A-Rod has pretty amazing company

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

In my annual effort to make the Yankees' season last as long as possible, I stayed up and watched the postgame interviews last night on the YES network.

I was really surprised at the comments from all the guys who may have the opportunity to leave at the end of the season. Usually, Yankee free agents make comments like "I really want to come back here, but it's up to George Steinbrenner what he wants to do, all I can do is wait and see."

There were no comments like that last night from Torre, Pettite, Rivera, Posada, or ARod. I was surprised. I got the feeling that none of those guys were planning to come back next season. Rivera said something along the lines of "The Yankees had a chance to sign me and they didn't; I know it's a business, blah, blah, blah." Two years ago Rivera said he wanted to pitch at the new Yankee Stadium, but he backtracked significantly from that last night.

I really think there's a possibility that there will be wholesale changes to the nucleus of this team next season. I'm not sure how I feel about that, since I love Posada, ARod and Rivera, I think Pettite has another solid year in him, and I've really grown to love the stability that Torre brings. At the same time, I really want to see the Yankees get significantly younger and cheaper, and think they have the opportunity to shed nearly $100 million in payroll by letting go of some of the big contracts that expire this year.

-Al