Moose Calls It Quits...Or Does He?

The news broke late this afternoon that Mike Mussina would retire. It's been reported everywhere and the fact of the matter is, he probably will hang up his cleats in the next day or two, but nothing's final yet. Peter Abraham was contacted by Mussina's agent with the following e-mail:

Mike will be making a decision on his intentions shortly. Given the significance of this to Mike, I would hope you can respect his desire to be the author of any such announcement consistent with his own time table. A decision of this magnitude should not be the subject of unconfirmed rumors and speculation. Accordingly, I am not going to make any further comment until Mike has made his final decision.

Bottom line, it doesn't look good. I'd like to take this opportunity to make a personal plea to Mike, if he's reading. DON'T RETIRE!

Moose, you essentially discovered the fountain of youth this past season. Using the same pitching patterns you can be a successful starter in this league for another 3 years easily. Come back, get your 300th win in Pinstripes, go into the Hall as a Yankee. Retire a hero, possibly with a ring or two. I realize it wasn't all smooth sailing though your years in the Bronx, but you're our guy. We all want you back. If there's even the smallest part of your brain telling you it's not time to hang 'em up, listen to it.

As Yankee fans, this decision could be huge for the future of this team. With Mussina in the fold, guys like Burnett and Lowe would lose a great deal of leverage. The Yanks wouldn't need to sign both of them. In fact, I'd go as far as to say the Yanks don't need either of them. I'd be fine with a rotation of Sabathia, Wang, Mussina, Joba, Aceves/Hughes/Kennedy/Pettitte/Warm Body. One thing Peter Abraham has been saying for months is that baseball needs Moose more than Moose needs baseball at this point in his life. I agree, but I'd like to take it a step further. The Yankees need Moose. He could save them from an $80M mistake.