You guys! Yankees could have had a triple crown winner at third base ... well, at DH, because he can't field ... but, still.

What is the point of this observation?

Yankees could have had lots of players, in theory:

"A-Rod opted out of his already onerous $252 million contract on Oct. 29, 2007, much to GM Brian Cashman's great relief."

I think the Yankees were paying about $9 million of ARod's annual salary and got two MVPs out of it.

In 2007, well ... forget it ... I'm not getting into it.

ARod 2007 was the best offensive season I've ever seen up close, so, whatever. The Yankees' GM was relieved to put Mike Lamb at third.


"A little more than a month later, the Florida Marlins traded Miguel Cabrera and their one-time lefty pitching ace, Dontrelle Willis, to the Tigers for two top prospects, pitcher Andrew Miller and outfielder Cameron Maybin, and three other non-prospects."

So, in retrospect, this guy is saying the Yankees should have taken on Dontrelle Willis's contract and lost five prospects.

Maybe.

Because we have no idea if this deal was in the works in the first place.


"The Marlins had made it known that they were willing to trade Cabrera, with whom they had had some issues about his work ethic and who had a year to go before he was eligible for free agency, but on the condition that the other club take on Willis and the remaining four years and $35 million on his contract. After leading the National League with 22 wins as the toast of baseball in 2005, Willis had deteriorated to a 10-15 record and 5.17 ERA in 2007, and there were few clubs capable and/or willing to take on that financial risk. The Yankees were certainly capable, but whether they would have been willing, we’ll never know."

In Bill Madden's alternate universe, Miguel Cabrera is pounding the baseball for the 2012 Yankees. Which would be great.

But who's pitching for the Yankees in the imaginary ALCS?

Is Dontrelle Willis pitching Game Four?


"What happens now with A-Rod is anyone’s guess. Steinbrenner is long gone from the scene, reportedly making only token appearances at the Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field offices in Tampa, and A-Rod, already in marked decline, could find himself on the bench for much of the ALCS as the Tigers’ starting rotation is totally righthanded. Meanwhile, it is understandable if the Yankee high command probably doesn’t want to think about that missed opportunity to get one of the best hitters in the game to replace the opted-out A-Rod five years ago."

You still haven't explained how this was going to happen, or if Cabrera wanted to come to New York, or which prospects the Yankees would have traded, or if the Yankees would have won the World Series in 2009 without ARod.