When you’re the defending World Champions, life is usually pretty good in the offseason; the decisions you need to make to improve your team fairly minimal.

Right now, it looks like the Yankees may want to sign another starter–not a one or a two, but an insurance policy if Hughes or even Kennedy struggle, but nothing requiring CC or AJ money.

They may want to improve their bench, maybe. Hairston and Peña do a nice job of filling the “utility” part of a utility man, and Francisco Cervelli will more than likely be an adequate back-up. You could keep Hinske for karma alone. So maybe you look for a better bat, but I’d be okay if the Yankees, for the moment, left it as is.

The only really hard decision the Yankees have to make, then, the only one that’s going to make you tear your hair out, is whether or not the Yankees should bring back Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, both, or neither.

Here’s the arguments both for and against bringing them back:

Johnny Damon

BRING HIM BACK: Unlike Matsui, Damon can play the field and still has speed on the bases. This is by far the biggest argument in his favor, but don’t discount his offense–his 24 homer runs in 2009, perhaps a product of the New Yankee Stadium, tie a career high, he OPS’d .854, and his 36 doubles were his most in 10 years. Oh, and that part where he stole two bases in Game Four of the World Series? He still plays smart baseball.

LET HIM GO: There are arguments as to just how beneficial it is for the Yankees to have Damon playing in left field. His 12 stolen bases are actually the lowest number since his rookie year, again giving lie to how much value his speed is really worth.

View all of Damon’s stats here. Click on “splits” to see his marks for 2009.

Hideki Matsui

BRING HIM BACK: The reigning World Series MVP, Matsui has long been under-appreciated for his consistent offensive stats. We all know he can go deep, but we forget how often he does it. Even with his bum knees and the week he took off while the Yankees were in NL parks, he still cranked 28 home runs and OPS’d .876. He’s a fan favorite that has been nothing but class since his tenure here, and perhaps most importantly, check out what ‘Sui’s done in the postseason.

LET HIM GO: The biggest issue with Matsui is that he cannot play in the field. Bringing him back as a full time DH means that those are DH ABs that get taken away from an aging Jorge Posada–although Posada should be able to play most games at catcher, barring injury, he’ll still need more days off in 2010 than he had in 2009. Matsui’s also a slave to his knees, which he has to get drained at regular intervals, and isn’t really any sort of stolen base threat. His 28 home runs are only actually four more than Damon, and his batting average was actually lower than Damon’s. If you compare the two’s slash stats, you find that Damon had the higher average, and Matsui the higher OPS, but the differences are much narrower than you’d imagine. For instance, one OBP is .367, the other is .365.

So what to do?

Many argue that the Yankees should simply let both of them go and dip into the free agent market to sign either Jason Bay or Matt Holliday.

Me?

I’m of the opinion that just because the free agent market exists, it doesn’t mean you have to go dive right in if there are not free agents to your liking.

Bay and Holliday are good, not great, players whose–especially Bay’s–defense is questionable, and both of whom are likely going to attempt to command money they might not actually deserve based on their stats, simply because they’re the best in their class.

What I would do, then, is bring back both Damon and Matsui on one year deals–overpay if I have to, it’s just one year–though if the cost is low enough, I’ll give Damon a team option for a second year. I don’t with Matsui because by 2011 it’s likely Posada will need more ABs as a DH than a C, and since he’s already under contract, finding him a place to play is momentarily more important.

In the 2010-2011 offseason, the outfield free agent pool includes Yankee fan favorite Carl Crawford as well as Jayson Werth, who can flat-out mash. I wouldn’t count out this guy either; there’s always room for a guy that can OPS .903.

If needed, you can supplant Damon’s late-inning defense by playing Hairston or perhaps even Peña; and days off for Matsui, as we’ve seen in 2009, seem to work all sorts of wonders, so giving him a couple days off for Posada to DH might actually be a good thing.

There are, of course, other factors that go into the decision–how do the players feel, how much do the Yankees want to spend, and so on–things that we as fans can’t possibly know just yet.

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At the moment, only one thought is going through my mind: No matter what, I will never feel like this again.

The Yankees will win more championships, but there’s nothing like the first time you’re really old enough to appreciate it, and the first time you get to watch it with the same people you have watched with the entire season.

There were seven of us tonight–Amanda, Ben, Joe, Mark, Larry, Brent and myself–and from the get-go, you knew something was up.

The Angels long having been left in the dust, we wanted more. The ALCS alone was not enough.

Brent and I were among the first to arrive. See how clean, how prepared the bar looks? Yeah, by the fifth inning, not so much. By then you could sense it.

A very blurry Ben and Larry.

If you ever get a chance to go to a bar and watch a game with Larry, I highly, highly recommend it. He is an optimist prime!

Brent and Mark.

I have it on good authority that those wings are very, very good. I can’t eat anything fried so I’ve got no idea, but Blondie’s has amazing soft pretzels, so I gorged on them. Actually, by the fifth inning I was so distracted by the game and OHMIGOD CHRIS MELONI that I wasn’t hungry at all.

Brent is gettin’ jiggy wit it!

If you’re an astute observer, you’ll notice who the baserunner is–it kind of sums up everything.

We can sense it. Us and our pitchers of Brooklyn and Miller Lite–so many that we get one on the house–we can sense it.

Mark wanted proof he was here. Ergo, proof he was here.

Celebrating someone doing something in front of a CBS camera man. I can’t really remember what it was, except that after Matsui’s double we all jumped up and started chanting MVP! MVP! and really, at that point, there was no doubt.

Oh, and, GUESS WHO WAS IN THE BAR WATCHING THE GAME?!?

CHRIS MELONI THAT’S WHO!

They handed these signs out towards the end

I’ve also got videos:

1) That girl playing air guitar and generally making an ass of herself? Yeah?

That’s me.

2) The final out. We kind of went crazy. If you can’t tell.

3) New York, New York, one more time:

It was after this last song that tragedy struck:

I’ve had my camera for three years. In those three years I have without fail remembered to use the wrist strap when doing stupid things. Without fail.

Except last night.

While celebrating, one of us who shall remain nameless, knocked the camera out of my hand and it hit the table and then landed on the open lens on the floor.

Had the camera been off, or had it landed on the backside, it would have been fine.

Alas, such was not the case.

Meh.

BUT DUDE. MELONI! MATSUI! TWENTY SEVEN WORLD TITLES!

The best part?

Being able to experience it with friends that have been there every step of the way.

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[I will have a recap with photos and videos from the bar--AND OMG DID I MENTION CHRIS MELONI WAS THERE?!--a little later on]

Let us now praise famous men.

Let us praise men that took Twenty-Seven, that did so easily in a 7-3 fashion.

Let us praise them.

Let us praise Hideki Matsui, who had six RBI, a home run, single and double. Matsui, who had the third highest batting average this World Series ever (min 10 ABs). Matsui, who’s six RBI ties Bobby Richardson with the most RBI in a single World Series game. Matsui, who’s eight RBI total in the World Series are the most since Reggie Jackson. Matsui, who is the first full-time DH to ever win the World Series.

Let us praise him.

Let us praise Andy Pettitte, who pitched his 37-year-old body on three days’ rest to the tune of three runs over five and two-thirds’ innings. Pettitte, who clinched everything this year–the AL East, the ALDS, the ALCS and the World Series, all for the Yankees, the first time any pitcher has ever done that. Pettitte who became just the second pitcher after David Wells in 98 to win four postseason games for the Yankees. Pettitte who did everything the Yankees asked and then more.

Let us praise him.

Let us praise Mariano Rivera, who saw it to the end. Rivera, who’s World Series ERA is now 0.99. Rivera, who’s 41 pitches were the most he has ever thrown in a World Series game. Rivera, who has now been the finishing pitcher in the final game in each of the Yankees’ last 6 Series appearances and in 15
overall playoff Series.

Let us praise him.

Let us praise Alex Rodriguez, who may be the sole person responsible for the Yankees making it to the World Series. Rodriguez, who’s ALDS and ALCS for once and all rid him of the playoff demons and the unfair scapegoating. Rodriguez, who can now say he is a True Yankee in every sense of the word. Rodriguez, who has proven, once and for all, that he can play for a World Series winner.

Let us praise him.

Let us praise Joe Girardi, who has now won the World Series in just his third year as a manager and second with the Yankees. Girardi, who guided his team to 103 wins in the regular season–and 114 overall. Girardi, who became the first person to play for and manage the same team to a World Series title since Billy Martin.

Let us praise him.

Let us praise the Yankees, who have now won their 27th world title, the most ever for a professional sporting team. The Yankees, who never gave Philadelphia a chance last night, who knocked Pedro out in the third inning, who played smart baseball and had the game more or less decided by the sixth inning.

Let us praise them.

It is said that some are born great, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

This is wrong.

It does not allow for the fact that some become great, not because they were born that way or because they found themselves in extreme circumstances, but because they themselves decided to become great.

In 2009, greatness came to those who took it.

It came to New York.

It came to the Yankees.

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