The Days of our Lives (Yankees edition)

The first topic I want to write about has to be what should be known as the "Yankees Saga". Seriosuly, this team has become more of a soap opera than The Days of our Lives. Let's run down what has happened so far after the Yanks once again came up short in the ALDS, even though having the highest payroll in baseball. (By the way, the team with the second highest payroll WON the World Series for the 2nd time in 4 years).

10/9/07 - Yankees lose to Indians, eliminated from playoffs

The saga starts with the list of potential free agents including:
- Bobby Abreu (team option), Alex Rodriguez (opt out option), Jorge Posada, Mo Rivera, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite (player option) --> (courtesy of http://www.mlb4u.com/freeagency.php?field=team)

- Joe Torre rejects the Yankees offer of 1 year for $5million
- list of potential replacements include Tony Pena, Don Mattingly, and Joe Girardi

10/28/07 (Approximately the 6th Inning of Game 4 of the World Series): Word comes out that A-Rod will opt out.
10/28/07 Joe Girardi will be offered managerial position
1029/07 Don Mattingly will not return as bench coach for New York.

So the potential ripple down effect of Torre rejecting this offer has already left the Yankees without Don Mattingly and Alex Rodriguez, but has a very good chance of seeing Rivera, Posada, Clemens, and Pettite all leaving.

What the Yankees do have going for them is that Joe Girardi as their manager who knows how to deal with young talent (Marlins) and a lot of homegrown talent coming up such as Joba, Hughes, and Kennedy for Girardi to help groom. Potentially, not a bad rotation in the next few years with Wang, Hughes, Kennedy, and Joba.

Now was the 1 year offer to Joe Torre initially a slap in the face or was it a nice gesture saying the Yankees don't want him back but will at least make an offer? I applaud Torre for turning that down and sticking it to New York. If the dude wins 4 world series and makes the playoffs every year but somehow is still not living up to the standard of Mr Steinbrenner, then why deal with it year in and year out? It won't be long before Torre has other offers coming his way, should he choose to continue managing (potentially the LA Dodgers).

What to think of Alex Rodriguez and his decision to opt out as rival Boston Red Sox are about to clinch another World Series? One side of me thinks it was A-rod being an egomaniac because of him personally taking away the attention from the BoSox winning the World Series and shifting it to himself. The other side of me thinks that it is a smart move on his part. A-rod was able to opt out before a manager was named and now it doesn't look like he didn't wanna play for Joe Girardi or if it was Don Mattingly, he just wanted to get out to avoid anymore unnecessary issues.

It will definitely be interesting to see where this Soap Opera leads to the rest of the Winter...

...'til next time

-E