Hammerin' Cameron

For all the slack that Yankees GM Brian Cashman will receive around the league by spending so much money on CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett, it is good to see Cashman show some financial restraint with Mike Cameron.

Sure the Yankees could have used Cameron, 36, in 2009. He would be an immediate upgrade over the Melky Cabrera/Brett Gardner combination that is currently staring Yankee fans in the face.

Not to mention that Cameron is a pretty good player himself. Last season, Cameron hit 23 homers in only 444 ABs. stole 17 bases, and continued to play gold glove defense in center field. He would have been a good fit on a veteran Yankee ball club that is looking to do big things in 2009.

With that said, Cashman made the right call by not acquiring Cameron.

-Mike Cameron is a good player, but he is not worth $10 million bucks in 2009. The Yankees could spend their money wiser by going after Manny Ramirez to play left field or Derek Lowe to fill out their starting rotation. Cashman could upgrade this team even further without acquiring Cameron.

-Mike Cameron is a flawed player. He strikes out way too much (142 K's in 444 ABs in 2008) and he does not hit for average (only .243 in 2008). The 2009 Yankees could probably live with Cameron's strikeouts and poor batting average if they have everyone healthy, but a healthy Yankee team in 2009 is a big question mark at this point.

It's easy to overpay a guy when you have an endless payroll, but at this point, the Yankees could do better than Cameron. The free agent market is playing well into their hands and if they wait out the current market, they could wind up with an even better team than the one they have on paper right now.