I don’t play the lottery, I think it’s a foolish waste of
money and time… well unless it gets to above half a billion dollars like it is
tonight with the Georgia Powerball. I’ll throw down a couple of bucks on that
and put my ethics and belief aside for greed, I am the Greedy Pinstripes after
all but I digress. Let’s just throw a nice round number out there, after taxes,
and assume that if I won tonight’s drawing I would take home $500 million in
cash. If I were running the Yankees what could I do with said winnings? And
spoiler alert, you won’t be calling me the cheap owner when it’s all said and
done.
$500 million can buy a lot but I would want to be smart with
it. Justin Upton is smart money and is easily the best positional player and
best fit left on the free agency market. I personally like him more than I did
Jason Heyward so if Upton wants $200 million Upton gets $200 million from me.
At 28-years old and with the stats he has put up in pitching friendly parks in
Atlanta and San Diego I think he will live up to the contract and then some.
Upton hits right-handed, hits for both power and average, will take a walk,
steals bases and plays some stellar and underrated defense.
My next thing to do would be to eat the contracts of Jacoby
Ellsbury and CC Sabathia. I am personally big fans of both but honestly there
is just better ways of spending your money than on oft-injured and
under-performing stars. As a fan that hurts but on the business side of things
it simply makes sense. I am reluctant to eat the Ellsbury deal with a shade
over $100 million left and the Sabathia deal with around $50 million left but
that’s business. It’s six of one and a half dozen of the other if you’re paying
them on the disabled list anyway. With my final $150 million I would throw a
contract to a starting pitcher and/or a relief arm. Wei-Yin Chen and Antonio
Bastardo maybe? Chen and Doug Fister? Who knows what it would take but I would
improve the pitching in some way, shape or form.
Releasing Ellsbury allows Brett Gardner to slide back into
center field and Upton to slide into left field. Releasing Ellsbury and adding
Upton balances out a very left-handed heavy lineup and ultimately makes the
lineup 100 times better in my opinion. Releasing Sabathia and adding a proven
AL-East veteran and bullpen arm finishes out the roster and the pitching staff
and all because I bought a stupid $2 lottery ticket and won the Georgia
Powerball. You’re welcome Yankees family!
Well, I might be able to get season tickets behind home plate. Of course, I wouldn't have any money left over to fly to New York to see them. ;)
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