sj44-

for the first time, i’m not concerned about yankee starter pitching depth.

it really does take that amount of starters(9) to be covered.

i would like a more reliable number two starter, but for the regular season that doesn’t matter as much as it does in the postseason.

i think signing damon is also more about the post season too. they obviously could still get there without him, but how can anyone not like his presence in crunch time in the post season.

i don’t think the yankees will sign damon simply because he’s going to make it hard for them to do so by looking for to many dollars and years.

if i were him i’d take an approach that maybe winning another couple of world series as a yankee just might get him into the hall of fame if he’s close to 3000 hits. if he ends up with 2850 hits with some team that doesn’t play in the postseason, i’m not sure how that helps him.

there must be a monetary value to being in the hall of fame. damon might make more in the long run by taking less now but being a yankee for the next few years.

He also had a number of health problems last year that could keep coming back. His bat isn’t as good as it used to be.

Thome might be a possible DH replacement. Decent bat, even though he is getting older, very well respected. I just don’t see why he would be picked over Matsui though.

GreenBeret7 specifically said LF, not CF though.

I could see Melky possibly improving to around those numbers, or fairly close. I don’t see where the numbers were that optimistic. The thing with Melky is that his fielding in center is decent, but not outstanding. Granderson is way better at fielding center.

Melky in Left with those numbers seems pretty acceptable to me, and his fielding would be more in line with that position.

The real question is, do you really believe Melky is about to take off? In my heart, I don’t. I’d be delighted to be wrong, however.

Who would like to see as the DH, if not Matsui?

I think the Yankees could go a number of routes in short-term deals – Vlad, Thome, even Nick Johnson.

We’d be better than we were last year, and we were pretty good last year.

I think he could be a guy that’s in the mix for a back end rotation role by mid-season.

I think his emergence made it easier for them to trade Kennedy.