Welcome to the first of my offseason plan blog series thingy! Here, I will give my thoughts and opinions on possible offseason moves that the Yankees could make. First off, we have the free agents. We'll start off with the starting pitchers, the first set of them anyway. Here I'll give you three starters that are free agents this offseason, and my thoughts on them possibly moving to the Yankees. Yes, I did make the pictures. So we'll start with:

AJ Burnett

AJ Burnett will most likely not pick up his option, so he'll probably out in the FA market. I'm sure a lot of teams will be intrigued in him. Watching Burnett face the Yankees is never a pleasant sight to me or other Yankee fans. Every time he picks up the ball against us, he seems to completely dominate, holding us to 1 or 2 runs, striking out a bunch of batters, and going deep into the game. So, why not get him?

Pros: Very dominant stuff, pitched a lot of innings this year, above-average command, in his peak years

Cons: Still a big injury risk, command gets bad at times, big money

Obviously the Pros outweigh the cons, but still, he's expensive, and I don't want to spend a lot of money on a guy who won't pitch much for me. We've already seen that happen; Carl Pavano comes to mind. But is the upside big enough? You make the decision.

Derek Lowe

Derek Lowe is an interesting pick. He's got good stuff, a good sinker that he's always had. He has experience, and he pitched very well this season, helping the LA Dodgers make the postseason. He's not an extremely flashy, dominant pitcher like CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets or AJ Burnett, but he gets the job done and he does it well. So let's weigh the pros and cons;

Pros: Innings eater, great control, good sinker, veteran presence, playoff experience, AL East experience

Cons: May be getting too old(36 next season), somewhat inconsistent, hasn't been in the AL since 2004, has been very bad in the past, relies mostly on contact.

I like Lowe, and I think signing him would be a good way to start Cashman's new term as GM. I think he'd be a help to the young pitchers like Joba, Hughes, Coke, Robertson... he'd be a good help to an unsure pitching staff as we begin a new era.

Ben Sheets

Ben Sheets has long been one of the most dominating pitchers in the NL with the Milwaukee Brewers. His unique mix of great control and dominating stuff has lead him to so much success. However, he's been a huge injury risk throughout his solid career. He's missing the playoffs right now for the Brewers, and his return is "doubtful". So, is his upside big enough to pay him so much money? Let's weigh the pros and cons for Sheets:

Pros: Dominating stuff, great control, good poise, has had success in the past

Cons: Huge injury risk, big money, only pitched in NL

His upside is ginormous, as we've seen. If he stays healthy, he's a higher-ranking pitcher and a Cy Young candidate. He can dominate everytime he toes the rubber; on the other hand, that is quite a big if, and he's pretty much like Burnett; there's a large risk that we'll pay him a lot of moolah to pitch for a lower amount of time than expected.

You guys give me your opinion on this.

Stay positive, Yankee fans,

-EJ/Kid From New York 

Yes I am alive and in good health, unless the doctors aren't telling me something...

I've been posting on the MLB message boards since my last post, and I've been neglecting my posting duties. Well no more.

It hasn't been a particularly good year at ALL, in any sense of the word. Injuries and inconsistensies have held back an undeniably talented New York Yankee lineup. While the efforts of Girardi have been valiant, it's simply a huge disappointment of a year. The Yankees will not go to the playoffs, it's official. No more speculation, no more "one more chance", no more "just a little hope", and certainly no more "mathematically possible". It's done now. So now the focus shifts to the 2009 season.

It's an aging ballclub, no doubt about it. Jeter, Damon, Abreu, whoever we plug in at catcher, etc. etc. You can't expect success in a few years with these same ol' guys. That's why we have talented prospcts in the minor leagues. I'll bring them to you. I'll exchange my thoughts on possible offseason transactions. I'll share my notions on what the young callups of this year could do next year; Cervelli, Gardner, Christian, Sanchez. All of these guys can make an impact on 2009.

So stay tuned!

Stay positive for next year, Yankee fans,

-EJ/Kid From New York

Win clean.

Win dirty.

Win with minor leaguers.

Win outside of the organization.

Win with superstition.

Win without 'em.

Anyway that the Yankees can win, we will take it. We need it. We're at the near end of August, and we're 5 games outta the Wild Card. Wins are huge. Anyway that you can get wins, I don't care. Get them. The Red Sox are in the Bronx to kick off this week. It's a 3-game set that likely will determine the rest of this season.

No 2-out-of-3 bull.

Losing the series is unthinkable at this point.

We need to sweep. Sweep, sweep, sweep. Sweep them like they've never been swept before. Make them wish they were never Red Sox fans. Embarress them. Make them feel uncomfortable. The intention here is to play incredibly well, as well as you can, and gain as much ground from this series that's POSSIBLE. The only way we can do that is to sweep.

We swept the Orioles like we should've. We had all the pressure into the world to sweep Baltimore, and we kicked their @$$ around. That's very good. Now lets beat up the Red Sox.

The Yankees admit that now is the time to make a move. Darrell Rasner has to go.

Rasner Must Go

There's nothing left to say. There's nothing left to do. Rasner has tried to prove himself numerous times, and he's rarely ever shown that he can pitch up here. If Darrell Rasner pitches his next start, I will burst into a fit of rage. What is the use of putting this guy up here? What do we gain from it? It's a huge risk, minor reward kinda move to just leave this guy to keep starting? He's already proven he's not gonna help us win. We need somebody; whether it's a minor leaguer, whether it's Washburn... whoever it may be, Rasner can't do it anymore.

Minor leaguers like Jason Jones, Phil Coke or Eric Hacker could replace Rasner in the rotation. There have also been rumors that Seattle lefty Jarrod Washburn could be the answer in a deal. At this point I don't care who it is, as long as it's not Rasner.

Let's be serious about this. We're hot, we're aiming for the playoffs. Are we really gonna make it there with this guy?

The Ransom Factor

It looks like the Yankees have got a gem on their hands, by the name of Cody Ransom. Ransom has hit 2 homers in 2 at-bats so far as a Yankee. He had a great spring for the Yanks this year, and he was an impressive power hitter down in the minors. I guess we don't need Betemit, then?

I just love this guy, because he reminds me of me(not trying to be loathsome). He reminds me of what I'm trying to be. He isn't a big guy for baseball; 6'2", 190 pounds. He isn't shaped like a prototypical power hitter. But I find that his hitting style is so fundamentally sound, he's able to drive the ball. Just check this out; I give credit to MESN HD for the video footage.

Look at this batting stance, I love it, it's so fundamentally sound. Look at his head; it's completely focused on the pitcher, he's locked in. He has his elbows up, like you should. His feet are pointing towards the camera. His knees are slightly bent. His legs are spread shoulder-width apart.

Check this out, it looks eerily similar to Alex Rodriguez. You see how he kicks his front leg in the air, just a little bit? That's so he can get some momentum on his swing, so he can drive the ball. It's something I like to do when I'm hitting. As the pitch is about to be delivered, he lifts his front leg for momentum. Look at his front half, it looks remarkably similar to A-Rod. See how he keeps his hands back, almost pulling them back? That's so he can get some more behind his swing, so he can drive the ball, at least that's my understanding of it. It's part of what Orestes Destrade calls an "Ichi-Ni-San"(1, 2, 3 in Japanese) style of hitting. Also keep note of how his eyes are still locked in on the ball.

Now this is the fun part. More solid fundamentals; his eyes are completely focused on the ball, as they should be. Look at how he's bending his back leg to drive the ball. Look at how the ball hit off his bat; right on the sweet spot.

Look at how he follows through on his swing. That's very important, because you're not going to be able to drive the ball very far if you stop your swing before you can follow through. Go ahead, raise your fist, hop up and down or maybe just walk the first few steps. You just hit a home run.

Let's see more of this guy.

Final Thoughts

Final thoughts time, so it's time to do the Bold Statement of the Day! Here I say something bold and arguable about the New York Yankees. Here we go!

The Yankees will take the first game in a slugfest.

Oh, boy I hope so. I'm not confident if it's true or not, but the way our offense is going, why not? So that's it for today's issue, stay tuned for tomorrow's edition of The Squad.

Let the games begin.

The Yankees have scored 23 runs in the past 3 games, sweeping the Orioles. We've gotten timely, clutch hitting. We've gotten clutch pitching. We've gotten the outs when we needed to. We've been able to pile on and leave the opposing team behind. These are the Yankees we were expecting at the beginning of the year.

The main problem this season for the Bombers is the Yanks' lack of capitalization. When the big hits were required, they weren't coming. When the big pitches needed to be made, they weren't. The Yankees had to rely on homers and occasional RBI hits to win games, and they needed a pitching staff to shut the opposing team down. The Yankees had unrealistic expectations for their pitching staff, and you gotta admit, the pitchers have done better than all expectation.

But now it's time to get real. The real Yankees have showed up, and now they've gotta stick around and beat up all the times that bother trying to face them. We've got to hope. We've got to hope. We've got to cheer on the team, and hope that the playoffs are coming home to the Bronx this year. So let the games begin!

A brand new, full, that's right I said it, full episode of The Squad is coming tomorrow.

 FIRST START                                                                                              3.15 ERA

                                                                                                                      10  -  9

                                                                                                                      110 Ks

Welcome to the in-gamer. We started late because I had to go out to eat, but now it's on. Up there is the information, so turn on your tvs, go to the YES Network channel and suit up, because it's time for Yankees baseball. No updates until the games begin.

7:05 PM EST: First pitch from Jeremy Guthrie to JD is a fastball high, 1-0 to start it off.

7:13 PM EST: A-Rod hit a long RBI double to center field to give us a 1-0 lead, scoring Damon.

7:16 PM EST: Jason Giambi drives in another run with a throwing error from Roberts. 2-0.

7:27 PM EST: After back-to-back hits off of Pavano, Cano made a very nice catch-and-throw DP.

7:34 PM EST: Pavano gets out of a runners-on-the-corners jam with a roller to Jeter.

7:39 PM EST: Juan Castro made a great barehand play to throw out JD at first, ending the 2nd. Still 2-0.

8:08 PM EST: Oh, you saw what happened.

8:17 PM EST: Giambi's 2-run homer gives the Yankees the lead back, 4-3.

Well, maybe we are still alive. I highly doubt it, but this team showed me so much yesterday that you have to wonder if a comeback is coming. They came back from 2 deficits with big hits and big homers. The bullpen showed that it's still dominant. The offense showed what they really can do. Will we see more of that? Only time will tell. But right now, we gotta hope that this will continue, that the playoffs will be back in the Bronx this season.

I'm hosting an in-gamer tonight, it starts at 6:00. Please, stop by and watch the game with us, it's going to be a good one in all likelihood.

Which one is funnier; Purcey's reaction to getting bombed, or Shawn Johnson's "people's eyebrow"? Give me your thoughts.

I guess we can cope for the gold medal, just for now.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We still believe in a great playoff contender. We still believe in a powerful offense. We still believe in a good pitching staff and a dominant bullpen. We still believe!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We still believe in great potential. We still believe in veteran leadership. We still believe in great stuff. We still believe in "Generation Tre". We still believe in control and command. We still believe in big curveballs. We still believe in moving fastballs. We still believe in the rotation for the ages. We still believe!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We still believe there is better judging. We still believe there will be other championships. We still believe there will be another great gymnastics competition 4 years from now. We still believe the Romanian girl won't be there to spoil the win. We still believe in gold medals. We still believe in cute girls who could effortlessly break your neck at the drop of a hat. WE STILL BELIEVE IN THE INTEGRITY OF GYMNASTICS.

I FEEL A STORM A'COMIN'.

Stay positive, Yankees fans!

-EJ/Kid From New York

Zack Greinke                                                                                       Sidney Ponson 

  4.09 ERA                                                                                                4.27 ERA

   9   -   8                                                                                                   7    -   3

   137 Ks                                                                                                     44 Ks

                                    Royals   at  Yankees

Welcome to the jungle.

We've got fun and games.

We've got everything you want.

Honey we know the names.

Welcome to the second in-gamer by me, EJ. Sit down and enjoy. I'll just give you some info as it goes on, but right now my knee hurts, my ankle hurts, my back hurts, and my shoulder hurts, so I won't be editing all that much.

12:11 PM EST: Last night the Yankees were unable to sign top high-school pitcher Gerrit Cole out of the draft. Though they were able to sign 2nd round college lefty Jeremy Bleich, Gerrit Cole was a very talented pitcher and he'll be pitching in UCLA no. WE ARE SORRY FOR OUR LOSS