WHY I LIKE LEFTOVERS

The end of the Core Four is near. The best thing Brian Cashman should do right now is get a veteran, experienced arm locked up and fast. By tomorrow afternoon, or right before Christmas, expect to have official word that Andy Pettitte has retired. At that point, Armageddon will hit this site.

I love Andy Pettitte as a New York Yankee. Not having him there will be a blow to the Yankees rotation, their fans and the team. Let's hope a last minute decision and some convincing from the Core Three and maybe a couple extra bucks gets the guy back to the Bronx for 1 more year.

But if not, then what? The rotation is made up like this:

1. CC Sabathia
2. AJ Burnett
3. Phil Hughes
4. ?
5. ?

Who do you like on the free agent market among the leftovers? How about in the Yankees farm system?

Kevin Millwood- Millwood has had a long career. He's bounced around but overall, he's reliable. He'd also get more wins with the New York Yankees than some of the other teams he's been with in the past. At what price? Tough to say, but I'd roll the dice on this guy.

Justin Duchscherer- not so sure about this guy. He hasn't pitched much and while he was once decent, I think I'd much rather take a shot on an experienced innings eater like Freddy Garcia, even though he's been with injury. Maybe Justin Duchscherer is a 5th starter. Or maybe Ivan Nova takes that spot.

Brad Penny- I never liked the guy. Gets hurt a lot. Hell, he could be a surprise, but I won't bet on this one.

Brandon Webb- I've always loved Webb. At one point in his career, he was among the best. He hasn't pitched in quite a while, and he's been talking to the Rangers and the Cubs, but maybe, just maybe, the Yanks make a late pitch for him. Honestly, if we went for it at a fair contract and he accepted, we check the guy out and maybe we use him as a 3rd starter. At most, Webb's lights out and we look like superstars for giving him a shot. At worst, he's mediocre and he's plugged into the 4th or 5th hole.

I sound like I'm panicking, I'm not, not totally at least. Let's just say I'm concerned. It seems like every year we are trying to fix our rotation. In 2009, we finally did what we needed to do and we won it all. Is it so bad that I want the same thing every year? Come on Cash, It's the holiday season...and without a rotation, baby, it's cold outside.

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WHY IT'S A WAITING GAME FOR ANDY

This is a tweet from Jack Curry, that I am borrowing from Sliding into Home, one of the best Yankees blogs out there.

As I've told you every time before in:
WHY THERE ARE MANY FACTORS

And in:
WHY PETTITTE NEEDS TO RETURN

And here, on December 4th:
WHY ALL IS WELL IN YANKEELAND

Andy, is waiting it out. Not to analyze this tweet, because it's kind of stupid to do, but it appears that Pettitte's gearing up for a comeback, but I think it all hinges on Lee. Let's hope this all plays out.







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WHY THERE ARE MANY FACTORS

LEE FACTOR: Ken Rosenthal is reporting that a "mystery" major league team is going to offer Cliff Lee a 7 year deal. No one knows who it is, yet, I wouldn't be surprised if the Washington Nationals, who were supposed to be the sleeper in the Lee talks anyway, tried to pick him up at a big contract. It would make sense considering they just did it with Werth. I'm just not sure how much cash they have though, so we will see.

It's funny though, last night on MLB's Hot Stove, Rosenthal was in deep discussion with Kevin Towers behind Jon Heyman. They were intwerviewing Heyman and the convo was going down behind him. Alittle bizarre. Imagine if the Diamondbacks were that mystery team? We will wait and see.

CASHMAN FACTOR: I still feel good about the Yankees in these negotiations. Think about it, Cashman's a charmer and the Yanks have insisted that 6 years for Lee is enough. But think about it this way, they Yankees never say what they mean, that's what makes them so good at this negotiation game. Joel Sherman is reporting that Cashman will probably top out between $145 and $150 / 6 year deal for Lee and while it would be great to have Lee, it's not a necessity. I just think this is a tactic to take us off the trail. Cashman's known for this. At the end of the day, the Yankees are still stinging at the Mariners move to trade Lee to the Rangers last summer. They will not be out done again... Right? One thing's for sure, the signing of Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox just made the signing of Cliff Lee 10 tines for important for the Yanks. The Red Sox lineup is sick right now and needs to be shut down.

WOOD FACTOR: Cashman doesn't want to sign Wood for "closer" money, but if Wood wants $7 or $8 million to setup and sometimes close to give Mariano a day off, I say do it. Wood was awesome for us last year and really put some energy into that bullpen. He literally was the leader.

MARTIN FACTOR: A lot of talk about Russell Martin. He wants to play on the east coast, he is a good catcher, he was almost a Yankee. So what's the problem? The medical records have been reviewed, that's the problem. There is something the Yanks don't like about Martin's health. That's why they're gun shy. You can't blame them. The last thing they need is 2 broken down catchers and a rookie in Montero. They just want to be sure. Respect that.

POSADA FACTOR: Cash has already stated the Posada is the Yankees DH unless he can "play his way out of it". That's a win win for Posada. He's still getting at bats, plus he can fight for his job back.

DIAZ FACTOR: Matt Diaz is a solid free agent who just ended his marriage with the Braves. This guy can play the outfield and hits left hand pitching. If the Yanks can get him at a decent price, this could potentially be this years Swisher. A player everyone has written off, but the Yankees believe in him.

PETTITTE FACTOR: Cashman says he's retiring. Pettitte's friend says he's not. But Pettitte's another friend says he isn't. Oh yeah, and Pettitte's dry cleaner is friends with Kevin Bacon. What the hell is all this? Let's wait until we have some info. Plus, why wouldn't any Yankee fan just listen to what Cashman's tell us and leave it at that. I'm predicting Cashman's stalling for Andy until we know about Lee. That's all I got.

The next few days you will see many moves. Let's hope the Yanks don't stay quiet too long because, all I want for Christmas is Lee.

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