Oh my god, what an offseason. I mean, wow. We’ve got Mark Teixeira!

Just amazing. The Yankees of old are back and wiser. Sure, we thought we were all set with Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, but this is CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Mark Teixeira (and almost surely another pitcher) we’re talking about! They have real track records. Well, Burnett not so much, but we seem to be convinced he’s healthy. Back to Teixeira. It’s an 8 year contract worth up to $180 million with a no-trade clause (something that he surely required after being traded out of both Texas and Atlanta). What a strange offseason it was for Teixeira. He started out asking for 10 years and a destination by Christmas. 10 years was not going to happen, and it started out with the Nationals, Orioles, and Angels in the running for him. Then the Red Sox jumped in, and were very close to a deal, then suddenly “not a factor”. Then the Angels drew out. Just yesterday, the Nationals seemed to be the frontrunners. Then the Yanks swooped in and grabbed him, culminating his offseason, and he got his wish, same as many many Yankee fans.

I’m now looking forward to a roster that looks something like this:

ROTATION

 or  or  or  in the 4-5 spots.

 BULLPEN

LINEUP

LF

SS

1B

3B

RF

C 

DH

2B

CF  or  or someone better…

BENCH

Something like that… Of course, A-Rod could hit third and Tex cleanup, but yeah. You get my point. One move has made our roster MUCH MUCH deeper. If we don’t make the playoffs now, I’m gonna be pissed…. But we shouldn’t have to worry about that, I think. It would seem that we’re going all out for Number 27 in ’09. We have now signed 2 of the 4 super free agents (Sabathia, K-Rod, Tex, Manny). We could still make it 3, even though now I don’t think it’s a requirement to sign Manny. It’d be a nice bonus, but it’s not vital. We do have another pitcher coming, though.

The Angels are reportedly out of the Manny race, leaving the Dodgers and Yankees as his only serious pursuers at this point. Without much competition, if the Yankees sign Manny and another pitcher, it could go down as the best offseason in history and give us a Murderer’s Row and, in the words of Vanessa, a Murderer’s Row-tation.

In the first two games in Yankee Stadium, exhibition contests versus the Cubs, bleacher seats will be sold at 25 cents, same as Opening Day 1923. Sadly, I will not be able to join in these festivities, but I would snatch up a couple of those tickets if I were you.

Thank you and goodnight.