this is a great move for the yankees if true. washburn is a good pitcher with some big game experience at the front of the rotation (at the time). obviously the sabathia and harden moves make the major headlines and understandably so. but this is the kind of move that could payoff huge for the yanks when it comes to winning the east.
the part about sonnanstine is dead on. he is a AAA pitcher who is getting every break to go his way this season.
the first few sentences in your post, though, i cant buy. there is nothing phony about shields and garza. both could be fringe #1s on a handful of other teams in the bigs. garza might actually end up as the best of their big 3 in five years.
rays ultimately will shit on themselves in the end because they are too inexperienced. but what theyve done this season is legit.
Rays are without a doubt for real talent-wise, but not World Series or even ALCS contender-wise. Give them this season to at least be in the race for a little while, and then they will have David Price and Tim Beckham coming up in the near future, both who are the real deal. Then we can talk about ALCS, etc.
