No youth, no hope, no plan: Vernon Wells is a Yankee? Where was the money back in December?

In December - as Yankee fans watched Russell Martin, Nick Swisher and Rafael Soriano march toward the exit; as Torii Hunter, Josh Hamilton and Melky Cabrera knocked on the door, without so much as a response - Isiah Cashman uttered the famous new policy of the Steinbrother era: "Beggars can't be choosers."

Theoretically, it meant the sons of the owner were instituting a new strategic plan: The team would shrink its payroll to $189 million by 2014 and avoid paying taxes. (If there was a stadium in the Cayman Islands, they would be playing there now.) The Yankees would develop players through its farm system and avoid massive financial debts.

Then it signed Ichiro Suzuki to a two-year contract.

Today, the Yankees are on the verge of assuming the debt mountain of Vernon Wells, a 34-year-old, 230-pound DH, who has hit .222 over the last two years and almost never draws a base on balls. They have done this in an apparent attempt to placate a fan base increasingly angered over such disastrous policies.

Vernon Wells...  dear God, where do you start? Where do you begin to discuss this looming horror show? 

This is the equivalent of the Republican Party in 2008 thinking that all it needed to do to win the African-American vote was appoint Michael Steele as chairman.

This is the late 1980s all over again - when George's reaction to adversity was always to run out and sign a downward spiraling DH. Remember Ron Kittle? Ron Hassey? Matt Nokes? Steve Kemp? Danny Tartabull? Back then - in the days of Richard Dotson - we had two starting pitchers and a six-man DH rotation.

Dammit, look LOOK at our DH depth: Travis Hafner (who doesn't own a glove.) Derek Jeter (who is limping and unable to play SS). Juan Rivera (who can't play first) and now Vernon Wells - three years away from his last big season, when he hit 31 home runs (and only drove in 88; how do you do that?)

This is horrible. This is how you become Jay Leno's nightly joke line. This is how you lose New York City to the Mets. Does anybody expect this guy to hit? WHY? If we put Melky Mesa in CF, at least we wouldn't know what we were getting. With Vernon Wells, we know the deal: If he goes on a roll in April, he'll simply go 0-for-May. This is Andruw Jones all over again. HOW COULD WE DO THIS? WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? WHO IS RUNNING THIS SHOW? HOW DO YOU SIT BACK AND LET A POPULAR YANKEE LIKE NICK SWISHER WALK, AND THEN JUSTIFY PAYING WHATEVER THE HELL THEY INTEND TO PAY VERNON WELLS? AND DON'T TELL ME IT'S ALL ABOUT NOT PAYING HIM NEXT YEAR! HE WON'T BE ON THE TEAM NEXT YEAR. AND THE $189 MILLION BUDGET WILL BE A JOKE NEXT YEAR. BY AUGUST, WE'RE GOING TO BE IN LAST PLACE, BEHIND THE REDSOCKS, AND WE'RE GOING TO BE LOOKING FOR A TEAM TO TAKE THIS BLOAT OFF OUR HANDS, AND NOBODY IS GOING TO DO IT. THIS TEAM IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN FOR THREE OR FIVE YEARS. AND ANYBODY WHO THINKS IT WAS FUN IN THE 1980S - THAT'S NOSTALGIA WITHOUT MEMORY. IT WAS NOT FUN, AND IT'S NOT FUN NOW WATCHING THE EXACT SAME TYPE OF HISTORY PLAY OUT. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-oh, my chest... pain... dkioiueoawijea;jkf