Now that we know who the World Series teams are likely to be, and it's not anybody important to the national sports media, it's time to start talking about who the Yankees are going to buy.

The national sports media loved the Steinbrenner era.  He was such an easy man to hate, but he also established *the* premiere market team that continually operates at or beyond the salary cap.  The Yankees were in on every free agent; the only question was which ones they would sign, thereby creating a trickle-down effect on the rest of the normal teams.

The Yankees don't really work that way anymore, but the media still starts off the off-season with full articles on whether the Yankees will sign this or that free agent.  Today it's Yoenis Cespedas.  Bizarrely, there haven't been many opinions on which pitchers the Yankees will go after.  There usually aren't, actually; the national media is also in love with the idea that New York is an offense-first team, hoarding sluggers at the expense of pitching.

I still maintain, for the record, that it's a miracle Tanaka hasn't succumbed to Tommy John surgery yet.  He just pitched a full season (minus some DL time) with a partially torn UCL.  And contrary to my predictions, he pitched well.  I don't know how he's doing it...although of course, we all know it CAN be done.  Before UCL tears were repairable, numerous pitchers figured out ways to pitch through and around the pain, sometimes for years.  Tanaka could have years of success continuing to pitch just as he has.

But I'm still not betting on it.  He's pitching on borrowed time, and New York needs both pitchers and hitters to stay competitive.

Posted by: Ben at 04:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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