In preparation for my Sunday article I considered many possible angles to cover. I liked them all, so rather than picking one of them I decided to go for them all. Thus, in this article you will find out all of the Yankees-related thoughts that are currently swarming around in my head. Don't worry, only Yankees related thoughts, don't want to drive away the readers!

Let's start with A.J. Burnett. If the Yankees eat a lot of his contract a team, like the Pittsburgh Pirates, could be getting a steal. A trade involving A.J. Burnett swap makes sense for both sides, and if the Yankees eat a lot of the contract the Pirates could get an NL improved Burnett for $4-5 million a year over the next two years. It works perfectly for both sides.

Next up is Russell Branyan, a player that I am extremely glad the Yankees signed to a minor league deal. Branyan has mashed at Yankee Stadium in the past, hits well enough against righties, and gives the Yankees a little bit of leverage in negotiations with Raul Ibanez, Johnny Damon, and/or Hideki Matsui.

One question I have is why would Raul Ibanez want to sign with the Yankees? I'm assuming the player that signs with the Yankees will play in ~115 games if healthy, so why would Ibanez sign with the Yankees if he can get a deal to play more elsewhere? Perhaps he has less leverage than the Yankees do in this situation.

Johnny Damon wants to come back to New York, seems to be a fit, has a noodle arm, and is being talked about a lot. Personally, I'd love to have Damon back, but I don't want him back if the Yankees are going to play him more than they would others as he tries to chase 3,000 hits.

Follow me after the jump for more.

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Methodology
In 2011, the Yankees bullpen had a 3.12 ERA, with the average for all pitching in the AL being a 4.08 ERA. That is 31% better than league average, so the bullpen posted a 131 ERA+. The 2011 Yankees scored 867 runs and allowed 657, which using Pythagorean Winning Percentage translates to an expected 101 wins. They actually won 97 games, which means that they under-performed their expectation by four wins, or a -4 on the graph. I did this for every season from 1990-2011 and put them on a scatter plot.

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Being the General Manager of the New York Yankees can be both a blessing and a curse. You get to have nearly unlimited resources at your disposal, which goes a long way toward being perennially successful. The ownership has a dedication to winning that means they will reach deep into their pockets to come up with the money necessary to sign a player they think can help lead them to a World Series.

It would probably be a pretty sweet gig if you didn't mind being blamed throughout every corner of New York every single time the season ended without a championship. It’s a thankless job in which anything less than a World Series ring is considered a complete failure on your part. Since taking over as GM in 1998, Brian Cashman has been the man dealing with the lofty expectations that come with putting together the New York Yankees, and in that time, has managed to spark a turnaround in how the Yankees operate their business.

There are many people who will assume that Brian Cashman has one of the easiest jobs in the world. The Steinbrenners have never been shy about spending plenty of money to improve the team where necessary (and sometimes where unnecessary), so all the General Manager has to do is back the money truck up to the Free Agent’s door, exchange pleasantries, and head home, right? Not exactly.

No one will ever confuse Brian Cashman for being Billy Beane. He’s never had to subscribe to the Moneyball type of baseball, because when your payroll is somewhere in the $200 million range, you don’t have to be extremely creative. However, Cashman has shown that he doesn't always need to throw money around to find good players. During an off season in which the Yankees missed out on their top target in Cliff Lee, while simultaneously watching the Red Sox add Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, Brian Cashman did not panic like some expected him to.

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We've discussed this plenty of times, but the Yankees have a need for a left-handed bat to platoon with Andruw Jones. That need may have been filled in the form of a non-guaranteed deal for Russell Branyan, an aging power bat that has had plenty of success against righties throughout his career.

Against right-handed pitching from 2004-2010, Branyan averaged a .355 OBP, a .288 ISO, a .376 wOBA, and a 131 wRC+. Those are very good numbers, and when given the chance to showcase his strengths, it seems like he'd do very well.

But last year? Not too good, especially for a guy that was supposed to hit righties very well. Granted, small sample sizes were in effect, as he only had 116 at bats in 60 games. It's absolutely worth wondering how much an effect the small sample had on him. On the other hand, it's also worth noting he has dealt with small samples before, and those samples never showed him to be so bad against righties.

Let's try and figure out what exactly happened.

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The free agent market is looking mighty bare these days, but there's one name left that I think could benefit the Yankees solely in the 2012 season.

Johnny Damon, at 38 years young, could potentially be a great pickup for any MLB team willing to dish out a little money.

Some of you might be thinking to yourselves that Johnny Damon is simply too old to be a productive player anymore. After all, his .326 OBP in 2011 was his personal worst since 2001 in his final season with the Oakland Athletics (.324 OBP) and certainly doesn't mesh well with what's become prominently synonymous with the Yankees.

But I still see the good left in Damon. I believe the Yankees can milk another year of baseball life out of him at the right price.

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The flame-throwing RHP brings a 95 MPH fastball to the Bronx and a lot of expectations after being swapped for uber-prospect Jesus Montero. I went through every one of his "condensed games" via MLB.tv to get a first hand look at who we were getting. This will be a scouting report/recap of Pineda's 2011 season and a list of ways he can improve going forward.

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Disclaimer/Update: I originally had this scheduled for tomorrow morning, but with the Yankees close to signing Ibanez, I thought it would be more relevant to post it now.

Buster Olney recently reported that the Yankees will add a left-handed bat within the next week, and those connected include familiar names such as Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. However, the Yankees are also interested in Raul Ibanez, a left-handed hitter coming off a down 2011 season.

Ibanez is a New York native, will be entering his age-40 season, and just had his first below average season since 2000 when he posted a 64 OPS+ as a member of the Seattle Mariners. Prior to last season, he rattled off ten consecutive seasons of at least a 104 OPS+ and averaged a .287/.351/.484 triple slash, with a 118 OPS+ over those ten years.

Despite his continued success, Ibanez seemingly struggled in 2011, posting a 91 OPS+ while watching his OPS nearly drop off a cliff.

However, none of this really matters at this point. This was just to give you an idea of who Ibanez is and has been throughout his career. There's only one thing we want to know at this point given the Yankees' team needs.

What's his production like against right-handed pitching?

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