Submitted by Tim Sherman, Oct 25, 2007 13:49

Tim,

In case you didn't notice, the Yankees won the season series with Boston this year. Again! They are a better team than the Red Sox, they just didn't show it against Cleveland. There were lots of reasons for this, but I believe they already got rid of one of them (Torre). The Red Sox barely held on to the American League East, by the skin of their teeth. They are a good team, no doubt, but the Yankees are equally as good. They will benefit from having Hughes, Chaimberlain and Kennedy in the starting rotation for the whole year. And almost anyone the Yankees hire as manager will do a better job at managing the bullpen than Joe Torre did this year, so that area should improve as well. No drastic moves are necessary even if they lose A-Rod. His production will be missed for sure, but my recommendation would be to sign Torii Hunter to play center. They could then trade Melky Cabrera and one of their lower level pitching prospects for a decent third baseman. My guess is that they will be just as good or better next year than this, because I expect the starting pitching to be much more consistent.

Tim Sherman

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