My Ideas for the 2010 Season

Here's what I think the Yankees should do this offseason to prepare for the 2010 season:
Don't resign Matsui, Damon, Hinske, Molina, or Hairston Jr. Why? They're simply too old. Yes I know they produced and yes I know that we won the World Series, and likely wouldn't have without those first two, but I have a solution to the problem. We should start using some homegrown Yankee talent to replace the free agent veterans. I know it sounds crazy, especially for the Yankee organization, but look what happened when we did it in the late 90's! We need to bring up some of our young talent so they can help form a similar dynasty starting next year. We are already on our way with Hughes, Chamberlain, Cabrera, Cano, Cervelli, and Gardner but that is only the beginning. Bring up A-Jax (the often used nickname of the young Austin Jackson) and play a combination outfield of Swisher, Cabrera, Gardner, and Jackson. We would lose some power numbers but gain speed which can help the Yankees manufacture runs rather than rely heavily on the homerun. We can use another left handed bat in the form of one Juan Miranda to replace Matsui's production as well. Here's a guy that can spell Texeira at first base when he needs rest or plays DH or Miranda can play DH on a regular basis just like Matsui. This guy is young, powerful, and ready to play and I think it's time to give him a shot (for those who might be skeptical, go to the Yankee website and check out Miranda's stats in Triple A).
Sign Chien-Ming Wang and Xavier Nady to short term, low price contracts. Both of these players are injured and will likely not be ready until June or July of next year. For this reason, the Yankees should try to hold on to them if they can get them for bargain prices and on a one or two year deal with team options. Both can produce when healthy and for the right price it would be a win-win situation. You wouldn't be spending much on them so the return wouldn't have to be much to compensate, but if they came back full force the team gets a boost in production without taking a major shot in the wallet.
Try (likely in vain) to resign Pettitte. Pettitte is 37 and has nothing left to play for in his career. If he continues to play for another few years he could reach the 250 win category which might be enough to put him in the Hall of Fame in combination with his all-time stats in the postseason. However, Pettitte has never been a guy who goes after personal achievements. He is a team guy and team player so the motivation for individual success might not be strong enough to keep him playing in New York, so far away from his Texas home and family. The only other reason to come back would be to help the Yanks defend their title. What is the motivation for him to do that though? The guy already has enough World Series rings to fill one hand! The older guard (Jeter, Rivera, and Posada) could possibly get him back by appealing to his loyalty, however I would be surprised, but happy, to see Pettitte back in uniform next season.
Sign John Lackey. This goes against my plan of decreasing spending but the Yankees, especially without Pettitte, are weak in the rotation after CC and AJ. Lackey would help give us a solid top three in the rotation and give us another work horse type pitcher who eats up innings and saves the bullpen, much like Sabathia did this year. The ideal situation would be that the Yankees keep Pettitte and sign Lackey giving us a rotation of CC, Lackey, AJ, Pettitte, and Gaudin. I'm going with Gaudin in the fifth spot because he pitched well since the Yankees picked him up (3.43 ERA) and would allow for some more growth in our young pitchers. Speaking of young pitchers...
Keep Hughes and Chamberlain in the bullpen and possibly insert Kennedy there as well. Until they can prove they can be successful as starters, I would like the young guns to pitch in the bullpen to get some more experience and build confidence. I think Hughes and Kennedy can be in the rotation someday but Chamberlain is best suited for the bullpen. He is a two pitch pitcher and gets better movement and speed on his pitches coming out of the pen than as a starter. Some rumors are that Joba will be the heir to Rivera when he retires but I think that he gets too easily shaken as of now to fill that void. Besides, there's a switch pitcher on the way (that isn't a typo, I said SWITCH pitcher) by the name of Pat Venditte who might be in line for that job in a few years. I think you keep Rivera, Aceves, Robertson, Coke, Marte, the three young guns mentioned above, and possibly Bruney in the bullpen as well depending on how many pitchers they want to carry. This way, the young pitchers get their experience and they also save their arms (anyone hear of the Joba Rules?) so that they could be better suited for the rotation later in the year or for the 2011-2012 seasons.
That's all folks! Thanks for reading.