Point/Counterpoint: Should the Yankees Trade for Sabathia?

Save our Season by Securing Sabathia

By White Boy South Bronx

Cheesy alliteration aside, the Yankees need to save this season. The team has the highest payroll by over 30 million dollars when compared to their closest rival in this department. This team is composed of highly paid veterans like A-Rod, Posada, Jeter, Abreu and Giambi. This team is now, thanks to beating up on some of the dregs of the National League, a healthy 6 games over the 500 mark.

The counter argument of course is that the Yankees had a chance to land an ace this offseason by offering similar packages that they would have to surrender now in order to land an ace. Furthermore, some will argue that the ace the Yanks could have landed this offseason, Santana, is superior to the ace they can land now, Sabathia. As I told Devo yesterday, tomato, tomAto. Both are great pitchers and Sabathia is a few years younger than Santana. As for giving up the same players in a trade now that the Twins asked for this offseason, there is nothing wrong with admitting to a mistake. Obviously the Mets front office has set a precedent that one cannot admit under any circumstances that it made any mistake or handled any situation poorly; but the Yankees are the Yankees for a reason. Its front office (save the mid 1980’s) is and always has been better than the JV organization across the Throgs Neck Bridge.

Finally, I have never bought into the idea of rebuilding if you don’t have to. Yes, in a salary cap world like the NBA, one horrible decision can force you into 5-10 years of mediocrity. However, in Major League Baseball, where the only salary cap is one imposed on itself by ownership, there is no reason a team like the Yankees should not try and win it all every year. More importantly, if Phillip Hughes ever became what Sabathia is now, I’d be doing summer-saults all across Park Avenue. (Editor’s note: This is now my main reason for hoping Phil Hughes makes the Hall of Fame one day.) So if the Yankees can trade a guy with potential for a guy that is really good right now, I see no downside to doing it. Oh, and if you think that Sabathia would not resign here after the season for big money, name for me the last superstar the Yankees acquired that did not resign here when given the ample opportunity to do so?