Meet the new Yanks, dumb like the old Yanks

Mike Lupica is right on target today excoriating the Yankees for their puerile love affair with Brian Giles.

Why pay upwards of $33M/3 for a 35-year old to play the KEY outfield position, centerfield -- one which he has not played regularly in about half a decade (and he wasn't exactly Mike Cameron to begin with).

Why add a 35-old outfielder to a team that already has two 30+ outfielders who do not cover their positions at a Gold Glove level?

Why continue adding basecloggers with high OBPs instead of speed for the top of the lineup so Jeter can go to the #2 hole?

Why did they sour on Juan Pierre?

Lupica's take is devastating, and accurate:

The Yankees need to get younger, they need to get faster, they need to move Derek Jeter back to No. 2 in the batting order. And they need a pure center fielder who can go get it. Giles is a solid player, an All-Star player once, a splashy hire for the Padres when they got him in 2003. But if you think he covers any of those Yankee needs, send up a flare.

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Cashman has been saying for months that the Yankees can't just throw money at their problems anymore. He was still saying that when the Yankees were out of the playoffs and Aaron Rowand, the White Sox center fielder, was catching everything he saw in the ALCS and then in the World Series.

Another thing the Yankees say is that they want to cut payroll. Apparently what that means is they wait for old bad contracts to come off the books before they start offering new ones.