1) Trade for Bill Hall. I’ve said this a few times… Hall is on the block because the Brewers have a surplus of outfielders, and we can deal them some of our mid-level pitching prospects (like a Jeff Karstens or a Chase Wright), or possibly Kyle Farnsworth, and make this deal happen. Hell, I like this even more now that we may be signing Mark Lorretta… a package of Farnsworth, Wilson Betemit, and Darrell Rasner would be more than enough to get Hall.

2) Trade for Joey Gathright. Like the above, Gathright is available, he’s fast, he tracks down everything in center, and also like Hall, once the young kids (AJax and Tabata) come up, he’s a great 4th outfielder to have (think a Dave Roberts speed weapon off the bench). His deal wouldn’t cost more than what we’d have to give up for Bill Hall.

3) Brett Gardner. He’s like Gathright, but without the ML experience and seasoning. He can fly, he can play a great CF, and he won’t cost us a dime more than we’ve already spent. For safety’s sake, platoon him with Bronson Sardhina on opening day and see which one of them sticks.

4) Kosuke Fukodome. If we do sign a free agent CF, the single most critical determining factor should be the length of contract, most specifically, how short it is. With Gardner, AJax, Tabata, and even guys like Tim Battle in our minor leagues, we have strength in prospects in the OF, and signing a guy to a 5 or 6 year deal is only going to block the path of our youngsters. This is significant, because both AJax and Tabata project to be much better options than anybody in this year’s FA pool. Fukudome wants only 3 years… he’s the perfect bridge to the next crop of youngsters.

5) Johnny Damon. I know, playing Damon in CF and Matsui in LF is a horrible, horrible idea. The only reason it’s better than Jones/Rowand is that we would be doing this with the intention of putting Gardner/AJax/Tabata in Scranton to see who reacts the best, and promoting one or two of them in July for a Melky-like trial-by-fire audition. At least one of the trio could be able to handle it…

6) Do nothing and pray to god that something miraculous happens, like, say, Kirby Puckett comes back from the dead and signs a 2 year, $3M contract to play CF for the Yanks. This is a much better option than everything below.

7) Andruw Jones. Of all the OTHER options, he’s the best player. But, I don’t want to give him a 6th year. (Hell, I don’t want to give him a THIRD year.)

Forfeit the 2008 year. Just do nothing, and wait for 2009. Why not?

9) Fold up the franchise and quit MLB, or move to London and start playing soccer in the EPL instead. It would suck, but not as much as…

10) Aaron Rowand. I don’t believe it at all. He’d be perfect, if he realized what his actual worth was and asked for a 2 year, $18M deal. But for what he’s asking? He’s a white Gary Matthews Jr. (That’s not a compliment.) Do we really want to sign a guy for 5 years, $80M in December 2007 that we’d be putting on the market in July 2008?

To placate your question, my answer would be to have some sort of sensibility and try Brett Gardner at CF.

Next – see what KC wants for David DeJesus

Next – Brett Gardner and please leave Johnny Damon in Left Field.

Sign Jones and let Vizciano go so that we get an extra sandwich pick and hope that we find another Hughes between our number one pick and the sandwich pick.

Don’t forget, letting Tom Gordon go turned into Joba and Kennedy.

I got to see the Bernie, Jorge, Pettit group come through the Prince William Canons — and they were special — but so was Coney, and Paulie, Wettland, Tino — heck we even loved Boomer until he quit on us

So I’d stop worrying about how and worry about the character of who plays for the Yankees. BUT we don’t have to make a dumb deal — if replacing Melky is all that is required I am happy to go with Damon, Gardner, and Jackson — we still have to worry about 2010 when Jeter and Posada can no longer be relied upon in the field at SS and C (many comments on Jeter’s lack of defense) and neither Jones nor Rowland helps get younger.