Thursday, February 24, 2011

Yankeetorial: Whenever a team dangles an old guy, must we go salary dumpster-diving?

Yeesh.

Adam Wainwright's elbow hadn't even been x-rayed, but already the chatterbox Yankiverse was musing whether a depleted St. Louis would peddle us Chris Carpenter for the next generation.

Must we always do this?

(NOTE: I appreciate that all world events are only relevant in terms of how they affect the Yankees. I'm still processing Mubarak's impact on our bullpen.)

What rattles me is the Yankiverse's addiction to trading youth for last-gasp retreads, and then pretending we just got some star pitcher for free. Ian Kennedy, anyone? Austin Jackson. Does the name ring a bell?

Folks, this is a bridge year. This is a transition year. We are moving into a new era of Yankee players and pitchers. Some might be ready by September, an injection of youth the organization has not seen since 1995.

Unless we trade them for Chris Carpenter.

No trades of prospects! No salary dumps! None. Please, Cashman, I beg you. Don't do it!

It's time for a salary dump diet. Old guys don't win the World Series. Look at the San Francisco Giants. Look at the Texas Rangers.

Listen: You can grab a spare part in July. But nobody -- nobody -- gets a great deal on a used car in February, when every team still has unlimited hope. All you can do is trade good young players for bad transmissions.

We can sign free agents. But let's go with youth. Maybe that means Brandon Laird instead of Eric Chavez, and Eduardo Nunez instead of Ronnie Belliard. It means a new generation of Yankees -- players who will over-achieve. We must not throw them out like Monopoly money whenever some old guy comes on the market.

The kids will be all right. Please, please, please... don't trade them.

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