The Panic Button

So after the fun and games of the Josh Beckett trade, the big question is now whether or not the panic button will be pressed in the Yankees head office and they trade everyone for someone. This is an interesting time to see whether or not Cash is in charge or whether he is still just the front man for George and his boys.

I like Buster Olney's article over at ESPN.com. He basically says that the Yanks aren't going to get mad and will concentrate on making the right moves for both the 2006 season and beyond, something which I would be very happy with as this Yankee team isn't that far away from being pretty good already.

A line-up that includes Jeter, A-Rod, Sheff, Matsui and Giambi will always score runs. Add to that the growth of Robinson Cano as a hitter (still not sold on his D) then you have six players that start the year with a chance of going to the All-Star game, the line-up pretty much takes care of itself. We have a hole in CF but if we can get a guy who can catch a ball and look decent at the plate then that is fine by me.

The rotation looks set as far as numbers go. We haven't seen the best of either Carl Pavano nor Jaret Wright due to injury problems. Randy Johnson might well be better after getting a year in the Bronx under his belt. Mussina will return and then you have Chien-Ming Wang and Shawn Chacon. Wright looks set to be the odd man out and move to the pen if no moves are made and although that isn't a great rotation that we've seen in the past, it is good enough.

We have to look at the pen and that is what I am sure the Cash is working on. BJ Ryan looks set to go off and close somewhere but with arms like Bob Howry, Arthur Rhodes and Brandon Looper all available then there are options to be explored. Of course the Flash situation is important as bringing him back would be huge for us but we already have the nucleus of a pretty good ball club should we avoid serious injuries so there is no need to panic.

Now we'll see who is really in charge.