WasWatching.com

I was saying early in the season that I expected Cano and Wang to look great in the Astros uniforms they'd be wearing by the deadline. I'm happy to have been wrong about that, but I'm still not optimistic that the Yankees will be able to resist the temptation to trade these guys for another big star. Remember when we all thought that Soriano was the future of the Yankees? I'm not saying the trade for A-Rod was a bad move, but it does show that just because a hot young player is untouchable one year does not mean that he won't be sold the next.

As long as they keep making the playoffs, they have a shot to win the whole thing

See: Braves, Atlanta.

how well has soriano done in texas?

Soriano, as much as I loved him in Pinstripes, has regressed badly in Texas. His home-road splits are U-G-L-Y.

Personally, I don't think we're that far off. Obviously middle relief would've been nice this year but I still think we were better than the Angels. Had we gotten between 3-5 more hits in the whole series, we'd have moved on. Now, I don't know how we would've done vs. the White Sox but I do know that we are NOT the Atlanta Braves.

Soriano also wasn't as "young" as we thought he was.

Soriano also wasn't as "young" as we thought he was.
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He also wasn't as good as we thought he was. Check out his contemporaries;

Aramis Ramirez (901)
Corey Koskie (870)
Dave Nilsson (867)
Chris Sabo (864)
John Valentin (862)
Preston Wilson (861)
Melvin Mora (861)
Ron Belliard (859)
Mike Lowell (858)
Eric Chavez (858)

The problem with taking a "hack and slash" approach to hitting is that sooner or later, the league catches up to you. Not that he didn't have a bad season, but he'd be awesome if he learned to control the strike zone.

See: Braves, Atlanta.

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See: Pirates, Pittsburgh

Yeah, that's why Torre had him batting lead-off for 2 years. Speaking of which, I read where Joe Girardi is a big believer in statistical analysis (he says its due to his engineering degree from Northwestern)and that he wants Gil Patterson to be his pitching coach (would have been a cheaper and more AL-experienced alternative to Mazzone for the Yankees). Sigh, couldn't we have replaced the old Joe with the new Joe? After all, Girardi's got 3 rings and is good with the media as well (does Torre have an Emmy?). The Yankees ought to get younger in the field and on the bench.

Just to clarify on my Soriano comment, the point wasn't that trading him was a mistake (I'm not commenting on that either way here) - it's that we all thought he was an untouchable homegrown future Yankee star, but he got traded anyhow. The point is that I wouldn't bet on either Cano or Wang still being in pinstripes in 2008 or 2010.

Steve, Gardner's at least a year and a half away and Cox probably is 2007 at the earliest...unless Cashman (if he's still the GM)continues to be as risk-taking as he was this season (Melky). Other organizations might promote them ASAP (Huston Street, Miguel Cabrera, others)but, let's face it, Torre had to be "forced" to use Cano and Wang this season. If the Yankees hadn't played so badly in the first month of the season, neither of them would have seen the Bronx. I'm skeptical when I hear Torre say as he did yesterday: "we have to get younger and more athletic." Sure, that's why he allowed a gimpy pitcher past his prime to start the two most important games of the post-season while underutilizing the two best and youngest starters in his rotation (Wang and Chacon) while Sciosia had faith in a rookie with a 4.65 ERA to save his team from elimination. Potential aside, Wang had performed better in 2005 than Santana, yet Mussina was left out there to consistently hit Angels bats for five runs before being excused for the season. And Ruben Sierra is no one's idea of young and athletic, yet he was allowed to siphon playing time away from Bubba Crosby during the last month of the season...while Bernie disintegrated. I'll believe this "commitment" to youth when I actually see it on the field. Perhaps Torre will have had enough rest in Hawaii this winter so that he'll do a proper evaluation of what we have in our system and avoid the Rey Sanchezes and Buddy Grooms of the world.

Perhaps Torre will have had enough rest in Hawaii this winter so that he'll do a proper evaluation of what we have in our system and avoid the Rey Sanchezes and Buddy Grooms of the world.
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They weren't the problem; they're roster filler. Last men on the roster. Fungible. The problem is giving Pavano, Wright and Womack a lot of money to suck.