Salvation comes from within...

This is the top terrible idea of all terrible ideas - I was reading a short story by Drew Silva on MSNBC.com here where he notes that David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, who is now a free agent, would be open to joining the New York Yankees next year. All I have to say is: no, no, no, no, NO. And not because he's been on the BoSox for years.

The Yankees, over the last 10 years or so, have fallen into the terrible habit of collecting aging, fading former superstars with exhorbitant price tags in an effort to recapture World Series glory. They've traded away young, promising players, stopped nurturing the young guys in their farm system, forgetting that in their 1990s hey day, it was guys like Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, young guys with the potential to be future superstars, who made it all possible. The Yankees got greedy and decided they needed a championship every year - they couldn't wait to patiently groom young players to take over those important future leadership roles. But I have two words to prove that the system works - Robinson Cano. The Yankees are doing it right with this guy - they waited for him to outgrow his green, lazy, sloppy days, they trained and taught him and pushed him and rewarded him, and now he is a phenomenal player with both talent AND heart, a rarity in the game, especially if you ask my boyfriend, who could be the team's leader in a few years when Jeter and Rivera and Posada are gone. That's the way it should be done. That's what the Yankees should be doing with other players, not just Cano. Ortiz has few good years left, and he's not even as good as he used to be.

Don't be tempted, Brian Cashman - he's not worth the few extra home runs he might get the team. I was watching The Shawshank Redemption last night and there are words of wisdom that apply to this situation perfectly: Salvation comes from within. Fading former superstars, no! Farm system, yes!