The Yankees' albatross-free roster

The Red Sox defeated the Yankees last night, in a charateristically crazy game - Good Lord, was it cold - but that's not to say it was an altogether smooth day for the Yankees' rivals from New England.

Josh Beckett pitched poorly and left the game with an injury, although Joe Girardi protested how the Red Sox handled Beckett's departure and Manny Delcarmen's entry. As Anthony Rieber wrote here in this story, there's a better chance of pigs flying over Yankee Stadium than the protest being upheld.

Anywho, back to the Red Sox: Prior to the game, Mike Lowell spoke at length about his frustration with his situation. Mark Herrmann mentioned it at the bottom of his story on Beckett, but here's a more comprehensive story.

Lowell might not be completely shot, as a player. He has a .348 on-base percentage and .397 slugging percentage in 66 plate appearances, and last year, he put up a 106 OPS+. But on the Red Sox, with David Ortiz off life support and getting most of the starts at DH and Adrian Beltre ensconced at third base, he's dead weight.

The Red Sox tried to remedy this situation last offseason, nearly trading Lowell to Texas, but Lowell failed his physical. He's not the type of guy for whom teams are clamoring, particularly this early in the season.

Most teams carry some dead weight or, to be more generous, some highly-paid players who are not coming close to matching their salaries. It's the cost of doing business, particularly for big-league clubs. The Mets have Oliver Perez. The Phillies have the injured Brad Lidge, who was awful last year and is offering few signs of encouragement about his future.

Even the budget-conscious and extremely well run Rays missed on Pat Burrell, and decided last week to pay him to not play for them for the duration of the season.

Which brings us to the Yankees, baseball's spendingest team. Do they have an albatross on their roster right now?

Javier Vazquez? If he replicated his first five starts five times over, then yes. But not with his last start and relief appearance on the ledger.

Nick Johnson? His one-year, $5.5-million deal wouldn't handcuff a single club out there, and he did put up a .388 OBP before he went on the disabled list.

Nope, I'd say no one. The Yankees' deep, talented roster, free of dead weight, has allowed them to put up a 25-14 record despite significant injuries and underperformance.

This has resulted from Brian Cashman's and Hal Steinbrenner's adherence to modern-day, emotion-less thinking when it comes to contract negotiation. Which they'll need, tenfold, this coming winter when it's time to re-up with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

You avoid albatrosses by avoiding bad contracts. Even legends can become dead weight in a hurry. Just ask the Mariners.

--With last night's game ending so late, I wrote a Web-only column about the Yankees' defensive and bullpen failures. At this point, you can probably blow it off as an aberration, but it has been surprising to see the Yankees give up late-inning leads three straight days.

For the newspaper, I spoke with Robinson Cano about his strong start, and about the possibility of playing in his first All-Star Game. Cano made the American League team in 2006 and attended the game in Pittsburgh, but couldn't play due to an injury.

--Rieber examined how the Yankees have used their DH position since Johnson went down. Juan Miranda seems like he'll get some more chances.

--Forbes declared the Yankees to own the most valuable brand in sports.

--Good feature by David Lennon about the development of young pitchers, with a focus on the Yankees and Mets.

--Lennon was in Atlanta last night, where the Mets lost yet another heartbreaker and David Wright indeed seemed to hit "rock bottom," as Lennon described it.

Jerry Manuel talked about resting Wright very shortly. If I were Manuel, I'd play Wright tonight against the slop-throwing Livan Hernandez, and tell Wright, "You're getting tomorrow night off, so let it all hang out tonight." Maybe that can have a positive impact.

And to beat a dead horse: I understand the scrutiny on Wright. He has brought this on himself, somewhat, with his unusually streaky play. Yet he still leads the Mets with an .885 OPS. If Jason Bay and Jose Reyes were playing up to their track records, then they'd be providing some coverage for Wright, just as he did for them at earlier points this season.

--Here's an update on the Mets' pitching situation, featuring tonight's starter R.A. Dickey, Friday night's pitcher Hisanori Takahashi or future starter (you'd think, already) Jenrry Mejia.

--I forgot to mention last night that Long Islander Steven Matz, the Mets' top pick in last year's draft, underwent Tommy John surgery.

--Live chat at noon tomorrow. I pity the fool who doesn't make it there.

--I'll check in tonight from the Stadium.

UPDATE, 10:17 a.m.: Richie G. reminded me of the existence of Kei Igawa. Yup, he would qualify as dead weight. But I'm not gonna change my blog post, because 1) I believe in embracing your mistakes, and 2) The Yankees have at least been able to get Igawa off their 40-man roster while keeping him in the minor leagues, just in case, say, 20 of their other pitchers were involved in stuff like a bar fight, helping a lady whose house was on fire, a weird visit to Graceland or a case of gigantism.