I realize many out there may be upset about losing Johnny Damon. I liked him a lot, personally, but there are two reasons why I don't mind losing him. The first is age. While I think Damon will still be productive next season, I can't guarantee it. The second and main reason, however, is that a big part of the reason we lost Damon is that we traded for Javy Vazquez, thus taking on his $12M contract, limiting our budget for Damon. No one, and I mean no one, has ever gotten bounced from the playoffs and said, "Left fielding determines championships and we just didn't have the left fielding."
Javy is a huge addition to what was essentially a three man rotation. He makes our pitching much deeper. Let's face it, we won the World Series with a three-man rotation only because the Phillies tried to beat us with a one-man rotation (Cliff Lee). One has to assume that we will play teams in the playoffs with more than one pitcher, and everyone knows pitching is what makes the difference in the post-season. Therefore, if having Johnny meant we were left with a three man rotation, one of whose members is pushing 38 and has struggled with tired shoulders late in the last two seasons, that would not be better for the Yankees. Yankees + Javy > Yankees + Damon. There, now you have mathematical proof.
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Good points. Having a strong core of starters in CC, AJ and Andy allowed us to survive the loss of Wang and ineffectiveness of Joba and Hughes last year. But we would have been in big trouble if something happened to one of those three starters. Now Wang is gone, Joba and Hughes are still wild cards, and Gaudin and Mitre are BOR filler. We needed a reliable and durable pitcher to fill out the rotation, not just making it better overall but insuring against an injury to one of the big three. Vazquez is even better than that, as he could basically be another Pettitte (200 innings with a better than average ERA).
I'll miss Damon but I'm glad we didn't ovepay for him and neglect the rotation in the process.
I agree, Rich. I think this will work out well for the Yanks.
Javier va a ser determinante para la rotación. Ha lanzado mas de 198 entradas en las ultimas diez temporadas. Solo ha lanzado menos de 198 entradas en sus primeras dos temporadas con los Expos de Montreal.
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