WHY I'M IN A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

Since the unpleasant shock of Cliff Lee not coming to New York yesterday, and every Phillies fan acting like a bunch of tools from about 8am until 3pm toward any Yankee fan they saw, I'm starting to come out of my funk. It's going to be alright. So we didn't get Lee, so what. It's great that the Phillies got him and he's not on the Red Sox.

Cashman, at his press conference yesterday took offense to everyone getting on his ass for thinking he doesn't have a plan B, and you know what? I jumped on him too... fact. So I'll back off now and watch him work. Maybe he does have a plan, an ace up his sleeve we don't know about. So far, it been uneventful. A lot of minor league signings of pitchers coming off injury and a deal for a major league catcher coming off a .248 season named Russell martin. Oh, and it continues, Mark Prior just signed a minor league deal with the Yanks. See, progress is slow, not exciting, but slow and yes, we have $161 million to spend now that we didn't spend on Lee, so can we spend some of it please?

First off, for Relief:

• Kerry Wood: Reports are he wants 2 years, $12 million. We love Kerry Wood, plus we already have Former Cubs, Girardi, Mitre, Rothschild and Prior, why not finish off the set. Hell, give him $13 million. We love Kerry Wood.

For Starters:

• Carlos Zambrano: Did I say finish off the set and I didn't include Carlos Zambrano? Look Zambrano may have brought trouble to the Cubs clubhouse with his attitude, but he's still a horse. Now, I don't follow the National League as closely as my buddy Dan, but based on pure appearance, Carlos may be able to bring something to the table. Cashman's eyeing him, and I'm not quite sure what to make of this move yet, so, forgive me, I'll get back to you on this one.



• Freddy Garcia: A safe Free Agent pickup in my opinion. He's on the way back and the Yanks always liked him. The timing however hasn't ever been right. Did Garcia's good years pass him by? I guess the only wat to know is if we pick him up. With the White Sox last year, Garcia was 12-6 with a 4.64 ERA.



• Carl Pavano: um...no


• Felix Hernandez: Not a Free Agent but a trade situation. Can you imagine? Look, I see King Felix in pinstripes. We'd have to give Seattle the farm for him but look, if he won 14 games with that Seattle lineup, can you imagine what he would get with our lineup? Jon Heyman reports that the King has a no-trade clause to the Yankees, but money talks so we shall see.



• Mark Buehrle: The White Sox are listening, and hopefully Cashman's talking. I like this kid. He's a gamer and there's a lot of money in his contract over the next few years but we have a lot of dough to put towards that investment. I say it's worth it, plus we'd have to unload some of our farm system, maybe and outfielder but I tell you what, Buehrle would be a great addition to the New York Yankees. Buehrle had a 13-13 record last year with the Sox.




• Zack Greinke: All indications are the Yanks and Royals are having a dialog and Gardner's name keeps coming up. I like Greinke but not on the Yankees. But what do I know, I'm a blogger. There has been talk about trading for him, or waiting 2 years when he hits the free agent market. What would you do?


• James Shields: I like him, but everyone knows the Rays would never trade him within their own division. Pass.


• Matt Garza: a good number 4 for the Yanks, but a great number 5. Again, Rays are not parting with this guy if it means a trade in the eastern division.
  

The Yanks have choices. It's limited, yes, but there are names and quality out there, it's just going to be interesting how creative they get to get a pitcher for our slim rotation. Let's hope Pettitte comes back first. That's a big one, after that, it's gravy.

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