Enough is enough and it's time for the New York Yankees to start making some moves pronto.  No more general statements, idle threats or cliches about how it's a long season.  This team is dead and listless and is in need of some serious wholesale changes.

Starting at the top the Yankees must go back to the future and install Gene "Stick" Michael as General Manager and Buck Showalter as manager.  Those two are excellent talent evaluators who essentially put the Yankees back on the map in the early 1990's.  These two know how to evaluate talent, cultivate a farm system, make shrewd deals and have won in New York before.

While I applaud Brian Cashman's philosophy on trying to re-structure the team to reload the farm system, re-stock the pitching depth and lower the payroll, he's not the evaluator they need to pick the right pieces.  Just look at some of the moves he's made recently: Damon over Beltran in centerfield, not re-signing fan favorite Bernie Williams and leaving the bench weak, trading away Gary Sheffield one of their only righty power bats for one pitching prospect who has been injury plagued and is on the DL with Tommy John surgery, trading Randy Johnson while being naive enough to believe that Carl Pavano and or Kei Igawa would be suitable replacements for a pitcher who won 17 games, those two combined won't make 17 starts.  Cashman neglected to sign proven younger pitchers in Ted Lilly and Gil Meche, citing payroll.  Then he turns around not three months later and gives a 45 year old pitcher in Roger Clemens $28 million to pitch for four months!  Don't even get me started with Kyle Farnsworth.

On the field as far as the manager goes, I love Joe Torre but even beloved and successful guys like Casey Stengel and Billy Martin had to go eventually.  Torre seems to have lost a little zip and confidence in his coaches since Zim and Stott left.  A lot of guys have seemed to tune him out for whatever reason and while he has acted as a great buffer between the owner, media and the players, it seems that now they may have taken advantage of that quality and now walk all over him.  Torre doesn't have this team playing aggressively at the plate nor does he have a grip on how to handle the pitching staff as to when to take guys out or leave them in or when to rest guys or not in the bullpen.

Stick and Buck would clean house with this team.  Bring the clubhouse back to "The Yankee-way."  They wouldn't tolerate slackers or headcases who either don't care, have poor attitudes or don't hustle.  They'd be sure to bring in guys who'd give their all, guys who are proven winners and guys who are hungry to win.  They'd bring in guys like Mike Gallego, Jimmy Key, Spike Owen, Mike Stanley and Wade Boggs who are blue collar ballplayers to turn this thing around.  They'd also give the kids a shot to grow and develop in order to build a new core from the farm system like they did with Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada.

  When it comes to this roster the Yankees need to get younger, more pitching and better defense.  Getting guys such as Mark Teixeria, Torii Hunter, Ichiro and Mike Lowell who could all potentially become available either at the trade deadline or as free agents after the season would all make great fits on this club.

If I were the Yankees, right now I would dump all the dead weight, old, overpaid, listless players.  I'd try to dump as much payroll as possible and try to gain as many prospects as possible.  Johnny Damon would be gone, the guy can't even barely run anymore and I'd let Melky Cabrera play and develop to find out what they've actually got in him.  I'd deal Bobby Abreu who has become a bad influence on Robinson Cano, much in the way that Raul Mondesi was a horrible influence on Alfonso Soriano.  Deal Jason Giambi and get his always injured steroid controversy ridden butt back out to the west coast to either the Angels or A's.  Trade Mike Mussina, who isn't going to get any better next year at age 39 and if at all possible deal Igawa as well and allow some of the younger starters such as Phil Hughes and Tyler Clippard to get a shot at developing and being ready for the 2008 campaign.  I'd also like to see them dump Kyle Farnsworth and Luis Vizciano and let some of the young arms pitch in order to see if they can't groom the next guy to replace Mariano Rivera within the coming few years.  

In addition, seeing as how they're free agents, though I'd like to see them play for no other team than the Yankees, the Yankees could potentially deal pending free agents in Rivera and Posada for some prospects with the understanding that they will re-sign them after the season is over and that the trades are for the good of the future of the team.  Finally, if they know he is going to leave and or if they know he wants out for sure, they should try to deal A-Rod for as many prospects as possible because his stock has never been higher and he is by far the most tradable commodity on this team at the moment who could garner the Yanks a boatload of prospects in return.  Of course A-Rod could too be dealt and opt out of his deal with the understanding that the Yankees will re-sign him in the offseason. 

This is what the Yankees must to to get back on top by the time their new stadium opens in 2009.  They need to cut the deadweight of overpaid headcases, get younger with more depth in the farm system and at the major league level and also they need to create more payroll flexibility in regard to the luxury tax.  It may be hard to do that with so much invested in this team, but obviously it has become apparent that the players don't have anything invested in this team any longer for the most part.  Thus if the Yankees want a quick turnaround in re-building the ballclub, they must act on this fast if not at the trade deadline.  The Yankees have bottomed out with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, thus the string of playoffs will have been broken which is the perfect opportunity to start the foundation of a new dynasty. 

Lately there's been this notion of how Roger Clemens' package deal somehow disgraces the mystique of the New York Yankees.  To detractors such as David Wells and Phil Garner, I say go out and get your own contract negotiated in that fashion.  I don't even necessarily bash the Yankees for doing this because imagine if they hadn't accomodated him and then lost Clemens to Boston or Houston?

There's no mistake the mystique left the Yankees when the ball left the bat of Luis Gonzalez in November of 2001.  They started going after guys who were bigger than the team.  The Yankees replaced two of their classier guys in Tino Martinez and Paul O'Neill with Jason Giambi and his steroid problems and Raul Mondesi and his attitude problems.  They made a foolish trade of Ted Lilly for Jeff Weaver and gave a boatload of money to Jose Contreras solely so that Boston couldn't get him.

In 2004 they essentailly sold their heart and soul, allowing character guys in Andy Pettitte and Clemens to go, while dealing for overpaid, oft-injured, headcase, mal-content Kevin Brown.  Sure A-Rod might be the best player in baseball, but the trading for him went against the grain of the 90's Yankees who weren't about the super-star.  That season the Giambi signing, Brown trade, not signing Pettitte and Clemens and trading for Javier Vazquez instead of Curt Schilling came back to bite them in the end. 

Before 2005 they again let a clutch pitcher in El Duque walk away, the same El Duque who dominated the Red Sox in a relief apperance in the playoffs that year allowing the White Sox to sweep.  They signed Jaret Wright who had red flags all over the place and was another oft-injured headcase.  Signed and overpaid for Carl Pavano, again another oft-injured headcase, just so Boston wouldn't get him.  And traded for and overpaid the moody Randy Johnson, one year too late.  Perhaps the biggest move they didn't make was signing Carlos Beltran to be their centerfielder for the next decade.

When one looks at this season and the Clemens deal, ask yourself this: If the Yankee mystique was so important, why then did they sign Kei Igawa to $46 million?  Igawa's main problem is gripping the ball and getting a feel for the mound!  Really, don't you think that your genious scouting department would've picked up on those two things before anything else?  Anyone who doesn't believe that deal was done solely for marketing purposes to Japan and to compete with Boston's signing of their own Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, you're fooling yourself.  That move right there, which was obviously not a baseball move, spits in the face of Yankee mystique and tradition! 

This shift from the 1990's Yankees to now reeks of sheer sellout.

Spring Training has barely started and one has to wonder is all the hype surrounding Yankees camp really valid or is it a case of a press corps yearning for or wishing they were covering the old 'Bronx Zoo' of the 1970's just hoping to gin up any kind of controversy possible?  Oddly enough the ring leader of that circus George Steinbrenner, has been the most quiet and out of sight figure of them all. 

Excuse me but wasn't there supposed to be more stability with this ballclub after GM Brian Cashman wrestled away the reigns from the Tampa contingent?  Anyhow here's the Spring Training breakdown and no this breakdown doesn't  involve shavers or tattoos.

Brian Cashman: From sympathetic figure to cold-hearted and calculating?  Not necessarily a bad thing when one considers how he's managed to trim the payroll, re-stock the farm system and acquire more young pitching prospects for the future or as trading chips.  Cashman has also rid the team of percieved malcontents in Randy Johnson, Gary Sheffield and Jaret Wright, while bringing in character guys like Bobby Abreu and Andy Pettitte.  Cashman does have a lot to explain for and do as well, such as why Bernie Williams has yet to be re-signed, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada have yet to be given contract extensions, Kei Igawa was given a pantload of money for never having touched a MLB baseball until last fall, Carl Pavano is still on this team, they plan to carry a platoon of no-hit firstbasemen, Phil Hughes isn't in the rotation and why wasn't Mel Stottlemyre invited to Spring Training to be a special pitching instructor?

Joe Torre: He's still the manager until Don Mattingly, Joe Girardi or Buck Showalter is.  Nobody questions Torre's ability to win and handle the pressure of New York and one assumes he still comands respect in the clubhouse, especially when backed up by the leaders from the dynasty teams in Derek Jeter, Rivera, Posada and Pettitte.  There's no question that given the Yankees poor pitching in 2005 and slew of injuries in 2006 that Torre was the one who was able to keep the team together, to handle and massage the egos while acting as a buffer between the media and Tampa.  However since after the 2003 season when Don Zimmer left, it's fair to question in the post-season if Torre has lost a little off the strategical fastball.  Though aside from Showalter, Torre's ability to give the Yankees organization stability has been un-matched since the days of Casey Stengel.

Bernie Williams: Except for the fact that he has created no leverage for himself and as much as I'd love to see him in camp and on the team, I really can't blame Bernie for telling the Yankees to shove it.  At least Don Mattingly was pushed out by Tino Martinez, but are you gonna tell me that the Yankees are seriously pushing out Williams for Doug Mientkiewicz and either Andy Phillips or Josh Phelps?  Why that would be like replacing Paul O'Neill in rightfield with a platoon of Shane Spencer and John Vanderwal and trading for a moody overpriced Raul Mondesi to replace them... oh wait they already did do that, whoops.

A-Rod and Jeet: Oh heavens there's no more sleepovers?  Who did all of you guys in the media think they were exactly Bert and Ernie?  They aren't openly trashing eachother and as long as they both produce, just leave it alone.

Mariano Rivera: Still no contract extension.  Kind of like the Boston Red Sox still have no closer.  It's incredible how Mo never says a peep, pitches through injury, gets worn out by Torre when the Yankees have a taxed bullpen and the Yankees won't budge on giving him an extension.  Tell me how it is that Mo was the tenth highest paid Yankee last season and now that he's asking for an extension the Yankees won't guarantee loyalty back?  Mo isn't worth more than Mike Mussina and Jason Giambi?  Not worth more than an un-proven Igawa?  Don't tell me he's too old or has a tender elbow because that didn't stop you from paying gobs of money to Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano, Kyle Farnsworth and Steve Karsay.  Ask yourself if Mo is worth $50 million over the next two years as you reach into your endless pockets to pay 45 year old Roger Clemens to pitch three months of five inning baseball for half of that this season. 

Carl Pavano and Mike Mussina: So already Pavano says he has heavy legs after running sprints huh?  Well perhaps if Pavano put down the gun and ski mask he wears everytime he picks up a paycheck from the Yankees, it would significantly help his cause.  Who could blame Mussina or anyone for blasting this guy? 

Phil Hughes: I've said it before and will say it again, Phil Hughes should be the Yankees 4th or 5th starter this season.  Tell me right now as of this moment who is better suited than Hughes to slide into one of those two rotation spots?  It seems to me that the Yankees never want to give "their guys" a shot, though recent history would prove them wrong on Hughes.  In 1996 rookie Derek Jeter took over for the injured and horrible signing of Tony Fernandez.  In 2005 Robinson Cano took over for another terrible signing in Tony Womack and in that same season Chien Ming Wang stepped in for injured and putrid signings Pavano and Wright.  And in 2006 Melky Cabrera stepped in and probably made the Yankees wish they hadn't overspent on Hideki Matsui or Johnny Damon.  Thus when one looks to the 2007 season, Phil Hughes could be the star and saviour of this team far before anyone thinks.

Phil Hughes to me would be a much better option than Roger Clemens.  Didn't the Yankees learn from their dealings with Unit and ####?  How much worse could Hughes do than Rocket?  Even if the Yankees made Hughes their 5th starter and limited him to a pitch count of 85 or so and he gave them 5-6 innings, in my mind it would be a younger, cheaper just as effictive solution to their pitching staff.  What more is a 45 year old Clemens going to do other than come back to the American League and give the Yankees essentially what Randy Johnson did and maybe worse and get paid a gazillion dollars to be a five inning pitcher with a 5.00 ERA?  This is a perfect spot for Hughes, he'll have less pressure as the 5th starter, they'll be able to groove him into the rotation at a steady pace and he'll undoubtadely infuse some youth and energy into the staff, just as his rotation-mates did once upon a time in Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang.