Recent baseball development:

GMs
- Philadelphia Phillies fires GM, Ed Wade after 8 years of missing playoffs .

- Brian ?The first Apprentice? Cashman, the GM of the Yankees signs 3 year $5 mil deal to remain with Yankees.

- Paul DeSTUPIDesta, the GM of LA Dodgers is fired by the Red Sox fan and accident owner of the LA Dodgers.

- Boy wonder Theo Epstein resigns as a Red Sox GM after the power struggle with the team President. He brought the championship to Red Sox nation after 88 years.

- Kevin Tower, the GM of the San Diego Padres, is the top candidate to replace the Theo Epstein. Kevin Tower was hired by Larry ?the Cheapo? Lucchino as a Padres GM. Does he really want to move Boston to be scrutinized? Is he going to have same power he has in San Diego (diminished after Sandy Alderson got hired)

As a Yankees fan, I would love to see two Japanese superstars playing outfiled positions. I wonder if Wang and Cano will be enough to get Ichiro Suzuki from Seattle..... I hope Cashman will do some magic to land Ichiro to Yankeesland....

Yankees needs a defensive center fielder liek Ichiro who can hit leadoff. And DJ2 will be able to bat #2..... if not go with Juan Pierre.... here's the lineup I would like to see (hoping Bernie will sign back with Yankees, the team he only played for)

1. Ichiro (trade)
2. Jeter
3. Sheffield
4. AROD
5. Giambi
6. Matsui (resign)
7. Posada
8. Bernie (resign)
9. Womack

Starting rotation: Randy Johnson - Mussina - Pavano - Wright - Small

Ax,
Ichiro and Matsui playing together would off been really good, but don't know if Mariners can part with him. They did let A-Rod go, didn't they.
But Yankees should focus on getting quality pitchers and relievers. They shuold really dig deep in the thin free agent market or try to pull up a trade. If they were free, I'd take Contreras, Santana and Dontrell Williams. Those three in a team can guarantee a World Series, I tell you that much.

Add this to the news list:

1. A-Rod named A.L. MVP, beating Big Papy by 5 votes for the first place (21 to 16). He is the 4th player to win MVP in 2 different position and also with 2 diff. teams.

2. Angels pitcher Bartolo Colon robbed Mo Rivera of CY Young awards.

3. Bobby Valentine (ex-Mets skipper) is closer to signing the Japanese league for next season, after taking his team to the league title last season. That leaves Dodgers & Red Sox mgr less, not that they were going to persue him anyways.

4. Theo Epstein was offered a GM's job at a minor league club (believe in Boston) where he was offered a salary close to 85 k, about 35 times less of what he refused to get. Ofcourse he rejected it.

i know yanks are interested in twins center fielder torii hunter who's been a gold glove winner past 3-4yrs. but i don't know what will be in the offering to get hunter. in the last 10yrs i have followed baseball i have not seen a more fearless center fielder than hunter. well lets see what will happen in the off season....all that money yet no result. i thought picking up A Rod was a mistake by the yankees...that dude is a bad luck and brings it with him no matter where he goes. but thats just me and my bias opinion :p

so AX do you think randy johnson & mussina are good 1-2 punch? i don't think so...because randy is really old and i think he's gonna suffer from some injuries that comes with age this coming season and mussina can't win big games....so i think yanks should be looking for some solid pitching cause thats what wins you championship. thats why i thought giving a rod so much money was just stupid. perfect pitching always beats perfect hitting.

I hear ya Hukka. Tori is an awesome defensive fielder but Yankees needs a defensive CF who can bat leadoff. That's why I mentioned Ichiro..... If he were to join Yankees, he will prollu hit #7 in Yankees lineup behind Matsui

I hope it's not the case with AROD. He didn't fit well in his first season and played great this season. There is a more room to improve for him. He will have the biggest season next year :p dude gotta learn how to hit during postseason though :D:D

If Yankee can have Ichiro-DJ2-AROD-Sheffield,matsui, Giambi I think they will be able to get away with oldies starting rotation. Pavano and Wright health is the key for the Yankees season. Yankees have Small and Chacon (totally forgot about him) as well...

Yankees need to resign Gordon and sign BJ Ryan from Baltimore. Yankees will eb ready to go... I am very excited about the next season already :D:D

I am disappointed super rookie Cano didn't get the nod for the AL Rookie and mariano should have won the AL CY Young award.......... It's sad that 1.43 ERA didn't hold up against the Bartolo's 21 wins....

I am happy to know Yankees 3B AROD won the AL MVP not some PART TIME PLAYER name ORTIZ.

DWI, didn?t Yankees just gave up on Contreras couple years ago??? Ya needa have thick skin to survive in NYC. Some ppl do have it and some don?t. I see Chacon signing in Yankeesland. We know Contreras have good stuff but he never delivered while with Yankees.

Santana and Willis will be great but I don?t see it happening. They are their Bread n Butter for their team respectively as Ichiro is to Mariners.

I read the news about the AROD wining the AL MVP. Here?s the funny thing though. AROD also got 3rd place votes?? can someone explain that to me??? Voting ballot should be open so we can find out someone is not hiding behind the saree?? 3rd place rey, atti huncha ni

DWI in regard to Mo I really do see he lost the vote him being the closer? But Eric Gagne won the coveted prize just few years ago, no??? I guess Yankees haters... they can't see Yankees winning the prizes.... because of that a great player like MO had to pay the price. I don?t see him repeating the same stat again in his career?.. it?s sad with 6 seasons under 2 ERA and 0 Cy Young, can?t comprehend?? so i say YES for OPEN BALLOT, hope this thing will becomes real issue for next year.....

Yeah I also heard about the Bobby V. It?s funny, isn?t it??? He is the same manager who ran out in NY. Now after winning the championship he has a beer naming after him. I guess his wild managing style only works in Japan :D:D I wonder how he communicates with his players.........

It?s sad that there won?t be competition between Yankees and Red Sox after Theo?s departure. He is a great GM and Red Sox should have rewarded him. He is gone and Red Sox are scratching their head now? they never had a 2nd plan if Theo were to leave, funny no??? It?s same out here in Dodgers nation?. They let Paul deSTUPIDesto go and haven?t found the replacement yet. I hear Kim Ng, the Yankees prodigy, may get a chance?.. If she were to get the GM position she would be the first woman and she is Asian American?? But I heard today Theo may be coming to town and they offer him 1% stake of the team (800 ? 1000 mil) Theo is great GM but I want to see KIM NG get the chance to run the Big League?.. I will even go to few Dodgers games just because she is the GM ;)

lu mero ranting :D:D

Ax,
Yeah..Contreras is the same player that Yankees sent packing a year ago. He is probably the best pitcher that ever played in Cuban league (they say even better than El Duque in his good years) and that's why Cashman got him. But he didn't adjust accordingly. But as soon as He went to Chicago, which is not a baseball city by any stretch of imagination, he exelled. Some say it's due to El Duque's superb guidance, but both of them were here in NY too. There were few adjustments that Contreras made, like not tilting too much in one hand etc etc; but whatever he did, he is one of the most dominating pitchers baseball has and he could be better next season..scary.

Mo sure got robbed. The Closing pitcher who got CY young in the past have worse stats than Mo. There is no justification as to why Mo shouldn't get the award, other than few losses he accumulated.

I do agree with u, Santana and D-train might be impossible accusations. So is Contreras now.

As for A-rod being bad luck, I would love to have 10 more bad lucks in my team.

DWI, it seems like Ichiro to Yankees can happen..... Ichiro is unhappy with the situation in Seattle. He hasn't asked to be traded but for the right price Seattle is going to etnertain the offer. His cotnract expires in 2 years...... I am sure he would ask for new contract if he were to trade.... Does he command more than Matsui??? 2 Japanese superstars in Pinstripes would be awesome..........

Jojima to Yankees as well??? Posada is getting old so why not good backup catcher........hehehheeh