Various media sources are reporting the New York Yankees have acquired Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros to be their DH.
This is clearly in reaction to the Phillies acquiring Roy Oswalt, as they don’t want to look as though they did nothing during the trade deadline, while the Phillies vastly upgraded their team.
They say that the only reason the trade has not gone through are the MLB rules that a team must wait 24 hours until after a player with a 10-and-5 player, someone who has spent 10 years in the league, the last five with one team waives his NTC.
By trading Berkman and Oswalt in the last few days, there is absolutely no question what mode the Astros are in. They are sellers and they are committed to it, which is great, but the sad thing is that they could not get a big name prospect because of Berkman’s large salary, and so were perfectly happy to get rid of it.
The Steinbrenners approved the acquisition of a large salary because it was what their father would have done, why mess with success? This shows that even with the death of George Steinbrenner the Yankees will continue their free spending ways, and as well they should. Hopefully the sons some day put their own stamp on the organization but for now it will be run the way the Boss would want it.
By adding Berkman the Yankees get a beast of a DH, even though the Yankees have a solid offense. We all know the glowing things I want to say about Berkman. So let’s just get to the Yankees.
The Yankees already boast one of the best, if not the best offense in the MLB. In terms of runs scored, they are number one, fifth in homeruns, fourth in batting average, and sixth in hits. Did they really need to add another bat to their lineup? Is this just the envy that the Blue Jays have way more homeruns? Your guess is as good as mine.
However, when you look at the Yankees pitching, a different story emerges. They are ninth in ERA. Not bad but not great, which is what you need to compete with playoff teams and we all know the Yankees only care about the playoffs. They are also fifth in WHIP, which is phenomenal considering they play in Yankee Stadium but only fifteenth in saves and they have the Sandman, Mariano Rivera!
Say what you want, the Yankees clearly needed pitching more than they needed the offense they get from Lance Berkman. I guess they just thought the price on Berkman was great. So if you have a great deal why plug your holes with a mediocre one?
In the end, I think they should have gone after Oswalt and Lee harder and try to get something done there. A lot of complaints is that after Sabathia, and Pettite but after that the pitchers just tail off. They should upgrade their pitching in my opinion, even if that comes at the price of part of their offense.
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