what is it about Jose Vidro that improves our bench? Is it his .229 BA, lack of power, .607 OPS? Or is it his inability to contribute defensively?

normally I’d agree with you on a flyball lefty in Yankee Stadium, but coming from Safeco means little change. It’s 390 in LCF (YS 399), 386 in RCF (YS 385), 405 CF (YS 408) there. Not a huge difference from YS. But its also longer down the lines – LF 331 (YS 318), RF 326 (YS 314). So I don’t think there’s a park benefit for Washburn between the 2. In fact, given that he’s not a power pitcher, the ability of pull hitters to turn on him could hurt him in NY.

I just think we’re looking at a guy who could be nearing the end – his stat trend, particularly WHIP largely due to increasing BA against, is worsening. He is turning 34 in August. Now I’ve got no real confidence in Ponson, his WHIP is troubling, but he at least is a big GB pitcher giving him more DP opps and limiting the XBH damage. Kind of a (very) poor man’s Wang. Not sure Rasner is reliable either, but I think we’ve seen his worst as well as his best – control is his key.

Washburn might be better than “a wash” this season, but he might not. That better 8 game string lately came with 7 games against 6 teams in the bottom 10 in MLB scoring. While the Yanks have plenty of cash, there’s no reason to waste it, and I think the salary is a big issue here. Hell he’ll make nearly what Moose is making this year next – don’t think he’s another Moose. But there’s legs to this deal, so I’ll hope for the best.

Then don’t pay attention until things are official.

You’re right. I’m just going off of what other people said. Never say never though . (Frankly, I don’t see it happening either, but I do get excited whenever moves are made)

It has nothing to do with the inevitble ‘Yanks spend money and buy their titles’ attitude every other team’s fans would take on, even though it’d be minimum wage.

It has nothing to do with egos on the team. Again other teams’ fans have no idea what A-Rod’s really like, but they presume everything about him is egocentric and negative. They’d have a field day with Bonds plus A-Rod, but I don’t care.

The anti-Yank presumptions before Bonds would come are nothing but fluff. People used to say all that crap about Jeter when he was reaching his prime, but he’s risen above it all. They need someone else to say the same crap about, so they choose someone … A-Rod? Bonds? Whatever. I don’t worry about it.

I think A-Rod’s unfairly judged by many. Is he a saint? No. Neither are many pro athletes. A lot of what people hear on many of them has been twisted, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

I just despise everything I’ve read on or seen from Bonds. So, I don’t want him on the team. Again … they need someone else to say the same crap about, so they choose someone. Bonds? OK so they’d say the same anti-Yankee crap about Bonds even though he’s probably more of a butthead than all the crap they blindly presume about the Yanks already. So by saying all the usual crap, technically they’d be making Bonds out to be nicer that he might actually be. The haters will say the same crap about the Yanks whether he’s on the team or not.

So I’d still ignore all the crap. And I also wouldn’t like Bonds on my favorite team.

Anything can happen. You saying that it isn’t true might be correct, but in 5 minutes that might be different. You can’t expect people not to wonder if rumors/speculation are true. Especially if ESPN is showing it on the ticker.