I believe we will get and OF'er. I just don't think the FO wants to play in the PS (assuming we get there) with the current roster. The kids are fun and certainly an organizational move in the right direction... but we have a WS to win this year.

So post your answers to the following. This is not fantasy stuff. Don't bother with unrealistic answers (Abreu for T-Long and Small). Also, I know we need pitching, and the FO with probably address that if they can, but lets stick to the OF for this post.
Also, Alex and Cliff, I hope you guys chime in on this

1) Do YOU think we need an OF'er
2) Even if you said 'NO' to above, assuming Cashman thinks we do, who/what trade would be the best choice?

I say: Yes (and) Sori or Abreu for Melky and 2 non-Hughes pitchers on the Farm (and Including M.Smith and Beam).

Four two-out hits that resulted in runs last night. Little big hits. Clutch.

Hopefully, the series victory, and Melky's impressive showing in Philadelphia has calmed George's nerves, and stopped him from rummaging through the Terrence Long bin in search of a bargain RBI man.

And before anyone answers singledd's (1) with "yes trade for Jacque Jones" - I give you Twins fan extraordinaire, Aaron Gleeman:

"Speaking of former Twins, apparently the Cubs are just now discovering that Jacque Jones has trouble consistently making good throws from the outfield:

'Right fielder Jacque Jones' throwing problems might be more mental than physical.

"He can't find his release point right now," [manager Dusty] Baker said, preferring not to say a great deal.'

It's certainly possible that Jones' throwing problems are "more mental than physical," but anyone who saw him play in Minnesota knows it's not a "right now" situation. In fact, in writing Jones up for my "Top 40 Minnesota Twins" series I described one of his most memorable traits as "throws from the outfield that were either air-mailed past the catcher or launched directly into the turf."

http://tinyurl.com/nyg27

I think that sums things up nicely, don't you?

The only upside I can see to Jacque Jones is the impressive numbers he has put up against the top AL contenders (posted in yesterday's "Be Afraid, Very Afraid" thread). He's a .300-plus hitter against Boston, Toronto, White Sox, Oakland, and has racked up more runs against Detroit than any other team he's faced.

His career numbers, as wsporter revealed, bring him back down to T-Long territory, no thank you very much.

Making him even less appealing, the years left on his Cubbie handshake.

As we've seen via the Ghost of Post Seasons Past, bats can dry up in a hurry, but if you have good pitching you can still win games.

Look at last year's ALDS w/ California (forever to me, they will be California A's). We led in every single game at some point. Every one, even the Randy Johnson meltdown game. We didn't stop the other team from scoring. That is what cost us the series - not our own scoring. We built leads, but could not keep them. I am confident that Moose/Wang/Johnson will be a good core of post season starters (knock on wood), but I'm afraid the bullpen will be in shambles if we ever make it there.

Again ... pitching, pitching, pitching. Fresh arms. New arms. Strong arms. More arms.

in 4 starts before his injury (4/22 - 5/11)

24.1IP 18H 4R 4ER 14BB

That's a 1.48 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP (if I calculated correctly). The final game (vs. Boston) is the one in which he was injured and he lasted just 4.2 inngings. Chacon is known to walk guys. That's something we've accepted. I'm not saying he will ever be as great as last year, and I obviously took a small sample size on purpose because he looked like he was rolling before the injury. It has slowed him down a bit, but I really don't think he's done. He's probably not 100% yet. He pitched the game after the injury because he wants to get out there and battle.

He's a horse and can be effective past 80 pitches. Wright can't. I don't know why, but he's fine until pitch 70-75. It's sad. He should be the long man, no?

I'd try a package of Sean Henn, Eric Duncan, and a B-grade A-ball pitcher for Abreu. The Phillies want pitching, and Henn is young (25) AND a lefty. Duncan is only 21, and could play his natural position of 3B in the Phillies' system. And the Yanks take Abreu's big contract off Philly's books.

Yes, I think we need an OF. I'm not quite sure who is available or who might become available over the next month, but the Melky/KT/Reese/Bubba/Bernie option is a temporary stop-gap, and when I say temporary I don't mean until September. As I've been screaming about over here for the past week, this team is an Arod, Giambi or Posada extended slump away from a sub-par offense. The young kids have definitely chipped in, but none of them are legit run producers and offensive threats, and this team NEEDS a legit run producing corner OF.

As for the pitchers, hear my out about why I think the OF issue is more pressing:

Over here at BB we've all been complaining about how overworked and ineffective some of the middle relief has been lately. Well, rather than trading for another arm, the solution is (drumroll please) OFFENSE. A few blow out wins here and there would allow Torre to insert guys like Smith and Beam in to mop up rather than be forced to consistantly bring in Proctor, Farnsworth and Mo every day. Offensive outburst will save this team's arms...not a trade for a reliever. And also let's not forget that middle relief help is already available in-house, once Dotel is ready to go, Mendoza builds up his arm strength, and a guy named Rasner gets over his shoulder tendinitis. That's three additional arms that might help carry the load.

Moose will be fine, so will The Unit (crossing fingers), Wang is the real deal, and Wright is a good #5 starter. I truly hope that Chacon will find the magic of 2005 but if he doesn't, well then maybe we might be able to trade what will surely be a middle relief surplus for a legit #4 or #5.

So, getting back to OF options, I say NO to Jacque Jones and maybe to Abreu or Burrell. But a look at the standings shows that teams like Atlanta, Cleveland, KC, Washington, and Pittsburgh are dead-in-the-water (division & wildcard). Surely one of these teams would be willing to trade a corner-OF for some yound middle relief arms and maybe some 2nd-tier prospects. In fact, if KC dangled Sanders I'd take him off there hands for the right price.

Current age: 38
Under contract for 2007 at $5 million
.255/.300/.469 - .769 OPS
196 ABs
9 HRi
13 BB
58 K

I don't deny that more offense would be a good thing, but I don't think getting Reggie Sanders would lead to more offense for the Yanks.

I would, however, be happy with a trade with Pittsburg for Craig Wilson. I'm just not sure the Yanks' supply matches up with the Pirates' need. Though Littlefield has made some bone-headed moves before . . .

14 Dotel, Mendoza and Rasner are castles in the air at this point. We really have no iidea when or if Dotel and Rasner will be back - all those optimistic reports about Dotel don't count for much anymore, not when he's going to see Dr. James Andrews today. And we don't know if any of the three are effective major leaguers this year.

The way I see it, the Yankees need help in the starting rotation, the bullpen and the outfield, and they have very little of value to offer anyone.

Bottomline to me is the area where the Yanks most require help/improvement is pitching.
The Yanks rank 2nd in the AL in runs scored, 404 to White Sox 415. The team batting avg. of .286 is 3rd in the AL. They have the best OBP in the AL. Where they are "lacking" is slugging percentage. They have the 6th best slugging percentage in the AL, slighly ahead of Boston's.

An RBI guy would help but consider team pitching stats: the Yanks are ranked 9th and look very similar to the Dodgers who are 10th in the Majors.

Sanders can provide a legit run-producing bat as a corner OF and pinch-hitter. And once Shef or Matsui return, he can be a veteran pinch hitter with power coming off the bench, something the Yanks don't currently have.

As for his $5mm salary owed to him in 2007, who here thinks the Yanks wouldn't be able to eat at least half of it and trade him in the offseason. Me thinks a veteran, power hitter for $2.5mm would be something that might be enticing to another team.

The US has just tied the match against Ghana shortly before the half -- it's now 1-1, and Italy is ahead 1-0 in its match. The Americans can advance by winning, as long as Italy holds its lead...

I'm wondering if the Knicks will exist in five years...

29 I was weened on the mid-90s resurgance of the Knicks, and have one of those "Where were you moments" when Ewing missed the finger roll vs. the Pacers. Just as we sometimes joke about Proctor (or Tanyon) having compromising pictures of Torre, Isiah must have something he's blackmailing Dolan with.

Someone said a while ago that they would rather not make the playoffs this year than surrender the best parts of the farm and the young players on the 25 man roster for a couple of months rent-a-player. I have come to agree with that. Robbie, Wang and Hughes are going to be very exciting in the years to come. I'd just as soon they are exciting here as elsewhere.

2. The reason soccer sucks (actually I love soccer) is that fouls are more arbitrary than in any other sport. Basketball floppers like Vlade Divac can be like Pele in soccer.

3. Someone find Isiah Thomas in a dark alley and beat him with a rotten banana peel. I hate him with all my sports heart and Dolan too. I hope they finish in last again this year and the Rockettes go on strike.

Go get John Smoltz.

I watch these soccer players writhe in pain after being poked, prodded and brushed. My mind wanders onto a scene where one has been hit in the arm with a 90 mile an hour fastball. There are many tears and it's not pretty.

12 If the Phils would do that deal with you, they are one step away from hiring Isiah Thomas as their GM.

14 My problem with this theory is that I don't think any of the people we can get is going to produce a number of blowout wins. One or two maybe -- but two games will not save the bullpen from wearing out.

16 Agree. One HR / 20 ABs...is not bad but we're talking a righty here. Bats RH + Yankee Stadium + 1 HR / 20 ABs = Reggie Sanders good for about 6 more HRs after the break. Not going to make any real difference.

Pitching, pitching, pitching. I am fully prepared to stay the course with Melky and Bernie until Matsui returns. The only exception I would make would be for Abreu and I don't really believe that's doable without losing Wang or Cano or at least Hughes -- none of which I'm willing to accept.

Then again - I'm also the guy who thought Kevin Brown would snap out of his funk and pitch like the great player he once was.

Forever the optimist, I guess. Or the fool. Sometimes it's hard to tell the two apart.

OK, we are kidding ourselves if we think Matsui returns this season in any reasonable playing form.

41 By all accounts, Matsui is ahead of schedule with his rehab, so he may be ready by August....which gives him a good month to be ready for the post season.

I just don't see us doing anything earth shattering or least not for a while. As I see things right now teams that are dead in the water don't want to admit that fact to their fan base in mid June (Atlanta, Nats). If they move their "star" players for our unknown A Ball prospects they will be making an admission they don't wish to make. Therefore they can hold those guys or move them for known players that they can sell as being able to contribute immediately and help in the future. In our case those known players are Robbie, Wang, Melky and to a certain extent Hughes, Duncan Thompson Beam, Smith and Henn. The Yankees aren't likely to give up the first 3 or 4 in that group. To get a player well above replacement level it may continue to be necessary to give those players up in the coming month.

In my opinion as we move closer to the trade dead-line and the season begins to wane lesser known players and players lower in the system move into play. The Tabata's, Jackson's, Marquez's, Ehlers', Gardner's, Vechi's and White's will enter the discussion as centerpieces. Is giving up on that young talent worth bringing in a player that is marginally above replacement level for what will be essentially a two month rental? I say no and I really don't see that happening.

I'm not saying we won't or shouldn't make trades but I am saying that we should not be willing to gut our core of young players for a rental, a limited offensive upgrade or replacement level or aged arm.

Sorry for the dissertation.

Who are we talking about? That combination won't be enough to move Hernandez out of DC for example and I'm not sure he's better than what we already have. Not this year anyway...

BUT.

I believe firmly that with a core or Jeter, Damon, Giambi, A-Rod and Posada, along with timely contributions from the likes of Andy Phillips, Bernie, Melky and Cano, our offense is good enough to hang with anyone in the postseason, as long as the pitching consistently keeps the other team below 5 runs a game. In order to do that, I'd suggest the following as the season matures:

1) Keep Randy on a short leash. When he's bad, he's bad. When he's good he's good, he's not one of those "one bumpy inning" guys.

2) If possible get another #4 or #5 type starter because I don't believe in Chacon's magic anymore.

3) Use the bullpen skillfully. If I was Torre, the only thing I'd think about for the rest of the year is a) how to best tactically employ the pen and b) how to pace the pen given the fact that Proctor's already thrown a sh*tload of innings, and that our starters for the most part are not innings eaters.

So, here's what I want to find out:

First, how bad is Dotel's setback and what's the timeline for finding out what he's got? Second what's the deal with Ramiro Mendoza. Third, is there a league average releiver who is durable and capable of pitching a lot of innings, available. If Torre sticks with the "Joe's guys" and "hot hands" strategy of bullpen deployment, we may not get to the post season. And if we do, I don't think we'll last long.

In short, I think adding an outfielder should be a priority, but definitely not at the top of the list.

No, pitching is the issue, just as it was last year. Remember, we did win the division with the likes of Darrel May and Al Leiter, in addition to Chacon and Small. What Cashman needs to do is make a cheap trade for a guy who can come in and eat innings every fifth day. Someone who takes the pressure off the bullpen, is consistent (even if it means mediocre)