Opinion

The Yankees need pitching help. We all know this.

The Yankees just got burned in the Cliff Lee negotiations, as he turned down the Yankees' offer and went back to the Phillies.

With the Yankees rotation right now being CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and a struggling A.J. Burnett, they have two huge holes in it.

Andy Pettitte is tossed between retiring and coming back for 2011. A lot of people in baseball have a feeling Pettitte may in fact call it a career this winter.

Now, don't everyone gang up on me. I'm just thinking out loud for a minute.

Since the end of the season, the Washington Nationals have been chasing a bevy of top-flight starting pitchers including the Royals' Zach Greinke. The 26-year-old is so good that the asking price for the former Cy Young Award winner is four top prospects.

And that's the starting point.

In short, no.

Cliff Lee is a stud. A rock solid ace who makes batters look foolish and guarantees his team that they have a chance to win every single time out. Missing out on a guy like that is never good.

Rejection never feels good.

We've all experienced it before, whether it be at the workplace, playground or singles bar around the corner. Everyone gets their ego bruised from time to time...even the New York Yankees.

The New York Yankees have an abundant amount of money to spend after losing out on signing Cliff Lee, who went to the Philadelphia Phillies.

All possible options will be tried, as cash is never short in New York and especially when the team is in need. Nobody puts Baby in the corner; not the Phillies, not Lee and certainly not a lack of free agents.

When I saw that Cliff Lee had signed with the Philadelphia Phillies around midnight last night, it got me thinking about a few things:

The top four of their starting rotation is so stacked, they can afford to leave their offense the way it is—balanced but not loaded like the 2010 season (due to the departure of Jayson Werth)—and still win many, many games.

After being spurned by Cliff Lee, who will now sign with the Phillies this week, the Yankees need a Plan B.

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman needs a Plan B right now.

They made a couple of small signings today, which included signing catcher Russell Martin to a one-year deal to potentially be the starting catcher for 2011.

The Yankees also signed oft-injured pitcher Mark Prior to a minor league deal worth about $750,000 plus possible incentives.

Dear Bud Selig,

Baseball is America's Pastime.

It earned that title through hustle, tradition, and hard work.

No player embodies those points more than Pete Rose.

Nobody loved the game more than Rose. He played every game like he had been let out of jail for one day.

Baseball was his life.

People say love is a strong word, but in the case of Pete Rose it's not strong enough to describe his feeling toward baseball.

The Pittsburgh Pirates made a head-scratching move by coming to terms with first baseman Lyle Overbay on a one-year, $5 million contract Tuesday afternoon, adding to the pile of mediocrity that currently surrounds first base and right field.

I've stated many times before the dire need to stick to the plan and continue to develop young players.  None of the other three signings truly bother me, and neither does this one, but it just doesn't help much.

A pitching rotation as hellacious as the one the Philadelphia Phillies are currently possessing rarely happens in baseball. Many of us are still wondering how the negotiating process went down. And why Cliff Lee didn't announce his decision on a one-hour special.

Everything about this negotiation suggested that Lee and Braunecker were playing perfectly in terms of maximizing the money. Now it appears money was never really a factor.