Teixeira to the Yanks

I don't even know where to begin on this Teixeira thing. What an absolute joke. $8 years, $180 million to go along with the $85 million for Burnett and $140 or whatever million for CC Sabathia. And I wouldn't be surprised if they get Manny Ramirez for a year. The Yankees are going to end up spending close to $500 million in free agent signings alone this offseason.

Baseball has become an absolute farce. There are maybe 5-6 teams that matter these days in baseball year in and year out. When you have teams like the Reds just scraping by and teams like the Yanks and Red Sox engaging in bidding wars for $150 million contracts, it's like there are two different sports going on. Teams like the Yanks, Mets, Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels are operating on a whole different level than the rest of baseball. If you are a fan of the Yankees, I don't even know how you could be even proud about winning when your team is spending $200+ million on payroll and throwing dollars all over the place for free agent imports.

As for the Teixeira signing, I think this guy is overrated anyway and not worth the money he is about to get. He is going to give you 30 bombs and 100 RBI every year. In other words, he's basically an above-average first baseman. Big whoop. He's a good player, but he's not some superstar. I've only had Teixeira one time in fantasy baseball, and I couldn't stand it. The guy starts out the first two months of every year hitting about .150 with 6 homers, and then goes crazy in the second half. It's been his trademark for his entire career. And if he gets off to a cold start in New York (which I will GUARANTEE that he does), people are going to be crucifying him.

The Yankees are now looking like this heading into 2009.

SP - Sabathia
SP - Burnett
SP - Chamberlain
SP - Wang
SP - Pettitte

Catcher - Posada
First Base - Teixeira
Second Base - Cano
Shortstop - Jeter
Third base - Rodriguez
Left Field - Matsui? Swisher?
Centerfield - Damon?? Melky?
Right field - Nady
DH - Swisher/Matsui

Considering that Jeter's production dropped off significantly last year, that lineup is really not all that great. ARod, Tex, Jeter, and a bunch of aging or mediocre players. And their rotation looks great on paper, but how do we know how CC and Burnett are going to respond to pitching under the bright lights in NYC?? I could see Burnett being terrible next year, and I'm not sold on CC being dominant in New York either. He's not a New York guy type guy at all. I know he had to take those dollars, but he probably would have been more successful on the mound if he had just stayed in Milwaukee or even Cleveland.

If the Yankes sign Manny as well, then their lineup will obviously be ridiculous with a 2-3-4-5 of Jeter-ARod-Manny-Teixeira. But I still don't think they are the best team in baseball next year even with all these guys coming in.