Will the Redsocks go all out to win one for Papi?

One of the saddest legacies of this woebegone Yankee decade - (we are entering Year VI with nothing to show) - was the Former Empire's inability to give Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter final post-seasons. Both played their last games with basically nothing on the line.

Imagine Mariano closing a World Series. Imagine Jeter batting in game seven...

Two hundred million.. all the kings horses and all the kings men... and we couldn't even get them into a Wild Card game.

And some say we're too hard on the Yankees?

I say, disgraceful.

Well, Boston could be poised to go for the ring this season for the Big Papi's blowout. But they will have to pay. It might mean signing David Price or Zach Greinke - or both. They'll have to shed Hanley Ramirez - a visit from Whitey Bulger might do the trick - but thus far, they have followed the surefire rebuilding model practiced by Kansas City, Houston, Washington and the Mets: Come in last year after year, draft high, wait around, and then strike by getting some big names.

The question is, will the Yankees stand back and let Boston do this? Apparently, yes.

This week, Hal "I'm Not Cheap" Steinbrenner gushed over the crop of youngsters in the farm system. While it has improved, we are nowhere near Boston in terms of rising talent, even after they pedaled two top prospects for the closer, Craig Kimbrel. They still have prospects to trade and money to spend.

We can talk about our catching prospect, Gary Sanchez, but they have Christian Vaszquez and Blake Swihart, and one or both is going to be very good. We can talk about how Aaron Hicks may have figured out how to hit. They have Mookie Betts, who is clearly on the verge of stardom, and the suddenly scary Jackie Bradley Jr. We can marvel about how Didi Gregorious improved at SS. They have Xander Bogartes, who is bordering on MVP status.

I'm Not Cheap says the Yankees won't be in the bidding for big free agents. Is he lying, hiding his cards? I sure hope so. Because otherwise, we will sit back and watch Boston snag Price or Greinke, or maybe John Lackey - without even having to bid against us. That would be giving them a clear path to the AL East. If you figure Toronto is going to be very good next year, then are already playing for the away-field birth in the Wild Card, and excuse me, folks, if that's not an exciting proposition. I'm almost thinking I'd prefer the KC/Houston/Nats/Mets model.