WHY WE NEED TO SEND A MESSAGE

Yes, it's Spring Training but if Alfredo Aceves is pitching in a starting role against the Yankees tonight, there's only one thing the Yanks need to do, kick his ass. It's just to send a message...
"Yes, we may have released you in the winter, but the reality is, you don't go to the devil and try to take us down."

Aceves, scheduled to start against the Yankees and hopefully, it will be the worst start ever for him in his career, as well as a big embarassment for the Red Sox who thought it would be cute to take him away from the Bronx and try and turn him into a certified starter.

Look, Aceves is someone I have always liked, he had the grit, he had terrific form and I always wanted him to succeed. The reality was, the Yankees blew it by releasing him and signing someone like Mitre instead. I don't think they thought he was as far long as he was after his injury. Anyway you slice it, Aceves will treat tonight like it's the World Series and the Yanks should do the same, of course, no diving into walls, I'm just saying, hit Aceves hard and quick.I wrote WHY LOSING ACEVES HURTS on February 9th. The piece was important because I was pissed and because there's always something that happens when signings like this go against the Yanks.

I wrote: "I can guarantee that come September when the Yankees face the Sox, Aceves will be the difference in the series and everyone will look back to February 8th and think "Why did we let Aceves get away?". I'm not saying Aceves will shut us down. I'm saying there will be 1 bright moment for him and a dark one for New York. It will be a glimmer, a small, yet smart play that will be overwhelmingly significant and turn the tables on the Yankees. It may be a strikeout with the bases loaded or an acrobatic play tagging A-Rod running to first. Something so all of us groan and wonder why Cashman's head was in the clouds all winter. Let's just hope the loss of Aceves doesn't bite us in the ass."

I believe that. Hopefully I'm dead wrong and we look like champs. Hopefully we look like we knew all along this would happen. Otherwise, we look like chumps and I can't stomach that against the Red Sox, ever.

Aceves is 29. He claims that the Yanks gave him the shaft at the end of last season. ESPN says Aceves said: "I was ready to pitch in the playoffs, but they didn't call me up.''

I don't believe that. I believe this guy is talking trash because he's gonna walk Yawkey Way for 2 years and that's what those guys do. We, the Yanks, will walk tall, read the playbook on this dude and pummel him until he realizes that Boston was a stupid idea. It's all we got right now when it comes to Aceves. After all, sending a message is part of what baseball's about, isn't it?

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