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Boston Now Ugliest Team in MLB History
The hot stove has been exceptionally thermogenic in the past week. The Yankees went out and traded for Curtis Granderson in a big three team deal with Detroit and Arizona. The Tigers picked up a bunch of cheap, young players while the Diamondbacks acquired some mid-rotation starters. But we don't care about baseball west of Eastern Standard Time. So let's talk about the Yankees.

New York gave up Phil Coke, Ian Kennedy, and Austin Jackson. Coke was useful in the pen last season but he had a couple of things working against him. One, while he could get lefties out, he had the scary tendency to give up home runs. Also, with Damaso Marte's rebirth and Michael Dunn already on the 40-man roster, he may have been redundant.

Ian Kennedy was part of the Big Three along with Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain but unlike the first two he hasn't had much success in the majors. He always struck me as at best a fourth starter (though I said the same thing about Jon Lester). He's done well in AAA but injuries and ineffectiveness have stopped him from breaking out in the bigs.

Finally, Austin Jackson was the top position player prospect in the Yankees' system before the start of this year. He's looked more like a decent major leaguer rather than a big time star. His power hasn't materialized in AAA and he's only getting on base at a .350 clip. On top of that catching prospect Jesus Montero has clearly eclipsed him as the best hitting prospect in the system. He didn't disappoint as much as Jose Tabata (included in the Marte/Nady deal) but, while much younger, it seems like Granderson is the best we could hope for with him.

Granderson is an exciting player. Like Nick Swisher in 2008 his 2009 was a step back. He's cheap for his output, has speed on the bases, hit 30 home runs last year and is above average in the outfield. If he's in center and Melky Cabrera's in left that's a solid outfield. Late innings with Granderson, Cabrera and Gardner will have a no fly ball hit guarantee (guarantee void in North America). I like the move. It puts pressure on Johnny Damon to sign, makes the Yankees younger and allows them to trade one of Cabrera or Gardner if they need to. I love the home grown guys but they're just around league average hitters with plus defense and, as we'll see in a bit, Boston is reloading. Granderson does have some issues hitting lefties.

Speaking of the Boston Red Sox, any team is going to be hard pressed to beat them next year now that they have the two ugliest men in baseball on their team. With John Lackey signed for 5 years and $82.5 million, Kevin Youkilis already uglying up the infield, and the Sox trading the rugged Latino looks of Mike Lowell there's no stopping Gritty Gutty Goatee Squad next year. I've always liked Mike Lowell so I'm glad to see him leave Boston, though his injuries are holding up the trade right now. On top of that the Sox signed Yankee blog "We should sign this guy" favorite Mike Cameron for two years. This means Jason Bay is probably not coming back. I hope that does not mean the Yankees sign him to DH for $16 million a year. The new "We should sign this guy" rumor on the Yankee blogs is Nick Johnson, which I would love. The Sox have a definite advantage in the rotation but the Yankees still have a much better lineup.

The biggest deal of the past week involved another three team trade sending Cliff Lee to Seattle and Roy Halladay to Philly. Toronto got a bunch of prospects and the Yankees and Sox got Roy f'in Halladay out of the American League East. Thank god, though now we'll have Lackey in the division. Halladay and Lackey have always been those guys who have just been bastards to face over the years. I respect-hate them. With Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee and a spectacular defense the Mariners could do some damage. I'll get to their competition, the Angels, in a second. Halladay is better than Lee but I wonder if he's worth the cost in prospects that the Phillies gave up. The bottom line is the Phillies still have big problems in their rotation. When you start Pedro Martinez in two out of six games against the Yankees and are afraid to start Cole Hammels on the road that screams "weak" to me.

As to the Angels, they resigned Bobby Abreu for 2 years and $19 million and scooped up Hideki Matsui on the cheap. I'm glad Abreu is still a productive guy. I was sorry to see Matsui go. I've loved watching him play since 2003. Among other things I'll remember his hitting in the 2003 ALCS, his horrible wrist injury in 2006, his MVP World Series in 2009, and that flip of the bat when he knew he hit one out. This was the right business decision but it hurts the fan in me. I'm sure Boston is feeling the same way about Mike Lowell. Although I don't think Mike Lowell's porn collection is in the same ballpark as Matsui's is rumored to be.

In other news, the Yankees dumped Brian Bruney on the Washington Nationals in exchange for the first pick in the Rule 5 draft. The Nationals chose Jamie Hoffmann for the Yankees, giving them more outfield depth. My friend at work joked that the Nationals should break the deal and select a terrible player for the Yankees. I replied that the joke would be on them because they would have Brian Bruney for $2 million a year. Bruney was picked up off the scrap heap in Arizona and had bouts of dominance in late 2006, early and late 2008 and early 2009. 2007 was a frustrating season for Bruney (and Yankees fans) as he couldn't maintain his control. In 2008 he came out on fire, got injured, missed most of the year, and came back to finish strong. In 2009 it was the same story but this time he couldn't regain his stuff. Inconsistency stopped him from ever being that 8th inning man his stuff could have allowed him to be. The Yankees were counting on him in 2009 and he couldn't maintain his spot in the pecking order. Phil Hughes eventually took over. Favorite memory: he called out K-Rod for being a showboating, overrated ass. Good luck, Bruney.

Though the Yankees are still trying to work out a deal, Chien-Ming Wang's career in New York may be over. This is another tough one to watch. Wang carried a terrible Yankees pitching staff with two straight 19 win seasons with sub-4.00 ERAs. Don't forget his 8-5 season in 2005 when he, along with Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small saved the Yankees from Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright. There were a lot of great games pitched since 2005. If not for the stupid National League rule that pitchers have to hit he might not have injured his foot in Houston in 2008. I wish him good luck where ever he ends up. Good luck, Wanger.
 
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