yankee thoughts yes everyone seems to be in agreement that the yankees are finally moving in the right direction they should finish over this year and maybe even be in the pennent race in august however i would take back a few moves the jim abbott trade i think abbott is not only an inspirational person but a great pitcher also he could win the cy young this year but he won t because the right side of the yanks infield isn t good enough so why was this not a good trade jt snow how many rookies have been able to step in and immediately have the impact that he has had so far on the angels i know it s early but if you ve seen this kid hit field or talk you can just tell that he is going to be a tremendous player the yanks should have kept him what about mattingly you ask well it s great that the yanks have taken care of him and remained loyal but he s years older than snow and just doesn t have the same bat speed as before his back injury it s a shame but as a yankee fan who wants to see the best yankee team i d take snow over mattingly at first the yanks also gave up two promising propects with snow for abbott besides with domingo jean brien taylor wickman militello and sterling hitchcock they are just loaded with propects i know abbotts only but this was too much to give up i believe george forced this trade because he believes and he s right that abbott will be a big hit in ny however i d like to see the yankees build a baseball team not an amusement show wade boggs i live in boston and like wade a lot but his career is winding down and i would rather see the yanks start to develop a long term solution i e hensley muelins russ davis velarde besides wade just doesn t have any range what a shame about charlie hayes huh spike owen see wade boggs i d much rather see them develop dave silvestri or whoever wade and spike next to each other in the infield is going to raise the yankee staff era point and these guys are on the down sides of their careers danny tartabull yes he s put up some tremendous numbers and it s nice to think about what he could do if he were ever healthy all year but he never is we should expect games max out of him meanwhile gerald williams is playing at columbus and paul o neil is playing left field i believe o neil led nl outfielders in assists last year and tartabull is a poor defensive outfielder what i m basically getting at is the yanks are moving in the right direction but are not ready to win a pennent this year they should at the gm level be planning for a or world series this means getting the younger players experience in the majors now so they will be ready in a year or two i m afraid that all this stuff wreaks of george steinbrenner certainly the boggs deal was all george it looks like george is planning the right mix of veterans and young players to win a world series now the veterans are always available and can be added at any time like boston did this year develop the young players first then add the one or two veterans or in the yankees case just keep them let s all us yankee fans hope that george doesn t dismantle the terrific job stick and company have done building the yankee organization back into one of respect i m really afraid that he will trade whoever it takes to patch holes today relief pitching for example george must realize that the yankees rebuilding process is still one or two years away have patience george and we will all enjoy the future fire bucky and trade the kids and it s baseball hell for all loyal yankee fans for a long time sam i m not militello or millitello mandelbaum
