The Yankees Meet M*A*S*H

Ding-Dong the Wicked Witch is dead!

Or is she? Things are not all well in Yankee-land right now. The $300 million dollar man is on the DL. One of the most durable catchers in MLB history is joining him. So is the young fireballer who's talent is so great, and ceiling so high, he was valued more than Johan Santana by the Yankee organization. Let's break em down.

A-Rod. The $300 million dollar man. His injury is not serious but any missed games for A-Rod are a big deal. Look at it this way. For the sake of making this easier let's assume A-Rod makes $27 million per year. That's roughly $166,667 PER GAME. So we'll assume that over 15 days A-Rod misses 12 games. That's $2,000,004. That A-Rod made. While on the DL. For about 2 weeks. That's almost 10% of the Florida Marlins payroll for the entire season. My point is, that's how important A-Rod is, especially to the Yankees right now. The Yankees are not the dominant offensive team they should be right now. A-Rod has to be the MVP in the middle of that lineup. He needs to make everybody batting around him better. He can't do that on the DL. The Yankees might have more "Mad Money" than Jim Cramer but don't think for a second that they couldn't use that $2 million right now to buy some more bullpen help. When A-Rod's on he's worth every penny of his deal. But if he's not, that deal is an albatross that will not go quietly into the night. Look for A-Rod to turn it around when he gets off of the DL but he needs to step up as a team leader.

Jorge Posada. A 36 year old catcher who signed a huge 4 year deal last off-season. He'd never been on the DL in his entire career. Guess what? There's a first time for everything. This is bad. The Yankees have 3 or 4 guys who should be the DH so there's no room for him there. He can play some first base but that forces Giambi to DH and pushes Cabrera, Damon, Matsui or Abreu to the bench. With exception of Cabrera, that means putting a $10 million+ per season player on the bench. So that's not a great option either. So the Yankees need Posada to catch. If you put a gun to Brian Cashman (Yankee's GM) right now I suspect he would say that he expects very little, if anything, from Posada the rest of this season. Next to Derek Jeter, Posada is the most important Yankee in that locker room. Not to mention the Yankees will be playing musical catchers all season. Posada was also their second best hitter last season. If Posada can make it back by the All-Star break at 100% or very close to it, the Yankees will be a much better team. Without him..... let's just say it won't be pretty.

Phil Hughes fractured his 9th rib sneezing. It's been tough to verify the sneezing part but Sportscenter said it so it must be true. It's been well documented that Hughes is the youngest pitcher in the big leagues. And is hype has been building for 3 seasons now. Remember, Joba Chamberlain came out of nowhere. Hughes was and has been the Yankees highest profile young pitcher since Cashman took over. The Yankees have time and time again refused to part with Hughes in any deal. He's supposed to be their future, their next ace to put up in the rotation with Wang and Chamberlain, someday. Yet he's been injured constantly and has not pitched even average this season. Hughes flashed his dominance last year but this year has been a whole new ballgame, literally. Maybe this injury is the problem. But we won't get a chance to find out until after the All-Star break most likely. If he doesn't return to form this year it could spell curtains for Cashman. Parting with Hughes and Ian Kennedy in a Johan Santana deal doesn't look so crazy right now. Except for the team trading for Hughes and Kennedy. Remember though, it takes a certain kind of pitcher to pitch well for the Yankees. That's why it's even harder for them to import pitchers from other organizations. A startling number of pitchers were successful for one team, unsuccessful for the Yankees and then successful again upon leaving the Yankees. Look for them to stick it out with Hughes and Kennedy. Hell, they don't really have any other options unless the Yankees want Billy Beane to rob them blind and severely deplete their farm system.

So what the hell does this all mean? It means that the Evil Empire is in trouble. They're gonna need to kick, claw and scrap their way to a .500 record going into the All-Star break. If they can do that and Posada comes back healthy and Hughes pitches like he did last year, they've got a shot. The Red Sox do not look as strong as they have in recent years. The AL East is the deepest and strongest it's been this decade but the Yankees and the Red Sox are clearly to the front runners. They always are.

So where does Joba stand in all of this? That's gonna require it's own post. You do know it's Friday right? I typically only see 1 movie in the theaters per year but this might be an exception year. I'm mosdef going to see the new Indiana Jones but I really want to see Ironman. I haven't gone to a movie on opening weekend since T3 but I think I just might. Oh and a word to the wise, don't see Speed Racer unless you want to have a seizure. Yeah the Wachowski brothers made the Matrix. But they're not the Wachowski brothers anymore because one of them had a sex change. Just some food for thought on Friday.