"TEX" message to Yank fans: "She's the Boss". "Starting NYNE" predicted Yankees would land slugger

The recent Texeira signing was seen a surprise by many. Most pundits had him going to Boston. But we at The Starting NYNE did not. On our show on December 21 we said to keep an eye on the Yankees and 2 days later the Yanks swooped in. Check out the link below to listen to the cut from that show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzBbdna_6ro

You can also listen to the whole show by clicking on http://www.sportsradiony.com/
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On Tuesday, Mark and Leigh Teixeira got the full treatment. The Yanks rolled out the red carpet, broke out the carving stations, prime rib, and caviar, called the florists , polished the silverware and brought out the Steinbrenner family china for yet another press conference announcing the signing of their third premium free agent this off season. The pinstripe Front office has now committed over $ 420 million dollars in Free agent contracts thus far this off season. Hooray for the rich! Poverty sucks.

Bad Economy? What bad economy? "Thank God for Tax exempt bonds or I would really have to work at finding these guys" Brian Cashman had to be thinking yesterday as he handed a bouquet of roses to Leigh Teixeira, Mark’s wife. BTW-When did it become fashionable to start seeing wives receiving gifts for showing up at press conferences?

During the entire process Boston and Anaheim were seen as the two likely spots for Teixeira to call home for the foreseeable future.The Sox even took John Henry’s private plane to Texas to talk with the slugger while Brina Cashman was taking a commercial flight to visit CC Sabathia in California to convince the big south paw to take the 166 million over 7 years- "we’re not the Red Sox" quipped Cash when asked to compare the Yanks and Sox traveling accommodations.
In the end it appears that the Sox flight to Texas was a waste of time. As Teixeira said yesterday, "in the back of my mind the Yankees were always on top". The Sox visited Teixeira on December 18. IN his press conference, Tex said that two weeks before Christmas his wife had told him she wanted him to be a Yankee- so the trip to Texas is now seen by many Sox fans as another opportunity for Scott Boras to pit the Sox vs, The Yankees in a bidding war.

Even with the signing of the big three can we call the Yankees the favorites to go to the World Series this year? To this writer’s eye the Yankees still have pitching questions to answer- the bullpen is not a lock – will Joba start or set up? Who are the 4th and 5th starters?. How much has the starting rotation actually improved ? Mike Mussina is retiring and Andy Pettitte appears to not be coming back, Those two alone had a combined 34 wins and 404 innings pitched for the team last year. How much more in terms of wins and innings will Sabathia and Burnett give the Yanks in 2009?
Given Burnett’s propensity for injury in non contract years and Sabathia’s lack of coming up big in a big spot in the playoffs one could argue the staff is still ha a long way to go to catch up to the Rays or Sox starting rotations. The Yanks obviously have improved the offense which was a 7th in the AL in scoring runs last year . But in case you haven’t noticed the team still has a lot of questions- Derek Jeter will be 35 in June and was voted the worst fielding shortstop by STATS inc. AROD will be 34 in July. Will Robinson Cano return to form? Or does Larry Bowa have to come back from LA to be his personal baby sitter? Matsui? Damon? Posada? All coming off injury riddled years. The Yanks do not look like the "Lock" Buster Olny and other pundits if you ask me. Congrats to the Yankee fans for getting Texieira! Remember one thing though- you heard it first on the Starting NYNE. - WE know our sports!

-Steve