That's the front page of the Post. A world leader and admitted terrorist who has killed thousands of people over decades has been overthrown and killed, and they use it to take a cheap shot at A-Rod.
2011 Red Sox Will Challenge 1927 Yankees for Title of Greatest Team in Major League History
by Eric Ortiz on Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 7:41AM 362
The Red Sox have won 100 or more games three times in their 110-year existence. They will make it four in 2011. But this team has the potential to accomplish something even bigger than winning 100 games. The last time the Red Sox reached the 100-win mark was 1946, when they went 104-50-2 and lost the World Series to the Cardinals in seven games. Prior to that, the Red Sox posted 101 wins in 1915 and 105 in 1912. Both seasons ended with World Series titles. Will the duck boats be rolling through the streets of Boston again next fall? Bookmakers like the Red Sox’ chances. Current odds put them at 9-2 to win the 2011 World Series. Only the Phillies, at 7-2, are bigger favorites, with the Yankees not far behind at 5-1 shots. Championships, of course, aren’t won in January. But championship teams are built during the offseason, and Theo Epstein has put together a roster that would make Branch Rickey proud. Look at the starting lineup. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF Dustin Pedroia, 2B Carl Crawford, LF Adrian Gonzalez, 1B Kevin Youkilis, 3B David Ortiz, DH J.D. Drew, RF Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C Marco Scutaro/Jed Lowrie, SS Speed. Power. Plate discipline. This lineup has it all. Good luck finding a hole from 1 to 7. Saltalamacchia is a bit of a wild card, but the 25-year-old could be ready for a breakout season. And whoever is the starting shortstop -- Scutaro or Lowrie -- gives the Red Sox one of the toughest No. 9 hitters in the game. Besides a potent offensive attack, the Red Sox will boast airtight defense, perhaps the best of any team in baseball. Turn to the bench, and manager Terry Francona has plenty of options. Mike Cameron, OF Darnell McDonald, OF Marco Scutaro/Jed Lowrie, INF Jason Varitek, C Youth, experience and versatility will ride the pine like lions waiting to hunt. Depth won’t be a problem, especially with players like Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson and Josh Reddick on the farm. In 2010, the Red Sox scored 818 runs (second-most in the majors), or 5.1 per game. They hit 211 home runs (second in MLB) and posted a .790 OPS (tops in MLB). The offense, with even more weapons now, could demolish those numbers. Yet one run is all it might take to win a game on some days with the starting staff the Red Sox have assembled. Jon Lester, LHP Josh Beckett, RHP John Lackey, RHP Clay Buchholz, RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP Lester is a Cy Young winner waiting to happen. Beckett will notch more than six victories. Lackey should be better equipped to avoid the one-bad-inning syndrome. Buchholz has become a force. And Dice-K might be the best No. 5 starter ever. The Japanese right-hander is the only pitcher in the rotation who’s never been an All-Star, but this could be the year he ends that streak. Every Red Sox starting pitcher has something to prove. While the Phillies might be the popular choice as the best rotation in baseball, don’t be surprised if people are singing a different tune come October. When Red Sox starters have to hand the ball to the bullpen this season, Boston fans won’t have to have to cover their eyes and pray. The weak link in 2010 could be one of the best relief corps in the business. Tim Wakefield, RHP Scott Atchison/Matt Albers, RHP Hideki Okajima, LHP Dan Wheeler, RHP Bobby Jenks, RHP Daniel Bard, RHP Jonathan Papelbon, RHP Okajima is the only known left-handed quantity. But youngster Felix Doubront has talent and should see some action. Rich Hill, Lenny DiNardo and Andrew Miller also could contribute. The right-handers in the mix all bring experience and different styles to the fire. Need long relief? Call on Wakefield to disrupt hitters’ timing. Need a middle-inning specialist to get key outs? Wheeler knows how to do the job, and Atchison proved serviceable last season. Albers could be a diamond in the rough. Want heat? Jenks and Bard throw seeds. Want to turn out the lights? Papelbon is pitching for a contract, so trust he will be ready to show he’s far from washed up. Reliability and consistency -- foreign concepts to Boston’s bullpen last season -- will be common words associated with this group. Every day should feel like Christmas for Curt Young, the new Red Sox pitching coach. The former A’s pitching coach didn’t have anything close to the horses he has now, and Oakland’s staff posted a 3.56 ERA last season, the best in the American League and fourth-best in the majors. Imagine what he can do with a Grade A collection of arms. The Red Sox were slated to win about 95 games last year. They won 89 despite injuries to Pedroia (a former MVP) and Youkilis (a possible future MVP). Add them back, along with the new players and a healthy Ellsbury, and 100 wins doesn’t just appear plausible. It seems downright inevitable. So does a date with history. The 2001 Mariners won 116 regular-season games to set the American League record for most wins in a single season and tie the 1906 Cubs for the major league record (though the North Siders accomplished the feat in 152 games). Both those teams failed to win the World Series. The Cubs lost to the White Sox in six games in the Fall Classic. The Mariners didn’t even make it that far, falling to the Yankees in five games in the ALCS. The Red Sox have no intention of suffering a similar fate. The way they are constructed, they could surpass the 116-win mark, but nothing less than a World Series title will make Boston happy. The 2011 Red Sox possess all the pieces to have a season for the ages. If everything falls into place and the breaks go their way, they could do more than set records and become champions. They could do more than take their place on Immortality Peak and end up being mentioned in the same sentence as legendary clubs of the past: the 1929 A’s, the epic Yankees teams of the ‘30s, the 1970 Orioles, the 1976 Reds. The 2011 Red Sox could accomplish a feat that has never been done. They could unseat the 1927 Yankees as the greatest major league team of all time. That would be something to celebrate.
To sum up:
The Red Sox have won 100 or more games three times in their 110-year existence. They will make it four in 2011.
Theo Epstein has put together a roster that would make Branch Rickey proud.
Speed. Power. Plate discipline. This lineup has it all.
Depth won’t be a problem.
One run is all it might take to win a game on some days with the starting staff the Red Sox have assembled.
Lackey should be better equipped to avoid the one-bad-inning syndrome.
Dice-K might be the best No. 5 starter ever.
Dice-K could be an All-Star
While the Phillies might be the popular choice as the best rotation in baseball, don’t be surprised if people are singing a different tune come October.
The bullpen could be one of the best relief corps in the business.
Every day should feel like Christmas for Curt Young, the new Red Sox pitching coach.
100 wins doesn’t just appear plausible. It seems downright inevitable.
The way they are constructed, they could surpass the 116-win mark
They could do more than take their place on Immortality Peak and end up being mentioned in the same sentence as legendary clubs of the past: the 1929 A’s, the epic Yankees teams of the ‘30s, the 1970 Orioles, the 1976 Reds.
They could unseat the 1927 Yankees as the greatest major league team of all time.
As my good friend June would say, you were WROOOOOOOOOOONG.
Jeter : Gold Glove :: Kim Jong Il : Nobel Peace Prize
We all know that most of the award voting in baseball is a joke, but is there anything more ridiculous than the Gold Glove awards? They gave Rafael Palmiero one when he'd played less than 30 games there and was a DH.
Now they award Jeter with another one, when not only do the defensive metrics say the opposite, but even with the naked eye it's readily apparent that Jeter's future away from the shortstop position is coming quickly.
He's obviously lost more than a step and these voters can't see past the intangibles.
The Yankees have won 26 World Series without him. Somehow.
Alex has never never played in one World Series game.
I would suggest that if the Yankees did not have Alex, they would be far more likely to win over the long term. His 24 + 1 mentality is not conducive to championship play. I realize it’s spring training, but the Yankees have looked terrific. They’re a much better team when they aren’t sitting around waiting for him to hit a home run. Of course, he’s signed for nine years and he’s a terrific hitter and they need him back. No question. But that money they spent on him in 2007 could have been used elsewhere.
The Angels Blogosphere is rampant today with claims of Mariano Rivera using a spitball. Many seem to suggest that this is how Rivera has been so successful over the years.
This douchebag takes screenshots of the game that suggest that Rivera spit directly on the ball. He goes on to suggest that FOX is in cahoots with Rivera.
Evidence offered: a "spit halo" on top of the baseball after it's been "spit upon":
Of course that's during the fade-in to Scioscia, where you can clearly see this "spit halo" is the fucking Magestic logo on Scioscia's jacket.
I would say this is pretty conclusive evidence of why Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera is able to throw only one pitch that has unpredictable, yet precise movement.
He has mastered the Angels so far in the ALCS but has Major League Baseball gotten a look at how he "warms up" for his appearance on the mound? You be the judge...
With a tie game in the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees bring in Rivera.
After warming up, he has his back to home plate so the home plate ump can't see.
He looks down at the ball, then up to see if the 2nd base ump is watching.
He then looks back at the ball and appears to spit on it.
And when he tests clean for steroids they say he is not a cheater.
Total and complete nonsense. First of all, Rivera wouldn't look down at a baseball and drop spit directly from his mouth onto it. Secondly, he'd have to have been doing this for 15 years, and nobody noticed until now. Thirdly, baseballs get changed out so often, he'd have to do this 5-10 times per game.
Absolute nonsense, and even though the Angels won, total sour grapes by their fanbase.
By the way, here's a slowed-down video of the incident, which clearly shows the spit travels past Rivera's hand and the ball and travels to the ground. Funny that the Angels blogs decide to show misleading screenshots rather than the entire video:
Baldwinsville family says teacher told fourth-grader to turn Yankee shirt inside out By Elizabeth Doran / The Post-Standard September 25, 2009, 11:20AM
Van Buren Elementary fourth-grader Nathan Johns thought his teacher was kidding when he instructed him to go to the bathroom and turn his Yankees T-shirt inside out.NYSHIRT.JPGJim Commentucci / The Post-StandardNate Johns of Baldwinsville poses with his shirt featuring the number of Yankee pitcher CC Sabathia. The blue shirt read “New York No. 52” on the front and “Sabathia” for the New York Yankees’ pitcher CC Sabathia, on the back.
“ I thought to myself ‘Is he serious or is he kidding,’” said Nate, 9, a student in Peter Addabbo’s fourth-grade class. “But he had this look like he wasn’t kidding at all.”
Nate complied, and said he was later told to wear it that way until dismissal. At lunch, Nate said the fifth-graders made fun of him because he wearing his shirt inside out.
“It was such a horrible day.” Nate said. “I don’t ever want anything like to happen again.”
Nate said he felt he was treated unfairly.
“Just because my teacher doesn’t like the Yankees I should still have the right to wear a Yankees shirt,” Nate said Thursday after school. The teacher has Boston Red Sox paraphernalia all over the classroom on display, he said.
Baldwinsville Schools Superintendent Jeanne Dangle said Friday morning the district is conducting an investigation into the incident, and has told the parents she will get back to them on the issue in a few days.
"We are investigating," Dangle said. "This is a personnel issue, and we will be following up and doing what's appropriate after we get all the information."
Dangle said the investigation includes asking other children who were present in the class for their observations.
"From a district perspective, we would never support something like that," Dangle said. "But we don't have all the facts yet."
Dangle said she was tied up in meetings most of Thursday and Thursday night, and that's why the district didn't respond at first to inquiries about the incident
Nate’s parents said they were shocked when their son got home from school and told them what happened.
“I was stunned — absolutely flabbergasted,” said James Garrett, Nate’s dad. “I couldn’t believe it. He was distraught. The school preaches all about not allowing bullying, and this really felt like he was being bullied.”
The Garretts contacted Van Buren Principal Terry Bick on Wednesday and met with her Thursday. “She was very professional about this, and she seemed to take it as seriously as we did,” James Garrett said.
Garrett said he believes the school handled the incident appropriately, but strongly believes his son’s First Amendment rights were violated.
How do these people even get to be teachers? It's just a kid for chrissakes.
Undeserving Hall of Famer Jim Rice on today's players:
"You see a Manny Ramirez, you see an A-Rod [Alex Rodriguez], you see [Derek] Jeter ... Guys that I played against and with, these guys you're talking about cannot compare," Rice said to Little Leaguers gathered in the cafeteria. We didn't have the baggy uniforms. We didn't have the dreadlocks," Rice said. "It was a clean game, and now they're setting a bad example for the young guys."
Here's an example of a normal, respectable hairdo from Rice's era:
Selena Roberts Doesn't Really Have a Reliable Track Record
Whether or not anything - or everything - Roberts writes about Alex Rodriguez in her character assassination book is true, there seems to be a certain number of people (PeteAbe, for one) who are calling anyone who questions anything Roberts presents as "blind" or "homers" or being "in the tank."
The always excellent ShysterBall has a great piece on Roberts, and her history of smearing for only A-Rod but other athletes.
I strongly recommend reading it, as it details how Roberts pulled a Nancy Grace and buried the Duke Lacrosse players who were falsely accused of rape in the press, and when it was revealed that they were innocent, essentially continued to bury them rather than admit she was wrong.
I'm sure the initial leak of the steroid test was sent to Roberts because people had read her hatchet jobs in the past, and figured she'd bury Rodriguez (come on, why else would only his name of 104 surface?). Rather than print that report in the paper, she decided to cash in - cha-ching - and write a full book about it. How best to flesh out the book? Well, you're going to need to find more things to assassinate his character with.
Does Roberts reveal any sources, or back up any of her claims? No, of course not.
She sets up targets and continues to fire, regardless of evidence to the contrary. ShysterBall also reminds us that this isn't the first time that Roberts has gone after A-Rod either, as is evidenced by her hatchet job from 2007.
Again, I strongly suggest you read the ShysterBall article. It's a great bit of work to get you thinking that things printed in black on white aren't always so black and white. Whether or not A-Rod is a jerk or a liar or a cheater isn't so much the point as where Roberts tries to mix in her own opinions frequently in with facts to present a completely slanted picture.
**************** Update: Roberts explains the pitch tipping. If you didn't think her evidence was flimsy before....
Roberts explains that Rodriguez (then a shortstop) was tipping pitches too early. Normally a shortstop will let his teammates know what pitch is coming or the location of said pitch so they can adjust their defense accordingly. She goes through a complete explanation for most of the "evidence" of how Rodriguez tipped pitches. Well, he's supposed to. Jeter does it. It's how you let your teammates know what to expect.
She's claiming Rodriguez tipped too early. And as evidence:
At least one teammate in a very gentle way did say, "Hey, you might be tipping a little too soon out there." But one player trying to be diplomatic told me that he said, "I think you're tipping a little too soon," and the response from Alex was, "What are you talking about?" I don't think Alex was irritated at the player; I think he felt that he had been scrutinized too closely, that someone else was trying to tell him how to do his job.
One guy says "hey, you might be tipping too soon" and Alex says "what do you mean?" BAM! There's your gotcha moment!
Both (Doug) Glanville and (R.A.) Dickey were reluctant to believe the allegations, which are a part of Selena Roberts' forthcoming book "A-Rod," until further information is made available, but neither could be sure that it didn't happen either. "I certainly didn't know or see anything like that," said Glanville. "Obviously if that's true that would be insane. I don't remember hearing anything about that when I was there. Of course it would be egregious and unforgivable."
"From personal experience, I can tell you I've seen nothing or heard nothing that would support any chapter in that book that says that," said Dickey. "Then again, it's not so far outside the realm of possibility where you could dismiss it because obviously it could happen. It's mind-boggling."
Not to (Shane) Spencer. The journeyman outfielder said that while he never saw or heard of other players doing that, he wouldn't have been surprised if Rodriguez wasn't the only one doing so. "I'm sure it does happen. There are friends of friends. I'm sure there are catchers out there that have told guys what's coming. Hopefully it didn't happen [in Texas] and hopefully it didn't happen that often."
The allegations, which were first made public in a New York Daily News story on Thursday, are in Roberts' book, which will be released on Monday. In a phone interview with SI.com, Roberts said that over the course of a couple years, some people with the Rangers began to detect a pattern whereby Rodriguez would appear to be giving away pitch type and location to hitters, always middle infielders who would then be able to repay him in kind when he was at the plate, with his body movement. According to Roberts' sources, "If it was a changeup, he would twist his glove hand. To indicate a slider, he would sweep the dirt in front of him and he would bend in the direction of where the pitch was going to be, inside or outside." Roberts' sources stressed that this only occurred in games that had long since been decided and was done for "slump insurance. You can count on your buddy to help break you out of your slump. There was no intent to throw a game or change the outcome."
That explanation wasn't sufficient for Glanville or Dickey, who said "There's no situation that would ever justify him doing that on any level. That's somebody's ERA that's somebody's livelihood, that's somebody trying to provide for their family. I'm holding on to the belief that it's not true. No one with a conscience could do that. Blows me away."
Dickey does, however, have first-hand knowledge of Rodriguez's involvement with calling pitches. "My first year there (2001) there were a couple of games where he called the pitches from shortstop or helped the catcher called pitches, in a couple of my starts I know he did that," he said. "Einar Diaz was our catcher and Alex did that on occasion on a couple of my starts. I never knew it until after the fact but he helped [our] catcher out a couple times. But as far as giving away pitches I couldn't speak with any amount of knowledge on that subject."
Christ on a cracker, John Harper, let it go. In today's Daily News, we get this nonsense:
A new Job-a? Harper: At some point, the Yanks need Joba back in the 'pen to have any hope of winning a championship. Maybe Phil Hughes can help convince them.
Think about that for a second: the absolutes. "The Yanks need Joba back in the 'pen to have any hope of winning a championship." Give me a break. Here's the rest of the nonsense here:
If successful, Phil Hughes could put Joba Chamberlain back in Yankees' bullpen
Updated Tuesday, April 28th 2009, 8:32 AM
So tonight Phil Hughes gets a chance to begin recapturing his can't-miss status of a couple of years ago, and maybe this is where the Yankee season begins to find its footing. Hughes could solve so many problems if he is ready to mature into a dependable major league starter, directly and indirectly.
Obviously he plugs the Chien-Ming Wang spot in the starting rotation, but beyond that, he gives the Yankees flexibility to make the move they may need to save their season.
It's fucking April. The Yankees are .500 and they've done it without A-Rod, who is coming back soon. "Save the season"? What the fuck?
Yes, Joba Chamberlain. It's an old debate but with a new twist, since Brian Bruney is out now with an elbow injury, leaving a bullpen - in front of Mariano Rivera - that could be hazardous to Joe Girardi's job status at some point.
No, it's the same fucking debate with the same fucking twist and you just can't seem to get past it.
I'm not saying the Yankees should move Chamberlain back to his set-up role immediately if Hughes delivers a solid start tonight.
God forbid you would say anything crazy.
They need to find out more about Bruney's elbow problem, and how long he is likely to be out. They need to see if the highly touted Mark Melancon can be a savior of sorts for the bullpen. And they need to see if Wang can be fixed in Tampa over the next couple of weeks.
No, they don't. Joba is a starting pitcher. Always was, except when you first saw him.
But if the Yankees learned anything from their lost weekend in Boston, it's that they need a much better bullpen to match up with the Red Sox in the late innings, where their head-to-head meetings are so often decided.
Here's what they learned: Game 1: Joba (!) pitches 5.1 innings of one run ball. The bullpen gets the game from the 6th through the 9th with one more run. Rivera gave up a lead when the bullpen gave him the chance for a save. Can't blame the bridge there. Also does anyone find it disturbing that Harper wants Joba in the 'pen to protect leads by the starter, Joba? Game 2: Burnett is handed a 6 run lead and can't hold it, surrendering 8 ER. Doesn't sound like the only problem with Game 2 was the bullpen, but they did blow a couple of leads. The problem here, of course, is that your starter shouldn't be giving up 8 fricken' runs. Game 3: The Yankee offense couldn't score. Pettitte pitcher 6 innings, Melancon 2 innings. Melancon doesn't give up a run.
So essentially, Harper believes that the Yankees should have "learned they need a better bullpen to match up with Boston" because the bullpen faltered in a game in which the starter gave up 8 runs.
For now, at least, they seem firmly committed to keeping Chamberlain in the rotation. But part of the equation here is that he shows no signs of being a dominating starter.
It's been three starts. He's a kid. To anyone other team, their top prospect having a 3.94 ERA would not be sending off alarm signals. Get a grip here.
Indeed, during the weekend at Fenway Park full of ugly pitching numbers, the most alarming number of all came from Joba's pitching line on Friday night:
Of the 91 pitches he threw, only two produced a swing-and-miss. He used to get two per at-bat, it seemed, as a blow-away reliever.
It's like Harper doesn't follow baseball at all. Relievers will get more K/IP than starters, because they're more focused on getting through one or two guys and not setting guys up for their next at bat or saving something in the tank.
Chamberlain did show plenty of grit in his start against the Red Sox, inducing four double-play balls that allowed him to escape big trouble and surrender one run over 5-1/3 innings. But where is the dominance?
Three. Fucking. Starts. As a starter in his career, Joba is 3-1 with a 2.43 K/BB ratio and a 2.99 ERA. Admittedly his WHIP is a bit high this year at 1.8, but the BABIP shows that at .335, he's been pretty unlucky. These things balance themselves out eventually.
Soon after his conversion from the bullpen at midseason last year, he blew away the Sox over seven innings, allowing three hits while striking out nine hitters as he outdueled Josh Beckett.
Well fuck! Let's get him out of that role based on a second game in which he didn't do as well!
On Friday night, meanwhile, Chamberlain allowed 14 baserunners in 5-1/3 innings, and struck out two. In his three starts this season he has allowed 32 baserunners in 16 innings, while getting 11 strikeouts. Although he has managed to limit the damage to a 3.94 ERA, it's clear this is not the Joba who was automatic out of the bullpen.
No starter will ever be that dominant. Let's look at that for a second - Harper is complaining that Joba the Starter is not as dominant as Joba the Reliever. You want to see Joba the Starter's stats if he were? Fictional Joba Average season: 17-6, 1.53 ERA, 293K. That would be extrapolating his reliever stats over a full season as a starter (and the wins total is actually low because Joba rarely came into a game in which the Yankees were tied/behind). If that's what Harper expects, he's insane.
Since spring training the fastball velocity has been an issue, as he throws mostly around 92-93 mph now as opposed to 96-97 when he was relieving.
When you're throwing more pitches, they won't be as fast. Let me give you another example: Let's say in 1992, Carl Lewis decided to run a marathon, and ran well. John Harper would be mocking Lewis for not averaging the same speed that Lewis had in his record-breaking 100-yard dash, regardless of the fact that no human has ever even come close to anything like that.
And while his celebrations as a reliever may have been a bit over the top, he seemed fueled by the emotion and let-it-go fire he could pour into a one-inning stint, as opposed to pacing himself as a starter.
The combination of lower velocity and a mostly placid demeanor have baseball people wondering what's wrong with Joba.
Nothing.
"There shouldn't be that kind of difference in velocity between starting and relieving," one AL scout said Monday. "When (Josh) Beckett is right, he's topping out at 96-97 from start to finish.
Who the hell? Sure there is. Look at what Burnett said about being a pitcher and not a thrower and trying to stretch himself deeper into games.
"It makes me think (Chamberlain) is worried about hurting his arm, especially after the shoulder problem he had last year. He's had injury issues before - that's what scared a lot of teams off of him the year he was drafted. I don't know, I just see a different guy out there as a starter. He doesn't have that swagger he had when he was coming out there, knowing he could empty the tank for one inning."
Shit, that's what this is all about, isn't it? Joba isn't pumping fists and yelling, so he must be not as good. What kind of scout gives a flying fuck if a guy is full of "swagger" or not?
The Yankees have to be thinking this way themselves, so you wonder how long they'll give Chamberlain before deciding to try him in the bullpen again.
Unlike Harper, the Yankees realize that a starter is more valuable than a reliever, and that 200 IP > 80 IP.
Perhaps it all depends on what happens in the next few weeks with Bruney and Melancon, as well as Wang and Hughes.
No, it doesn't.
I still think the Yankees will be OK. Assuming Alex Rodriguez returns in a week or so with no complications to his hip injury, their lineup should be explosive, especially with Robinson Cano off to such a hot start.
Uh, here's the blurb from the beginning: "The Yanks need Joba back in the 'pen to have any hope of winning a championship."
Doesn't sound like you think the Yanks will be OK to me.
Likewise, assuming that Wang isn't a lost cause and A.J. Burnett's meltdown at Fenway on Saturday wasn't an omen, the starting pitching should be among the best in the league over the long haul of the season.
... an omen. One bad start is to be concluded that it's either a trend or some supernatural bad mojo.
The bullpen is the trouble spot. Even if Bruney returns in a couple of weeks, the Yankees don't have enough depth, unless Melancon's power arm is ready to make a huge impact.
John Harper doesn't obviously follow the Yankees minor leagues, because if there's one thing they have down there it's a ton of bullpen depth.
At some point it's hard to see how the Yankees deny the obvious, that they need Chamberlain back there to have any hope of winning a championship. Maybe starting tonight, Hughes can help convince them.
There we go again... "to have ANY hope." I thought you "still think the Yanks will be OK"?
ATTN: Daily News, please fire John Harper as he's a complete hack.
Don't worry though, he'll still sell you papers since the idiots that read your paper agree with him.
Poll Results
Should Joba Chamberlain be in the Yankee bullpen? Yes, it's where he is most dominant 71% No, he will be an elite starter 9% It depends on Phil Hughes and Chien-Ming Wang 20%
Gammons, the "most respected baseball reporter in the country," just had this to say on ESPN Radio this morning (slight paraphrase):
"The Yankee bullpen is a mess. Joba will be back in the 'pen soon enough. Maybe if Mellon-Con can hold down the (setup) role this will be delayed or won't happen but chances are you'll see Joba in the setup role soon enough."
Besides the fact that the Yanks need Joba in the rotation now and in the future, Gammons is suggesting Joba's role should be defined by a kid with 1+ innings of major league experience, not by someone like Brian Bruney who will be back soon.
I'll also wage dollars to donuts that if Melancon were a Red Sox, Gammo wouldn't have pronounced his name as if it were a fruit and vegetable convention.
Richard Justice Just Heard Jeter Might Be Overrated
Man, first Fraley, now Justice? ALL OF MY FAVORED CHICKENS ARE RETURNING HOME TO ROOST.
The Yankees will win the World Series this season, or there'll be hell to pay. That means you, Joe Girardi. You, too, Alex Rodriguez. And you, Derek Jeter. For the first time, there are whispers about how good you really are.
Whispers. For the first time. Really. Really? Really.
The seat already is getting warm for some managers
By Gerry Fraley - SportingNews 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Joe Girardi gets it.
The New York Yankees spent more than $420 million on three marquee free agents this offseason with the intention of returning to the playoffs after a one-year absence. Those expectations squarely fall on Girardi.
"I don't necessarily think about those things," Girardi said during spring training when asked if he has the no-playoffs, no-job mindset. "But as you state the question, you're probably right."
That puts Girardi atop the list of managers most likely to be whacked.
Hamstrung by injuries, the Yankees went 89-73 last season and finished third in the American League East. They finished eight games behind the division-champion Rays and six games behind the wild card-winning Red Sox.
At times, Girardi seemed uncomfortable with the pressure that came with managing the Yankees. His biggest shortcoming is that he isn't Joe Torre, his serene predecessor who guided his teams to the postseason each year from 1996-2007.
"It would have been difficult for any manager," Girardi said. "He (Torre) was here so long and had relationships with everyone involved. I knew it wasn't going to be easy replacing him, and I never tried to replace him. I'm just glad I went through the whole experience."
If Girardi is dumped, keep this name in mind for next season: Bobby Valentine. He plans to leave Japan after this season and wants to get back into the major leagues. Look for a not-so-subtle campaign promoting Valentine.
Hi folks. Rarely do I post fan mail on this site, but sometimes I'll get a letter that warms the cockles of my heart. This time, it's from a relative of a sportswriter, thanking me for my excellent service.
We never met....however, my interest in you was inspired by a posting of your towards Kevin Hench in 2007....
Essentially, you tore apart Kevin for his opinions.....ripped apart his fact checking...etc....even labeled him as a "douche-bag" (Howard Stern would be proud of your vocabulary indeed)....
Here is my issue.....regardless of clever metaphor attempts.....such as ... " ....Imagine Dr. Kevin Hench, neurosurgeon, Lt. Kevin Hench, LAPD, Kevin Hench, Attorney-at-Law, Senator Kevin Hench, bookstore clerk Kevin Hench or American Airlines pilot Kevin Hench being as mind-numbingly awful at their profession and the resulting consequences: malpractice, indicted for corruption, disbarred, recalled, fired and dead...." ....You do realize that within all of your mentioned professions.....each of those groups are full of people who "make mistakes...." My personal favorite was Attorney.....are you kidding me man? Attorneys actually make a living at manipulating facts to make their arguments fly to their liking....ever watch the famous OJ trial??? I realize that in your very naive and Utopian world.....everyone would be perfect. We both know all too well, especially as we witness the collapse of the global economy....that the world is full of "mistakes". I then looked into who exactly YOU are....only to find that you too are a narcissistic opinion hound....how ironic. How much time you spend in the universe of name calling also reveals a very juvenile approach towards your opinions....."the first to raise his fist in anger is the first to run out of ideas....." you could have voiced your opinion about Kevin without resorting to the immature side of your argument.....you actually sound quite jealous more than anything.
If you ever evolve into an actual intellect....you may realize that regardless of your anger or opinion, true wisdom is always accompanied by a sense of calm and self control.
Food for thought.....
oh and...an official comeback to you calling my cousin a "douche-bag" is .... "NU UH....YOU ARE!!!!"....(as I roll my eyes with a grin....)
ciao for now my friend....
Jeff Hench
The article Jeff is thanking me for writing is this one in which Kevin Hench makes an obvious and easily checkable error and uses that mistake to make fun of someone else. I turned the tables on Mr. Hench, who never apologized for his error, and Jeff wrote in to thank me for my dilligence. Thanks Jeff, and keep reading the blog!
For more on Kevin Hench's excellent journalism skills, you can click here.
PS: I wanted to post a picture of Kevin for reference. Here's his Facebook picture:
As you can tell, his comments regarding Red Sox superiority are obviously unbiased (and, coincidentally, came during a season in which there was a second Boston Massacre and the Sox missed the playoffs).
Parting fun facts: he writes liberal propaganda (I can't believe he wouldn't write unbiased polticial articles considering his sports objectivity) for the Huffington Post, and wrote the Adam Carolla failure "The Hammer."
Until the next Mailbag, folks, keep those letters comin'!
Funny that Borden makes these "great points" right after A-Rod gets injured. Still, in fairness to Borden he has always tried to sell papers by ripping Rodriguez, even before he was fired by the Daily News.
Yankees should have let A-Rod go when they had the chance
By Sam Borden • Journal News columnist • March 6, 2009
Not March 6, 2008, nor January 6th, 2009. Nope, March 6th, 2009, right after the injury.
There is so much we don't know about Alex Rodriguez's hip injury, so much we won't know until Rodriguez makes it through the year and has surgery or slides into second base one day against the Royals and begins writhing in pain.
Suddenly, the season has become a six-month game of Jenga for Rodriguez and the Yankees: Will one more game be what topples him? One more slide? One more hard turn around third base as he heads for home? No one knows and no one can know. But here is what we do know for sure: The Yankees were out. They were out, free and clear of Rodriguez back in 2007, when Rodriguez decided to opt out of his contract. For about three weeks, Rodriguez wasn't the Yankees' problem anymore. Wasn't their PR concern. Wasn't their responsibility. And then Hank Steinbrenner brought Rodriguez back and gave him a 10-year contract, essentially marrying the Yankees to Rodriguez for the rest of his career.
Most free agents with no history of significant injuries after an 11 year career were, at one point, nobody's problem. Then usually a team signs them because they're one of the best fucking ballplayers on the planet.
The way things have gone lately for Rodriguez, you'd have to think the Yankees would probably have preferred Hank spend that $275 million a little differently. Like, say, on vintage turtlenecks and blazers for his dad. Or cigarettes. Or land under the Brooklyn Bridge.
But he didn't. So Rodriguez and his steroid use and poker playing and infidelity and propensity to put his foot in his mouth are the Yankees' problem for the foreseeable future, all of which would have been tolerable enough so long as he continued to be the greatest player in the game.
Infidelity? He's a major league ballplayer, for fuck's sake. It's just that you and your bretheren don't report on other guys cheating on their wives. You know it happens, but Xavier Nady cheating on his wife doesn't sell as many papers as A-Rod.
Borden is really reaching when it comes to the "poker playing." He was one of the douchebags who made that a big deal when he worked for the Daily News tabloid and reported that A-Rod (*gasp*) played poker (*gasp*) in a card room (*oh no!*) without breaking the law (*heavens to betsy!*).
Besides, who cares? The Yankees didn't sign him to have a happy marriage or play keno. He's paid to hit the shit out of a baseball. I mean, it goes without saying that the other stuff you drum up is tolerable is the guy continues to be the best player in baseball. Why does that even have to be said?
That was always the catch. The saving grace. The thing that made it all worthwhile. While the Yankees had to deal with a constant stream of activity from Rodriguez that showed him to be particularly amateurish in many facets of basic human existence, they could at least take solace in the fact that he was incredibly professional at playing baseball. He hit, he ran, he scored runs, he played the field, he won MVPs. Whatever else he did, he generally had a positive influence on the team's on-field results.
Gee, like the reason they signed him in the first place. Sam, do you think the Journal News hired you because of your marriage or your ability to write? (Wait, I think we may actually need to question that one).
That isn't necessarily the case anymore. This hip injury not only puts Rodriguez's season - and, at the risk of being overly dramatic, career - in murkier territory, it also locks the Yankees organization into an elaborate holding pattern predicated on whether or not their third baseman will or will not need an operation before next winter.
Chase Utley just had a similar injury, played through it, and won a ring. So because the dude got injured, the signing in 2007 was a bad move. Genius!
Before, when the stories about Rodriguez had to do with steroids and Madonna and Derek Jeter vs. Jose Reyes, the concern was whether these issues might be a "distraction" for Rodriguez or his teammates. They were potential sideshows, not real baseball issues.
These were your stories, Sam. Sometimes they were manufactered by you and your collegues.
This is a real baseball issue. The Yankees cannot go out and get a new third baseman right now because what if Rodriguez makes it through? What if he's able to play? Are they going to trade for Chone Figgins and then keep him on the bench? Make a smaller deal? Shift players around? It's difficult to shop for something you don't know you actually need.
Yeah it would be awful if the Yankees had a capable backup 3B. Why would they ever want that? (Oh yeah, unlike Sam I don't engage in revisionist history. I told you why they needed one already.) That Charlie Hayes backing up Wade Boggs thing seemed to work out.
That's why they're doing rest and rehab for Rodriguez. Rest and rehab and prayer. Of course, if Rodriguez does aggravate the hip during the season, does need surgery that could keep him out for four months according to GM Brian Cashman, the Yankees know they will then have no leverage in any talks with other teams, meaning they'll have to either overpay or give the third-base job to Cody Ransom, whose biggest accomplishment to date seems to be that someone once filmed him showing off his five-foot vertical leap and then put it on YouTube.
This is why you don't go into a season with Cody Fucking Ransom as your backup.
"We are hoping (Rodriguez) can play with it," Cashman told reporters in Florida yesterday. "That's the gray area, that's what we are all trying to figure out. He's such an asset that we want to try this way first."
In truth, the Yankees have no choice. Losing Rodriguez would be debilitating to their lineup, and this season is too important to shut him down right away.
I dunno... losing A-Rod for March-June and getting him back healthy sounds better to me than a hobbled A-Rod polaying the whole year and being weak down the stretch. The Yankees need this season for their new stadium; Joe Girardi needs this season for his job; Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera and Johnny Damon need this season because they don't necessarily know how many more chances at a championship season they have left. So they wait. Wait to see if Rodriguez can play a little in spring training. Wait to see if Rodriguez can make it through the first dive for a ball in the hole. Wait to see if Rodriguez can stand up to 162 games with a hip that may feel like it's made of glass.They need Rodriguez. This team needs Rodriguez. Girardi needs him. The Yankees need him. Posada and Mo and Damon need him. But it was dumb of the Yankees to resign him. This is the logic of Sam Borden. That was if anything goes wrong you can always blame A-Rod.
The best-case scenario is the Yankees go into next season with a 34-year-old third baseman who just had major hip surgery. The worst-case is it all comes tumbling down in April or before.
This isn't another gossipy A-Rod story, isn't another two-day news cycle on how he and Jeter aren't soul mates anymore. This isn't a "potential" problem. It's a problem and one that isn't going away any time soon.
Don't worry, Sam. Everyone is familiar with your gossipy stories, and I'm sure we'll have a few more soon enough.
The Yankees were almost free of Rodriguez, almost, nearly on the tippy-tip-tip of getting away from him. Three weeks they got. Three weeks of freedom that somehow turned into 10 years of something else. Normally you'd say the team has control of the player for the length of that contract. With Rodriguez, it somehow feels like it's the other way around.
But the Yankees need him to win a championship. Except when he's injured. Then he's a bum.
Between taking potshots at the Yankees, he moans and whines about how much happier CC Sabathia would have been with the Giants. The frickin' Giants. Bruce, just enjoy your lovely
Sabathia saddled with an aging zoo
Bruce Jenkins Wednesday, February 11, 2009
You can't help but wonder what CC Sabathia thinks of all this. He knew he was signing with a corporate bully, tossing money into the air like confetti, but he had no idea the Yankees' so-called Bronx Zoo would escalate into full-scale chaos so quickly.
Obviously, Giants owner Peter Magowan was showing fiscal restraint when he signed a completely overrated pitcher (Barry Zito) to the richest pitching contract ever (7 years/$126M). The money was not tossed into the air, it was placed gently on Zito's pillow, next to his guitar and stuffed animals. (Zito has been kind enough to repay Giants fans with ERA+ of 98 and 85 in his first two seasons).
For one thing, the Yankees' so-called powerhouse is hardly that. This is an old and terribly vulnerable team, starting with Derek Jeter, who turns 35 this summer and continues a gradual decline so evident, the stat guys are calling him the worst defensive shortstop in the American League.
I am not about to defend Jeter's defense here, and he had a down season with the stick in 2008. However, the three years prior his OPS+ were 125, 132, and 121 and he's still getting on base at an excellent rate. The Giants, on the other hand, have the youthful (34 year old) Edgar Renteria, who they just signed to a multi-year contract and who sported an OPS+ of 84 last season.
The aging catcher, Jorge Posada, is trying to recover from shoulder surgery. So is Mariano Rivera, the storied but 39-year-old closer. Hideki Matsui is coming off his second major knee surgery in two years. Center field, the position with all that Yankees history, has become a grim struggle between Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner.
Posada is aging and is recoving, this is true. The Giants counter with the spry young Bengie Molina (34) who has had one (1) offensive season with an above average OPS+ (2005) and 8 seasons with a below average one.
Mariano Rivera is older and also recovering from injury. Compare this to the fantastic Brian Wilson closing for San Francisco, whose 4.62 ERA in 2008 surely inspired hope in Giants fans. I will personally guarantee that Rivera will outpitch Wilson in every statistical category in 2009. And, hell, for every year from now on until Mo retires or Wilson gets waived.
Yep, Matsui had knee surgery. However the offense doesn't revolve around Hideki flippin' Matsui. Besides, would you rather have Randy Winn or Fred Lewis? I'm not high on Matsui but he's a hell of a lot better than those schlubs.
Centerfield is the only place I might give SF the edge, but it's not like it's a good one. Aaron Rowand and his sub-100 OPS+ in three of the last 4 years may win awards for "grit and hustle" but those would be the only awards for which he'd be considered.
Nobody knows what to expect from Johnny Damon, Nick Swisher or Robinson Cano - or, for that matter, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte in the rotation.
Nobody knows what to expect from any player, as no one can see the future. I know I would expect every single one of them to outperform their Giants counterparts.
There's no help coming from a farm system that hasn't produced an impact position player since Jeter - 14 years ago.
I could probably come up with much better examples of this, but just off the top of my head, how about Jorge Posada? Alfonso Soriano? Hell, Robinson Cano almost won a batting title. Does an "imapact" player have to be someone who's a lock for the Hall of Fame or what?
Alex Rodriguez, who has a rather fragile psyche anyway, will find that curiosity and skepticism accompany his every at-bat, now that 156 of his career home runs are officially tarnished.
Yes, this is as opposed to everyone embracing him wherever he went and treating him with kid gloves.
It's a good thing the Yanks picked up Sabathia and Mark Teixeira for $28.2 billion, or whatever it was, because this is one flawed outfit. And that's just on the field. The A-Rod circus and the residue of Joe Torre's book should make for some really fun times around the clubhouse, and that's a situation Joe Girardi, a manager who likes things nice and simple, won't be able to handle.
Any regular reader of this space knows one of my favorite things is when sportswriters make definitive statements of future events, like "Joe Girardi won't be able to handle these things" because they always wind up looking like idiots later.
Also, as we compared above, the Giants are terrible and won 72 games last year but Jenkins is still mad he didn't sign with a terrible franchise.
And to think, Sabathia's life would have been so much simpler if he'd signed with the Giants.
Yes it would, because he wouldn't have had to worry about playing in the post season or competing in a pennant race.
Don't give me this nonsense about "he had to do it" because of the money. He was either going to be an insanely rich Yankee or a ridiculously rich Giant. There are athletes who know the difference, who have settled for less in the name of lifestyle and common sense. CC just might wish he'd joined them.
Forget about Joba Chamberlain being in the rotation - he needs to go back to the bullpen. From Day 1 of spring training. No ifs, ands or bugs.
With a top three of Sabathia, Burnett and Wang, and with Pettitte on the back end, Joba is most needed in the bullpen now, especially since Mariano Rivera is coming off shoulder surgery.
This way the Yankees New York Yankees can keep Joba's innings under control, and if Rivera needs a little extra time to be ready for the season, Chamberlain can be the emergency closer. If Rivera is right for the start of the season, then Chamberlain has the eighth inning and the Yankees are that much more of a force.
An eighth-inning dynamo is much more important to the Yankees now than a back-end starter, and besides, the Yankees have candidates for that fifth spot, including Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves.
There are some people in the Yankee front office who are convinced Chamberlain is best-suited for the bullpen anyway because of his emotional makeup and arm. Many scouts I've talked to say the same thing. In some ways, Chamberlain is like Jonathan Papelbon in makeup and talent. He lives for the competition every night.
When you are a starter, you have four days to kill between starts. When you are in the bullpen, you have to be ready to go every game.
This way Chamberlain can basically be a two-pitch pitcher, slider and fastball. He can mix in the curve, but he does not have to depend upon it as much as a starter, who needs three pitches to work the lineup, and this would mean less stress on his shoulder.
Chamberlain can just roll out of the bullpen and be that Raging Bull that Yankee fans have come to love. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and when you step back and look at the situation now, Chamberlain looks great in the bullpen.
The Yankees should plan on it now. Joba is the perfect fit for this bullpen.
I'm not going to go off on the same rant again about how you should have your best pitchers throwing the most number of innings, etc etc, but it's the mentality of "that's what we saw him do!" that causes these sorts of ridiculous reactions. Nobody would have considered putting Roger Clemens in the bullpen to be a setup guy in his prime, would they? Why did the Twins move Johan Santana out of the bullpen? Who is more valuleable to a team: vintage Pedro Martinez, or vintage Scot Shields?
Stop with the comparisons to Papelbon. Joba can be emotional as a starter - it worked for Clemens and Pedro.
Let me give you another couple of examples:
A restuarant is in need of an emergency line chef for a night, and thus picks a recent graduate of a prestigious culinary academy to fill in and make soups for an evening. The soups are a great hit, and even though the chef studied for years and was well known as a classical french chef, the only job he is ever offered is making that same soup every night because heck, we know he can do that.
Rembrandt agreed to paint his cousin's house with him. All of the town agreed this was the finest painted house in all of the burgh, and wished Rembrandt to paint their houses for them as well. Rembrandt let them know he was an artist, not a house painter, but the townsfolk all agreed they would never buy his paintings because they wanted him painting houses.
Of course these examples are ridiculous, but so is the suggestion that Chamberlain is best used in the bullpen.
As we well know by now, nothing pisses Lupica off more than when the Yankees succeed at something. If they do, he'll do his best to shit on whatever parade he can.
Yankees win World Series? "They bought it." A Yankee gets the MVP? "Fine, but where's the World Series ring, you selfish jerk?" Yankees do not win World Series? "What a waste of all that money. They should have won, but failed."
Etc., etc., and so forth. When the Yankees signed Teixeira yesterday, my guess is that there was a mean-spritied little busybody in New York who needed to change his underpants.
Christmas spending spree always in season for Yankees Tuesday, December 23rd 2008, 10:17 PM
It would have been ridiculous for the Yankees not to go after Mark Teixeira, to not pay him and his bag man, Scott Boras, whatever they wanted. But then it was ridiculous, and phony, of Brian Cashman and the Yankees to pass on Carlos Beltran at $100 million a few years ago. At the time the Yankees wanted you to believe that they had some kind of budget. They don't.
Lest anyone forget that Lupica is in love with the Mets (and, to a lesser extent, the Red Sox) here it is in the first paragraph. Of course, this is an apples/oranges comparison. At the time, the Yankees did not need Beltran as much as they needed Teixeira now, and when you're talking about payroll they still had huge contracts on the books then for Giambi, Williams, Pavano et al which were not ready to come off of the books. Lupica still doesn't seem to realize (or chooses to ignore) that lowering your payroll (or perhaps staying in the same neighborhood) is exactly what "having a budget" means. It does not mean you have to lower your expenses; it means usually to stay close to the same financial output. That is what budgeting is.
When Beltran was available, the Yankees thought him overpriced for his talent and the market, and they were not about to move into a new stadium. The comparison is completelty invalid.
Maybe now they have finally spent enough money, after eight years of the greatest financial advantage in the history of professional sports, to finally buy back the World Series.
No mention of the Red Sox spending the two largest payrolls to ever win a World Series, the 2004 champs with but one homegrown player on the roster. No mention of his precious Mets and their spending.
If not, Manny Ramirez is still out there. You can never be too sure. The last time the Yankees were sure they had put the Red Sox away by getting the hitter the Red Sox wanted was with Alex Rodriguez nearly five years ago.
Now he's just trying to be cute.
Teixeira is younger and a switch-hitter and a better buy than Ramirez and he gets his money from the Yankees the way C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett did. Really: The Yankees would have been stupid not to do it, even if the Yankees now commit more than $400 million in future salary - for three baseball players - at a time when Cashman wants to still tell you how much money he had coming off the books.
Cause and effect. The fact that so much payroll has come off the books should be an indication that the Yankees had the ability to spend again without severely changing their payroll.
But then if you were the Yankee general manager those are the books you'd want to talk about, too. Last winter, Cashman and the Yankees committed around $270 million to A-Rod when they were bidding against themselves, then another $100 million to Mo Rivera and Jorge Posada. Rivera and Posada, you may recall, were around here when the Yankees could beat everybody without outspending them two or three times to one.
You know, Lupica was complaining about the Yankee payroll in the 90's as well. Revisionist historian now wishes to claim the spending made sense back then.
"Re-investing" is the way team president Randy Levine described his team's spending the other day. This, of course, at a time when Levine expects New York City to re-invest in the Yankees by giving them $259 million more in tax-free bonds so they can finish building their new stadium.
But this is who the Yankees are. This is what they do. And all they do. Yankee fans, at least the ones who can still afford to go to the ballpark, love it. Bag men like Boras love the system most of all.
There were two teams being hit with a luxury tax the other day for the 2008 season: Yankees and Tigers. Neither one made the playoffs. The Yankees, of course, paid a lot more in taxes because they were more than $60 million clear of the Tigers. And Cashman thinks he gets to be thin-skinned because people point out his team spends money like this year after year and hasn't been in the World Series since 2003.
Fairly sure Lupica doesn't understand the luxury tax system. The reason - the main reason - the Yankees are spending so much more than the Tigers is not because they simply had a higher payroll, it's because the Yankees crossed the payroll threshold three years (or more) in a row, which brings with it additional penalties.
So now the Yankees try to get back there, win their first Series since 2000, with a payroll that is way more than twice what the Phillies spent to win the World Series last October. Maybe after $180 million on Teixeira and $161 million for Sabathia and $82.5 million for Burnett the Yankees can not only get back into the playoffs but get out of the first round for the first time since 2004.
So bitter. So insecure. So mean spirited.
"You keep swinging for the fences," Cashman said the other day, when Sabathia and Burnett were the latest free agents to show up for Yankee money and talk about how it was always their dream to wear the Yankee pinstripes.
Cashman sure does swing for the fences. He's a sultan of swat, just from the baseball Brunei.
Lupica would suggest perhaps the Steinbrenners pocket the money, or give Cashman a $50M bonus this year.
Cashman talks constantly about a farm system that is supposed to start producing young talent any day now. Just not today. Never today. Developing young talent is something the riffraff are supposed to have to do.
Chien-Ming Wang. Joba Chamberlain. Phil Hughes. Robbie Cano. The centerfield combo of Gardner/Cabrera. Most of the bullpen corps. These are just the recent guys of course who don't count for some reason.
The Yankees write checks and want to be carried around the room for keeping their payroll at around $200 million when nobody else in baseball is close. It must have been a hardship in the old days, winning with guys such as Brosius and O'Neill.
We really can never get through a Lupica Yankees rant without mentioning Brosius, can we? Brosius really only had one good year with the Yankees. They won despite - not because of - him most years.
Also I don't understand the "guys such as" including Paul O'Neill. O'Neill was a good player. Not a Hall of Famer, but an All-Star caliber talent who won a batting title and had good power.
The total outlay of new Yankee money spent in the last two baseball winters is now nearly $800 million. Now the Yankees will try to save money on people such as Andy Pettitte so that they can say that they signed all these big-ticket players and kept their payroll under what it was last year. It is absolutely essential for Cashman to look as if this makes him some kind of numbers cruncher.
So wait, Lupica is admitting that despite this temper tantrum, the Yankees may actually cut spending this year? Also don't give me these tears for Andy Pettitte. The Yankees did him a huge favor of loyalty last year when they picked up his option in the middle of his HGH scandals. Is Pettitte really worth more than $10M/yr?
Even as he now has four players on his roster making more than $20 million per season: A-Rod, Sabathia, Teixeira, Jeter. They have about as much money invested in those four as the Phillies do in their entire baseball team.
Not quite. Also the Phillies' payroll is about to jump, with Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard in arbitration. If we're to talk about bad contracts and overpaid players, let's not forget that the Phillies are still paying Jim Thome to play for the White Sox.
You cannot do this in professional football, as much as owners such as Jerry Jones would like to.
Other things you can't do in football: carry bats on the field, bunt, steal bases, get called for a balk on a pump fake, or field different teams when you're on offense and defense. That is because football is a different sport in many, many ways and thus this comparison is invalid.
You cannot do this in the NBA, because even when teams such as the Knicks go wildly over the salary cap, they aren't out-spending the competition the way the Yankees do, year after year after year. Again: There is no sport where one team, if it has the resources, can attempt to buy this sort of edge.
Yes, you are also in love with the Knicks, I forgot because, well, nobody gives a shit about the Knicks.
The Yankees don't have to apologize. The way they do business, it would have been insane for them to pass on Teixeira. But it takes no genius, or vision, to do this, for Cashman or anybody else. Just deep pockets and owners desperate to look big.
Ok, so why have you spent two pages berating them?
So maybe the Yankees have finally spent enough money to win, after spending a couple of billion on salaries and revenue sharing and luxury taxes and somehow managing not to win a World Series since Mike Piazza's ball ended up in Bernie Williams' glove in October of 2000.
I thought you just admitted the payroll may go down this year. Also, still bitter about 2000. We get it.
Maybe, at long last, they are back to being the best team money can buy. But if they still think they might come up a little short, why not buy Manny, too?
Because Manny is a jerk and would fit in just fine on the Mets.
Jump to the 2:00 mark, and you'll get this gem from Boston's own Karl Ravech:
"If you're looking at 8 years and $180M, you're just north of $18M per year, which is just a starting point."
180 / 8 = 22.5, Karl. Maybe this is just his way of tricking Boras into saying no so that his beloved Red Sox can sweep in and offer "20M for 8 years!" ($160M).
As it turns out, 3 writers voted for Edinson Volquez for the NL ROYeven though he's not eligible because he wasn't a rookie in 2008 (thanks to the always well thought out Keith Law for the details).
Seriously, there is no excuse for this. Remember, the BBWAA denied Law and Rob Neyer membership because they don't write for traditional newspapers. Looks like the choices the BBWAA decided upon were much, much better. Do these guys even follow baseball? I mean, they're paid to do so, right?
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