine. Nady, Arod, Swisher
will pull big HR numbers. Jeter, Abreu, and Posada will be your clutch.

It is basic baseball mathematics. Damon, Jeter, Abreu, A-Rod, Posada, Cano, Nady, Swisher, Cabrera/Gardner = Lethal lineup.

What do we do with Matsui and the remaining year of his contract? We can’t sit him. The Asian media will not react kindly to that. Wang provides enough of his own buzz that we don’t have to worry about losing the foreign advertisers.

Deal Matsui to a struggling West Coast team for prospects. San Diego mentioned a need for a hard hitting outfielder. Seattle is turning into Little Tokyo and would be quite brutal with Matsui added to the lineup. What about the idea of Matty and Manny patrolling the outfield for the Dodgers? That could be dangerous. Matsui could complement any of these teams with ease for the remaining year of his contract. The biggest contribution that he can offer to the Yankees would be a graceful departure being replaced by prospects to be developed.

The point is, we NEED to retain Bobby Abreu’s bat.