Wonder what number he'll choose.

No surprise here. He still has a home on Long Island. Perfect fit for the team. Buys time to develop a new core.

Good.

Been wanting him since, well, a long time.

Welcome aboard, Carlos, this makes me happy.

Irrationally so, maybe, but still ...

Still one of the most underrated players, maybe ever.

Alex, you know I'm a Cardinals fan, so as long as he stats healthy, I know you'll enjoy watching him hit as much as I did over the last two years.

As far as the dough: cost of doing this business.

I'm sorry but Beltran, Ellsbury and McCann maybe make the lineup better but I'd STILL rather watch Cano. I guess my fandom at this point is less about 'winning it all' and rather the little things. Mo's perfect delivery, Robbie's beautiful swing, Jeter's inside-out single to right, A-Rod's..well, his still perfect power swing when he has it.

Beltran: fabulous player, but yet another old outfielder.

Tight outfield, no? Filling out the lineup card may get tricky, if a few dudes start getting hot @ once....

Robbie does have a great swing and he's aesthetically one of the smoothest players I've ever seen. Like watching him field, watching him swing. Beautiful. And while I'll miss him I think the one cool thing here is that he'll remain frozen for us as that graceful player. He won't have to age in pinstripes. Not saying that's an even tradeoff for losing him, but still…

And I too have pined for Beltran in the BX for a long time. Losing Cano hurts. They also lose Hughes. But retain Hiroki and ink Beltran, McCann and Ellsbury. Are at a projected $177 (if Rodriguez is suspended) and still money to play with. How about another starter, Grant Balfour, and another infielder.

5) Also, the three old outfielders--Sori, Beltran and Ichi--are balanced by Ellbury and Gardner.

[5] I agree with you (OMG!!!)...psrt of the little things for me is actually following a player in pinstripes over the arc of his career, ideally someone who came up through the minors. I know that this is not a Yankee thing, but they do occasionally produce "homegrown" talent. Is it a coincidence that three of the four players you list were "homegrown"?

So watching the Yankees lay out money for yet another old player to plug yet another hole just doesn't get me all that excited (though Beltran will probably work out, and he does make the team better for next year).

[7] But this to me is kinda dull. I far prefer to see players age...I'm not hung up on watching them only at the peak of their career. I love watching Hiroki pitch, but I have little emotional attachment to him. I know we were spoiled by the core of young players developed in the 1990s, which won't soon be repeated. But I feel like the Yankees are some sort of parody of themselves: signing a grab bag of 30-something players to fill in at almost every position, all the while hoping that one of their big name stars gets suspended so they can sign some more players. But hey, they've developed Gardner and Robertson!!!

And we all know deep down inside that, now, Gardner is going to be traded.

Beli! Finally...

300-300!!!

(7) I think, hasn't Robertson proved himself worthy of the closer role? Balfour's good, but is he that vast an improvement that we shouldn't direct that money towards a SP? I feel like Davey's gonna start feeling bad about himself, what with the Rafael Soriano thing and then maybe this...

Love what they're doing. Spending wisely. Getting young- wait, WHAT?!?

I love this deal!

I love everything that happened in baseball today. Sure, losing Cano hurts. But a 10/240 deal would've hurt worse. MUCH worse.

So big win in my opinion today. Big.

10) I here you. I guess I see the 90s as an anomaly and just know this as the Yankee way. True he hasn't been here long but I just really love Kuroda.

You know, I guess this is good, I like the guy and all, but my first association with him will always be that backwards K.

Beltran may never get the chance to become a "True Yankee", given his age, and this team's myriad weaknesses, but dammit, if what should have happened, happened, the story of this last decade would likely have been written very differently ...

[18] Well, it does look like the Yankees are trying build the OF around players they should have or wished they could have signed a decade earlier.

Beltran is probably the only player in baseball I am unable to think about in terms of baseball. In addition to the Yanks, I'm also an Astros fan. Nine years ago, Beltran was traded to the Astros and I was so happy to hear the news. An hour later I went home and got a phone call that my dad had died. So every time I see Beltran's name, I think about that night.

(And a week and a half later was the 'Jeter into the stands play'. If my dad had been alive to see that, he would have talked about it for months.)

Anyway, seems like a good deal. Just three years at not too terribly high per year. Beltran should be worth it unless he breaks a leg on the first turn.

I have to wonder how much of the Cano decision is based on how long insurers are willing to cover on a player's contract. I remember this being a big issue in the late 1990s when some pitchers (Petey? Brown?) were getting big 7-year contracts and breaking down around 3-4 years in. Insurers were unhappy and that affected the contracts teams were willing to offering to pitchers.

[20] (That's poignant, thanks for sharing it.)

I just read somewhere---maybe RLYW---that the Yankees are actually at $187 million right now even assuming A-Rod escapes suspension. If this is true, I will have to give the organization credit for cobbling together what appears to be a more credible team than last season's fiasco AND avoiding the luxury tax.

Gardner is (I believe) eligible for arbitration this year, so that could push the budget up some. But I have a strong feeling Gritner is a goner. In fact, I'll go out on a short limb and predict the Yankees trade Gardner for Phillips on the condition that the Reds pay Phillips entire salary this year (the Yankees eat the rest), just to get them under budget.

[5] I also can't get past it. As a fellow lefty, his swing was love at first sight. And I still can't get past the sense that we traded Cano for Ellsbury, which, argh, no. I know there were more years, but I'm not really thinking past a seven year horizon at this point in my life, anyway, so what do I care about the back of the back end?

Robbie could be maddening, but his offense versus other second baseman and his remarkable defensive prowess - it still seems like an enormous loss. And if they could have re-signed him for $200 after signing Ellsbury... strength up the middle, with McCann, Cano, Ellsbury. I'm still feeling very empty and beat up over this.

Robbie also had absurd range on balls hit in between the infield and outfield. I'll be thinking of him every time one of those drops in.

We may end up regretting that third year... but for now good I suppose.

I worry though... all these pick ups are nice. And I actually think assuming we get someone to play 2b (infante?) and some of our returning guys (Tiex, jeter) play ok....we will be ok without Cano offensively.

But what about pitching? Im all for giving some of the young guns a shot... but with tanaka looking less likely we really more than anything need a good SP imo.

Robbie was a joy to watch, at the plate and in the field. It hurts to lose him.

But it's probably for the best. Signing second basemen past age 32 or so usually doesn't work out very well.

Braves and Reds fans are now dreaming of offloading their second basemen on the Yankees.

Beltran. Meh. Does nothing for me.

Jay-Z and his music should be banned from the Stadium.

Seattle is a place great players escape from and good players go to die.

RIP Robbie Cano.

[7] Yup. Infante. Balfour. Meh.

As for Yankee 2B with range, anyone have a problem with Willie. Yankees seem to get infielders with arms.

If they can't fleece somebody in a trade for Gardner, they should keep him as insurance. Our corner outfielders are ancient. Keep Gardner. Mark my words. Do not trade Gardner.

I wonder if Omar Vizquel would be willing to play 2nd base. 3 years for 21 million?

[29] True dat.

Am I the only one who feels that while baseball players should be paid fairly; it is us fans who foot the bill. $200+ seats at the ballparks; higher prices for the goods and services we buy because companies are compelled to buy advertising at ever increasing rates on the media that broadcast the games. The Yankees make most of their profit on the YES Network; but now FOX has a 50% stake (the sale netting billions for the Steins and other minority owners). It's a not so brave new world, but people have and will increasingly be turned off by the game because of the constant marketing beam they are subjected to. The MLB baseball bubble might burst soon...

Beltran always wanted to be a Yankee so right now, I think that it is cool that he got his wish.

My big conclusion from all this is that if Robbie had been on a different team prior to becoming a free agent, the Yankees would have happily overpaid and/or given him too many years. I don't know how else to explain it. Also, JZ is a dick.

And no way they trade Gardner. Those other, older "outfielders" are actually DHs, mostly.

[31] Not only that...much of it is paid by people who don't even like baseball.

Sports is the most expensive item on the cable menu. Everyone pays for ESPN, but only 1 out of 5 households watch it.

If "a la carte" ever becomes the law of the land, it's going to be brutal for sports.

[31] I agree completely. Look at the numbers and you see a game declining in popularity. That will ultimately be good for the game.

[30] Hahahahahahahah!!

[29] Mucho true dat. Raking is nice, but outielders gotta outfield. Make fun of Gritner all you like, but I feel good with him out on patrol. And I like keeping speed on the team.

As for Robbie, there's only one winner here: the Safeco ticket office. The Yankees will miss him. He'll be miserable. His contract is the black hole that will keep Seattle from building a balanced team.

Can't help but think though: If chasing a playoff spot in a walk year wasn't enough motivation for Cano to run out grounders, what will career security and competitive meaninglessness do for his approach?

[31]

I have to disagree in part. As in if the players got less salary, do you really think ownership is going to just cut ticket prices and take less money?

The 'problem' isnt that baseball players are taking the working guys money and earning more than they should. Its that the sports market is so warped that a game generates billions in revenue.

Your choice isnt between the players having huge salaries or cheaper ticket prices. Your choice is between the players having huge salaries or the owners pocketing even MORE money.

In a case of two 'evils' I would rather see the money go to the players who actually play the game than the owners.

Frankly, I would rather see player salaries significantly higher, as if you look at the amount of revenue going to the owners versus the players its still unbalanced to the owners.

[38] I agree with your disagreement. Prolly the only thing that will bring back normalcy is if fans turn their backs in significant numbers. But we love baseball, I can watch little league, but there is something about this game when played at the highest level.

Like anything else; when the greedy (I mean owners, sponsors, agents; not players) push it for their personal wealth to impossible places that can't sustain, a correction always happens.

[39] Why exclude players from the greedy? They're just as greedy, even if one concedes they are more deserving to benefit from the huge profits.

The entire industry will continue to pocket more and more so long as fans continue to pay for it, either directly or indirectly. I agree that there is something about the game played at the highest level. The question is, how much are you willing to shell out for it? I for one stopped a couple years ago directly subsidizing MLB. I won't pay the silly ticket prices (especially at newer, flashier, smaller Yankee Stadium), I won't pay for MLB.tv, I won't pay extra on my cable to get YES, I won't buy the merchandise.

I still follow MLB, and still in particular the Yankees, but much less closely with each passing year.

[33] And no way they trade Gardner. Those other, older "outfielders" are actually DHs, mostly.

This is the organization that intentionally went out and added Vernon Wells. I'm not sure they evaluate OFs the same way the rest of us do.