Thoughts on Santana, and what I’m interested in about o8′ Yankees.

Well thanks God! The Santana talk can finally end. In my opinion, this was probably the best case scenario for the Yankees. We get to keep our youngsters, Santana is kept away from Boston, and he leaves the American League. He can do anything now for all I care. Whew. Congrats Mets fans. But I must add that for those Mets fans that think that they have automatically won the World Series…the NL West, Phillies, and the AL would kindly beg to differ.

Last night I was thinking about certain Yankees who’s performance and progress I’m really interested in for 2008. Here’s a list of um’.

1- Joe Girardi; no brainer. This is gonna be a year long story. If the Yankees start slowly out of the gate, he’ll be mulled. But that’s not how I’ll personally judge him. It’ll be clear in other ways too. The players reactions, body language, his handling of the media…etc. I think eventually Girardi will ‘get it’.

2- Phil Hughes; there was, much to my pleasure, a very strong reaction to Hughes’ name being tossed around in potential trades. Now he will have to back up that confidence we’ve all put in him…shame on those Yankees fans that want him to pitch better than Santana. Word of advice- don’t take your Santana anger out on Hughes…he was in the package, the Twins were looking for something else. A bunch of fans who have spoken in favor of Hughes are ones with my own kind of thinking. I think Phil Hughes will improve. I think he’ll start becoming more and more comfortable with the Yankees. His arm will get stronger, and so will his state of mind. He showed us shades of his brillience in September and even in October- what’s next?? I hope to GOD he stays healthy though.

3- Chien Ming Wang- I am a Wang fan. I wasn’t expecting the brillience with which he won us 38 games in the past 2 seasons. At the same time, I was starting to feel that Wang was mentally very strong. Maybe that was just people hyping up his Olympic appearences for Taipei, or his poker face, whatever! But where did that mental toughness and ability to perform go during his 2 starts this postseason?! He was terrible. That’s putting it mildly. He’s basically the same pitcher as Fausto Carmona, but man…yikes. I wanna see him continue his regular season success and come through in the postseason as well! Maybe he’ll develop a reliable changeup. He can be amazing. He can be like Brandon Webb, even better. I know it’s there, he’s shown it too..just a little more tweaking left. I am hoping he does that in 2008. He had a great relationship with Gator, lets see what youngster-specialist Dave Eiland can do for Wang.

4- Melky Cabrera- I think of him very highly. I know he’s a terrific player defensively and with him in CF, I feel great. But I was surprised that many fans think he’s also gonna be a very well rounded hitter one day as well. They think he can go .280, 15HRs, 85RBI one day…I wanna see if 2008 is the year he becomes more well rounded. I hope it is because I really like him. And since we’ve locked up Cano for 4 more years, I wanna see his best friend be good enough to stick around that long too. If you don’t know it already- these two are like bagel and creamcheese.

5- Hideki Matsui- Statistically I have should have no complaints with Godzilla. He’s averaged 100 rbis with the Yankees every season, he’ll always hit .290 or better..but something has dissappeared since the end of the 2004 season. He used to have better stats against LHP. He was more clutch. I had even heard Red Sox fans say that they hate facing him. But the OBP has dropped, and he makes outs with those weak grounders to 2nd like crazy. He swings at pitches in the dirt, K’s looking weak…ugh. Idk, but I want more from Hideki next season. more passion, hustle, and more clutch.

6- Alex Rodriguez- another statistical God. What could I possibly  want from A-Rod? Well after 2 MVPs, booing, post-season chocking, wife-cheating, unjustifiable Opt-outs while his team’s biggest rival is about to sweep-win the World Series…and a 10 year contract…I want a ring. i want postseason ownage of opposing teams. I want him to be a one man show. I want A-Rod to be a God of clutch perfection…too much? I think not. It’s a good deal. Hey Alex, you get your HR record, $275 million, endorsements, attention…now us Yankees fans want World Series wins!

7- Mike Mussina; I’m always interested in what he’ll do. He’s my favorite pitcher besides Rivera. Shocked? You probably are. Yankees fans hate the moose. Afterall, he arrived, World Series rings stopped coming. So that must mean he’s cursed. Also, he chokes, he whines, so why should I be a fan of his? *rollseyes* Anyway in all seriousness, this is his contract year, last season was horrible…and I wanna see him rock this year and stick it to you Moose haters.

Well this is all for now- remember, 15 days until Yankees pitchers and catchers report.