Steinbrothers Revive the Yankee Stereotype

The following in an excerpt from an article written for Bill James Online ($).Bill has posted some great writers, including himself, along with some of the best statistical resources you will find on the intrawebs.  Head over there and take a look. George may have taken a backseat, but his legacy is splashed all over the back pages. It was but a year ago that the Hot Stove bubbled over with rumor and speculation regarding Johan Santana with the Yankees smack dab in the middle of it.  Despite their seeming interest in both the player and the prevention of him going to the Red Sox, there were strong indications that the Yankees didn't want to foot the bill.  From a Tyler Kepner piece at the time:

For the Yankees, the $140 million figure would be compounded by an additional $56 million they would owe in luxury taxes, because they are still charged an extra 40 cents for every dollar they spend. Investing almost $200 million in Santana for seven years — and the prospects — is clearly too steep a price for General Manager Brian Cashman.

Times have changed and so has the payroll.  The Yankees have shed close to $80 million dollars this winter with the departure of Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu, Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano, and possibly Andy Pettitte.  It's no surprise that they have gone into this winter hellbent on repairing what has been a tattered rotation for the last four or five seasons.  Problem is, using the free agent market is not the repairs they had in mind. The Yankees have been drafting pitching heavy for the last few seasons in hopes of developing their own pitching talent.  This flies in stark contrast to Yankees past, where veteran pitchers were usually imported to fill out the rotation.  Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang are the only two pitchers the Yankees have kept in their rotation since their rookie seasons, and Pettitte broke in in 1995.

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Bill James Online($).