New York Yankees: What I Like (and Don't Like) About This Year's Team

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

I do like the fact that he asked for the ball, and he had dogged determination to win the games that he pitched. Free agency be damned in his quest for the Brewers playoff hopes. That's respectable. Lord knows the Yankees need more guys on their team like that!

Another thing I don't like about the CC deal is his contract. If he pitches great, and I hope does, he can opt out after three years! He has the Yankees over the barrel on this one. If he's a bust or gets hurt, he doesn't have to opt out at all. Yikes!

Another thing I like about the Yankees in 2009 is the fact they wised up and signed Andy Pettitte. I also like that he doesn't have the steroid admission/guilt hanging over his head like he did last year.

Honestly, the guy should have won 18 games in 2007 and he just seemed off for the start of the year last year. Now, he can breathe in the fresh air and not worry about that stuff anymore.

He still could get called to put his old teammate, Roger Clemens, in a tough spot if he goes to trial. Let's all hope that when Clemens gets indicted for perjury, and he'll get indicted, that it happens next year.

Plus, it would have been stupid for the Yankees to try to save a few million after they committed over 400 million dollars in free agency in the offseason. This deal basically was insurance if one of the starters go down.

You could tell Cashman didn't want to throw Kennedy and Hughes into the fire like he did at this time last year.

The deal with Pettitte is mutualistic at best! Pettitte gets a great contract, gets more money if he hits his incentives and the Yankees have the depth they need at the front end and back end of their rotation now.

Even if two of the starters go down, they still have Hughes and Kennedy that could step up for a few games. No, Igawa probably won't see the mound for the Bombers this year. Thank God; he sucks!

This deal with Pettitte really was like a good one night stand: You get yours, they get theirs, and at the end of the day, they can leave one another after the season is over. Very little commitment is involved here and the Yankees need as much of that right now as they can get.

Here's something I don't like about the Yankees in 2009: their defense. Jeter is spotty, and that's kind. Matsui is a corpse in the outfield with knee troubles. Damon can't throw at all and Cano is consistently lazy. You also know that teams are going to test Posada's repaired shoulder to see if it can still hold up.

Although, if A-Rod is healthy he's a great third baseman and Mark Teixeira is a great first baseman. Brett Gardner can run like the wind and they do have a modicum of depth because of Nick Swisher. Overall, still, they're not great on defense.

Another thing I like about the Yankees in 2009 is the lineup. (Even though I'm not nuts about it now that Matsui is there and Manny isn't.)

I think the Yankees should have taken a page out of the Tigers' book and DFA Matsui. I know he's a great hitter when healthy, that just seems rare now these days. Plus, Matsui is going to be a sitting duck on the base paths that will clog everything up!

I do like the fact that Jeter and Damon are leading off. Double plays will be a lot harder to come by now that Damon, with great speed still, can run out of a lot of double plays. I also love Mark Teixeira batting third once A-Rod comes back.

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