Is Joe Girardi entering his "Tom Coughlin" year?

Yesterday, the NY Fruit Bowl Giants somehow coaxed Coach For Life Tom Coughlin to walk away from the job that has defined him for the last 12 years. My guess is they secured some pills from Bill Cosby and spiked Coughlin's chocolate milk. When he woke up, along with his walking papers, he had a numbness in his soul. It was the sudden realization that even two Super Bowl rings does not indemnify a coach, forever, from Judgement Day. In a league built around parity, the Giants went four straight years without making the playoffs, and - folks - that's a Cosby-level blackout. Even the iconic Coughlin - a red-faced fixture on the sidelines - had to go.

Which brings us to Joe Girardi, who - (and there is no other way to say this) - sucked last year. The YES Happy Marching Society will proclaim that the 2015 Yankees made the post-season, but that's like calling Billy Joel a rock'n'roller. The Yankees made a Wild Card game, which - had they won it - would have gotten them into the playoffs. They managed three hits. For my money, 2015 was Girardi's third straight year with no October, and right now, 2016 doesn't look much more promising. Four years as a mediocrity, and seven from their last World Series... would that do it? Would that cause the Yankees to mix up a Cosby home brew?

Of course, Girardi will get what Coughlin received - a discounted job appraisal, based on the hands he's been dealt. Frankly, I doubt a DNA meld of Don Shula and Vince Lombardi could have led the 2015 Giants to anything more meaningful than a Topps card convention at the Trenton airport Ramada. Likewise, Girardi's Yankee teams have been sabotaged by 10 years of farm system neglect and upper level mismanagement - a decade of Eduardo Nunezes and Lyle Overbays. Unfortunately, the owner won't fire himself.

But make no mistake: Giradi had a crappy 2015. Like Coughlin, his every move seemed to backfire. He channeled Captain Ahab in his obsessive support of Stephen Drew at 2B. He refused to see the alcoholic collapse of CC Sabathia until it erupted on the eve of the Wild Card. He consistently brought in Betances or Miller - sometimes with sizable leads, because the middle innings bullpen had traumatized him. He never seemed to realize that Brett Gardner was hopelessly out of gas, and that Jacoby Ellsbury doesn't hit with a tummy ache. The Yankees collapsed on Girardi's watch, as ugly a sight as anything done by M. Night Shyamalan in the last 10 years. Nevertheless, there's no talk - not even whispers - of his job being insecure.

Still, four years out of the playoffs - well - Danger, Will Robinson! We'd be facing the chance of a full decade without a World Series at bat. We could be midway through another 14-year barf - the 1980s relived - with the Mets owning NYC and nobody wanting to play for the Yankees. I've said this before, but it needs repeating: If a NYC team cannot outspend the team in Kansas City - and all things are equal - the Royals have the advantage. Fewer harpies, fewer bloggers, fewer carnal distractions.

Nobody thought Tom Coughlin would ever face judgement day by the wonderful, magical, all-loving Maras. As the perfect family, they simply adored the fellow. And who wouldn't? Coughlin was a true blue Giant and, from all accounts, one classy clamster. And I honestly think Girardi is his peer.

When I think of Girardi, I think of the night the Yankees won the World Series in 2009. Around 3 a.m., Joe was driving home toward White Plains, when he stopped to help a lady motorist whose car had broken down along the road. Here's a guy celebrating the greatest night of his managerial career - he surely smelled like old Dino - yet he stopped to help a stranger. Nobody can ever say Joe Girardi is not a good man. But four years out of the roses... that's the stuff of a Cosby cocktail. And even a beloved Coach For Life better watch what he sips.

Baseball America's top ranked Boston prospect has a familiar name

I know what you're thinking:

Why bother...? What's done is done... it's over... if the Yankees didn't care, why should we...

Well, I can tell you one thing I have learned: Nobody will ever invent a time machine. I know this because if people could go back in time, a die hard Yankee fan surely would set the Wayback to Dec. 3, 1969, steal Baby Hal Steinbrenner from the birthing room and then sell the infant to the Swedish mafia.

There is no point in continuing to weep over a rotten decision made nearly a year ago. We know the deal: Hal had emptied his penny purse on four-years of Chase Headley - $13 million per - and the Boy Owner was done with signing away his inheritance checks. As Moncada hit the market, we steeled ourselves for the certainty that another Cuban star was headed to LA or Arizona, or some Pittsburgh-like burg where "luxury taxes" don't exist. Nobody imagined we would ever lose a bidding war to Boston. No Yankee owner would allow it, certainly not a Steinbrenner.

Ever since Moncada, the stark reality has rocked us: The Yankees are no longer the premier team in baseball. They're not even the most interesting or fun to watch, and their owner - despite empty words to the media - puts frugality over winning. They possess the largest public relations apparatus in the game, if not in American sports, and it continually churns out a hopeful pitter-patter. Through this vast machinery - and the additional Wild Card slot - they can maintain a "pennant race" into late September. The tickets get sold.

This winter, the YES machine constantly touts our upper tier prospects - Mateo, Bird, Judge, Sanchez, etc. - and yes, there is hope in those names. But soon, Baseball America will start ranking farm systems instead of each team's Top Ten list, and the Yankees will fall in the middle of the pack, maybe even the lower end, behind the teams we need to beat. What's most maddening is that this didn't have to happen. We could have signed Moncada. We could be dreaming about a future keystone combination for the ages. Instead, we watch Boston, and we wince.

Did CC Sabathia last year pitch better while drinking?

Aside from Caitlyn Jenner and Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, nobody had a crazier 2015 than CC Sabathia. His year belongs in the Marvel universe. His numbers hardly tell the story.

At age 35, CC went 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA - (which was, gulp, his BEST ERA in the last three years.) Blouagh. (That's me throwing up.) He wasn't just awful, he was embarrassing. Late in the summer, he starred in a Toronto YouTube street brawl, staggering like Betty White after drinking two Bill Cosby cocktails. He looked blotto. It was horrible. ISIS could use it in a recruitment video. Moreover, it turned out to be an omen. On our Wild Card eve, CC stumbled off to rehab, abandoning his teammates. (Sorry, there's no other way to put it.)  In all my years of stupid fandom, no Yankee ever pulled up so lame - (it was even worse than David Wells in the 2003 World Series against the Marlins) - as Sabathia, whom the Yankees portrayed as a clubhouse leader. The guy must have been power-drinking for a month...

Which raises a very weird mystery.

That last month - the booze haze - resulted in C.C.'s best pitching in the last three years. I'm not hallucinating this. In September, Sabathia went 2-1 with a 2.17 ERA. As his world was crashing, he was once again the Yankee ace. (In August, he went 3.80; these were the only two months his ERA was below 5.00.) By all indications, as crazy as it seems, CC Sabathia threw better while on the sauce. 

At this point, let's step back and not be assholes. More than anything, we want CC to get clean, to save his family and to live a happy life. Nobody should drink himself to death in order to pitch well, and that may be what CC was doing. He's always seemed a fundamentally good person, and I don't think that's YES propaganda. (Though YES is the Fox News of the Yankees.) But clearly, CC has been at wit's end. Over the last four years, we've seen him announce that a) he was losing weight to save his career - (it didn't work), and b) that he was regaining weight to save his career - (it didn't work.) Now, he's c) announcing that he's off the booze to save his career. Will it work? Who knows? But it's not vodka working against him. He'll turn 36 on July 21.

Contractually, the Yankees are on the hook with Sabathia for two more seasons - $25 million per year - unless he hurts his left shoulder. Next winter, they can buy him out for a measly $5 million if:

1. He ends 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury.
2. He misses more than 45 days in 2016 due to a left shoulder injury.
3. He cannot do more than six relief pitching appearances in 2016 due to a left shoulder injury.

Yeah, No. 3 makes no sense, but that's what it says in Baseball Reference. Everything swirls around Sabathia's pitching shoulder. His knee has been the issue, but if the Yankees want to buy him out - as they surely will - he's apparently got to sign off on having a left shoulder injury.

If they can't buy him out, they'll owe him $25 million for 2017. No way will he be worth it. So of all the people on the roster - all the prospects who give us cause for hope - there is no greater enigma than CC Sabathia. Last year was crazy. It might be nothing compared to 2016.

Maybe Aroldis Chapman was just "standing his ground?"

Good news: Jon Heyman says he'll skate.

Word is going around that a long suspension is unlikely in the case of Aroldis Chapman’s alleged domestic violence incident. MLB is taking the domestic violence issue very seriously but word is the evidence may be thin in this case. The Yankees aren’t saying anything beyond that they did their “due diligence” in making the trade. But suffice it to say, they wouldn’t have made the deal if they thought he was in for a long suspension.

I'm thinking Chapman felt threatened by the garage and, thus, under Florida "Stand Your Ground" law, was quite within his rights to start pumping bullets into the advancing, menacing structure. On occasion, we've all been attacked by carports or seemingly inert buildings, with their catcalls and threatening gestures. I wouldn't want opposing batters to think that a garage would get the best of our closer. 

Wait. I just thought of something: Maybe the garage door wouldn't close... 

Shellacking after shellacking after shellacking: To save New Year's Day, college football needs a payroll cap

For months, I've been bottling up my Jerzy Giants frustrations, sitting on my Mt. Vesuvius/ejector seat Lazy-Boy, ready to spew. Now that the season is ending, I'd like to erupt for a moment - not about the Yankees - but about the disgraceful garbage pastime that football has become.

Let's not mention the NFL's dildonic portrayal of women, its love of taxpayer funds, its denial of employee brain damage, its brown-nosing, paid-for patriotism and its nepotistic, old-money billionaires - and let's give the league credit for one positive element: At least the NFL is more honest than college football. The pros don't try to hide behind some ludicrous cloak of amateurism, like the NCAA, the North Korea of sports institutions. 

One of the best things that happened in 2015 was the international takedown of Seth Blatter and FIFA. If only American justice dared turn its attention to the NCAA. We'd have a reason to keep open Gitmo. Imagine... a place for Dean Wormer.

But that's not why I'm spewing. What rags me is that over the last two days, you couldn't sit for 10 measly minutes of enjoyable bone-cracking, skull-fracturing violence on your tube and find a competitive game. While your forehead was ringing in the new year, you got to watch contests as lopsided as the AL Wild Card, featuring the three-hit Yankees. Thank God for the Twilight Zone Marathon, featuring Brett Gardner in "To Serve Man." (Tip of the hat to John M.) If you expected football, you might as well eat your postal carrier. 

Clemson walloped somebody - I've already forgotten who - and Alabama - the Yankees of football - absolutely clobbered Michigan State. Why did they bother to schedule the game? It was like the parade of stiffs Mike Tyson fought while avoiding Evander Holyfield. Alabama might as well have played the Cornell Veterinary School. At least Cornell might have smuggled a gorilla into play.

That was Thursday. Yesterday, with your head still on fire, what do you get? Game after game was over by the third quarter. This was not competitive football. This was the bombing of Dresden. They put me to sleep faster than Bill Cosby. And it's time for a change. It's time for college football to end the hypocrisy and adopt the NFL model: 

Institutionalized socialism. 

Come on, football fans. Let's demand the NCAA do what MLB and the NFL have done: Establish a double-secret probation college payroll tax. Make Alabama spend the same amount of money on its players as Temple does. If the Crimson Tide overspends, make them pay a luxury tax. Pretty soon, we'll have parity, wonderful perfect parity. And the colleges will rake in cash like Ben Carson on the Shopping Channel. 

Maybe next year - as the Mara family chases the mythical 0-and-16 - maybe we'll see a game decided in the fourth quarter. Imagine the national championship game: Slippery Rock v. Stony Brook! Excuse me, I gotta see what's on TV. I'm hoping for the episode where Burgess Meredith locks himself in the bank vault. Like him, I need a book to pass some time. 

The myth of "future Yankee Bryce Harper"

There is an isolated segment of the Yankee fan soul that clings to unbridled hope in much the way that Chris Christie clings to a jelly doughnut. It reveals itself in fantasy drafts and prospect top 10 lists, where bloggers debate who will "break out next season in Trenton," crapola that is jibberish to outsiders. (Write this down; Tyler Wade!) It is our demential, our Halzheimer's Disease.

In recent years, one fundamental delirium is our belief that the Yankee brain trust is marshaling its nickels to sign Bryce Harper - the NL MVP - in 2019, when he is just 26. It will cost the economy of a First World nation to sign Harper - the contract will have as many pages as the Patriot Act, full of no-trade and opt-out clauses, private jets, skyscrapers in Dubai, mercenary armies, women soccer teams and a giant gold statue overlooking Manhattan. It's going to be the kind of deal Hal "I'm Not Cheap" Steinbrenner loathes... and the kind that teams like the Dodgers, Mariners, Redsocks and maybe even the Mets will be delighted to bestow.

It's time we start realizing a long term trend. The Yankees prefer to make money, not spend it.

Yesterday, the Dodgers signed Scott Kasmir for three years, along with Kenta Maeda, reputed to be Japan's best pitcher. The Maeda deal requires a big ($20 million, reported) finder's fee to the Hiroshima Carp, just for the rights to shovel more money at him. It's doubtful the Yankees ever even lifted the phone on either deal - and each pitcher could have been a huge key to us challenging in 2016.

(I know, I know... it must be getting stale, hearing me complain about Yankee penny-pinchers. But the bar for whining just got lowered, with George Lucas calling Disney "white slavers." Should I start calling Hal something like that?)

Does anyone think the Dodgers will sit out the future auction for Harper? If so, why? Does anyone think the Redsocks, the Mets, or even the Nationals won't offer surreal lifetime contracts? Harper famously grew up as a Yankee fan. Is that what we base our hopes on... that he'll give us a discount to play in NYC? If so, have another jelly doughnut. And here's a secondary question: If the Yankees in 2019 have nothing to show over a decade of austerity - a very plausible scenario, from where we sit right now - will we be in danger of sinking all our resources into one player, as a fellow named George once did with a guy named Rickie?

Happy New Year.

Hey, everybody, ring in the New Year with John and Kid Rock!

It's a New Year's THUUUH-IN' EVE with John and Barbra

Get up and shout "thuuuuuuuh!" It's a rockin' New Year's Eve with John and Aerosmith

Dear Hal Steinbrenner, here is a free agent you can pass on (but wait... he might be cheap!)

Former Test opener Kieran Powell, who last played for the Windies in June 2014, is in Bradenton, Florida, preparing for a tryout day at the IMG Academy on January 13, in which he will showcase his batting and fielding skills in a bid to be signed by a Major League Baseball franchise...

Powell, 25, has played 21 Tests, 28 one-day internationals and and one Twenty20 international since first appearing at international level in 2009. He has three Test centuries to his name, including twin tons made in against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2012. Despite those successes, he averages an underwhelming 27.48 at Test level. He stepped away following the first Test of the 2014 series against New Zealand for personal reasons.
Wait a minute: He's hitting 27.480? That means he gets nearly 27 and a half hits per every at-bat? That's pretty sweet! He might not have a position, but neither does Beltran. Maybe we should take a flier on him! A five-year deal, like Ellsbury?

With Chapman, the Yankees are more than ever the Retrieval Empire

It's a new, warped holiday tradition, like gathering the family to watch "Bad Santa:" Bloggers predict the next Yankee trade - and always end up fanning like Aaron Boone facing Brandon Looper with the bases loaded and the World Series on the line. Back in November, nobody - not even Kreskin - foresaw Aaron Hicks becoming a Yankee. A few weeks later, even after rumors of talks with the Cubs, the Starlin Castro trade caught the experts by surprise. And this week, Aroldis Chapman exploded out of nowhere, like a spray of hot bullets into a suburban garage.

As a result, there's no reason whatsoever to speculate on the future of Mr. Brett Gardner. Next year, he could be a Yankee. He could be a Harlem Globetotter. (R.I.P. Meadowlark.) Brian Cashman will pull off any deal at any time, seeking even a microscopic improvement, basically because the Boy Owner has clipped his balls on signing free agents. So Cashman does what Cashman does best: He picks the scrap heap for usable parts.

All recent Yankee acquisitions have one thing in common: They are reclamation projects.

With the Twins, Hicks was basically a failed super prospect - a former top pick, still too young to abandon, but without enough juice to be a starter. He's a one-year-younger version of Dustin Ackley, 27, whom Cashman harpooned and wrestled ashore last August. Castro, 25, was once earmarked to become the next "Mr. Cub," until his act in Chicago grew as unpopular as Rahm Emanuel.

Chapman, 27, is a project for the Yes Network Spin & Drivel and Hype Delta Force. To shore up the team's battered image with battered women, the Yankees will need more than pink bats and special prices on sloe gin fizzes. And if any of Aroldis Chapman's neighbors coughs up a cell phone video - well - our bullpen coach will be Gloria Steinem.

The Yankees are rolling the dice and hoping for sevens. Last year, it worked with Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Young - but not with Stephen Drew and Chris Capuano. The year before, it worked with Yangervis Solarte and Branden McCarthy - but not Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson. We can probably expect a 50 percent success rate. But in our hearts, we never do. Every winter, one rich vein of hubris roils across the Yankiverse: We convince ourselves that Hicks will be a star, along with Castro and now Chapman. The Yankees are best at hyping hope, and nothing inspires it more than a fresh face - (as opposed to Year III of Carlos Beltran, our top hitter last season... at .276... yes, two-frickin'-seventy-six. And this year, he'll be 39.)

We are no longer the Evil Empire, but - hey - in the latest Star Wars, the Evil Empire doesn't even exist: it's now the First Order; (Wait... wasn't that a boy band?) We are the Retrieval Empire, and - who knows? - maybe there is some copper in that scrap pile. Let's hope the force is with us.

Today's headline: George Pataki was running for President

Wow. I just learned that volcanic GOP firebrand George Pataki has left the Presidential race. I'm still remembering some of the flame-thrower's most explosive moments from recent debates:

“Becky, can I comment on this question?”

“Thank you.”

"Thank you, very much.”

"Thank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight.”

"Thank you."

Ladies and gentlemen, our long national nightmare is over

Thuuuuuuuuuugh vows: "John, you and I have watched these two develop for the last two years, and we always knew good things were ahead for them." John and Suzyn do a wedding

"It's time for tonight's Diamond Notes. Suzyn, the only Diamond Note that seems to be on everyone's mind is Connie's ring."

"You're right, John, it's beautiful, and I didn't think anything could look better on her than her 2009 World Series ring..."

John and Suzyn call a wedding. Is this the future of love?

This goes nine incredible minutes. You can almost picture the introductions.

"Indeed, Suzyn, well, it looks like the players are in position and ready to take the field..."


Tip of the hat to Beauregard Jackson Burnside Pickett, who adds,

"I'm concerned, that John is concerned, that John won't have a job next spring... Clearly John is in a new business, "Rent-A-John (Sterling)." The kitten bowl was explainable, he just wanted to be near young pussy for once... But what's next? Bar Mitvahs?"

Yankee "Do's" and "Don'ts," explained

THINGS THE YANKEES ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT TOLERATE BY PLAYERS.

1. Beard.
2. Bushy sideburns, mutton chops or disgracefully prissy Hunger Game style facial growths.
3. Unkempt, long-haired, hippy freak appearance.
4. Miscellaneous: Satanic forehead tattoo, Nazi salute at home plate, unprotected sex in dugout during games, wearing John Lennon glasses etc.
5. Suing the good Yankee executives.
6. Coming up from Scranton, bossing people around, and acting like your poop smells like $20 French perfume. (You know who you are!)
7. Appearance in any Ben Affleck/Matt Damon movie that would imply the fine and upstanding Yankee brass would ever condone wife-swapping.
8. Hanging with Jay-Z and Beyonce, and having the unmitigated audacity to demand a 10-year contract, when everybody knows you will be fat and slow someday.
9. Being Bobby Meachem.
10. Did I mention the need to shave, you disgusting pig!

THINGS THE YANKEES BEGRUDGINGLY ACCEPT BY PLAYERS. (Note: Though this in no way constitutes endorsement of said activities.)

1. A tastefully trimmed mustache. (One-half inch, groomed, no Salvador Dali pansy crap.)
2. Scott Boras.
3. Wife-swapping.
4. Miscellaneous marital disputes: Wife-beating, wife-choking, wife-cheating, wife-terrorizing, etc. (But seriously, can't we just be like Jeter and not get married until after retirement?)
5. Shooting up garage (Note: Yours, not the neighbors')
6. Hanging with Jay-Z and Beyonce, and jogging out routine grounders. (Because it saves the player for 10 years from now, when he's old.)
7. Appearance in boozy YouTube street brawl (Note: In Canada.)
8. Drug abuse (Steve Howe Rule)
9. Performance enhancing drugs (if followed by heartfelt apology and solid year.)
10. Five-o'clock shadow, as long as said facial growth in no way implies beard. SHAVE, YOU DISGUSTING PIG.

IN SHORT, NO BEARDS OR ATTITUDE. EVERYTHING ELSE, NEGOTIABLE.

Joginson Cano and Jesus "Stringbean" Montero have a new motivational video

From Seattle's new GM is Seattle's new official team philosophy: They will C-the-Z... or "Control the Zone." Says the video:

"You teach the kids how to care about the player next to them. How to care more about the uniform that they wear and the name on the front rather than the name on the back. And to be selfless in what they do, and then we will teach them to be fearless because they are controlling the strike zone, and when you are finding success, which you will because you are controlling the zone, the game is a lot of fun to play."

Apparently, no section on running out grounders.

Is it time to go after You Know Who and assemble the most vilified bullpen ever?

We have Chapman. Maybe we can turn Betances and Miller to the dark side. Then...

Eight points on the Chapman deal, (one for each bullet he fired into the garage:) Is it a bold strategic plan, or a sign of desperation?

1. Considering the trade prices recently paid for top closers, the Yankees received the "Walmart Wife-Beater Discount." I'm sure you've been wondering what the "Walmart Wife-Beater Discount" is in modern professional sports. My best calculation: It equals at least one blue-chip prospect - an Aaron Judge or Gary Sanchez - which the Yankees did not give up. That's coupon shopping!

2. Technically, the Yes spin machine can argue that Chapman is not a "wife-beater." Nobody claims he beat his wife. He just terrorized a woman with his bare hands and trusty field weapon. He choked her, slammed her into a wall, then laid down cover fire by peppering the garage with bullets. Technically, A-Rold is a "garage-abuser." If the Yankee lawyers can get the League to see this as a happy gun-owner incident - (doesn't the Second Amendment give us the right to redecorate our garages?) - rather than a horror show of domestic violence, Chapman might get less of a punishment - weeks instead of months. Something to look forward to, eh?

3. Chapman's act apparently was not videotaped. Also, the girlfriend supposedly will not talk. So it's their words against the police report. By this time next week, we will probably know the brand of A-Rold's hair spray.

(By the way, sorry to sound wise-ass about something as serious as domestic violence. I'm just cynical about how this case will go down. MLB - a corporation that acts as little more than a glorified ATM for billionaire profiteers - will attempt to project a moral message to the public. It hasn't done enough about domestic violence in the past, so along with pink bats, it's going to make "a statement." Like I say, sorry to be flippant on a serious matter. But when I see the judge and jury here, I see boxing kangaroos.)

4. Boston fans won't be kind to A-Rold, especially since the Redsocks almost traded for him. Something to look forward to, eh?

5. A-Rod is no longer the Yankees' Public Enemy No. In fact, Alex's crimes against humanity - as prosecuted for three years by the Salem Press - might even deserve historical revision. In the course of his crimes, no garages were hurt.

6. Brace yourself for either Dellin Betances or Andrew Miller to be traded. Last year, the Yankees had a chance to build a similar three-pronged bullpen, if they re-signed David Robertson. They let Robby go and banked the draft pick. In this case, they might convert Miller into a young starting pitcher. It all comes down to this: Does a team with as many issues as the Yankees really need three closers?

7. The deal is as notable for who was not traded - none of the players expected to wither on the 2015 Scranton death-vine. I'm talking about Greg Bird, Slate Heathcott, Mason Williams, Rob Refsnyder, Austin Romine, Ben Gamel, and the bullpen cast of Glee. Only Caleb Cotham played last year in Scranton. Frankly, I donno what to make of this. Cashman could be saving chips for another trade. It could be that Cincy didn't value these guys enough to want them. I donno. Frankly, though, I'm glad we still have these guys. If anybody thinks the Yankee front liners are going to stay healthy throughout 2015... that's crazy.

8. For whatever it's worth, here's what Cincy fan bloggers are saying. (Though, why in the world would anybody care what fan bloggers think?) 

Redreporter: The Reds got a decent haul for Chapman.  It isn't what they could have gotten a year ago.  It isn't what they could have gotten in July.  It's the best they could have gotten right now...  There are huge questions about these two players, but there is also some real potential.

RedlegNation: Keep in mind that the Yankees have a good chance of earning a compensation pick for Chapman at the end of 2016 when he becomes a free agent. That makes the Reds return look worse. They weren’t just trading the best closer in baseball, they were trading a pretty good draft pick, too... 

For whatever it's worth, both blogs are tickled, tickled, tickled that Chapman is gone.

Have Gun …Will Travel

Brian Cashman has taken the Cincinnati Red's closer, Aroldis Chapman, to add character to the Yankee clubhouse.

Aroldis is a flame thrower, but he also likes to empty his Smith & Wesson into his girlfriend's garage, from time to time.  Or so it is alleged.

Brian was asked about this and responded that, "we are satisfied with our due diligence."

Satisfied as in, how well tuned-in they were to the goings on with CC Sabathia?

Or satisfied that he didn't empty the full clip into the garage?

It appears to me that Cashman is firing wildly into the room as well.

We are going to hate this guy.

PROCESSING... AROLDIS CHAPMAN IS A YANKEE... PROCESSING...

Verrrrrrrry interesting...

The former Evil Empire - now called the First Order - acquired flame-throwing lady-abuser Aroldis Chapman today for four solid prospects, including Eric Jagielo, their first-round pick three summers ago. The others going to Cincinnati are Rookie Davis, a highly regarded starter, Tony Renda - a 2B they got in a trade last summer - and relief pitcher Caleb Cotham.

Yes, they traded prospects and Rob Refsnyder is still a Yankee.

Question of the hour: Does the acquisition of Chapman mean Andrew Miller will be traded, and if so, for what?

Maybe no. It's possible the Yankees are trying to build a "super bullpen" with Betances, Miller and Chapman running the last three innings of close game. That would be interesting, especially considering that they have no apparent ace, who can regularly go past six innings.

There is a question of whether Chapman will go on Ray Rice detention due to a recent domestic incident, which apparently scared the Dodgers away from him. They had traded for the guy, but when the cops came to his door, the deal went south.

This apparently ends the Yankees' unwritten "asshole rule" that was initiated following a couple head cases. (You know who you are.)

I've been hoping the Yankees would keep their prospects and rebuild, but aside from Jagielo and Davis, I don't think they gave up much. Chapman gives them a tough seventh, eighth and ninth. Now, if they can just score enough runs to be leading in the seventh...