Larry Mahnken and Aaron Gleeman have excellent takes on the Vasquez-Johnson deal. Like many Yankee fans, Larry is sad to see Nick go, but thinks the Yankees made a good trade, while Aaron thinks both teams benefited from the deal.

David Pinto responded to my post this morning. He writes:

Where I would disagree with Alex's analysis is that the Yankees don't have to crash and burn. As an example of this, I'll point to Atlanta. Every year, Atlanta seems to be able to point to their weaknesses and address them. And every year (expect 1994) they've won the division. They don't let the team get old and stale. They improve with a combination of free agent signings (Pendelton, Sheffield) and bring up youngsters (Justice, Millwood, Lopez, Furcal, Giles). And they don't seem to destroy their farm system doing it either. If everything works out, the Yankees win the division again this year. But Jeter, Williams, Giambi and Posada become bigger question marks every year health wise. It doesn't take much bad luck to see those four hurt , and then where is the offense?

I agree the moves the Yankees are making aren't as bad as the moves they made in the 80's, but I think the treadmill is moving, and it possible that it will reach high speed very quickly.

I agree with David that the Yankes don't have to crash and burn. Personally, I wish they wouldn't. However, I'm just looking at this from a realistic point of view. Why bring common sense into the equation? History tells us that Steinbrenner doesn't function in a rational world. George is not going to change his spots this late in the game. If anything, he might become increasingly frantic as he gets older. It's true that his deals for Mondesi and Boone already indicate a return to his impetuous ways of the eighties. Still, we aren't at the point of no return just yet. Perhaps, we will be soon as David suggests. I can't dispute that. In the meanwhile, the Yankees will still be a very good team. They may even win another championship. But what goes up must come down, and they Yanks will eventually fall from grace. And when they fall, they will fall hard. Hey, every dog has his day, right?