These are the best of times, these are the worst of times

Hey, buddy, what'll ya have... a shot of hope, or a tumbler of some old-fashioned despair? Belly up. Okay, you can argue that:

1. This could be the second straight year where the Yankees prove to be the toughest hurdle en route to a ring. We gave Boston a bigger tussle than Houston. (What a bunch of limp dicks.) If Boston rolls over the NL team, we will once again have been the most difficult test. (So... whoop-dee-fuckin-doo... eh?)

2. This winter, the Yankees should be poised to spend lavishly on the most talented free agent class in years. (Oh, did I mention that the Dodgers, Cubs, Astros and Angels also apparently cut payroll below the threshold? So there will be bidding wars.) 

3. Boston should be hard-pressed to add free agents. They'll face a 50 percent luxury tax. (Oh, but that doesn't mean they won't spend, anyway. Remember Yoan Moncada, the one they outbid us on a few years back? He cost them twice as much, due to luxury taxes, but they did it anyway. And that's why they have Chris Sale, while we dicked around with Luis Cessa.)

4. The Yankees can save a quick $20 million by letting Brett Gardner and CC Sabathia walk. Love them both, but business is business, and neither justified his salary in 2018. (But won't it hurt seeing them in, say, a Rays uniform?)

5. We won 100 games in arguably baseball's toughest division. We did this despite a wave of injuries that corroded our lineup to the point of playing a journeyman minor league outfielder in the season's most critical series. (But several young players - Bird, Sanchez, Frazier, Sheffield, German, Cessa - remain complete enigmas. We could actually come up empty on the entire group.)

6. As hard as it is to swallow, we should be thankful that the elbow injury to Didi Gregorius and ensuing Tommy John surgery was diagnosed now, rather than in spring training, when most nagging ailments come to the forefront. As a result, the Yankees could get Didi back late next summer, a nice shot in the arm. (But a possible long term problem if we sign a big name to replace him.)  

7. Supposedly, the Yankees still have a "deep" farm system, with our top talent sprinkled through the lower levels. Last year, after the Japanese Babe Ruth chose the Angels, the Yankees bought a bunch of kids with their leftover international money. (I'm as skeptical about such signings as anybody. Five years ago, we signed every Latino 16-year-old whose testicles had dropped, and we still have almost nothing to show for it.)

8. This winter means a chance to focus on needs - or just burn money for the smoke. Last December, the last thing we needed was Giancarlo Stanton, a righty DH. But Jeet dangled him, knowing our back page addiction, and so we bit on the most onerous contract in baseball history. Come the Winter Meetings, more big names will come available - (my prediction, write this down: Robbie Cano, for next to nothing). Will we bite? Or will we address our needs: Pitching, pitching, pitching. Manny and Bryce, and another year's lock on the tabloids? Or actual improvements to the team?

9. Oh, and did I mention the Redsocks are going to win it all, making 2018 officially a horrible year?