It is Gift That We Didn't Sign Greinke

Some things get overlooked.

The KC Royal Cy Young award winner from some recent season could have become a Yankee.

He had assurances that the White Plains rehabilitation center for the baseball depressed would have given him a room after every start.

Now, he gets to eat brats, drink beer and have no worries about winning or losing. He can just have fun pretending he is still in high school, and still dating that cheerleader.

But gifts not received is not the same thing as gifts soon purchased.

I share the dread that Cashman and the Steinbrenner boys are concocting something to soothe their egos.

I share the dread that, once again, the "talent" in our system will be dealt for an old, soon to fail name. Someone who can grab a headline for a day. Some deal to get everyone's minds off the fact that we have lost the Winter to everyone, so far, except the Mets.

It will be embarrassing to see at spring training the same older, slower team we had last season. And not even knowing if old, reliable Andy is coming back.

And, finally, knowing that no one from our farm system can do what those kids did for San Francisco last October. Somehow, our Ivan Novas always turn out to be 8 years older than advertised, and just not good enough to get to the fifth inning.

So a deal that will set us back another 10 years has got to be in the making. Trade everyone we have hope for, all those kids we have followed for 5 years, and dump them for the next ex-Cub or ex-Padre great. Get a pitcher who was a sure thing hall-of-fame prospect but just, "wasn't with the right team."

Or a number one pick in the baseball draft from several years back who hasn't found himself yet.

Resist these temptations, I say.

The greatest gift this off-season will be to just " gut it up,'" do nothing more and start re-building. We can't do any worse than we did last year.

And everyone will understand why that is.

But you just know, as do we all, that Cashman and the "boys" do not think this way. They cannot live this way.

They have to have a trigger to pull.

Prepare to lose interest in all those Yankee prospects you have been following. Prepare for another nothing post-season.