A few other random stories and thoughts:
This better be good: I stumbled on TBS the other day (Jerry Maguire was on. You got a problem with that?) and I see more of those Frank TV commercials. And the commercial says it premieres on Tuesday.
Tuesday?
You mean Frank Caliendo's show hasn't aired yet? How is that possible? They carpet-bombed us during the playoffs just to wait, what, another month before releasing it?
How many 15- and 30-second spots have they aired for this show over the past six weeks? It's a half-hour show, so that's maybe 22 minutes of actual Frank TV per week. So the question is, when all is said and done, will we see more minutes of Frank TV than we've seen commercials?
The ballsiness of all this could be enough to back off my Frank TV ban. But at this point, there's so much hype behind this that the show better do more than just make people laugh. It better cure the common cold or something.
Yanks Sign Jose Molina to a 2-Year Deal: Not sure that there's anything else to say here. The Yanks have dumpster-dived for catching backups since the tandem behind the plate was Posada/Girardi. Molina's the best guy available--it's virtually guaranteed that any of the available players that are better than him (Lo Duca, Barrett, Yorvit Torrealba) are going to get starting jobs elsewhere--so a commitment was in order.
Gold Gloves Awarded, the Golden Child's Reign Ends: Derek Jeter's three-year reign as the AL's Gold Glove at shortstop ended. Orlando Cabrera got that spot, and it's not a horrible pick, although he's been such a whiner over the past few years--whining about Yankee fans, whining about the Mariners, whining about how no one gives him respect--that it's hard to feel happy for him. Based on the stats, he's a more worthy contender for best defensive shortstop than Jeter, but he probably wasn't as good as Tony Peña, Jr. in 2007.
Derek Jeter Accused of Not Paying Taxes: ...by the State of New York. They're fighting Jeter's claim that he was a resident of Florida in 2001-2003, claiming that because he owns an apartment in Manhattan, and because the tabs were full of stories about hooking up with starlets in New York City's trendiest night spots. Of course, I oversimplify. Regardless, overall, it's not been a good off-season for the Captain.
Showing posts with label Free Agents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free Agents. Show all posts
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Proof of Life
My head's been wrapped so deep in work that it's starting to feel like a hostage situation. I feel the need to post here more as proof to the proud few of you that still read this space that I'm still alive, and relatively well. If any of you need further proof, I can post a picture of myself with today's newspaper (the Times, sadly, which is La Chiquita's subscription).
Since the last time we posted:
Jorge Posada Signs for 4 Years, $52 Million -- The rise of H&H Steinbrenner means that we're shifting from IOGM (It's Only George's Money) paradigm to the slightly more generic IOSM (It's Only Steinbrenner's Money). One way to look at it is, is paying $26 Million for Jorge Posada's age 38 and 39 seasons really a good idea? That's a daunting question, to which I can only answer: IOSM. But the real question is, what was the alternative? Yorvit Torrealba? Michael Barrett? Paul Lo Freakin' Duca? You've got to tip your hat to Hip, Hip Jorge! for having an A+ season in his walk year, at a time when there wasn't another viable soul on the market.
Yanks Offer Mariano $45 Million for 3 Years -- I'm less than overjoyed with the Yankees new policy of sharing their every negotiating thought with the press; divulging their contract offers to Joe Torre, Alex Rodriguez and now Mariano Rivera with a plaintive cry of "Look! We're offering these folks top dollar!" seems like some backstepping toward the bad old days when George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin used reporters the way other people used telephones. Still, this is a great deal for Rivera. Look at it this way: over the last five years, Mariano's averaged just under 75 innings per season. Paying him $15 million a year would likely be over $200,000 per inning, which is a pretty world-beating return for anyone this side of Carl Pavano. By way of comparison, Roger Clemens received $189K/inning this season, on his absurd contract. That's some nice coin.
Barry Bonds Indicted -- This is today's news. Obstruction of justice and perjury are the reported charges, which leaves out the most serious charge leveled against him, for tax evasion. Expect a number of articles tomorrow about how this is the worst thing to happen in baseball history. Fay Vincent has already gone on the record claiming that this is worse than Pete Rose's gambling and tax evasion, and possibly worse than the Black Sox scandal. That's crazy talk.
Barry Bonds's getting indicted--after three or four years' worth of grand juries to toll the statute of limitations for perjury--is a sad thing. But it's something distinct from baseball's (or Bonds's) steroids problem, in the same way that Rose's tax evasion conviction was distinct from his permanent suspension from baseball for gambling. If Rose's suspension had been for failing to pay his taxes--a serious legal offense, and one that no one could justify--then I'm 99% certain he'd be in the Hall of Fame today. Sports and the law work in parallel worlds; in the sports world, his biggest offense (betting on baseball, and on the Reds) could have been carried out legally, but it was more serious than his violation of the law. In the baseball world, it's established that gambling is a more serious offense than PED use--the proof is in the respective punishments (lifetime ban for gambling vs. 50 games for the first steroid offense, less for amphetamines) and the basic "shrug and nod" response that the whole thing is given in other sports, like football.
A side note: The thing I like about Mr. Vincent is how, even 15 years after being ousted as Commissioner of Baseball by Bud Selig, he still acts as if he were the Commissioner in Exile rather than just some guy who got fired. Rather than just publishing his memoirs and going away, he's establishing a shadow government. And until the tyranny of the Selig regime collapses, and Vincent is restored to his rightful place in MLB's Madison Avenue offices, he's available to talk the media--at all times--and second-guess everything that happens in the game from the sidelines. It's a pretty sweet gig, if you can get it.
Alex Rodriguez Resumes Negotiations with Yankees -- In the time that it took me to write the foregoing, the Yanks and A-Rod have reportedly come to terms on a 10-year $275 million contract. The story's not mature, involving more than a little rumor-mongering that's keeping me from commenting at this time.
...to be continued.
Since the last time we posted:
Jorge Posada Signs for 4 Years, $52 Million -- The rise of H&H Steinbrenner means that we're shifting from IOGM (It's Only George's Money) paradigm to the slightly more generic IOSM (It's Only Steinbrenner's Money). One way to look at it is, is paying $26 Million for Jorge Posada's age 38 and 39 seasons really a good idea? That's a daunting question, to which I can only answer: IOSM. But the real question is, what was the alternative? Yorvit Torrealba? Michael Barrett? Paul Lo Freakin' Duca? You've got to tip your hat to Hip, Hip Jorge! for having an A+ season in his walk year, at a time when there wasn't another viable soul on the market.
Yanks Offer Mariano $45 Million for 3 Years -- I'm less than overjoyed with the Yankees new policy of sharing their every negotiating thought with the press; divulging their contract offers to Joe Torre, Alex Rodriguez and now Mariano Rivera with a plaintive cry of "Look! We're offering these folks top dollar!" seems like some backstepping toward the bad old days when George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin used reporters the way other people used telephones. Still, this is a great deal for Rivera. Look at it this way: over the last five years, Mariano's averaged just under 75 innings per season. Paying him $15 million a year would likely be over $200,000 per inning, which is a pretty world-beating return for anyone this side of Carl Pavano. By way of comparison, Roger Clemens received $189K/inning this season, on his absurd contract. That's some nice coin.
Barry Bonds Indicted -- This is today's news. Obstruction of justice and perjury are the reported charges, which leaves out the most serious charge leveled against him, for tax evasion. Expect a number of articles tomorrow about how this is the worst thing to happen in baseball history. Fay Vincent has already gone on the record claiming that this is worse than Pete Rose's gambling and tax evasion, and possibly worse than the Black Sox scandal. That's crazy talk.
Barry Bonds's getting indicted--after three or four years' worth of grand juries to toll the statute of limitations for perjury--is a sad thing. But it's something distinct from baseball's (or Bonds's) steroids problem, in the same way that Rose's tax evasion conviction was distinct from his permanent suspension from baseball for gambling. If Rose's suspension had been for failing to pay his taxes--a serious legal offense, and one that no one could justify--then I'm 99% certain he'd be in the Hall of Fame today. Sports and the law work in parallel worlds; in the sports world, his biggest offense (betting on baseball, and on the Reds) could have been carried out legally, but it was more serious than his violation of the law. In the baseball world, it's established that gambling is a more serious offense than PED use--the proof is in the respective punishments (lifetime ban for gambling vs. 50 games for the first steroid offense, less for amphetamines) and the basic "shrug and nod" response that the whole thing is given in other sports, like football.
A side note: The thing I like about Mr. Vincent is how, even 15 years after being ousted as Commissioner of Baseball by Bud Selig, he still acts as if he were the Commissioner in Exile rather than just some guy who got fired. Rather than just publishing his memoirs and going away, he's establishing a shadow government. And until the tyranny of the Selig regime collapses, and Vincent is restored to his rightful place in MLB's Madison Avenue offices, he's available to talk the media--at all times--and second-guess everything that happens in the game from the sidelines. It's a pretty sweet gig, if you can get it.
Alex Rodriguez Resumes Negotiations with Yankees -- In the time that it took me to write the foregoing, the Yanks and A-Rod have reportedly come to terms on a 10-year $275 million contract. The story's not mature, involving more than a little rumor-mongering that's keeping me from commenting at this time.
...to be continued.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Rock Bottom
So, the idea is that we could have a new Yankee manager by tomorrow, so let's look at the world that Joe Torre's successor will inherit.
The Boston Red Sox are the World Champions, for the second time since 1918. For the second time in the last four years, they've cut through the National League's representative like a bad Taco Bell burrito. The question about the Red Sox isn't whether they've got a great team or whether they deserve those championships, it's what the heck happened in 2005 and 2006? Seriously, what happened those two years? How on Earth did this freakish monster of a team fail to reach the World Series both years, much less fail to make the playoffs, last year?
Josh Beckett turning into scrub last year was the cruelest form of false hope for Yankee fans. Think about it: if a new, young Yankees acquisition had the 2006 that Beckett had (5.01 ERA, big drop in strikeout rate in his shift to the harder league), what would happen to him? It's not a rhetorical question. It's almost exactly what happened to the Yanks with Javy Vazquez in 2004 (14-10, 4.91 ERA, K/9 dropped into the sixes). You turn up that kind of turkey of a season in pinstripes, they ship you off in disgrace, to a losing team, eat almost all the salary they spent giving you a huge contract extension when you were acquired, and get someone even more hyped and dump another salary extension on him. One crap season here means you're garbage, never to be trusted to win again. Don't like Vazquez? Look at Jose Contreras, or Jeff Weaver--same story.
You could argue that none of those guys was as good as Beckett, and you might be right. But then again, all of them--Contreras, Vazquez, even Weaver--have gotten rings over the last four years.
Well, Beckett had his one crap year in Fenway, and they didn't send him to the glue factory, didn't ship him off to Atlanta for John Smoltz, or somesuch. He stuck around, and this year, Beckett was everything that Boston was promised last year and then some. Effectively, he was the reason that the Red Sox season wasn't over when they were down 3-1 in the ALCS. Now he gets his second ring of the 21st Century.
But wait, it gets worse. The Red Sox are loaded with prospects; Beckett isn't going anywhere, and neither is David Ortiz. (Ortiz, by the way, doesn't turn 32 until next month. He's younger than both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. I shouldn't be surprised, but doesn't it feel like he's been plaguing us forever?) With Pedroia, Ellsbury, Youkilis, you have a relatively young, home-grown core to back Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. It's a damned nightmare.
The other challenge that the next Yankee manager faces going into next year, is that they have to face the Red Sox juggernaut without the presumptive AL MVP. Showing his usual impeccable timing, Scott Boras announced mid-game during Game 4 of the World Series that Alex Rodriguez has elected to opt out of his contract with the Yankees. Here's how Boras explained the decision:
I hope they hold to their word. I'm sure that if the Yanks opened the vaults (say with 10 years and $300 million), Alex would return. Heck, it might even make sense, locking him up for the bonanza that'll come as he pursues Bonds's home run record, keeping him out of the hands of a league competitor like the Angels or the Red Sox, who could ride A-Rod to a period of dominance. I don't begrudge the man his money, or the fact that he's chosen to exercise a contractual right at a time when his leverage couldn't be any greater. I don't think it's greedy to demand to be paid what you're worth, or to have that determined by the market.
Nonetheless, if Alex Rodriguez is in the Yankee lineup come opening day, I will be there booing as hard as I can. Not really booing Alex--I've never been a big fan of that--but booing the Yankees organization. Because for all I accept Rodriguez's contractual rights, this announcement--opting out without so much as meeting with management, hearing an extension offer, or even allowing the Yankees to announce their new manager, first--was a giant wad of spit in the Yankee organization's face. If they come crawling back to sign Alex now, it would be just as humiliating as it would have been for Joe Torre if he had accepted the one-year contract the brain trust offered him.
It's demeaning. And if anyone in the Yankee organization, from the elder Steinbrenner on down, has any self-respect, it's a game they won't play. So screw you, Alex. I absolutely loved having you on this team, and I really wanted you to win a ring in pinstripes. I don't blame you for the fact that it didn't happen. But now you've opted out, so there's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out.
The new Yankee manager will just have to do without you. I wish the new manager--be he Mattingly or Joe Girardi, as Sunday's rumors held--a lot of luck. He'll need it. I'd love to wish Alex good luck, too--but there's just too much..."uncertainty" about his status for me to do that.
The Boston Red Sox are the World Champions, for the second time since 1918. For the second time in the last four years, they've cut through the National League's representative like a bad Taco Bell burrito. The question about the Red Sox isn't whether they've got a great team or whether they deserve those championships, it's what the heck happened in 2005 and 2006? Seriously, what happened those two years? How on Earth did this freakish monster of a team fail to reach the World Series both years, much less fail to make the playoffs, last year?
Josh Beckett turning into scrub last year was the cruelest form of false hope for Yankee fans. Think about it: if a new, young Yankees acquisition had the 2006 that Beckett had (5.01 ERA, big drop in strikeout rate in his shift to the harder league), what would happen to him? It's not a rhetorical question. It's almost exactly what happened to the Yanks with Javy Vazquez in 2004 (14-10, 4.91 ERA, K/9 dropped into the sixes). You turn up that kind of turkey of a season in pinstripes, they ship you off in disgrace, to a losing team, eat almost all the salary they spent giving you a huge contract extension when you were acquired, and get someone even more hyped and dump another salary extension on him. One crap season here means you're garbage, never to be trusted to win again. Don't like Vazquez? Look at Jose Contreras, or Jeff Weaver--same story.
You could argue that none of those guys was as good as Beckett, and you might be right. But then again, all of them--Contreras, Vazquez, even Weaver--have gotten rings over the last four years.
Well, Beckett had his one crap year in Fenway, and they didn't send him to the glue factory, didn't ship him off to Atlanta for John Smoltz, or somesuch. He stuck around, and this year, Beckett was everything that Boston was promised last year and then some. Effectively, he was the reason that the Red Sox season wasn't over when they were down 3-1 in the ALCS. Now he gets his second ring of the 21st Century.
But wait, it gets worse. The Red Sox are loaded with prospects; Beckett isn't going anywhere, and neither is David Ortiz. (Ortiz, by the way, doesn't turn 32 until next month. He's younger than both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. I shouldn't be surprised, but doesn't it feel like he's been plaguing us forever?) With Pedroia, Ellsbury, Youkilis, you have a relatively young, home-grown core to back Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. It's a damned nightmare.
The other challenge that the next Yankee manager faces going into next year, is that they have to face the Red Sox juggernaut without the presumptive AL MVP. Showing his usual impeccable timing, Scott Boras announced mid-game during Game 4 of the World Series that Alex Rodriguez has elected to opt out of his contract with the Yankees. Here's how Boras explained the decision:
"Alex's decision was one based on not knowing what his closer, his catcher and one of his statured pitchers was going to do," Boras said. "He really didn't want to make any decisions until he knew what they were doing."Well, I wouldn't call Mariano Rivera "his" closer, or Jorge Posada "his" catcher. The possessives imply some sort of leadership on Alex's part that was never in evidence during his Yankee tenure. I'm not even sure what the hell a "statured pitcher" is, other than faint praise for Andy Pettitte. But it sure sounds like Alex made a decision, here, doesn't it? And that decision means, that if the Yankees hold to their word, A-Rod's career in pinstripes is over. Rodriguez has thrown out the Yanks' exclusive negotiating window (which could have stretched as far as ten days after the end of the World Series), and tossed away the millions the Rangers were going to pay the Yanks on his existing contract. Brian Cashman has said for months that if A-Rod opts out, they won't bid on him.
I hope they hold to their word. I'm sure that if the Yanks opened the vaults (say with 10 years and $300 million), Alex would return. Heck, it might even make sense, locking him up for the bonanza that'll come as he pursues Bonds's home run record, keeping him out of the hands of a league competitor like the Angels or the Red Sox, who could ride A-Rod to a period of dominance. I don't begrudge the man his money, or the fact that he's chosen to exercise a contractual right at a time when his leverage couldn't be any greater. I don't think it's greedy to demand to be paid what you're worth, or to have that determined by the market.
Nonetheless, if Alex Rodriguez is in the Yankee lineup come opening day, I will be there booing as hard as I can. Not really booing Alex--I've never been a big fan of that--but booing the Yankees organization. Because for all I accept Rodriguez's contractual rights, this announcement--opting out without so much as meeting with management, hearing an extension offer, or even allowing the Yankees to announce their new manager, first--was a giant wad of spit in the Yankee organization's face. If they come crawling back to sign Alex now, it would be just as humiliating as it would have been for Joe Torre if he had accepted the one-year contract the brain trust offered him.
It's demeaning. And if anyone in the Yankee organization, from the elder Steinbrenner on down, has any self-respect, it's a game they won't play. So screw you, Alex. I absolutely loved having you on this team, and I really wanted you to win a ring in pinstripes. I don't blame you for the fact that it didn't happen. But now you've opted out, so there's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out.
The new Yankee manager will just have to do without you. I wish the new manager--be he Mattingly or Joe Girardi, as Sunday's rumors held--a lot of luck. He'll need it. I'd love to wish Alex good luck, too--but there's just too much..."uncertainty" about his status for me to do that.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
ALDS Game 4: If This is Goodbye
The last time the season ended on such an unsettled note was 2003. The warhorses of the Yankee starting rotation--Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, David Wells--were heading for the door, leaving only Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera to anchor the pitching staff.
Those were uncertain times. But they were nothing like this. At least in 2003, the Yanks made it to the World Series, got one last memorable smackdown in against the Sox before their World Series drought finally ended. This time, the accomplishment is nowhere near as much--squeaking into the playoffs as the Wild Card, then losing, badly, to a team we thumped like a rented pinball machine during the regular season. And the potential losses to the roster cut much deeper: Mariano. Hip hip Jorge. Joe Torre. Alex the MV friggin' P. And, as an afterthought, Clemens and possibly Pettitte all over again.
The first three names are the very heart of your team. The fourth, for all the complaining we do (and in this series and particularly last night's game, the complaining wasn't out of line) is the team's muscle. And the last two are old, perhaps unreliable arms--but they're the old, unreliable arms that got us to the playoffs in the first place.
We'll come back to this, in a moment. First, let's talk about the game.
It wasn't an old, unreliable arm that killed the Yankees last night, it was a young, suddenly-unreliable one. Last night's game followed the pattern of every decisive playoff game since the 2004 ALCS: shaky starter takes the mound, digs a quick hole, gets the early hook in favor of another iffy starter, then the slow, painful march proceeds toward elimination.
It's a tried and true formula. You could just about say that it works every time.
The scary part about this is that it was Wang--the rock of the rotation, winner of six of his last eight in the regular season--who crumbled like a day-old cookie against the Tribe. The vaunted (by me) home-field advantage didn't avail him worth a damn. Sure, there was a spate of lousy calls against the Yanks in this game, but that's just excuses. The truth is, the Indians teed off on Wang like they knew every single pitch that was coming. Sure, it didn't help that Wang started violently overthrowing all his pitches, but the fact is, he got hit early and often, and the Yanks never really got into either of the games he started. I wonder if a 19.02 ERA is the worst ERA by a major Yankee player, ever.
At the same time, much like in Game 1, the Yanks had early chances when they could have used to turn the momentum in their favor, but they never materialized. To put it another way, Alex Rodriguez never made them material. Alex struck out twice on six pitches against Paul "86 MPH fastball" Byrd. Byrd blew that weak-ass cheese past Alex with two men on in the first. I defend the guy up and down the block, but he just killed me in those early innings. By the time that he and Cano did their solo shots, it was too damn late. Even with Joe Borowski on the mound in the ninth--a bad idea for the Indians, I don't care how many saves he had this year--I couldn't get excited. The team had rolled over and died already, and as Abreu went yard and Posada drove one long and foul, I just felt like I was getting jerked around.
And then the season was finally over.
I'm proud of this team. Honest, I am. They were dead on June 1, and came back to life, put a scare in a few people. Alex, so damn vulnerable once the short series start, put on the show of my lifetime at Yankee Stadium this season. We got to chant for Joba, I got to cheer Rocket's return, and Phil Hughes did have that beautiful moment in Sunday's game. Robbie Cano socked more homers than anyone ever figured for him, and Jorge Posada probably had his best season overall. Good surprises like Ian Kennedy and Shelly Duncan were just a little more memorable than the Kei Igawas and Brian Bruneys.
Along the way, I think we forgot what this Yankee team was: underdogs. And while many regard it as romantic to be the underdog (to the point of the inventing underdogs even where they don't really exist) usually it just means you get beat by a superior team. Which is what happened here.
What happens from here? We have all winter to talk about it now, but my first impression is: I think Torre goes, for sure, and Clemens retires. Part of me would like to think that what happens with Posada, Rivera, and Pettitte had something to do with the fates of Torre and Clemens--as free agents, both Rivera and Posada could make their loyalty to the Yankee skipper a negotiation issue--but I think all three will be back. What Alex Rodriguez and Scott Boras will do is anybody's guess. Nothing would surprise me: not a ten-year extension with a cut of the new Stadium's concessions, nor Alex going to Anaheim and Tom Hicks kicking back to Boras a cut of the $30 million the Texas Rangers would save if Alex opts out.
Here's hoping that Colorado beats Cleveland in the World Series!
Those were uncertain times. But they were nothing like this. At least in 2003, the Yanks made it to the World Series, got one last memorable smackdown in against the Sox before their World Series drought finally ended. This time, the accomplishment is nowhere near as much--squeaking into the playoffs as the Wild Card, then losing, badly, to a team we thumped like a rented pinball machine during the regular season. And the potential losses to the roster cut much deeper: Mariano. Hip hip Jorge. Joe Torre. Alex the MV friggin' P. And, as an afterthought, Clemens and possibly Pettitte all over again.
The first three names are the very heart of your team. The fourth, for all the complaining we do (and in this series and particularly last night's game, the complaining wasn't out of line) is the team's muscle. And the last two are old, perhaps unreliable arms--but they're the old, unreliable arms that got us to the playoffs in the first place.
We'll come back to this, in a moment. First, let's talk about the game.
It wasn't an old, unreliable arm that killed the Yankees last night, it was a young, suddenly-unreliable one. Last night's game followed the pattern of every decisive playoff game since the 2004 ALCS: shaky starter takes the mound, digs a quick hole, gets the early hook in favor of another iffy starter, then the slow, painful march proceeds toward elimination.
It's a tried and true formula. You could just about say that it works every time.
The scary part about this is that it was Wang--the rock of the rotation, winner of six of his last eight in the regular season--who crumbled like a day-old cookie against the Tribe. The vaunted (by me) home-field advantage didn't avail him worth a damn. Sure, there was a spate of lousy calls against the Yanks in this game, but that's just excuses. The truth is, the Indians teed off on Wang like they knew every single pitch that was coming. Sure, it didn't help that Wang started violently overthrowing all his pitches, but the fact is, he got hit early and often, and the Yanks never really got into either of the games he started. I wonder if a 19.02 ERA is the worst ERA by a major Yankee player, ever.
At the same time, much like in Game 1, the Yanks had early chances when they could have used to turn the momentum in their favor, but they never materialized. To put it another way, Alex Rodriguez never made them material. Alex struck out twice on six pitches against Paul "86 MPH fastball" Byrd. Byrd blew that weak-ass cheese past Alex with two men on in the first. I defend the guy up and down the block, but he just killed me in those early innings. By the time that he and Cano did their solo shots, it was too damn late. Even with Joe Borowski on the mound in the ninth--a bad idea for the Indians, I don't care how many saves he had this year--I couldn't get excited. The team had rolled over and died already, and as Abreu went yard and Posada drove one long and foul, I just felt like I was getting jerked around.
And then the season was finally over.
I'm proud of this team. Honest, I am. They were dead on June 1, and came back to life, put a scare in a few people. Alex, so damn vulnerable once the short series start, put on the show of my lifetime at Yankee Stadium this season. We got to chant for Joba, I got to cheer Rocket's return, and Phil Hughes did have that beautiful moment in Sunday's game. Robbie Cano socked more homers than anyone ever figured for him, and Jorge Posada probably had his best season overall. Good surprises like Ian Kennedy and Shelly Duncan were just a little more memorable than the Kei Igawas and Brian Bruneys.
Along the way, I think we forgot what this Yankee team was: underdogs. And while many regard it as romantic to be the underdog (to the point of the inventing underdogs even where they don't really exist) usually it just means you get beat by a superior team. Which is what happened here.
What happens from here? We have all winter to talk about it now, but my first impression is: I think Torre goes, for sure, and Clemens retires. Part of me would like to think that what happens with Posada, Rivera, and Pettitte had something to do with the fates of Torre and Clemens--as free agents, both Rivera and Posada could make their loyalty to the Yankee skipper a negotiation issue--but I think all three will be back. What Alex Rodriguez and Scott Boras will do is anybody's guess. Nothing would surprise me: not a ten-year extension with a cut of the new Stadium's concessions, nor Alex going to Anaheim and Tom Hicks kicking back to Boras a cut of the $30 million the Texas Rangers would save if Alex opts out.
Here's hoping that Colorado beats Cleveland in the World Series!
Monday, May 07, 2007
Week In Review: Everything Old is New Again
Week 5: April 30-May6, 2007
Record for the Week: 5-1, 43 RS, 22 RA
Overall: 14-15, 2nd place AL East, 5.5 games behind Boston
The Breakdown:
05/01 -- Yankees 10, Texas 1
Jorge Posada (3-4, BB, 2 RBI) and Robbie Cano (4-5, 3 RBI) bust loose with two doubles apiece in the lone star state, and A-Rod goes 3-4 in his old stomping grounds. It's all doubly overshadowed by Phil Hughes a) pitching 6 1/3 no-hit innings, then b) limping off the mound after feeling a "pop" in his hanstring. Lesson learned: That thing where they say it's always darkest before the dawn? A lie, an out-and-out lie.
05/02 -- PPD at Texas
Tornadoes threaten Arlington as Strength and Conditioning--er, Performance Enhancement Coach Marty Miller does the Walk of Shame out of the Yankee clubhouse. Lesson learned: scapegoating is fun and easy?
05/03 -- Yankees 4, Texas 3
Andy Pettitte gives the Yankees consecutive quality starts, Luis Vizcaino throws batting practice, Jason Giambi (homer), Melky Cabrera (3-4, triple) and Hideki Matsui (2 RBI doubles, including the go-ahead run in the 8th) key the offense. Lesson learned: Texas's defense is bad to the bone. That, and Luis Vizcaino looks tired already.
05/03 -- Yankees 5, Texas 2
Doug Mientkiewicz busts out his third homer, Derek Jeter goes 3-5, and (more importantly) Mike Mussina returns to the rotation with five good innings. Lesson learned: Even with three good starts, the bullpen still had to chip in 9 2/3 innings in this series.
05/04 -- Mariners 15, Yankees 11
The M's put up an eight-spot against Kei Igawa, Colter Bean, and Luis Vizcaino, which is how you lose a game in which you score 11 runs. After confounding the Red Sox in his last appearance, Igawa gets slapped around for 8 runs in 4 innings, making him an early candidate for Most Frustrating Yankee of 2007. Lesson learned: Colter Bean may be the pitching equivalent of Andy Phillips--a guy we've pimped relentlessly for his minor league performance, left to rot on the vine by the brass, then once he's past his sell-by date, the team decides to give him playing time. It's a sad story if true.
05/05 -- Seattle 1, Yankees 8
Chien Ming Wang takes a perfect game into the eighth inning, Jeff Weaver shows his stripes in the fifth. Probably the most enjoyable game of the entire season. Lesson learned: When Broussard hit the homer to end Wang's perfecto, I was actually relieved that the perfect game, no-hitter, and shutout ended that way, rather than with Wang limping off the mound. It was that kind of week.
05/06 -- Seattle 0, Yankees 5
I already wrote about this one yesterday, so no need to belabor the point. Lesson learned: With Rocket's support, Cotton Eyed Joe could plague us for decades!
Player of the Week: Clearly, I'm going to give co-players of the week to Chien Ming Wang and Phil Hughes. Those were two great, inspirational, exciting starts--even if neither of them will get its own commemorative DVD. Many of the hitters also deserve honors, but we can only spare honorable mentions for Hideki Matsui (.348/.444/.696 with 5 doubles, a homer and 7 RBI) and Jorge Posada (.500/.600/.750 with 5 RBI).
Dregs of the Week: The week's worst on offense, Bobby Abreu, wasn't really all that bad (.276/.267/.345), so it looks like the honors again go to a pitcher. Colter Bean's infinity ERA is too easy a target, so let's give it to Kei Igawa, for bringing Yankee fans so low after giving us such a thrill against Boston last week. Dishonorable mention to Luis Vizcaino, who coughed up the lead and scavenged a win in Pettitte's start in Texas, then coughed up a pair more runs in the big ugly Friday night game against Seattle.
Story of the Week: As I promised yesterday this is all about Roger Clemens. The Rocket's landing in the Bronx is the epitome of a deal that makes sense for both sides. For the Yanks, the injury to Hughes, the news that Pavano's shopping for Tommy John surgery, Igawa's ineffectiveness and a sub .500 record all added up to a mandate to get more pitching. Clemens is the best pitcher out there, and unlike any trade options all he costs is money (we'll talk about the money in a second). For Clemens, he had the Yankees about as far over the barrel as he could get them, far enough that they'd give him a historic sum of money to come pitch for two thirds of a season. Even from where the Yankees stand today, they're as good a shot to make the postseason as any team in baseball, and they're more likely than the Astros to make any moves necessary to improve themselves mid-season. So Clemens picked the right moment to strike, and the right place to go (unlike Red Sox fans, Yankees fans didn't hate Clemens after he left; unlike Red Sox fans, we won't be secretly hoping for him to fail).
But let's not go too crazy here. This move doesn't make the Yanks the favorite to win the division. It doesn't guarantee them dominance the rest of the season. Clemens is still a very good pitcher, but he won't give you what the Yanks need most, which is a pitcher other than Wang who will go deep into the game and give the bullpen a breather. What's been accomplished, at considerable expense (some $46 million, plus maybe $15-18million more in luxury tax) is reconstituting the 2003 starting rotation--the same rotation the Yankees let go of three years ago because they'd gotten too expensive, too long in the tooth, and they hadn't produced all that spectacularly in the 2002 or 2003 playoffs. Well, let me tell you, they haven't gotten any younger, better, or more durable since last Clemens, Mussina, and Pettitte were all in pinstripes together. Sadly, all the Yanks alternate plans fell through in the intervening years--Jeff Weaver? No way. Javy Vazquez? Nope. Jose Contreras? Heck, no. Let's not even mention Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson. It was all just a lot of work and money to wind up right back where we started from.
Speaking of money, the phrase my Brother J and I tend to utter when we talk about the Yanks' spending is "it's just George's money." The contract that Clemens will reportedly receive is HUGE--$28 million prorated, or $18.5 million from June 1 to the end of the season. Even if the Yanks get back a huge chunk of Carl Pavano's salary back in insurance money, it likely wouldn't defray the luxury tax that'll be owed on Clemens's salary, some $7.5 million. But this is actually a situation where the Yanks' spending on the here and now makes a lot of sense. There is a lot of uncertainty about the team after this season--Alex Rodriguez can opt out of his contract, Pettitte could decide to be a free agent, Posada and Rivera will be free agents, the team has to decide whether to pick up Abreu's option--so it makes sense to go for the title while this ballclub is still together.
It was pretty much either sign Clemens, or write off the season. Brian Cashman made the right call.
Link of the Week: Nice retrospective on Ruben Rivera by John Sickels. Check it out.
Record for the Week: 5-1, 43 RS, 22 RA
Overall: 14-15, 2nd place AL East, 5.5 games behind Boston
The Breakdown:
05/01 -- Yankees 10, Texas 1
Jorge Posada (3-4, BB, 2 RBI) and Robbie Cano (4-5, 3 RBI) bust loose with two doubles apiece in the lone star state, and A-Rod goes 3-4 in his old stomping grounds. It's all doubly overshadowed by Phil Hughes a) pitching 6 1/3 no-hit innings, then b) limping off the mound after feeling a "pop" in his hanstring. Lesson learned: That thing where they say it's always darkest before the dawn? A lie, an out-and-out lie.
05/02 -- PPD at Texas
Tornadoes threaten Arlington as Strength and Conditioning--er, Performance Enhancement Coach Marty Miller does the Walk of Shame out of the Yankee clubhouse. Lesson learned: scapegoating is fun and easy?
05/03 -- Yankees 4, Texas 3
Andy Pettitte gives the Yankees consecutive quality starts, Luis Vizcaino throws batting practice, Jason Giambi (homer), Melky Cabrera (3-4, triple) and Hideki Matsui (2 RBI doubles, including the go-ahead run in the 8th) key the offense. Lesson learned: Texas's defense is bad to the bone. That, and Luis Vizcaino looks tired already.
05/03 -- Yankees 5, Texas 2
Doug Mientkiewicz busts out his third homer, Derek Jeter goes 3-5, and (more importantly) Mike Mussina returns to the rotation with five good innings. Lesson learned: Even with three good starts, the bullpen still had to chip in 9 2/3 innings in this series.
05/04 -- Mariners 15, Yankees 11
The M's put up an eight-spot against Kei Igawa, Colter Bean, and Luis Vizcaino, which is how you lose a game in which you score 11 runs. After confounding the Red Sox in his last appearance, Igawa gets slapped around for 8 runs in 4 innings, making him an early candidate for Most Frustrating Yankee of 2007. Lesson learned: Colter Bean may be the pitching equivalent of Andy Phillips--a guy we've pimped relentlessly for his minor league performance, left to rot on the vine by the brass, then once he's past his sell-by date, the team decides to give him playing time. It's a sad story if true.
05/05 -- Seattle 1, Yankees 8
Chien Ming Wang takes a perfect game into the eighth inning, Jeff Weaver shows his stripes in the fifth. Probably the most enjoyable game of the entire season. Lesson learned: When Broussard hit the homer to end Wang's perfecto, I was actually relieved that the perfect game, no-hitter, and shutout ended that way, rather than with Wang limping off the mound. It was that kind of week.
05/06 -- Seattle 0, Yankees 5
I already wrote about this one yesterday, so no need to belabor the point. Lesson learned: With Rocket's support, Cotton Eyed Joe could plague us for decades!
Player of the Week: Clearly, I'm going to give co-players of the week to Chien Ming Wang and Phil Hughes. Those were two great, inspirational, exciting starts--even if neither of them will get its own commemorative DVD. Many of the hitters also deserve honors, but we can only spare honorable mentions for Hideki Matsui (.348/.444/.696 with 5 doubles, a homer and 7 RBI) and Jorge Posada (.500/.600/.750 with 5 RBI).
Dregs of the Week: The week's worst on offense, Bobby Abreu, wasn't really all that bad (.276/.267/.345), so it looks like the honors again go to a pitcher. Colter Bean's infinity ERA is too easy a target, so let's give it to Kei Igawa, for bringing Yankee fans so low after giving us such a thrill against Boston last week. Dishonorable mention to Luis Vizcaino, who coughed up the lead and scavenged a win in Pettitte's start in Texas, then coughed up a pair more runs in the big ugly Friday night game against Seattle.
Story of the Week: As I promised yesterday this is all about Roger Clemens. The Rocket's landing in the Bronx is the epitome of a deal that makes sense for both sides. For the Yanks, the injury to Hughes, the news that Pavano's shopping for Tommy John surgery, Igawa's ineffectiveness and a sub .500 record all added up to a mandate to get more pitching. Clemens is the best pitcher out there, and unlike any trade options all he costs is money (we'll talk about the money in a second). For Clemens, he had the Yankees about as far over the barrel as he could get them, far enough that they'd give him a historic sum of money to come pitch for two thirds of a season. Even from where the Yankees stand today, they're as good a shot to make the postseason as any team in baseball, and they're more likely than the Astros to make any moves necessary to improve themselves mid-season. So Clemens picked the right moment to strike, and the right place to go (unlike Red Sox fans, Yankees fans didn't hate Clemens after he left; unlike Red Sox fans, we won't be secretly hoping for him to fail).
But let's not go too crazy here. This move doesn't make the Yanks the favorite to win the division. It doesn't guarantee them dominance the rest of the season. Clemens is still a very good pitcher, but he won't give you what the Yanks need most, which is a pitcher other than Wang who will go deep into the game and give the bullpen a breather. What's been accomplished, at considerable expense (some $46 million, plus maybe $15-18million more in luxury tax) is reconstituting the 2003 starting rotation--the same rotation the Yankees let go of three years ago because they'd gotten too expensive, too long in the tooth, and they hadn't produced all that spectacularly in the 2002 or 2003 playoffs. Well, let me tell you, they haven't gotten any younger, better, or more durable since last Clemens, Mussina, and Pettitte were all in pinstripes together. Sadly, all the Yanks alternate plans fell through in the intervening years--Jeff Weaver? No way. Javy Vazquez? Nope. Jose Contreras? Heck, no. Let's not even mention Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson. It was all just a lot of work and money to wind up right back where we started from.
Speaking of money, the phrase my Brother J and I tend to utter when we talk about the Yanks' spending is "it's just George's money." The contract that Clemens will reportedly receive is HUGE--$28 million prorated, or $18.5 million from June 1 to the end of the season. Even if the Yanks get back a huge chunk of Carl Pavano's salary back in insurance money, it likely wouldn't defray the luxury tax that'll be owed on Clemens's salary, some $7.5 million. But this is actually a situation where the Yanks' spending on the here and now makes a lot of sense. There is a lot of uncertainty about the team after this season--Alex Rodriguez can opt out of his contract, Pettitte could decide to be a free agent, Posada and Rivera will be free agents, the team has to decide whether to pick up Abreu's option--so it makes sense to go for the title while this ballclub is still together.
It was pretty much either sign Clemens, or write off the season. Brian Cashman made the right call.
Link of the Week: Nice retrospective on Ruben Rivera by John Sickels. Check it out.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Sunday Surprise
Just got back from the Stadium, a nice 5-0 win that was completely overshadowed by events in the seventh inning. No, I'm not talking the standing about and shouting that stands for a "brawl" in Major League Baseball, I'm talking about the announcement between innings.
It was strange. They cut off "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" abruptly for an announcement by Bob Shepard, saying "Ladies and gentlemen, please turn your attention to the owner's box for an important announcement." The whole thing was so sudden, I halfway expected an announcement that George Steinbrenner had passed away. There was a second of shocked silence that passed through the Stadium when Roger Clemens, in jacket and tie, was shown on the Diamondvision scoreboard approaching the mike. And then came the applause, and more applause. I actually couldn't hear what he said, it got so loud. But then, just in case there was any doubt, the words appeared on the scoreboard: Roger Clemens is a Yankee. Clemens would come back on the screen later to introduce Cotton-Eyed Joe (of all things).
We'll talk repercussions tomorrow during the Week In Review.
After the announcement, I could hardly keep my scorecard going. The game was good, although most of the Yankees runs were scored off Seattle's butt-ugly defense. The official scorer charitably took a couple of errors away from Raul Ibanez, reversing a call on Matsui's sixth-inning fly ball (the reversal in scoring gave Hideki his 2000th professional hit, tallied between his time here and in Japan) and granting a double on a routine fly that Ibanez straight-out dropped in the seventh inning. Darrell Rasner was good...while he lasted. I have trouble seeing how a pitcher's throwing from side to side of the plate, but I could definitely see Rasner moving the hitters' eye levels all over the place. I also saw him in the 90s more often than in his previous starts (although they had him at 94 MPH for one pitch, which is a pretty good time to ask if your radar gun's broken).
As for the "brawl"...ho hum. In the fifth, Josh Phelps absolutely clobbered Kenji Johjima on a play at the plate, just flat-out leveling the Mariner catcher as he waited for the throw from the outfield. In the sixth, predictably, M's pitcher Jarrod Washurn retaliated when Phelps came up to bat again. Then, in the seventh, it seemed Scott Proctor threw inside at shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, getting Proctor ejected and starting the low-energy milling about...er, I mean, brawl. The ump must have issued a warning when Phelps was hit, but I'm still glad that Proctor at least tried to stand up for his teammate, since--even though I think all this retaliation stuff is pretty juvenile--it seems that the word is going around the league that you can target Yankee hitters with impunity. Still, to call what ensued a "brawl" is a farce. The funniest part is when the bullpens empty, and the pitchers run onto the field. At Yankee Stadium, there's one common entrance to the field for both bullpens. If these guys are spoiling for a fight, how come they're contentedly jogging side-by-side toward the infield, instead of wrestling each other in one giant scrum on the leftfield grass. One of these days the pitchers should do that, if only as a joke.
It was strange. They cut off "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" abruptly for an announcement by Bob Shepard, saying "Ladies and gentlemen, please turn your attention to the owner's box for an important announcement." The whole thing was so sudden, I halfway expected an announcement that George Steinbrenner had passed away. There was a second of shocked silence that passed through the Stadium when Roger Clemens, in jacket and tie, was shown on the Diamondvision scoreboard approaching the mike. And then came the applause, and more applause. I actually couldn't hear what he said, it got so loud. But then, just in case there was any doubt, the words appeared on the scoreboard: Roger Clemens is a Yankee. Clemens would come back on the screen later to introduce Cotton-Eyed Joe (of all things).
We'll talk repercussions tomorrow during the Week In Review.
After the announcement, I could hardly keep my scorecard going. The game was good, although most of the Yankees runs were scored off Seattle's butt-ugly defense. The official scorer charitably took a couple of errors away from Raul Ibanez, reversing a call on Matsui's sixth-inning fly ball (the reversal in scoring gave Hideki his 2000th professional hit, tallied between his time here and in Japan) and granting a double on a routine fly that Ibanez straight-out dropped in the seventh inning. Darrell Rasner was good...while he lasted. I have trouble seeing how a pitcher's throwing from side to side of the plate, but I could definitely see Rasner moving the hitters' eye levels all over the place. I also saw him in the 90s more often than in his previous starts (although they had him at 94 MPH for one pitch, which is a pretty good time to ask if your radar gun's broken).
As for the "brawl"...ho hum. In the fifth, Josh Phelps absolutely clobbered Kenji Johjima on a play at the plate, just flat-out leveling the Mariner catcher as he waited for the throw from the outfield. In the sixth, predictably, M's pitcher Jarrod Washurn retaliated when Phelps came up to bat again. Then, in the seventh, it seemed Scott Proctor threw inside at shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, getting Proctor ejected and starting the low-energy milling about...er, I mean, brawl. The ump must have issued a warning when Phelps was hit, but I'm still glad that Proctor at least tried to stand up for his teammate, since--even though I think all this retaliation stuff is pretty juvenile--it seems that the word is going around the league that you can target Yankee hitters with impunity. Still, to call what ensued a "brawl" is a farce. The funniest part is when the bullpens empty, and the pitchers run onto the field. At Yankee Stadium, there's one common entrance to the field for both bullpens. If these guys are spoiling for a fight, how come they're contentedly jogging side-by-side toward the infield, instead of wrestling each other in one giant scrum on the leftfield grass. One of these days the pitchers should do that, if only as a joke.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
There Goes the Future...
I saw this one first at Pete Abraham's LoHud Blog, which is my first priority to add to this site's links the next time I decide to wade into this site's HTML:
As someone who was until recently in the marital strife industry, I'm sensitive toward what Steve Swindal and Jennifer Steinbrenner must be going through. The end of a marriage is a real human tragedy, also something truly private and really not the business of anyone outside of the couple and perhaps their immediate family, friends, and business partners.
But as a Yankee fan, I just gotta look at Swindal and say "You jerk! We were counting on you! You had it all in the palm of your hand and you blew it, just completely and totally blew it!"
***
In other ways you can destroy your future, you could simply emulate Ugueth U. Urbina, and get sentenced to 14 years in a Venezuelan prison for attempted murder. The other day, hanging out with the Prospectus gang at the Yogi, we were talking about relief pitching and I wondered aloud whatever happened to Uggie's criminal case, thinking that perhaps he'd be like a number of beisbolistas who've skated on charges ranging from rape, to drug dealing (who can forget the Pedro Guerrerro "I'm too stupid to be a drug dealer" defense?) and murder/manslaughter. Well, now we have an answer. Nothing can quite kill a career like being in lock-up from your age 33 to 47 seasons. Vaya con dios, Triple-U.
In some ways, we've been expecting this since Swindal was busted for DUI earlier in Spring Training, but it's still a shocking fall from grace. Swindal's divorce effectively leaves the Yankees organization decapitated. George Steinbrenner's been in seclusion, and despite his claims to the contrary, it's widely-reported that he's in bad health and not really up to the day-to-day job of running the ballclub, anymore. The jockeying to fill this vacuum could be a King Lear-type melodrama--or not, if, as some believe, none of Steinbrenner's children has much interest in being a baseball team owner. With Swindal, we had someone who was fairly a lock to be interested in running the club in the future; now, when the Boss is no longer with us, it's no longer unthinkable that the Steinbrenner family will want to unload the franchise. And as we know from past experience, that means that our beloved baseball franchise could soon be in the hands of mental incompetents and/or cronies of Bud Selig's (and there's a lot of overlap in these groups).Steinbrenner’s son-in-law and designated successor, Steve Swindal, has been sued for divorce. Jennifer Steinbrenner filed papers in the Hillsborough County Circuit Court’s family law department on Tuesday. She cited “irreconcilable differences.”
The divorce proceedings came 40 days after Swindal was arrested for driving under the influence and speeding in an unsavory section of St. Petersburg. Swindal is expected to lose his position as general partner.
As someone who was until recently in the marital strife industry, I'm sensitive toward what Steve Swindal and Jennifer Steinbrenner must be going through. The end of a marriage is a real human tragedy, also something truly private and really not the business of anyone outside of the couple and perhaps their immediate family, friends, and business partners.
But as a Yankee fan, I just gotta look at Swindal and say "You jerk! We were counting on you! You had it all in the palm of your hand and you blew it, just completely and totally blew it!"
***
In other ways you can destroy your future, you could simply emulate Ugueth U. Urbina, and get sentenced to 14 years in a Venezuelan prison for attempted murder. The other day, hanging out with the Prospectus gang at the Yogi, we were talking about relief pitching and I wondered aloud whatever happened to Uggie's criminal case, thinking that perhaps he'd be like a number of beisbolistas who've skated on charges ranging from rape, to drug dealing (who can forget the Pedro Guerrerro "I'm too stupid to be a drug dealer" defense?) and murder/manslaughter. Well, now we have an answer. Nothing can quite kill a career like being in lock-up from your age 33 to 47 seasons. Vaya con dios, Triple-U.
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