Hey Mr. Steinbrenner: How to Fix the Yankees Pt. 1

Lets face it, the Yankees will not make the postseason for the first time since '95. As of August 31st, they are 11.5 back of Tampa in the east and seven back in the wild card.

Hank Steinbrenner has already written off this season and put the blame on injuries. That's an excuse. The reality is that the Yankees are a team filled with overpaid, aging former stars that are in recession, but are still making millions of dollars a year.

Mr. Steinbrenner is clearly blind to the fact that his team is one of the worst offensive teams in baseball. Their lineup is the highest paid in baseball, yet they leave 5-8 runners in scoring position a game. Their is no such thing as " Clutch Hitting" for the Yankees this year.

Next season they will free up $80 million in cap room with the departure of Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte and Carl Pavano. I'll will be happy to see those guys leave.

Jason, despite turning it on in June, showed that it was all a fluke by playing tremendously bad after the All-Star break. He has been the Yankees most and least clutch player this season. Every now and again he will tie the game like he did vs. Boston last week.

But it seems like there are more days that he goes 0-5 with three K's and a GDP. He also can't hit for contact, which I can't stand in baseball. Giambi has an option of $22 million that the team can pick up for the 2009 season, but if they were smart (or watched any games this season) they would realize that spending that kind of money on a declining player is of no benefit to the team.

Andy is making $16 million this season, and would likely command the same salary in 2009. He has said that he wants to play in the new Yankee stadium, but if it were up to me, I wouldn't bring him back. His on and off pitching has been a problem all season.

Right now Pettitte is 13-10 with a 4.37 ERA. Those are numbers you would expect from a fourth or fifth starter, not someone who is supposed to be one of your aces. The Yankees and their fans like Andy, so despite his numbers this season they will likely try to bring him back to pitch in the new Yankee Stadium.

Carl..Carl..Carl. He's already collected $30 million dollars the past three years for being on the DL. That's about all there is to say on that subject.

The first thing the Yankees need to establish is that they wont give players more money just because they have the means to pay the big contracts. They should give smaller contracts to players, especially the older ones that won't be playing two to three years from now. If they give more then $10 million to Andy Pettitte, it's a waste because he never is sure if he can commit to playing for more than a year.

Second, they should stick with their homegrown players instead of trying to sign free agents. The Yankees have a terrific CF prospect in Austin Jackson. It is unlikely he will see any playing time until 2010 when the contracts of Johny Damon and Hideki Matsui are up.

With an off season prediction, stick around for part two coming tomorrow.