Long term this is probably the best of the three signings for the Yanks and certainly strikes a blow to the Red Sox plans.  However I am not all that upset about the Sox losing out given the combination of per year price and length. 

Boston gets to save some money, make a few trades and FA signing to fill in the holes in their roster and if necessary be can seek players in the June/July market.  In a strange way I may appreciate the upcoming season more if they are vying for the AL East or WC with more home grown talent than FAs and I will certainly enjoy rooting against the Yankees more than ever.

Lastly - I am still amazed that the Yankees can spend money they way they do and ask for financial assistance in building their new ballpark.  I think that is what bothers me more than anything else, not the Red Sox losing out on a FA but the fleecing of NY taxpayers.  I only hope they’re all Yankee fans or it will really hurt watching your tax dollars support the ‘Evil Empire’.

Woody, what does “class” have to do with anything here?  And what does signing a ballplayer have to do with class at all?

Yeah, there’s really nothing to do with class here.  It’s just business.  The Yankees have money and have been successful taking money from taxpayers (what the heck is the city of NY thinking?), so they get the big names. 

What I think is interesting is that even though this makes them better, it doesn’t make them prohibitive favorites.  I think they’ll still wind up in a dogfight with Boston and Tampa for the AL East.

“At this point they should just sign Manny too.”

I believe, they can’t. There is a provision that you can only sign 3 type A FAs.

This raises the question where Manny will end up, because the Yankees are out, BSox are out, Angels are out. This only leaves the Dodgers. Why would Boras hurt his own client like this?

Attanasio is lobbying publicly for a cap.

Seems to me the Yankees still have a problem with infield defense, especially on the left side.  Big Teix better give them a lot more offense than he’s put out in the past to overcome that.

Am I missing something here? Why is everyone complaining about public FINANCING? Don’t people know the difference between financing and funding? These are loans we are talking about - loans that will charge interest. These loans will be sold off to investors because the interest will accrue tax-free. How, pray tell, does that have anything to do with cuts to healthcare and education?