Dec. 5: According to the New York Post, Yankees officials have promised George Steinbrenner that, if they sign Alou, they will free up salary by trading David Justice no later than the end of spring training. Under this scenario, then, Steinbrenner has been convinced the Yankees could have both Jason Giambi and Alou without raising the team's payroll exorbitantly. New York is amenable to a three-year, $27 million offer to Alou, counteracting that investment in 2002 by trading Justice, who is due $7 million. The Red Sox may have the inside track to getting Alou; they are seriously considering hiring his father, Felipe Alou, as their bench coach, the Post reported. Boston is hoping to get the younger Alou to sign a three-year, $30 million deal, according to the newspaper.
The Yankees seem almost too active on the FA market. I remember last off-season, you were hearing the Yankee management talking about how they wanted to build a team from their own farm system and overseas scouting. They pointed to such stud prospects as Alfonso Soriano, Nick Johnson, and Drew Henson (after he was traded) and said... we don't need to buy the World Series, we're a world class organization. Looks like the "build it from within" mantra is dead, now. After all, it's so much easier to simply buy it. BoooO!
<B>Go ahead Astros, let him go or trade him to the Yankees!!! </B> This article is very badly worded. You can't sign-and-trade players in MLB, and this article actually has nothing to do with the Astros. What they meant to say was that Alou would be signed by the Yankees to replace Justice. Justice then would be traded to some other team in an unrelated deal. Why they refer to any type of "sign-and-trade", I don't really know.
I don't see how this is different than anything the Yankees have done in the past. Roger Clemens, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Tino Martinez, Orlando Hernandez, Mike Mussina, the list goes on. Mussina was just last season! When the Yanks want a player, they go out and buy him. Sure they'll tout their farm system, which is excellent, but in the end they always buy whatever they need. I can't blame Steinbrenner though, for taking advantage of a bad system. He wants to win, and he's got the money to do so. Baseball badly needs a salary cap, and increased revenue sharing.
The last thing baseball needs is a salary cap. The first thing it needs is a method of revenue sharing. There really is no sense in having both. One or the other will suffice.
