A-Rod the Idiot

The idiom goes: where there's smoke, there's usually fire.  If that's the case, then Alex Rodriguez has probably got a four-alarmer blazing right about now.  This isn't his first time being linked to an underground poker game - last time Selig essentially slapped him upside the head and sent him on his merry way.  One PED story and one decently put together but utterly useless magazine article later, A-Rod is back in the limelight for doing something stupid again.

To trade or not to trade...

The Yankees have a problem - the starting rotation behind CC Sabathia is full of question marks.  Burnett is enigmatic at best, Hughes may or may not come back from his injury, Colon and Garcia are on borrowed time, and Nova is at points brilliant while sometimes showing his inexperience.  With the Yankees offense the way it is this team is nearly a lock to make the playoffs - they're on pace for roughly 92-95 wins, which may not win the division but will surely lock up the wild card.  The problem, then, is where to improve the team for October.

A quickie: The Yankees and 7/31

OK, so the Yankees are hanging right with the Red Sox (even after last night's loss) and are always buyers at the trade deadline.  On ESPNNY, the Yankees' Daily Briefing (a must read for every Yankee fan; it goes up in the wee hours and usually leads the ESPNNY Yankees blog until a few hours before game time) asked here and here about what the Yankees should do regarding third base and the rotation.  I think it's fairly simple - they should do nothing major.

The Yankees best work is done between November and March regarding acquiring talent.  There's no reason to overpay for a player in July when you're already expected to be in the playoffs in some form (Baseball Prospectus has the Yankees at 93.8% after last nights loss), and with the playoffs being baseball's version of a crapshoot it makes no sense to try to acquire that which the Yankees likely already have in their system.  The bullpen is about to become crowded again when Soriano returns, the rotation has Nova backing it up (although Colon and Garcia could turn into pumpkins any minute now), and A-Rod is only out for another 3-5 weeks.

If Cashman can trade for a piece without giving up much of the farm (and without letting Levine negotiate), then he should do so.  The Yankees need a lefty bullpen guy besides Boone Logan to matchup with in the playoffs and possibly a backup infielder that can actually field his position (sorry Nunie, but you need "seasoning").  There's no reason to acquire a front-line starter because of the nature of the playoffs - one win in the standings before October will mean nothing once the playoffs start.

Quickie: Recent Cashman Scorecard

This is quick, dirty, and incomplete.  Add as you like:
-Trading for Granderson: Pretty darned good
-Trading away Coke and Kennedy: Not so good, but used properly to improve club
-Trading away Melky: Opened CF for Granderson, so very good
-Signing Feliciano: Very VERY bad...and don't whine that his previous team overused him.  Don't sign a guy that was overworked.
-Publically disavowing the Soriano signing: Good, and it's always good to show up Levine.
-Signing Martin to catch: Very good, eh?
-Not ponying up more cash for Lee: Considering he signed for more per year but for less years, I don't blame Cash for this one.  Can't really blame anyone.
-Treading carefully with young pitchers: So far that's a fail.  Joba's never going to start for the Yankees again, Hughes is on the shelf, Kennedy was used for a trade (albeit a good one)...As much as I want to see Banuelos and Betances in the majors, I fear for their arms.
-Jeter's contract: Cashman could have handled that better...that needed to stay in house.

Anyone else have anything to add?  Anything to disagree about?

Diving right in: the Jorge Posada Lovefest

Tons of digital and real ink have been spilled regarding Jorge Posada taking himself out of the lineup when Joe Girardi dropped him in the order to ninth, which I thought was really nice - dude is making $13MM at the end of his (most likely) last contract in MLB, is batting a cool .165 at the time, and showed very little sign of coming out of his funk.  I get that he's prideful and arrogant - both qualities are fine and dandy in MLB players.  Along with that should come a certain amount of intelligence regarding your own production and your team's performance.

He's lucky the Yankees haven't benched him.  Besides the six homers, he's done nothing at the plate that would suggest he can still hit major league pitching.  Mistake hitters need to have some endearing quality that allows them to stay in the lineup - great defense, solid baserunning, taking lots of walks...something.  All Posada's good for right now is sucking up a roster spot that could go to another bench player until he figures out a way to be a productive DH.

I think Posada has been a fine player and a heckuva good catcher - never great but usually pretty good.  His game-calling always left something to be desired (there are other pitches besides fastball) and his receiving skills were spotty, but his bat was (until last season) enough to more than make up for his defensive shortcomings.

I'm always going to remember Posada as the guy that backstopped four World Series winners (he was barely with the club in 1996).  I can't hold a "bad day" against Jorge, but at this point he should know he's probably the 25th man.