Hamilton Signing Ends Any Chance Of A Big Yankee Splash

Unless you either live under a rock or are more dedicated to your day job than I am and didn't spend time surfing the interwebs today, you already know that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim swooped in and signed big free agent fish Josh Hamilton to a 5-year/$125 million deal earlier today.  The move was a bit surprising, as the Angels hadn't been connected to Hamilton nearly as much as other clubs and there hadn't been much talk of Hamilton getting an offer for more than 3-4 years.  But kudos to the Angels for adding the  best FA hitter available on the market to an already dangerous lineup and for effectively ending any chance of there being fireworks for the Yankees this offseason.

Those chances were already slim to none.  The Yankees have executed what they said their offseason plan of attack was going to be to a tee, securing their own internal free agent pitchers to re-bolster the staff and focusing on 1-year deals and cheap platoon players to keep payroll flexibility intact heading into 2014.  I had my dream scenario, as we all did (probably including Cash), but with Zack Greinke and Hamilton coming off the market, Arizona making a trade that likely ended any chance of them moving Justin Upton, and San Diego holding firm to their commitment to not trading Chase Headley, the big move well has pretty much dried up for New York.

They've got their replacement third baseman, and they are reportedly getting closer and closer to finalizing a deal with one half of a possible right field platoon.  After that, I think we can all shut off the lights on the major portion of the Yankee 2012-2013 offseason.