Zell's Pinstripe Blog

With the Yankees brass finished with their internal scouting meetings and their soon to be budget meetings, it only means one thing. Time for the Yankees to go shopping, sort of. While they will most likely keep their focus on their own free agents, Joe Girardi hinted towards someone specific. Girardi hinted at the possibility that the Yankees are interested in adding John Lackey to an already stellar top pair in CC and AJ. Indications are that Lackey would be looking for a contract in the realm of AJ Burnett’s $52 million. Lackey turned 31 this fall, so he likely would be looking for a deal in and around 5 years (or so) and probably wouldn’t get more than that.

However, it is highly unlikely that the Yankees are going to go out and pay close to half a billion dollars on free agents this year, which is a good thing for the rest of baseball.

If the Yankees go out and acquire Lackey, I would rule out the possibility they would mortgage the Stadium send a few their younger stars to Toronto for Roy Halladay, however that would leave the possibility of the Red Sox turning around and acquiring Halladay.

All things considered, I would stay close enough in the hunt for Halladay and the proceedings for Lackey, so if the Red Sox were to pull the trigger on either one of these players, the Yankees could effectively neutralize their rivals deal with their own. Plus, if you seemed interested in long enough, theoretically the Yankees could drive up the asking price. If I were the GM, I would go for a younger (only by a year) Lackey because in the end it only costs a draft pick and not Joba or Phil plus a top rated prospect. Yes, Halladay is better, however he is closer to his ‘decline’ phase and in the end would cost more in prospects and in money. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to add Halladay, but I’d go with Lackey for previously said reasons.