U-N-I-T-Bye

It seems somewhat official this morning that Randy Johnson is now done as a member of the Yankees. He seems to be returning to the Diamondbacks for two years and $26 million, which is about ten dollars per year he's been alive. In exchange, the Yankees are picking up Luis Vizcaino and a couple of minor leaguers. Vizcaino should be servicable out of the bullpen, and the Yankees can safely say that the did some major restocking of their upper-eschelons of minor league talent this off-season. Getting rid of Sheffield, Jaret Wright, and Johnson for a boatload of prospects seems anathema to the Yankee approach for the last half-decade. They're getting rid of established, "name" players and taking on prospects? Madness. Madness.

Actually, this is probably good for both the Yankees AND the Red Sox. In the short term- the window of this year and probably next year, this is good for the Sox. Randy Johnson, despite a sub-standard 2006 and an ongoing surly attitude in NYC, was due for a major bounceback year. I haven't read anyone (any reliable projection system, that is) that thinks the Yankees have a pitcher that would have been better than the Unit in 2007. Not Mussina. Not Wang. Not Philip Hughes. Not Pavano. As far as the Sox are concerned, the Yankees traded away their ace. And that, my friends, is good news for Curt Schilling and the Sox as they go into his final year.

For the Yankees, this moves makes them younger and cheaper with greater upside in the future. Now, I don't really know what relevance "getting cheaper" is to the Yankees. They're opening their new stadium in 2008 or 2009, complete with the machine that prints $10,000 bills with Steinbrenner's face on it up in the owner's box behind home plate. I know it must suck having to pay the luxury tax, paying other teams for the privelege of crushing them in the regular season. But honestly, even with these moves, money is not, and will not be, an issue. My guess is that Cashman just wants to prove to the other GMs that he can be as smart as they are without spending double, triple or quadruple what they're spending.

While we're speculating on the motives of strangers, let me say that I'm pretty tired of the Roger Clemens speculation. All the New York papers, and several others, are saying that now that the Unit is gone, the Yankees have the inside track on signing Roger for all or part of 2007. After all, he loved playing for Joe Torre, and heck, Andy Pettitte is back in pinstripes, why not Roger? The Sox, of course, believe that because Clemens started out in Boston and is currently tied with Cy Young at the top of the all-time Sox wins list, he'd like to come back, have some closure, and take the crown from Cy Young. The Astros, meanwhile, think that Roger will ultimately decide to stay home again and pitch Sundays for Houston. After all, his son is a lousy prospect in the Astros' low minors! I grow weary.

My point is: nobody knows nothin'. We don't know what is in Roger's head, or the head of his wife, or all of his K-children. We do know that he's got an open invitation to join ANY of these teams, and money is not really a concern with any of them, or with him. I'd be very surprised if it came down to some sort of financial bidding war between the Yankees and the Sox. Roger doesn't need the money, and both of the teams have too much dignity to engage that. Even Pettitte, who is supposed to be Clemens' best friend, has no idea what he's going to do. So enough with these speculative articles handicapping his ultimate location. Sure, it would be nice if he ended up here (though our rotation is looking pretty solid even without him), or even in Houston for one more go. It would sort of suck if he ended up back with the Yankees, because that would make them a bit better, at least for the couple of months he's there. But it's not like coming to Boston or NYC would guarantee either Roger or the team one last title. It's just so much silliness.

So here's my prediction: Even going into the season, nobody will know where Clemens will be playing come June. When he finally decides, one team will be happy, though 40% of that team's fan base will think the team is overpaying him; one team will be upset that they didn't try harder to get him; and the third team, like the rest of the world, will sigh and say "Whatever. Let's move on, shall we?"

Let's move on, shall we?