Centerfield

[love_that_reefer]

Who cares about salary at the end of the day? The best man should play! I had no problem with the Giants sending Barry Zito's ass to the bullpen. All he did was skip a start but I had no problem with it. Yankees didn;t spend on a bench last year, this year they will. Its a good thing.

[ljshorty89]

Fans don't, but ownership cares about spending money on a guy who won't play as much. Hence why expert pinch hitters(Matt Franco, Lenny Harris, Mark Sweeney) never make much money.

[love_that_reefer]

Fans don't, but ownership cares about spending money on a guy who won't play as much. Hence why expert pinch hitters(Matt Franco, Lenny Harris, Mark Sweeney) never make much money.

Fans do care but if managers want to keep their jobs, they better not care. Their job is giving their team the best opportunity to win every game. Its not about salaries.

[Kingdom]

God forbid Mark Sweeney commanding big bucks.

[ljshorty89]

And fans only wanna win, they don't care how much it costs. But owners typically don't wanna pay 6 million dollars for a bench player. Obviously the Yankees can afford it, the question is if it's worth more to them to keep him than to deal either him or Matsui and free up space for all to start.

[love_that_reefer]

With as many question marks as the Yankees have, it would be wise to hold on to Swisher. A guy who can play DH, OF and 1B is a valuable guy to have on your bench.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

And fans only wanna win, they don't care how much it costs. But owners typically don't wanna pay 6 million dollars for a bench player. Obviously the Yankees can afford it, the question is if it's worth more to them to keep him than to deal either him or Matsui and free up space for all to start.

That's a great description of the situation

[ljshorty89]

With as many question marks as the Yankees have, it would be wise to hold on to Swisher. A guy who can play DH, OF and 1B is a valuable guy to have on your bench.

Which is why many believe they'd look to trade Matsui, play Damon at LF, Swisher at DH, and let Gardner or Melky play CF...

[love_that_reefer]

Good luck trying to trade Matsui. This is a team that paid Pavano $9 million a year to rehab. I don;t see them having a problem paying a guy $6 million to get 300 ABs.

[ljshorty89]

I would agree, very few teams will take him unless they eat salary. However, that will probably be their goal..just like the Mets next goal after signing a starter will be to get rid of Luis Castillo. Most likely, neither will happen...

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Good luck trying to trade Matsui. This is a team that paid Pavano $9 million a year to rehab. I don;t see them having a problem paying a guy $6 million to get 300 ABs.

you make it sound like they WANTED to pay Pavano $9 million to rehab

They will trade him if they can, but I really don't expect anyone to trade his actual worth for him. And Cashman's not one to trade a guy for under his value just to get rid of him

[love_that_reefer]

you make it sound like they WANTED to pay Pavano $9 million to rehab

They will trade him if they can, but I really don't expect anyone to trade his actual worth for him. And Cashman's not one to trade a guy for under his value just to get rid of him

No I'm not. I'm simply pointed out that it doesn't matter to the Yankees to waste money. In Swisher's case, he wouldn't be wasting it. He should stay right on the Yankees bench where the Yankees were weak last year.

[ljshorty89]

But Pavano they had no choice. No one would have taken him unless the Yankees paid his full salary and threw in more cash. Matsui might have a shot.

[love_that_reefer]

You missed my point lj. Yankees weren't hurting from Pavano taking up salary and eventually wasting it. With Swisher, it wouldn't be wasting it. Swisher being able to play three positions has value to the Yankees.

[ljshorty89]

But if they can deal Swisher to free up money for a starting pitcher(See Peter Abraham's last report that says they may need to dump salary to bring in Pettite), that may benefit more in the overall makeup of the team.