Clarion Content

We all know where the Clarion stood on the Yanks signing Alex Rodriguez, "NOOOOO!! Don't do it." Or words to that effect. The Yanks postured and postured, and then they did it anyway. They are giving A-Rod an approximately $300 million contract. They bid against themselves. ESPN's Buster Olney reports than they could have had him for over $100 million less. No one else was ever in it. The Red Sox never even thought about it. The Angels took a pass. The Giants thought about it for one second. The Dodgers took Torre and laughed all the way to the bank.

The Yankees are signing A-Rod through 2018. They are committed to giving him more $220 million more than they had previously owed him. They are giving him the biggest contract in sports history. Bidding against no one. They got played.

It is now up to A-Rod. Steinbrenner senior, George, got ill. Since he fell at Art Modell's funeral he has had little sway. It appears that young Hank Steinbrenner is calling the shots. He envisions himself inheriting his father's mantle. That is all well and good, but which one of his father's incarnations will he be?

The Clarion has read critics who are so brutal as to refer to Hank as Dolan 2.0, a reference to the horrendous scion of a Cablevision fortune running the Knicks down the fast track to hell. It doesn't look quite that bad to the Clarion from here. Yes, the A-Rod deal was a rip off. Do we care that Goldman Sachs or Warren Buffet may have talked A-Rod into going over Boras's head and coming to the Yankees organization to make peace? Or that he brought his wife? Bleep no we don't care! At the Clarion we care whether he hits with men on base in the post season!! And the jury is well nigh still out on that one. If the Yanks don't win championships the A-Rod contract was a massive waste of resources. In the Clarion's view Hank Steinbrenner, while he's not as bad as Dolan, unfortunately he may be as bad as the 70's-80's George, with the wild spending sprees, short term agendas, and insane pressures.

That said, would the Clarion trade Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrerra + any young arm (save Chamberlin and Kennedy) to Minnesota for Santana? Yes, definitely yes. The Clarion loves Melky and his vibe, but Santana's twenty-nine and a front line, bona fide, number one starter. He is an answer to the Red Sox Beckett. Santana changes the Yankees chances in every post season series he pitches in, and say they sign him for seven years, that could be quite a few. Picture heading into next year's A.L.D.S. under Girardi, pitching Santana in Game 1, Pettitte in Game 2 and Wang in Game 3, that's quite the improvement from the line-up of starters they gave the departed Torre. Santana hasn't pitched in the New York spotlight or in the World Series, but at the Clarion we would be inclined to give him a chance.

If the Yanks acquired Santana we would also then keep Chamberlin in the bullpen, setting up, preparing to inherit Mariano's role. Starting the aforementioned trio, plus Kennedy, and the winner of the camp #5 competition. This is a playoff built rotation, top heavy. The plan would be to win the regular season games of the four and five starter with A-Rod and the offense. The Clarion would absolutely not trade Cano. We would consider signing Andruw Jones, he could hit seventh and play that shallow centerfield of his. Santana might throw a no-no or two with Jones in center. Damon, who showed last year there is no way he can play 145 games in center, would be the fourth outfielder and share the DH duties with Giambi and Matsui.

Labels: baseball, sports