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The Yankees are going to have a lot of money to spend this offseason with numerous overpaid free agents leaving town and a new stadium where hot dogs will be $10 each opening up across the street.

What to do with all this money? Go crazy on the free agent market? Sign CC, Burnett, Texeira, Manny and a cast of others? Invest it in the draft?

With a deep farm system comes the issue of the 40 man roster. The Yankees have some good minor league players that may have to be exposed to the rule 5 draft. The Scranton Yankees blog has a good analysis of the 40 man roster situation.

Tomorrow, If I was the Yankees GM post. If Cashman doesn’t come back the team will be looking for a replacement right.

Well, there goes the 2008 season. Overall a major dissapointment. Lots of blame to go around but that is all water under the bridge.

Kinda sad to see both NY ballparks close with no playoff baseball. It will be nice to have a couple new stadiums to enjoy in 2009. I am hoping to catch 4-5 Yankee games and 2-3 Mets games in 2009.

For your Yankees fix you can follow the Arizona Fall League for some Yankee youngsters as well as the Hawaiian Fall League.

Cashman is going to have an end of the year press conference today. It will be interesting to see if he stays. His return is the first step in having a good offseason. Chaos will ensue if he leaves.

Rasner - gone, Ponson - gone, Betemit - gone, Giambi - gone. Yankees need to get younger and build there pen around Veras, Ramirez, Robertson, etc. Sign CC and Moose to solidify the staff. A rotation of Joba, Wang, CC and Moose would be a good start. Then fill the other spots with Pettitte, Hughes, Kennedy, etc. The Yankees have some very good arms in the minors. Melancon will hopefully be a very good addition to the pen in 09 and fill Joba’s lights out role and allow Joba to start. Plus guys like Marquez and Wright as possible starters. Coke may also start or be an effective lefty reliever. Not to mention Brackman, Betances, McCallister on the horizon.

I think Miranda deserves a shot at the first base job. I also think Cervelli will be a good backup in 2010 and possible full timer in 2011/2012. Gardner looks to be developing into a good CF and had a good last 2 weeks of the season.

Optimism is the joy of every offseason.

Go Angels and go Dodgers for the World Series. The East coast can enjoy football this Fall.

Doubleheader today to finish the season. Hopefully the Yanks will get to 90 wins. If only they played in the NL. I do not agree with Hank that it is unfair, it is just baseball. Hank needs to stop his whining and go away.

It would be nice to see Moose get 20 wins this year. Hopefully he can come back and anchor the rotation in 09. Not sure if Pettitte should come back. If the Yanks sign CC he probably will not be back. If the Yanks choose to not pursue CC or miss out on him, Pettitte would be a good re-signing. The problem is by the time CC makes a decision, Pettitte may be retired or signed someplace else.

Should be an interesting off-season. Going to be odd to not have late nights watching the Yankees in the playoffs. I am rooting for the Twinkies and Brewers to make the last 2 playoff spots. The Yankees should look at the Twinkies organization for inspiration about how to BUILD a team. They have a great organization.

What a slugfest last night in the rain. It was good to see the Yankees send the Sawx to a wild card spot. Now they will have to play a very tough Angels team. That should be a great series with 2 very good teams going head to head.

One thing I know for next year is that Cody Ransom deserves the utility spot over Betemit. Betemit just does not get it. Ransom plays hard, can play every infield position and has a better bat and glove.

Girardi learned a huge lesson with the Rivera injury. Do not keep things from the media, they will roast you if they are lied to. Better to be honest and open. Torre was great at doing that.

Gardner is really picking up steam for 2009. He deserves every chance to win the starting CF position in spring training. Cabrera is a 4th outfielder right now and maybe that is all he ever will be. An OF of Nady, Gardner and Damon is not bad. Cabrera as a defensive replacement/4th OF/pinch runner is not bad. Have Matsui DH and be the 5th outfielder. Not a bad outfield for not a lot of money.

Peter Abraham over at Lohud Yankee blogs mentions the team offering Abreu arbitration and if he walks the team would get 2 picks, if he signs, it would be for one year. I agree with him.

I am hoping Cashman is going to stay but Hank may be too much. Hank, go away, PLEASE. Let Cashman run the team. He is a very smart guy with a good plan.

I just realized my previous post is a day late. For some reason it was saved as a draft and I just published it.

After 1 year at the helm, is Girardi the right guy for the Yankees? He seems to have issues with the NY media by not always telling the truth and trying to play games. It appears Rivera has a shoulder injury but Girardi was afraid to admit it. Now the NY media is roasting him. Can he handle NY as a manager?

Torre is not coming back. That bridge burned a looooooong time ago. Girardi is signed for 2 more years. It will be interesting to see if Cashman comes back. I am not sure Cashman and Girardi get along great. Cashman is an upfront type of guy.

If Girardi goes, who comes in? Bobby Valentine? Donnie baseball?

In my opinion Girardi stays for at least another year, if for any reason the Yankees are cheap when it comes to managers pay and will not wan to pay the buyout. I also think he needs 1 more year to learn how to manage in NY.

The biggest decision and move this offseason is Mr. Cash-man. That decision sets the tone for the whole offseason. I think he needs to come back and hopes that he does.

Abreu has 20 HR’s and 99 RBI’s. Don’t be fooled by those numbers. He is not worth a 3 year deal at 38 million. A 2 year 22 million deal would be OK. Doubt he would take that.

It is September and both teams are out of the race. There is potential to evaluate but do not get too excited.

Hughes went 8 strong last night which is a good sign. Hopefully he can build on that in Arizona and then next spring training. He is only 22.

Miranda was 2-4 and I think deserves a chance at the first base job.

Gardner is finally over .200 and I also think deserves a chance at the CF job next year.

The Yankees will have about 75 million come off the books in 2009. I sa

The streak of 13 straight years of playoff appearances is over for the Yankees. Who is to blame? Girardi? Hank? A-rod? Jeter? Karma?

It has been a tough year especially being the last year at the cathedral. Maybe it is what the Yankees need to start new across the street. A lot of bad contracts come off the books and the team will have money to spend. The farm system is starting ti show fruits again after Cashman took it over in 2005. Hopefully the Cash-man will be back. 2009 should be a much happier year.

My world series prediction is Dodgers versus Angels.

Can the Yankees win 6 in a row and the Sawx lose 6 in a row? Can the Yankee ghost pull one last miracle out of their old souls? Wow, wouldn’t that be amazing.

The Yankees face Burnett and Halladay this week so it will be tough.

It would be beautiful to sweep the Sawx at Fenway this weekend to force a tie-breaker game.

To think if the Yankees could have just won 2-3 of those games they blew during the year. Scored 5-6 runs in the games they scored 2-3, the team would be fighting for a playoff spot for real.

That is why it is a marathon and not a sprint. 162 games.

Who should the Yanks go after in the offseason for free agents? Sabathia? Texeira? Burnett? Sheets? No one?

Great game last night. Every true Yankee fan had to get emotional watching the events.

Was anyone else pissed when Joe Morgan and Jon Miller would not shut up when Whitey and Yogi were first announced in the booth. Someone must have told them in their ear piece to shut up and let the legends talk because they finally allowed them to speak. Joe Morgan is such a putz.

Wouldn’t it be great for the sox to lose 7 in a row and the Yankees 6 to get into a tie for the wild card spot. It could happen.

Pettitte and Moose need to come back next year to anchor the rotation. They both are not #1 starters anymore but know how to pitch. 1 year, 8-9 million contracts for both? I think it would be worth the 18 million investment.

Supposedly there will be a closing event in November but to me, the house that Ruth built is closed. Onto the house that Jeter developed in 2009. Great speech by the captain last night. Check out yankeeslhblogs.com for the audio.

April 18, 1923 - September 21, 2008