On the Yankees beat

let sheff play 3rd base and trade that waste of 25 million dollars. what a joke a rod has become and i thought knoblauch was bad

i agree. why are the only situations a-rod hits when it's late, base-runnerless and hopeless?

I would give each outfielder 1 day off a week and rotate an additional day off (so each OF has 2 days off every third week) so Melky starts 4 days a week and is a late inning defensive sub, presuming everyone is healthy.

Sheff at 1B is interesting, depending on how he recovers and how he plays there. Giambi should really not pick up a glove again. It all depends on Sheff's mobility and focus. He played a lackluster RF so I hope his 1B is more inspired.

No question he is a fearsome hitter when healthy. It all depends on the success of his recovery.

I believe Sheffield's experiment will end with a no go. I do not believe that he could perform much better than Giambi. I'm more comfortable with Wilson at first base. Sheffield's hitting will not put us over the top. We have enough bats in the lineup. We need pitching. Saunders and Weaver both Angels rookies which we have seen for the first time kept us down. The Angels do well against us with there singles and doubles crew. The Angels have a stocked minor league with all facets of the game covered. The Yankees have a few names but maybe 2 pitchers that could help. The money to pay Sheffield to try and play first with Giambi, Wilson already in place in my opinion would be overkill with offensive and limited defense. Sheffield's age 37. What can we get out of it, one year. Sheffield believes that he can play another 3 years. I say, go ahead do it. Should we pick up his option because the Red Sox will get him," So be it." They couldn't complete a trade at the deadline to help themselves.

Next year we wont have Bernie to DH. We wont have Bubba as a back-up. Sheffield at 13 mill is an expensive Rueben Sierra, platooning at 1st, right dh and Pinch. We can trade Andy Phillips for some AA talent maybe. I believe the better play may be to see who we can get for Giambi. He is a limited fielder, he is a liability on the basepaths, he can ONLY hit to right and hit homers. His OBP is fantastic, yet he kills a lot of rallies with his lack of speed. Sheffield has better legs, can give you 30 homers and will totally understand being pulled for defense or DHing. Giambi wants to play first base everyday and someone will give us plenty in return for his power numbers. I don't know what his no-trade would do, but he might go to an NL team for a couple of arms, maybe a number 2 or three. I think that we should look around at who will give us what from a team he might play for. Back to Oakland for starting arms? NOT ZITO, maybe sommebody younger and stronger. If we can't work that one I say shoot for Dontrelle with Giambi. He might go there to lead that young line-up. Sheff and Wilson platon at first, Melky spells Damon, Matsui spells Abreu, Melky spells Matsui looks and sounds good to me. Jorge should stay. A-Rod isn't going anywhere even if we wanted him to. The starters are the main problem again even with Hughes closer to the Bronx. Better to see who can be had as a number two after resigning Moose cause Randy will be done or at best a 4 or 5 starter.

All I know is this: over the last five or six years, the Yankees have stockpiled their ranks with players who don't "get it." Jeter "gets it." Bernie "gets it." Posada "gets it." Rivera "gets it." O'Neill, Tino, and Brosius ... they "got it." Melky appers to "get it" too, and more playing time for him will continue to prove that. Some of the higher priced talent that's been brought on board here since '01 -- doesn't seem to me that they "get it," if you catch my drift.

Well you know what they say, the best way to play 1B is to swing that bat. A Giambi/Sheffield platoon at 1B/DH seems like a great idea to me. As long as they can receive throws and take in ground balls that are hit right at them I believe their offensive prowess will more than make up for their deficiencies in the field.

I don't mind Melky as a 4th outfielder. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that we need to move him because there is no place for him, but he just turned 22 and who's to say that the OF won't give us another injury-plagued season like the one we had this year? Besides, a player that young with that kind of plate discipline is only going to get better and we wouldn't anything near for him now what we'd get in two or three years.

The Yankees have no intention of signing or playing Sheffield at first next year. Cashman only put it in his head to shut him up about his contract for the rest of the season.

as much as i love sheffs bat...we dont need him at 13 mill at first.

johnny damon should be learning to play first, get melky to play either center or have abreu or matsui play center.

damon has 0 arm whatsoever...he should be at first..something like darin erstad did in anaheim

The only one who knows if this is even a possiblity is Cashman. I have said in this blog before that sheffield should play 1st base. The guy came up as a shortstop and if anyone could do it, he can. It will boil down to who is available in the off-season. Maybe they do not pick up he option but instead sign him for 2 years at 16MM. People should realize he is STILL one of the best players in the game. 8MM per year for 2 years is a good deal; if he is healthy.

There are some great comments about Sheff. I'm not positive about his transformation as a first baseman. I could accept him as a DH but Giambi in Yankee stadium is favorable. Think back fans at Giambi's HRs that he has hit. We need pitching. Trading Giambi might be an inducement for this. We had all the artillery in the lineup with no WS banners of late. Melky has to stay. The age of every OF except him is 32. The breakdown possibilities are there. The rotating OF sounds good to me. The Yanks are starting to show there age. Jeter,Posada have been hitting there weight of late. Early 30's in the business world is light years away from the sports world. If, we have to trade for pitching than lets do it. Mussina and Johnson will not perform at this years levels next year. Wright and Lidle are 5 inning pitchers. Think of our excess in Offense and our need for pitching. Wang should improve. So, we have one positive out of 5 with the starters.

I still don't understand why Giambi cannot master first base. He isn't a TOTAL rock, and he could sit and take notes on how to play the position from Donnie Baseball, so what is to prevent his improvement in the field? If nothing else, the time Alex Rodriguez puts in practicing at third should show Giambi the lesson of, "Hey, someone who makes more than you, has more MVP awards than you do, and just as many rings as you do, can work his tail off trying to be a better position player, so guess what? YOU CAN TOO!" Tell Giambi to get off his lazy can, so we don't have to throw Andy Phillips or Craig Wilson into the mix because we have a DH instead of a first baseman. Heck, tell Papi also (except the part about the rings, since he actually has one).

Either let Sheff walk, or use the option and trade him. Sign C. Wilson and make him the 1st baseman 1st baseman, with Giambi the D.H. There is no room for Melky so he should be traded for pitching. With this configuration, I don't see room for Soriano the free agent either.

Fred- Giambi isn't half the athlete ARod is. That's why he isn't a good first baseman, and he never will be.
You can't learn to throw at age 35! He doesn't have good feet either.
Comparing him to ARod is a little far-fetched

Roy: If, we pick up Sheff's option at 13 million. He will be ours to keep. There are few teams to unload him at this price. One of them is the Red Sox that ought to be funny. The Mets don't need a DH. Both LA teams? Chicago could. Who else would pay 13 million but these teams. I 'd say see how the winter goes. What his value is than enter if needed at the reduced level. He's another DH. We are gathering alot of them and the stockpile is getting heavier. Matsui, Damon, Giambi and Sheff? As much as I like his bat. I would take a chnce at getting him back. If he's slighted by the method that's his problem. He had 3 years to get a ring . He still may pick up a ring even on the DL. In my opinion keeping Melky makes the OF of Damon. Matsui and Abreu work. They will break down. Melky is a VG substitute for them and cheap. He'll be a VG Major leaguer for years to come.

we shouldnt keep sheff as a 1st/dh guy but we probably will. we have giambi and phillips who fill that role fine already, and while phillips doesnt have sheffield power he also is making about 14.5 million less than him. a deep bench is nice to have, but if we kept sheff next year thatd be ridiculous. we already have 4 legit starters in the OF, and more importantly, we dont need hitters, we need pitching. we need to get a good southpaw to round out our starting ro. moose has a few years left in him, wang has plenty, rj was done 2 years ago, wright will pitch 5 innings every start for the rest of his life and lidle is whatever. wang is the only guy there that will probably be with the yankees in 2 years and still be decent. moose doesnt seem like the kind of guy who will pull a randy and keep playing even though he has a 5 era, lidle i cant see staying past next year, and same with wright unless its a bullpen role or he decides to get some stamina. randy is legally dead right now. rivera probably has 3 years left. hopefully cashman keeps bringing up from within, because it has produced melky and cano as of late, and they are two of our hot hitters right now. kick sheff on the curb, i never saw him as a yankee.

I like the idea and I don't. Sheff came up as a shortstop and played 3rd for the Marlin's when they won the series in '97 (I think), so he can do it. The 13 mil that the Yanks would spend to keep him is a "bargain" in this day and age. Some of the other free agent OF that will be out there in the off season will cost a lot more.
However, the 13 mil would be better spent to get some pitching. Hughes is at least a year away and I think he'll need a full year at AAA. We can't count on Gramps or Moose who also will be a FA after the season. Who knows what Pavano will do or Wright for that matter. We need a dominant lefty in the rotation, dominant meaning that we have a guy who will be a stopper (Ford, Guidry, Petitte) and give us innings. The Yanks have never won a championship without a lefty in the rotation.
An outfield platoon of Matsui, Damon, Abreu and Cabrera will work quite nicely I believe. All 4 of them should get plenty of playing time and plenty of rest which will keep them healthy and fresh for the season.
As for A-Rod: just get him out of the cleanup spot and bat him 3rd and Abreu 5th. He just isn't a cleanup guy and there's too much pressure for him there. Yeah, I know, he's making 25 mil and he should be able to handle it. But he can't and the Yanks didn't sign him to that contract. Besides, he's not the reason that the Angels have beaten us 4 out of 6 so far this year and that we've lost 5 out of our last 9. None of them are hitting and no one is doing anything to "light a fire" under them either.

Everyone keeps trashing Sheffield, but he's one of the best clutch hitters in the game....

Yes, perhaps he's an ego better matched to the Yankees of the late 1970's than Joe Torre's self-effacing crew, but who cares? He stirs the drink on the field and there are enough jeter-like players in the dugout to absorb one or two hot-heads.

I'm not shelling out the 13 million -- which is less than some film stars get for six weeks of shooting -- and Sheffield makes the Yankees far more dangerous. The Yankees will have to eat salary if they try to move him, which makes trading him less likely.

While Abreu may drive 100 runs in and hit 300 (maybe), Abreu's skills -- particularly his power numbers -- are falling off a cliff. How many homers will Abreu hit in a full season of work? 10?

Yes, Sheffield's power numbers are also declining, but the decline is from 40+ to 30+ home runs and he's still driving in over a 100 RBI's and sporting a 300+ average.

Abreu has no reputation as a clutch hitter, while sheffield could teach masters classes.

With Matsui and Sheffield to place in the lineup, my guess is that Torre will stick Abreu in the 7th-9th spot in the lineup, while Sheffield -- after a couple of days getting his hitting back together -- will return to the #3 spot.

What does that say about a Sheffield-Abreu matchup?

Personally, I'd letting Sheffield stay until he is truly playing the Ruben Sierra role and collecting a 150 at-bats coming off the bench. Even when he's 45, he'll be dangerous in the clutch.

And a little competitive tension in the Yankee dugout might be a good thing...........

Sheffield's more a Yankee in my book than half the team. And Abreu is just a steady singles hitter until he proves otherwise......

I've always found it odd that Giambi was supposedly a great pitcher in high school, yet he can't make the throw to second base?
I'm all for picking up Sheff's option and platooning him at 1b with Giambi. Hell, what's another 13 mil at this point? (It ain't my money--well maybe some of it comes from those $9 beers and $6 hot dogs at the stadium.)

Guys, lots of good points. First of all Melky is going no where he is young athletic and cheap, which is rare these days in the bronx outfield. Cash is going to let sheff walk. He has been trimming that payroll for the past two years. This trend will continue. 13 million for a part-time player is insane let alone a 1st baseman who has never played the position. Wilson is a keeper, he and Giambi will share the spot. Maybe get a Olerud, Tony Clark, JT Snow type filler. Cash and Torre both know its about pitching, more pitching, then more pitching. Moose is a FA, he may or may not be back. Wright is in an option year, as mentioned 5 innings a game is not enough and is due for a breakdown. RJ - enuff said. Which leaves you with Wang . The 13 million will go to the rotation and there is nothing out there zito, or schmidt that make my eyes light up. Let sheff walk, hope Hughes is not a bust and the Kid from USC can be ready for 08

The Yankees decision on whether or not sheffield is retained has NOTHING to do with the pitching. I say keep him. If he ends up in Boston with a chip on his shoulder watch out.

Great Point, Andrew. Boston is going to need a rightfielder next year. $13 mil for a 1b/dh is a small price to pay to keep Sheff out of a Red Sox uni.