I'd still rather have Flash Gordon. I wouldn't mind seeing some kind of trade between the Yankees and Philies involving Gordon AND Lieber. What do you think DJ?
The problem is how you would convince Philadelphia that it would be worth unloading Gordon (who is, unarguably, the better reliever) AND Lieber for what...Farnsworth? No. They'll want prospects. They'd want either Clippard, Whelan, or Sanchez, none of which the Yankees are willing to part with right now.
Our bullpen is still in great shape - Henn is fabulous (though he showed why they converted him to middle relief...he's terrible as a starter/long man), Proctor is decent, Myers is really, really good (even I am shocked), and Vizcaino looks to be the innings-eater as advertised. Bruney is fine as long as he has control.
Farnsworth is just one of the tools that Torre has to use, and it becomes more and more obvious that he can only be used every other game, for some reason. I don't know. I've actually heard rumours on some other boards that he is a drunk, and routinely gets trashed after every game (this comes from fans who frequent NY bars). I can't verify that, so I don't know. But it would explain why he can't pitch the next day - he gets himself loaded after a good outing, and has a wicked hangover the next day. Probably a bit hard to see the plate when you can't even see straight...
Then again, maybe he fatigues a great deal. I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that when he is on, he is really good. I can tell you that Lidge is on the wrong side of 30, and he is rapidly declining in the NL, which is a big steaming pile of red flags for us not to bring him to the AL (plus Houston would want Hughes and a bag of chips).
Gordon (and Lieber) could be an option but I would say not until the summer. If the Phillies are hot and really pushing in their division, no way they give up Flash. However, if they're really struggling, and need some BP help overall, I could see dropping a few guys (Karstens/Rasner/etc.) to get Gordon, but I really don't think it will happen, Irish.
Gordon is too good, and Philly is too good of a team to trade away their closer right now. Plus, Cashman is holding on to his prospects for big offseason deals or, according to the New Yankee Testament, to actually utilize them and make them into Yankees.
