Winter Meetings hangover underway
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- December
- 7
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Today is a traditionally quiet day on the trade front as the GMs take time to digest what they learned at the Winter Meetings.
Nobody thinks the Yankees are totally out of the Johan Santana talks. It is generally believed that the Twins were told to give Brian Cashman a call before they finalize anything.
But that doesn’t mean that Santana will suddenly be wearing pinstripes. Once the Hank Steinbrenner deadline passed, several Yankee execs were saying they didn’t want to give up Phil Hughes in the first place. There was plenty of in-house debate on this trade.
Boston appears to be the only team in serious contention. Does that mean they move forward or back off? The Mets badly want to get involved but won’t part with Jose Reyes.
Theo Epstein, at this point, can afford to wait and not change his offer. The Twins have nowhere else to go. Can they really trade Santana for Jon Lester and assorted prospects? Or Jacoby Ellsbury and assorted prospects?
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on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 11:43 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Can the twins trade santana for lester and prospects?
The answer = NO.
just wait and get the draft picks at the very least. don’t insult yourselves with accepting that
I love the fact that Joba was voted “NEXT” and is on the cover of ESPN the magazine.
The Yankees are fine, screw Johan, we’ll get him as an FA if we really want him.
I would personally like to see more become of this Matsui to the Giants garble.
Yawn. A lot of people, including me, got understandably excited for the first few days at the very real possibility that Santana could become a Yankee. Now, it looks like he’s a nice to have. He won’t make or break the Yankees, otherwise he’d be a Yankee.
In general, a lot of the other options are not attractive enough to let go of the kids that ultimately could fill the very holes we’re trying to fill.
So, just as Cashman had said before the meetings, no blockbuster trades, just need to work on the bullpen. Teams are no longer interested in helping the Yankees. Ingrates. After all the revenue-sharing they’ve received. lol.
If the Santana deal happens it happens. If not, then…yawn.
SF has nothing to offer to the Yankees (that they will part with)for a player of Matsui’s worth. Sure he’s weak defensively, but he’s a solid offensive performer who can run reasonably well, play the outfield on occasion, normally will hit in the clutch and is a credit to the game of baseball.
Unless the Giambino has a huge turnaround (unlikely given his age and the toll of steriods/HGH) Matsui should be the DH and No. 5 hitter.
If you agree that the 2008 Yankees need an ace to win in the playoffs next year, then getting Santana is the best possible way to fill that need. Not getting Santana is rolling the dice IMO. It matters a whole lot less if the Red Sox also don’t get Santana. This Yankees team will be good next year, but not great.
It is December so lots can happen between now and the playoffs… they could trade for someone else, someone on their existing roster could step up and become a true ace (long shot, IMO) etc, etc.
Buddy, I m not kidding.
Lester and Ellsbury = Red Sox prospects. Enough said, no deal.
I don’t believe that the Yankees ever had a traditional “ace” in their 1996-2001 run. Plenty of “big game” pitchers, but guys like Rocket, Cone, Key were past their peak years and no longer considered “aces”. IMO, Wells,Pettite, and Hernandez were “big game” pitchers too, but not aces.
The only true “ace” – or sure thing- during those years was Mo Rivera.
I’d still love to have Santana!
Although I was never happy to see the trade include Phil Hughes.. (yes, I still would’ve done it) I was never *happy* about that..
But I have a dream, however unlikely that we can still get Santana and keep Hughes..
Overall, what a tantalizing week, whether you were for the Hughes/Santana trade or not, it has been an emotional roller coaster.. Can you imagine what Hughes was feeling? What about Melky… I bet Robby Cano was hoping for the trade not to go thru.
It must get frustrating hearing you are being traded by nearly ever darn media outlet. Robby and Cano are so close they share bunks
Wouldn’t you know who was at the gym the other day here in Tampa that I go to.. The one and only #2. Didn’t bother him though.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Cano ends up as the 5 hitter. It’s about time to move him up in the order.
LHP Jonathan Sanchez, RHP Brad Hennessy and Brian Wilson + SP is more than nothing
I say move on and roll the dice with the Wanger, Andy, Moose and the three kids. Also, I promise not to criticize if it doesn’t work.
Who else is with me and will make that pledge?
A lesser version of the team we have now went 51-25 (i believe) in the second half.
Translate that to an entire season. That’s over 100 wins. Something like 107.
Considering the Red Sox have not changed their team at all this off-season, and their last year’s acquisitions bombed for the most part (its all in the air for Dice-K), why do people count the Yankees out?
Also, why are people claiming the Tigers are this amazing club. They have poor starting pitching outside of Verlander and an aging closer that was never very good in the first place.
Be realistic, guys. Our team is arguably the best. You could argue it’s better, or tied with Detroit and Boston, but not that Detroit or Boston are better.
forget it! Don’t trade Hughes, it’s done. If the Twins call, tell them it’s too late. If they take the Boston deal, that will be a laugher.
Flam-
That’s pretty damn cool, how did you pull that one off, was Scarlett Johanson holding your hand? Lol.
Unloading Matsui creates significant payroll flexibility and opens opportunity to the OF prospects in the system. If we get rid of Matsui, we could become the fastest, most pesky team on the basepaths with Austin Jackson, Jose Tabata, Melky Cabrera and Damon as the DH/4th OF in 2009. Shelley Duncan would share time at DH with Damon in 2009 and play more in 2008 as well. The lineup could still feature all-star caliber bats with Damon, Jeter, Cano, Rodriguez, Posada and possibly Teixeira.
With Giambi, Matsui, Abreu, Pettitte, Pavano, Mussina and Farnsworth off the books by 2009, the Yankees have plenty of cash to outbid everyone for Santana and Teixeira.
If it doesn’t work out with the kids, what did it really cost us? Let’s see what the kids can do, you never know.
Even if the Giants deal falls thru. It might open up the doors for other trades. Now that everyone knows Matsui can be had,I would think someone out there needs a 25+ homeruns,100 ribis kind of bat. I would think that maybe we can land a bullpen guy and a first baseman for Hideki. Cash should call the Angels to see if they would part with Matthews + bullpen for Matsui, now that they lost out on Cabrera. Then turn around and trade Melky + prospects to the Padres for Kouzmanof and put him at first.
I just want the season to start already…
Matsui + IPK for Matt Cain. Plus Yankees eat some of Matsui’s contract. At all possible?
Master Wangkee:
some good points except that Pettitte WILL be on the books in 2009.
Just a prediction!
“LHP Jonathan Sanchez, RHP Brad Hennessy and Brian Wilson + SP is more than nothing”
The Giants are rumored to be offering 4 players for Matsui? Take it and run. They Yankees can add to their stockpile of arms and be in position to trade for a big bat like Teixeira at the deadline or possibly reconfigure their Santana trade proposal. What’s the word on these Giant prospects?
“It matters a whole lot less if the Red Sox also don’t get Santana. This Yankees team will be good next year, but not great.”
Huh?
We have a 19 game winner, clutch Andy Pettitte, 2 youngsters that look like they can be aces, and a combination of the young and old Mussina at the bottom of the order.
We have the greatest closer of all time in Mariano, tons of respectable options in-house options in the bullpen, and a possible acquisition of Mahay or Hawkins to add a little more depth.
We have the best, most clutch hitter (IMO) in the game in Jeter (don’t harp on small sample playoffs the past few years like nomaas did with a picture of a tombstone with “Jeter’s clutch” written on it LoL), the greatest baseball player in the game (arguably) in A-Rod, the best 2nd baseman in the AL, the best catcher in the AL, 2 corner outfielders that can consistently hit .300, and a cannon arm + speed in the outfield.
We are more than good, we are great.
Buddy, Im not trying to sound conceited, but im a personabke guy, we are the same age, I live in NY, he PLAYS in NY and doesnt know anyone here we got to talking and we exchanged numbers.
If we chill, we chill. If not its still a very cool story.
On Santana, if he’s not traded this time around, does everyone think he will actually make it to FA next year or do you think MN will feel the urgency to trade him before July to get more than draft picks?
“With Giambi, Matsui, Abreu, Pettitte, Pavano, Mussina and Farnsworth off the books by 2009, the Yankees have plenty of cash to outbid everyone for Santana and Teixeira.”
Of course you never let them know that
“LHP Jonathan Sanchez, RHP Brad Hennessy and Brian Wilson + SP is more than nothingâ€
The Giants are rumored to be offering 4 players for Matsui? Take it and run. They Yankees can add to their stockpile of arms and be in position to trade for a big bat like Teixeira at the deadline or possibly reconfigure their Santana trade proposal. What’s the word on these Giant prospects?
MASTER – the Giant’s haven’t officially announced anything yet, neither have the Yankees. I think he was just posting the players that the Giants have… there is no way we could get that whole package with just Matsui and some lesser prospect.
myrtlebeachfan
I agree, even with Santana in their rotation they are not guaranteed the division. Dice – K and an older Schilling are suspect and the chances of Beckett winning 20 games again are slim. What was the last pitcher to win 20 games back to back … Clemens with toronto?
as far as Bucholz and Lester, they are pretty much hittable rookies with lesser stats than hughes and kennedy
“Of course you never let them know that
”
LOL. Something tells me their agents have already figured it out.
Sorry, I don’t mean to be disparaging, but Hennessey is not very good.
Yanksrule,
I concur with you and pledge to be patient. Despite one weak moment when I almost threw in the towel this summer, I never gave up on the Yankees. They played with heart.
I’m psyched to see what Girardi, Long, and Eiland can do with the club.
Re: the ace situation. Hughes is still my personal favorite of the Big 3. But you know who has that verve, personality, and that “it” factor and IMO could become an ace? That’s Joba. I think he really believes that he is the Rocket Incarnate. The more I hear and see of him, the more I believe he’s an ace in training.
Pete, do you have any insight on the BBWAA’s dissing of Rob Neyer?
Flam,
I’m glad that you’ve struck up something with Joba. But most of us here like to believe that Joba’s a good boy, having a girlfriend and a son. So, please! If you and Joba get into trouble or hijinx, please don’t share it here!
There is nothing like having your baby daughter fart in your face while changing her poopy diaper. Now, that’s LOVE!!
Wow Mel. The kid is 22. Let him experience New York and have a good time.
they are rumored to let be letting go of LHP Jonathan Sanchez, the Yankees would love Cain and Sanchez or Lincecum and Sanchez, but remember how we tried to acquire Santana and the price went to a 5/6 for 1, well for Matsui who is an established hitter over Rios and a bigger draw in SF he can net us a haul of arms.
LHP Jonathan Sanchez- throws 95+ mph and people in the SFG see him as a future SP when he gets it altogether, we (Yankees scouts) have been tailing him since June
RHP Brad Hennessy- a perfect bridge option 7th or 8th inning guy who good diving fast ball that tops mid 90’s, a very good change up 27 yrs. old
RHP Brian Wilson- 25 yrs. old looked as the next CL for SF when he has his control nearly unhittable
if the Yankees can get Cain or Lincecum as a sweetner this could be a great haul instead of a good haul
So I read today that the red sox and the Yanks have the best package out there for Beddard. I have been saying from the beggining that Baltimore would not trade him to a division rival.
Is it possible that they might just unload him for the best package and overlook having to face him or bettering one these two teams?
“if the Yankees can get Cain or Lincecum as a sweetner this could be a great haul instead of a good haul ”
if the Yankees were trading Matsui for Lincecum or Cain, we’d be asking what the Yankees were including as a sweetener.
also, Rios is MUCH more valuable than Matsui.
SOS My understanding is that IF the Dodgers decide to get in on any of these pitchers they actually have the most depth in terms of prospects and players than pretty much anyone.
hmm your right about that but wrong about Matsui, do you know for the asian population this guy is looked as big as Micheal Jordan SF is not getting him for a cheap price. It will either be an over haul of bullpen arms or a top 2 starter and a Jonathan Sanchez, either way Jonathan Sanchez is a definite in this deal.
Bedard scares me. I’d rather go after Lincecum or Cain.
“LHP Jonathan Sanchez, RHP Brad Hennessy and Brian Wilson + SP is more than nothing”
True, more than nothing, but its not going to be done with just Matsui.
Sanchez has potential, but has control issues as a reliever and stamina issues as a starter – we already have a few of them – Igawa and Henn.
Hennessy and Wilson should not interest the Yankee Brass since they are overloaded with righty talent and would have to make more moves just to accommodate them in their MiLB
organization.
And what SP that the Giants will give up will replace the Yankees current top 5??
It doesn’t make sense for either team. If SF wants to spend $13 Million of an outfielder, they would be better served to sign Fukudome who can hit AND play the outfield.
There is no way Matsui nets Cain or Lincecum plus another player.
I could imagine a package with Lowry and Wilson, maybe.
Look at it from the other perspective… If you are the Yankees and you want Matsui from the Giants, would you give up Hughes and Melancon for him? Of course not.
I would give up Matsui for midges.
“It will either be an over haul of bullpen arms or a top 2 starter and a Jonathan Sanchez, either way Jonathan Sanchez is a definite in this deal.”
there is absolutely no chance in hell that Cain or Lincecum would be traded for Matsui straight up.
trading Lincecum for Matsui would be the equivalent of trading Phil Hughes for Raul Ibanez.
Bedard scares me if he pitches on the Soxs.
There is no shot the orioles trade bedard to the yankees. Not only do they not want to trade him in the division, but Peter Angelos hates the yankees, and is very involved in every decision his club makes, so there is no shot they trade him to us. I doubt he goes to the red sox either, but that would be more likely than us. If he had to trade him in the division, I could see him going to Toronto, but i wouldnt bet on that either.
Joba interview posted on ESPN.com.
Hey what ever happened to dr acura (sp). I haven’t seen him on here in quite some time.
“I would give up Matsui for midges.”
Our pitchers and hitters don’t perform so well with midges. lol
“If SF wants to spend $13 Million of an outfielder, they would be better served to sign Fukudome who can hit AND play the outfield.”
this is a very good point.
the Giants are a very bad team. they have no chance of winning the NL West this year or next year. no chance.
trading young players for Matsui simply makes no sense at all.
Link to Joba interview please.
Hes my BOYYYYYYYY.
I think that a three way deal for Bedard can be achieved between the Dodgers, O’s and Yankees.
Dodgers send Matt Kemp, Andy LaRoche and Jonathan Broxton to Baltimore
Orioles send Eric Bedard to LA
Yankees send cash to Baltimore to get Bedard the heck out of the AL East!
Agree, hmmm. Giants are better off keeping what young talent they have and build from within and through Free agent Draft for a few years. They are far from a contending team for the near future.
Some of you guys are really dense.
The SF Giants are not trading one of their 2 23 year old starting pitching studs for a 34 year old OF who has bad knees and who currently doesn’t even have a place on the field on our team.
Why in God’s name do you think that trade could ever happen?
Seriously, a lot of you are delusional about these fantasy trades where the Yankees get everyone’s best players and we give up nothing.
If Matsui were 29 there might be a chance, but he has maybe 3 years left in the major leagues so why would a team trade an already proven young big league starter for 3 years of a fading slugger?
Please, explain that to me without making stuff up and lying through your teeth.
Why? Because they don’t have any hitters? If that’s your defense, they would take Giambi and Matsui for Cain and Licencum since they are desperate enough for hitters that they would trade all their pitching.
They may get that Lowry guy only because he throws 70mph and can’t break glass. He’s expendable because he’s not an impact starter.
Trading Cain or Licencum for Matsui is absurd.
Unless the Yankees add IPK or some top minor leaguers to that deal, Brian Sabean would laugh at Cashman for proposing that.
Get real.
I think Phillips may hook up with another team, the reason he made it through waivers was b/c no one thought he was worth trading a player for. He’s the typical player that gets a ST invite & with a good spring, somehow makes the team.
Angelos hates baseball. Honestly I don’t even know why this guy is allowed to own a team. He shot down probably the best trade he’ll ever see (Tejada last year) and continually whines about the Nationals infringing on his TV rights. He’s the AL version of Loria.
Plus the Giants wouldn’t take are wavering at the Rios deal, b/c Rios is under team control for only 3 more years as opposed to 5 for Lincecum & 4 for Cain. Matsui also is getting $13M, the Yankees would be lucky to get Wilson & Sanchez w/o paying any of his contract.
For the record, Joba is going to be on ESPN’s first take in a little. Just thought I’d let you know.
peter (Nyc, NY): in 2-3 years, who would be better, Bucholz or Hughes?
Jayson Stark: (1:05 PM ET ) That’s a fascinating question. I hear more people talking about Buchholz as a future No. 1 than Hughes. But there are health issues with Buchholz that haven’t cropped up with Hughes — yet, at least. And Hughes definitely has his admirers. They both have tremendous presence. So I think they both have the mentality to be aces. This could turn out to be a question of which one stays the healthiest.
Joba/ESPN link
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3142534
So remember the discussion a few days ago about the BBWA and the whole thing about not allowing players who have bonuses to be eligible for BBWA voted post season awards ie Cy Young.MVP. Guess what not so fast. I agree that something needs to be done about this and I am sure meetings between the 2 will figure something out. The issue is more about IMHOPP the Schilling type of bonus where you get 1 million for 1 vote more so then winning the whole thing.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted 41-21 Wednesday in favor of the resolution, which was to be implemented in 2013. The lag time was designed to give agents and teams an opportunity to adapt to the ban.
On Thursday, the BBWAA’s board voted 7-0 to table implementation.
“The action was taken in order to seek meetings with officials from Major League Baseball and the Major League Players Association to address concerns of those on all sides regarding bonus clauses in players’ contracts tied to the BBWAA awards,” the BBWAA said.
Pete,
Please give us an edit button, Hanukkah is next week, there is still time to go out & get one.
While i agree that Matsui for Cain or Lincecum is a terrible deal for the giants, you need to remember that this is a business. The giants just lost their only slugger and primary draw to the ballpark. They need to replace that somehow, and will most likely overpay to get the hitter they want. Matsui is not only still a major offensive threat, he would also be a huge draw to the ballpark given san frans enormous japanese population.
that said, brian sabean and the giants would have to be insane to trade one of their young studs for matsui especially since his knees are terrible and is much better off in a place he can DH, but lets hope they are just that and make a dumb trade. Heck, id even pay Matsui’s salary this year so the giants are only paying him $13 mil for the 2 years he has left.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/index
Link to Joba on First Take this morning…it’s in the right-hand side toolbar
I hope Andy Phillip hooks up with some MLB Team (like the Braves) he’s a classy guy and deserves better.
Meanwhile, if the Yankees played tomorrow, who plays defensively at 1B? Wilson Betemit??
Must be one of those “small trades” that Cashman spoke about.
Matsui is looked as the big star in Japan, how much more viewers and fans will have interest in Matsui back to the Giants ? As for Fukudome(LOL SORRY IT’S THAT NAME) but as for K-F** he hasn’t even played one game in MLB for SF to give him 13 to 17 million like its being talked about would be ridiculous.
In Matsui they know what he brings, they know he can hit in that park, K-F** isn’t a guaranteed power hitter, may not even be better than Kaz Matsui who is also a slap hitter.
In Rios again not a big name, no real big draw to SFG fans in his name, has talent and finally reached his potential last season, still struck out alot. I still think Hideki Matsui nets us a big haul, from who it depends now on the west coast teams.
The Yanks should look into acquiring Nady & Marte from the Pirates, that nets you a left out of the bullpen & a 1B/OF.
“While i agree that Matsui for Cain or Lincecum is a terrible deal for the giants, you need to remember that this is a business. The giants just lost their only slugger and primary draw to the ballpark.”
i hear what you are saying, but in the long run, WINNING draws fans.
trading Lincecum for Matsui would give you many fewer wins over the next 5 years.
Great site available for games is located at: http://www.sell.com/2389VV
Yankees games, Tiger Woods, Super Bowls, NFL, etc.
Did anyone see the mlbtraderumors, which is run by a red sox fan, mention that the twins-yanks discussed santana, nathan and how they “wonder if the red sox were offered nathan at all” with righteous indignation as if they dont get handed enough already.
We keep assuming that the Yankees would be asking for the 2 studs from the Gaints. What if Cashman is looking to fill other spots instead. Lets say firstbaseman 26 year old Ortmeir(switch hitter plays outfield possitions as well),Sanchez and a minor leaguer. I think that trade would help both sides out. Cashman is known to like quantity in trades. This might be one of them.
hmmm- on the east coast we know that, but in san fran they are more looking for a quick draw to the park, and they love offense out there. They will be more enamored with matsui than they would be cain. Its wrong, but thats how their fans are. if they want to see a low scoring, pitching minded team they go watch the A’s, while with the giants they are looking for the long ball.
lets hope the giants are dumb and trade us a stud.
Trading Matsui for bullpen help or that stiff Noah Lowry is a fireable offense. Matsui is the Yankee 5 hitter (Jorge will regress a bit this yr) and Cano will be the 3 hitter in 09 when Abrue’s contract is up. Typical Yankee fans underestimating Matsui because he isn’t the new kid on the block
When you have a remote chance to get Lincecum or Cain, you should do what’s needed to get one of them.
Brandon:
Giambi is a big name and he can hit “in that Park” too – especially Homeruns! Maybe Cashman can interest them in taking on that albatross contract?
Seriously, the Yankees can afford a $13 Million DH with solid but not spectacular numbers. He fits well with the Yankee hitting philosophy. Matsui will hit okay in AT&T Park and will play poorly in the outfield. Worth $13 Million to SF – no way.
And who DHs for NY – Giambi and Duncan? Does that make the Yankees stronger?
Excellent point. The Gaints paid Bonds all that money to fill up seats. Knowing he had bad knees and couldnt play the outfield good(sound familiar). To a team that is not going to contend this year, they at least want to sell seats. Matsui is the BIGGEST name from Japan. He can still be productive and bring back some of that money lost from Bonds leaving.
Please pass me whatever you guys are smoking who think that Matsui possibly inspiring all the Japanese people in SF to suddenly pack the stands if he’s traded there is worth a 23 year old starting pitcher with #1 or #2 stuff.
Do you guys even understand how baseball works these days?
Veteran players with high guaranteed contracts are almost never traded for high ceiling prospects.
When they are traded, they are traded for pennies on the dollar, meaning that a veteran with a big contract is never traded for equal value.
Assuming Matsui is healthy and can hit 30 Hr’s and knock in 100 RBI’s next season still is not worth Cain of Licencum.
Rios is worth one of them. He’s young. He’s an All Star. He has legit power and his contract is still reasonable.
If the Yankees get Cain or Licencum for Matsui I will eat a Matsui Jersey and put it on Youtube.
It won’t happen, unless Cashman lost his mind and traded the farm with Matsui.
His trade value is middle class right now. You know who you could get for Matsui? Contreras. Vincente Padilla. A pitcher like that or a younger pitcher with a low ceiling.
You are not getting top starting pitching for Matsui.
End of story.
A source familiar with the early discussions told Newsday that Hideki Matsui and a prospect might be enough to net Noah Lowry or Jonathan Sanchez from the Giants.
The Giants should be looking in a different direction, but it that’s really the way talks have proceeded, than a Matsui acquisition wouldn’t set the franchise back a lot further. Tim Lincecum apparently won’t be on the table in a Matsui deal. If something is worked out, Matsui could still veto it with his no-trade clause. However, some believe he wouldn’t, mostly out of deference to the Yankees.
flam – you are full of it. i just read what you wrote two posts prior, that you had a conversation with joba. i hope that was a joke. i was at penn station, i took pictures of joba w/ my cell. i was 15 feet from him when he walked in, i watched him do his entire segment on mike and mike, and then i stood in the crowd that virtually crushed him as 5 cops escorted him out. not only was he not standing around chatting, he barely said two words. he wasn’t rude, but you’re full of it to say that you talked to him, had a conversation, etc.
“dude have you ever seen me pitch?”
i seriously hope you’re trying to be funny. what a joke.
Another option might be to keep Matsui and trade Giambi to the A’s which are rumored to still want Bonds. They will probably have to fork out 14 mil for him and its not certain if he will even play the whole year. Send them Giambi and eat the difference. At least they would get a player(barring injury)that would finish the year with the team.
So the point alot of you are trying to make is that the Giant simply want to fill the seats of their ballparks with Asians???
I hope it isn’t Lowry that comes to the Yankees.
G. Love is right on point there.
The best they could do for Matsui is Noah.
flam – i don’t get why you would try to do something like that, make up a story about becoming friends with him. that’s really sad. and did you not think someone on this blog would have been there this morning? you didn’t think you’d get called out?
Believe what you wants Fritz. Im not on here to impress anyone.
Matsui can play everyday if need be, unfortunately and I don’t want to pick on him Torre didn’t do him any favors playing him every day. In Giambi the problem is he can’t even give 1 month at 1B, after 2 weeks he’d get sore or injured in some way like he always has eversince he stopped juicing.
Jose Guillen drawed $13 MIL from KC and is suspended for his first 15 games in 2008, you think Matsui’s contract and name would pay for himself ?
you’d still have Betemit, you’d still have in AA or AAA Juan Miranda and Shelley can definitely DH
flam – yes, you are. and i’ll believe what i want because i was there, i had my eyes on him from the moment he walked in til he left. no one chatted with him. nice try.
simple test really: if you were there, what was he drinking when he walked in? its easy.
I am not saying what Flam is saying is true, However I do recall seeing Joba talking and shaking hand and even signing some autographs with fans right after the broadcast.
correction **
he signed for about 30 seconds; but a conversation like that didn’t take place. i was 10 feet away from him. if it did happen, i couldn’t care less – good for him. but i am calling him out on it, because it didn’t, and he’s just showing off.
Hey guys, not sure if you’re aware, but Bonds pleaded not guilty and was released on $500,000 bond instead of ROR.
I hope Cashman does not pull the trigger on that disaster deal. Lowry has a career 4.01 ERA/1.38 WHIP in the National League. Yes, he’s a lefty and 26 years old, but he’ll get killed in the A.L. I’d rather take on chance on Igawa!
I wasnt there when he walked in. And who do you think you are coming on this board questioning whether I was there or not I take a 757 Express and get in at 830 So I didnt see Joba walk in. So i dont care what you think. I met him, talked to him and that is that. Chill out there, son.
Why not have Bonds be the DH if Matsui is traded. For first base, I’d go with Mike Lamb, if Miranda or Duncan can’t hack it. A platoon isn’t needed. Lamb can hit left handed pitching.
if you get in at 8:30 then you missed him.
i hate arguing with people on message boards. it’s so incredibly lame. but let the record show that this kid is a poser and made up a story about exchanging numbers with joba just so he could feel good about himself.
moving matsui would create some financial flexibilty which would come in handy in either a santana deal or reacting to a santana deal, maybe the bullpen could be strengthened which is needed. the giants do have that love for veteran (old) players so they do seem to be a natural trading partner, but getting lincecum or cain would take much more than just matsui.
on separate note, and sj44, can attest to this, there are professional players on fields all over florida getting ready for the upcoming season. after the holidays they’ll be going full force. these are usually informal workouts that players on all pro levels from different teams put together on their own on whatever field they can get find.
there are some players right now who are going the extra distance who will emerge or be vastly improved in 2008 because of hard work put in now. look at what arod did last winter before he ever arrived in spring training. some unknown will be in the all star game because of their winter work. it happen every year.
my question is what are the yankees doing to help someone with a work out program who wants to do the extra work ? they still haven’t replaced marty miller, and dana cavalea who doesn’t even have a master’s degree is the de facto strentgh and conditioning head. he’d be an assistant at best on any other team. he’s a nice guy, but the yankees need a world class conditioning coach to run the program.
it’s fun to talk trades, but players are being made better right now. it doesn’t seem like there’s any coordinated expertise at the top of the organization giving direction to a willing player . arod has the money to hire whovere he wants, but everyone isn’t in that position.
this isn’t so much a complaint as an obsevation that the yankees could do better with their program for improving players by hiring someone who’s cutting edge with the proper advanced education and experience necessary. it’s an unfilled job right now.
So you were RIGHT next to him. You heard everythng he had to say to everyone? What did he say to the black security guard with the head set on, if you want to CALL PEOPLE OUT?
Brandon – Did you just ask Stark a question?
he wasn’t guarded by security guards; he was guarded by police, port authority police, who don’t wear “headsets”.
“A source familiar with the early discussions told Newsday that Hideki Matsui and a prospect might be enough to net Noah Lowry or Jonathan Sanchez from the Giants.”
this sounds more realistic.
but unless they have something else lined up for Lowry, which they very well might, i’d rather hold onto Matsui.
but who knows, a lot of NL teams might like Lowry.
I have meeting to go to.
Frtiz, I hope your A$$ is on here when I get back.
anyone else enjoying this?
whoooa! maybe you can call your best buddy joba to come and find me! liar.
migames-YEP!!
Joe V. (Washington, DC): Hi Joe. Do you think the Yankees should have given up Hughes/Cabrera/Kennedy for Johan?
Joe Sheehan: I lean towards “no,” becuase that’s 17 seasons of performance for one plus negotiating rights. That’s an enormous difference. Also, I keep seeing Philip Hughes’ Division Series relief appearance…this is a very, very good pitcher right now.
I think the Yankees and the Red Sox have, so far, made the right calls in holding back.
http://www.baseballprospectus......052357#new
also, for the record, the dude was drinking a frappucino w/ whipped cream. at 8 in the morning, that looked disgusting to me. haha
PAY PER VIEW written all over it. Stay tuned…
Cameron (Yuma): What is your sense on how the Matsui for Lowry/Sanchez deal is going down. Is it close or what?
Jayson Stark: (1:29 PM ET ) That deal was never close. The Giants are basically strolling through every position-player section of the department store, trying to get a feasible shopping list together. That’s all that was, I think — them just exploring whether Matsui is a realistic option. They haven’t gotten down to specific names, but obviously, they’d be trading pitching, because it’s all they have to trade.
frits and flam (or is that flim and flam?)
I just spoke with joba and he said you’re BOTH full of crap.
dats what I tink!
randy, you are correct that the yankees haven’t filled that position yet. but here is some info that you might find interesting:
“According to the source, Mussina — who turns 39 on Saturday — has been participating in a new weight-training and arm-strengthening program. The club also emphasized that Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu should arrive at camp in better shape than they did last spring.
Abreu, who turns 34 in March, has hired a personal trainer. Damon turned 34 last month.
“We’re going to do a better job this winter with all of our players, so we can hit the ground running in spring training,” Cashman said, without delving into specifics of individual conditioning programs.”
sounds like the Yankees agree with you about conditioning and are going to hold the players’ more accountable for their off-season fitness.
The Giants getting Matsui would be purely for offense, since the Giants have none. The Giants also don’t have a problem selling tickets, sure Bonds was a huge draw, but considering it’s a small park in terms of seating capacity 41K, there are sellouts all the time. Getting Matsui would definitely help their marketing in Japan.
matsui to the dodgers for kyle Blanks and Keith Cameron
nope. but may I ask who’s impersonating my comments
G. Love …… you are the voice of reason. You might buttress your point (re: the trade value of Matsui) by referencing the Abreu trade. Abreu was a salary dump, and Matsui has reached that level as well. Look at what the Yankees had to “give up” for Abreu. You can expect the same value for Matsui.
This board is hilarious sometimes.
It just baffles me how Florida got fleeced in that Cabrera/Willis trade. It’s unreal.
“two men enter, one man leaves” (in this case, for a meeting)
Fritz and Flam:
Guys! Please stop it. I can’t stand to see my friends fight like this.
I think that Florida did fairly well in the trade. I know it’s debateable, but I certainly can’t see how they got “fleeced”.
Is it possible that Fritz & Flam are just 2 personalities of the same person arguing over who gets to 1st base with Joba first?
i was not there, and there is no way for me to know who is telling the truth and who isnt but that line “bro, have you seen me pitch?” sounds so arrogant. Honestly, if thats whay Joba said, then he is up there for Chad Curtis D0uche Award, but i have a feeling he didnt say that…
i should just change my name to fritz. no one respects the s.
the biggest mystery of all is why joba would be drinking a frappucino at 8 in the morning. bleh.
Remember that his marketing value makes his actual cost much less than the 13$ million a year his contract says, so it wouldn’t be much of a salary dump.
I love the guy and would prefer that he stay, but I wouldn’t mind him being traded, if it noticably improved the team enough. For example, if it would lead to Santana, I’ll take that. But for spare parts, no chance.
migames – that’s what alerted me to this kid to begin with. that’s not joba’s personality at all. at all. he’s not going to stand there hobnobbing with fans about how awesome he is.
plus, he didn’t. so…
oh well.
I believe Frits ini the Joba story, because of the facts of if an interview is before 8AM and the train leaves at 7:57 AM pretty hard to get there if you ask me
BUT F’ IT LET ME GET SOME POPCORN FOR THIS
Brandon, i agree. when do you think his “meeting” is over with?
when do you think his “meeting†is over with?
…and who starts a meeting at 1:45….why wouldnt they start at 2?
Flam has also kicked it with Ty Clip, for what it’s worth. Lol
“Matsui has reached that level as well. Look at what the Yankees had to “give up†for Abreu. You can expect the same value for Matsui.”
Matsui had the second highest OPS of any left fielder in the American League last year after Manny.
That was in a bad year in which he hurt his knee.
Left field is not an important defensive position. It’s just not. That’s where most teams puts their worst defensive players.
The Yankees don’t just dump players at below market value to get rid of salary.
They never do that. Teams like the Phillies do that.
Again, in a bad year due to his knee Matsui had the second highest OPS in the American League. If you don’t think that’s a good value at $13million per on a short contract then you’re wrong.
Or maybe watching JD Drew has skewed your perspective on what bad value means?
can you people stop saying “fleeced”? There are lots of synonyms out there!
As much as I love the Yankees, I will not watch any seasons where Bonds is on the team. A good hitter, maybe, but the worst thing to happen to baseball in 100 years.
the kid made the story up and got called out on it. its as simple as that. my favorite was the “black security guard with the headset on” comment. like, new york yankees secret service? uhh…it was port authority police.
when “two men enter” in a public place, they usually get arrested.
I could care less about the Flam/Fritz rumble in the Jungle
But I defiantly did see Joba speaking with fans at the end of the interview I did not see a “barage” of cops converge on him like Fritz says.
Fritz, this is not saying that I am going against you. I just saw something different.
At least they’re not using “raped”. Can’t believe how many guys threw that out there to make their point.
ok…anyone have an email address where i can send you a picture of joba coming through the crowd, where you can post the photo online? migames?
cold word for the bathroom I guess
shaked hands w/ Albaladejo too
Most of the guys these days have personal trainers.
Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu hired personal trainers to work with them this off-season. Abreu got permission to play a few games in Winter Ball as a DH. Something he hasn’t done in years.
Arod has been working out for about 2 weeks now. He also has a personal trainer and has paid for Melky’s and Cano’s PT in the DR.
Jeter? Working with his PT in Tampa as we speak.
Hughes has stayed in Tampa for most of this off-season and has been working out a few days a week. Joba will begin throwing in another week-10 days.
The interesting guy is Giambi. I have heard he has been working out at home (in Vegas) since early November. I can’t confirm that though. Have only heard it through a third party.
I don’t know what the Yankees are going to do with the position. All the players like Dana and, while he doesn’t have the degrees needed for the job, he certainly is good at supervising the baseball specific workouts guys are doing.
The big thing they can’t do is bring in a guy who isn’t experienced in baseball. That was the big mistake they made last year and it cost them.
Its not a coincidence that the health of the team improved when Dana took over.
“Veteran players with high guaranteed contracts are almost never traded for high ceiling prospects.”
What about veteran players who are still productive with reasonable contracts?
Given what other players are signing for, Matsui’s deal is pretty reasonable. No, he’s not worth Cain, that’s true. But he’s certainly worth more than a bullpen arm who walks a zillion guys. I mean…seriously, people are talking about ANOTHER guy who throws hard and doesn’t know where it’s going. You want one of those? Just sign Affeldt and keep Matsui.
Matsui is a good hitter. He’ll probably have an OPS around 850 next year, like always. He doesn’t make sense for the Giants, really at all. And they don’t really have a package that makes sense for us.
Also, I had a dream last night that I was walking outside Grand Central by the Modell’s and I met Joba. He signed the inside cover of the book I was reading in the teeniest handwriting. No frappucino in sight.
Frits
Stay away from Starbucks at 8 am. Lots of people would gross you out.
25 HR, 100 RBI and he was hitting close to .300 until Mid-
September….when his knee finally came out.
That’s a “salary dump” player?
Hardly.
If they need a bopper in SF to replace Barry (out on) Bonds, can Giambi play 1B well enough for them to consider including in a trade?
Of course NY would probably have to eat part of his salary for ‘08 (and an extension for beyond that would have to be worked out with him) but the Yanks would get slightly better D and pay $20M less per yr if Rich Aurilia & Giambi were conisered too.
Oh and before you all rant aginst it, I agree Aurilia isn’t a force with the bat, he’s 36 and NY could sure do better at 1B. But perhaps he could fill the role for a year or so (at $20M less) until a better option comes along.
Many here undervalue Matsui too much. Some seem to think there’s no difference between putting him and Giambi himself in LF. Or even Don Zimmer for that matter. Of course he’s not Andruw Jones or Ken Griffey Jr at their respective zeniths, and he’s not as good as he was before he broke his wrist, but he is still a pretty good outfielder who will regain some of his old form when his knee is better. His arm is better than Damon’s but whose (besides Carl Pavano’s) isn’t? And two injuries in a near iron man career doesn’t mean a guy like Matsui is the next Carl Pavano.
I’m not trying to define Giambi as the only player NY ought to deal to SF, or that Giambi & Matsui would be interchangeable in the rumor, or dealt together, and I’m not trying to speculate on a scope of players.
Matsui isn’t a track star but neither Giambi, Aurilia or Bonds are known as panther-quick runners either. IMO NY loses less of player by dealing Giambi than Matsui and saves about the same $$$ through the remainder of both their contracts. SF would gain more in HR and OBP with Giambi. Either one could be offered whatever extension SF can work out with them.
Anyone else think it is nuts to sign Mahay to such a long/expensive deal?
The guy has been a journeyman, former OF, etc — He had a solid year, but I think going after Affeldt on the FA market or Marte via trade is a much better deal from economic and practical view points.
gave out, not came out.
Pete, an edit button on the Christmas List, please! lol
G. Love
I can see why Giant fans would love to have Matsui for Lowery/Sanchez, that’ll never happen either.
One thing the Yankee’s do have are a lot of good pitching prospects to use in the pen.
I am also holding Barry’s $hlong for him in court today
that is a very curious thing to say.
giambi won’t waive his ntc
Jayson Stark chat:
Some interesting excerpts:
John, Rome Ny: Jason, Would the Yanks be offering a similar package for Bedard as they did for Santana? Why do the Yanks want to shop Matsui and lose the revenue from Japan?
Jayson Stark: (1:03 PM ET ) They would — if the Orioles would let them. But here’s my advice. Ignore all rumors connecting Bedard to the Yankees, Red Sox or Blue Jays. Peter Angelos would never, ever let the Orioles make a deal with those clubs. So I don’t get any sense that the Yankees are even pursuing Bedard.
——————————————————————————–
peter (Nyc, NY): in 2-3 years, who would be better, Bucholz or Hughes?
Jayson Stark: (1:05 PM ET ) That’s a fascinating question. I hear more people talking about Buchholz as a future No. 1 than Hughes. But there are health issues with Buchholz that haven’t cropped up with Hughes — yet, at least. And Hughes definitely has his admirers. They both have tremendous presence. So I think they both have the mentality to be aces. This could turn out to be a question of which one stays the healthiest.
——————————————————————————–
Jack, NY, NY: No health issues with Hughes!? Elbow soreness in 05 and 06, and didn’t he miss half of 07 with injuries?
Jayson Stark: (1:22 PM ET ) You’re exactly right, to be honest. In retrospect, he and Buchholz are probably equally difficult calls on the health front. Thanks for pointing that out.
——————————————————————————–
George (NY): Do you think the Yankees new approach towards holding on to young players is sound and will continue? Is Cashman too passive on the trade front considering the Red Sox are clearly the better team right now?
Jayson Stark: (1:20 PM ET ) It was really eye-opening to hear the GM of the Tigers (Dave Dombrowski) talk the other day about how he doesn’t understand this new thinking in the sport, that you shouldn’t trade your prospects. This is a guy who is as development-oriented as any GM I know. Yet he understands that prospects often don’t turn into the players they’re hyped to be. So he has no fear of trading them for known quantities. That runs counter to the grain in the whole rest of the sport, though. The Yankees would trade prospects. So don’t think they wouldn’t. But the GM is incredibly determined to hold onto his best prospects because he’s trying to establish a different culture around his franchise and pave the way for the Yankees’ next generation. The problem is, he has a $200-million payroll and all the Steinbrenner family’s ambitions riding on it. So I’ve heard people question whether he’s trying overly hard here to prove his point. I don’t know that I agree. But it’s a question a lot of people are pondering.
——————————————————————————–
Cameron (Yuma): What is your sense on how the Matsui for Lowry/Sanchez deal is going down. Is it close or what?
Jayson Stark: (1:29 PM ET ) That deal was never close. The Giants are basically strolling through every position-player section of the department store, trying to get a feasible shopping list together. That’s all that was, I think — them just exploring whether Matsui is a realistic option. They haven’t gotten down to specific names, but obviously, they’d be trading pitching, because it’s all they have to trade.
——————————————————————————–
Sunny (MD): I’ve read everywhere that Lincecum has “durability” issues. Is that due to his frame or his delivery?
Jayson Stark: (1:37 PM ET ) Both. People look at his size and his violent delivery and they worry. They can’t help it. Obviously, the Giants have to be wondering, too. Why else would they even be thinking about trading a guy that talented at this stage of his career?
——————————————————————————–
Andrew (New Paltz): If the Red Sox did offer Crisp, Lester, Masterson, Lowrie and Kalish for Sanatana I really dont understand what the hold up would be on that deal? The Twins would be receiving four really good young players and a starting CF (one they could trade and get a few prospects for)
Jayson Stark: (1:44 PM ET ) I don’t believe now that that package was ever truly “offered.” They’ve been discussing lots of players and combinations, because for this trade to get done now with Boston, they almost need to start over and rebuild it around a different structure. The Twins are never afraid to take younger players with big upsides. That’s how they got Francisco Liriano, if you’ll remember. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see their next wave of serious talks revolve around a package with more names, but younger names with star potential down the road.
——————————————————————————–
Gee(NYNY): If the Giants are looking for power hitters, why not take Giambi off the Yankees hands?
Jayson Stark: (1:48 PM ET ) Wow. You folks are desperate, huh? Jason Giambi isn’t a National League player at this point, period. Then again, I understand where you’re coming from, I guess. If the season started today, would Omar Vizquel be the Giants’ No. 3 hitter? OK, just kidding. But this team has NO middle of the order right now. None.
Fake Flam?
Buddy Biancalana
December 7th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Fake Flam?
———-
yeah – I think so – it was a flim flammed flam.
Definitely Faux Flam.
Buddy – I certainly hope so.
Im still extremely excited about the possibilty of Matsui leaving.
giambi’s sweat stain
December 7th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
giambi won’t waive his ntc
———-
offer him a steak dinner and he will.
He will if you tell him his position is left bench. I think if its a California team he will do it(from west covina,ca.).
This is not the same as in prior years. Where he knew he was the starting first baseman or d.h. Im sure hes aware that their is a logg jam at both positions and like last year might have limited playing time.
Dont forget its a contract year. He will want as much at bats as possible to get paid.
Now will someone accept his contract in a trade? Thats a different story.
so Flam isn’t out of his meeting yet ?
possibly. if anyone would like to see the photo of joba coming through the crowd (really lo-quality) or photos taken of him sitting at the set, from my cell, email me at fritsthestud@gmail.com and i’ll send you a few.
New blog word:
“flammed”
or
“SJ’ed”
or “bobbed”
When you’re a victim of LoHud identity theft.
“Jack, NY, NY: No health issues with Hughes!? Elbow soreness in 05 and 06, and didn’t he miss half of 07 with injuries? ”
hey, if i were a Mets fan, this would be all i have to look forward to as well.
Unless their is another deffenition of that word that i dont know about, I would agree.
frits – try http://www.flickr.com/
sos – haha! if that wasn’t flam he’s probably going to accuse me of doing it. oh well.
or http://picasaweb.google.com
Exactly what Stark said about Giambi, no way he goes to the NL, he is mostly a DH at this point, plus in addition to his $22M salary for 2008, there is a $5M buyout for 2009. That’s a lot of cabbage to absorb.
Ok done with the meeting.
“who has meetings at 1:45″ is there a specific times meetings are supposed to be held?
Ok lets get it on!
lucky for me – I post so much nonesense anyone trying to be my imposter would probably be an improvement.
Mel-
How ’bout Flim Flammed?
hola flam!
POPCORN READY !!!!
Frits vs Flam
THE 2 F’s PART 2
LETS GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Flam,
We decided that you’ve been flammed by an imposter.
In response to your comment to me, I didn’t say that Joba shouldn’t have fun. I said that if he does have that kind of fun, some of us don’t want to hear about it because it’s TMI.
I’m sure that Joba would feel the same way.
lucky for me – I post so much nonesense anyone trying to be my imposter would probably be an improvement.
———————————————————-
I disagree
here’s a novel idea – how about we chat about baseball?
D’OH
Ok done with the meeting.
“who has meetings at 1:45″ is there a specific times meetings are supposed to be held?
Ok lets get it on!
————————————————————
Hey are you the Real Flam or the Fake Flam?
frits Did I talk to you this morning? I asked some guy about Joba, he said he had 5 police ushering him out.
I’ve been impersonated… (is that a word?)
cool.
jennifer – dunno. i was wearing gray pants, gray coat and a black hat.
Buddy B –
Exactly what Stark said about Giambi too: “desparate” … to get rid of him.
Sunny – You’ve been Trolled. Looks like you’ve made it to the big time. Welcome.
ok so i think i got this flickr thing working – this is him right after he went through the barrier. it’s zoomed way in, so its really blurry. at least i can confirm i was there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2.....093223583/
Buddy,
LOL.
American Gladiators is coming back to prime time.
If frits wins this battle, the headline would be Flam’s on the Frits
If Flam wins, it’ll be Frits Flams Out
PEOPLE OF THE BOARD:
When Joba said “did you see me pitch last year” he said it in a joking manor with a smile in his midwedtern charming way. Its was serious, everyone around knew he was joking.
If anythng it was refreshing to hear that. He wasnt overly confident, he was having fun.
why is that so hard to believe.
Jennifer,
Be careful, you may be getting Flammed.
If its the real FLAM. Answer this. What was Joba drinking this morning next to Britny Spears body guards with headsets on?
lol…security guards w/ headsets…
ok Frits has supported he was there
Flam your turn
I like flammed. Because it’s almost like flamed, only not quite.
And it makes me think of a squishy dessert.
Fritz-
Nice photo. Were you using a camera you got in a happymeal. I see the security guard with head set. JK
Your now officially in the lohud Blog of Fame.
haha thanks! no its a cell phone. here is one of mike and mike and joba:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2.....094010744/
DING DING DING!
Fritsthestud wins round 1. Wasn’t a knockout because the subject looks more like Joey Fatone than Joba Chamberlain. Can he win round 2?
nice pic fritz. and nice beard joba – dont get too attached to that.
im putting “joba shirt” on my xmas list as we speak…
Well I was standing to the right (not stage right) of the stage and there were people with ESPN 1050 t-shirts on and I crept through as Joba was leaving. He was talking to a bunch of fans and I went over and was one of them.
Then I stood behind the christmas tree so maybe I could get a little camera time.
THats my story.
Also, I wish we can keep this civil, I am being copied by some people.
yo mel – i think that’s the knockout. or do i need to upload another one? it’s a pain sending them from my phone to my email, but i’ll do it!
Pete —
I saw that the BBWAA opened up its membership to web-based writers but did not extend membership to Rob Neyer; in my view the most important baseball writer on the web by a wide margin. And it’s not as if he’s an independent blogger or something; he writes for the same outlet (espn.com) as half of the people they let in. do you have any thoughts on this? Don’t you think it makes the BBWAA look pretty ridiculous?
Okay where was John Stark signing autos’?
“well in the score card we have it
9 to 6 Frits.. he came out w/ a planned attack and now has the edge over Flam, it’s not looking too good could be a 2nd rd. KO in the wings if you ask me”
thats no knock out. Im throwing Jabs here. Sorry I dont have pics to back it up.
Yo frits,
I’ll declare you the winner, if you apologize to Flam so we can all laugh about it. Sounds like you both were there, but saw the same thing differently.
S.o.S.: So who is in the hall of fame?
Do we get to take a vote?
frits-Do you have one of the christmas tree? Flam was doing his version of M.I.4.
Master Wangkee,
The Giants are rumored to be offering 4 players for Matsui? Take it and run. They Yankees can add to their stockpile of arms and be in position to trade for a big bat like Teixeira at the deadline or possibly reconfigure their Santana trade proposal. What’s the word on these Giant prospects?
In what way do the Yankees need MORE offense? We don’t need offense, we need bullpen or SP help (in the way of an Ace). Sure, maybe they could “reconfigure” the Santana trade, but what is the point of trading for Teix when Borass is going to take him to free agency? No rentals.
jon stark was sitting at a table, stage left i believe, on joba’s side. in other words, if you were looking at the stage it would be greenberg, then golic, then joba, and stark would be to joba’s right. he was wearing a jacket, and dress shirt, but no tie.
they were charging $5 per autograph, or a can of vegetables, box of cereal, etc.
Blog of Fame… sweet… eat yer heart out frits and flam… just kidding…
I seriously dont want this to end without a clear knock out or judges decision but I really must get back to work.
Lets schedule this for another date/time haha.
sorry – to your right, not joba’s. it would be joba’s left.
Wrong. If you were facing the stage he was to your right, their left.
Correction. BLOG OF FAME.
Answer-Only of someone has falsely come in personating you.
I for one dont have a vote.
i declare myself the victor. if anyone else wants to see pictures, let me know and i’ll post more on flickr. they don’t get much higher quality than that, but some are kinda cool.
or we could just ask flam to have his new buddy send us some autographs!
right!
O.K. Frits the Stud wins by default. Folks, watch for Frits vs. Flam II.
Damn. I meant impersonating you.
Maybe thats why noone impersonates me. They cant misspell as many words in one sentense. It takes a certain skill. BEING ILLITERATE.
S.o.S.27
December 7th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
sunny-I’ve been impersonated… (is that a word?)
cool.
Your now officially in the lohud Blog of Fame.
———
Now my boss owes me $1 million for getting one vote for the Blog of Fame… Schilling was good from something after all…
end joke.
I’ve been flammed. Do I get a vote?
time constraints. I cant fully argue.
then i succeed. (even though Im right.)
THE 2 F’s PART II
coming soon
secede (sp)
Schilling was good for something after all…
1) Jennifer is wonderful, but I’m not her
2) I have no idea if I’ve been impersonated. I think there was one time, but I’m not sure. I have been called delusional though. Does that count?
Frits, if it’s not too much hassle, we’d appreciate the photos. Thanks.
Most of the ESPN baseball writers are idiots. But i do like Neyer.
S.o.S.27 – I didn’t post that.
I guess I’ve been impersonated again!!
Is that Joba or the cowardly lion?
Wow, this conversation is truly indicative of the fact that there is zero new news to talk about on the Yankees/Baseball front, huh?
S.o.S.27 what time was that post at?
The two most impersonated people on this blog by far:
Miller
Bobcat
How we miss those two…
obviously the twins consider lester better than hughes so maybe the twins will accept that offer – if you believe that. I think it was just a joint effort between the sox and the twins to force the yankees to raise their offer. They both benefit from the yanks giving up more. After thinking about how the twins were acting during the negotiations and now, after the yanks have exited the talks its very difficult to believe the twins really liked the sox offer. If so, wouldnt a deal be in the works?
Today is a quiet day on the trade front? As opposed to all the other days that the yanks havent done anything this week?
Steinys deadline was moronic but in the long run, it may have been a good thing. It seems like if the sox and yanks got into harder negotiations, the twins would have squeezed the yanks for every prospect they were willing to give up. At some point, I have a feeling even hughes, kennedy, horne and melky wouldnt even get the deal done. Who knows? As long as the sox dont get santana, im not AS concerned about it all – id much rather johan go into the free agent market next season then give up hughes and get him for an extra year.
???
“The Giants are rumored to be offering 4 players for Matsui”
No. That was a speculative list of individuals who might have appeal to the Yanks.
And folks…this isn’t acquiring more offense. This is keeping the offense we have, and not salary dumping Matsui for no reason. He’s still an impact bat. He can play a tolerable left field most of the time. Why are people excited to dump him for ANOTHER bullpen arm with no control?
S.o.S.27 You are confusing me now, you posted something that looked like he was copied from a previous post. OH I”M SO CONFUSED!! It is time to go home!
Wow, Dave. That made 100% sense. Are you different from ‘dave’?
No one thinks Lester is better than Hughes. Lester’s parents even looked into that upgrade.
ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
Stay tuned for part 2 of the ‘frits and flam show’ when both will debate the color of joba’s underwear…
dat’s what I tink!
Mel,
You had a couple of really funny commentaries on the Frits/Flam battle.
You are on a roll today!
Jennifer: I posted it. But people don’t like my name for some reason!
JJB where did you see that they expanded their membership to include online?? That is a huge step for them and a good one. Might it be because Neyer is really a columnist and not so a beat writer?? I am not sure of the exact rules of membership perhaps you have to be a daily beat reporter??
“All the players like Dana and, while he doesn’t have the degrees needed for the job, he certainly is good at supervising the baseball specific workouts guys are doing.”
sj44, yes he seems a good fit for the team, but you’d think that with a 200 million dollar payroll that the yankees would have someone with an advanced degree with credentials and experience overseeing conditioning. maybe because the yankee were such a veteran team of all stars that having an in house expert wasn’t so important because they all had their own personal trainers, but now with the youth movement i think it’s important for the yankees to get someone really good.
hmmm- good to hear mussina, abreau, and damon are making the effort to come into ST in top shape. no one wants to see a repeat of the early season team failures again. i think it can be safely said that there is a new sheriff in town and that girardi will be more of a stickler for being in shape than torre was. it would be great if the yankees come out of the box ready to play. that alone should be good for a five game improvement over last year.
Yanksrule,
The material was just too rich. You really can’t make up that stuff.
I think the Frits and Flam drama is very exciting to the board when there is no baseball news. And although I believe they were both there, its kind of fishy that Joba has a beard. But then again, my name is Idiot Face.
BLOG OF FAME NEW RULES!!
1.You have to be impersonated 3x
2.It cant be by yourself
3.You have to have 3 judges(blog of fame enductee)vote you in.
bobcat and miller are in(titanium plaque,for being impersonated more that 20x). Sunny you are grandfathered in being these rules were just made up as of now.
gold-3x
platinum-10x
titanium-20x
SOMEONE SAVE THIS as i will forget these rules.
Idiot Face is back!!!!!!!!! Alright!!
lol, i love idiot face.
i’m about to put up 8 photos
Just one more flamming and I’m in!
The funny thing is that this is the topic of conversation today, and there really actually is baseball news.
Just…it doesn’t (well, hopefully doesn’t) concern the Yankees.
http://flickr.com/photos/21657547@N06/?saved=1
Mel, or anyone, if you don’t mind, let me know if you can’t see these. Enjoy all, esp. you, Idiot Face.
randy l,
You guys are talking conditioning? I know he’s not a baseball guy, but Andre Agassi’s trainer is supposed to be superb. Agassi plucked him out of UNLV years ago. Think his name is Gil Reyes.
Apples and Oranges of course, but who had the job previously?
one thing that is hilarious about those is the fact that joba’s shirt collar is out on the left side. it was like that when he walked in. it looked like he got dressed in 10 seconds.
Jennifer-my bad. I meant that post to be for rebecca’s question.
Sorry. I can see how you were confused.
I guess that counts for one impersonation. 2 MORE AND YOUR IN.
frits,
They look good. Some of them look like Joey Fatone of Insync fame, but you’ve verified that you are indeed a Joba stalker. lol.
Is the Mike & Mike video on the web?
I read everywhere that Hank’s deadline was “moronic”. How so?
He dared the Twins and Red Sox to make a deal and they didn’t.
In fact, when the Yankees pulled out of the deal, the entire deal fell apart because, it can be argued successfully, that Hughes and Cabrera were the best two players offered to the Twins in the same deal.
It wasn’t an either or offer, as the Boston offer was. A 21 year old “A” List prospect, and the starting CF on a playoff team with a cheap contract. No team has yet to match that starting point for Santana.
It can be argued he torpedoed the entire Santana trade negotiation for everybody by pulling out of the deal.
Now, the same “experts” who predicted this was a done deal to the Red Sox are now predicting its “inevitable” he ends up in Boston? Sorry, not buying that. The Red Sox aren’t upping their offer for Santana because they don’t want to pay him 150 million bucks. If they did, all they had to do was add Ellsbury to the deal and he is a Red Sox today. They didn’t do it.
Yet, these same “experts” who praise the Red Sox for not adding too much to the deal, rip the Yankees for not adding Kennedy to the deal. Go figure.
As of right now, the only thing that matters is, Johan Santana is still with the Minnesota Twins. They can keep him, get 15-20 home starts out of him (which means big bucks to their bottom line) by the trade deadline, and re-visit it.
Or, the Twins can sell him short. Which, it seems, they are loathe to do.
Seems to me, Hank’s strategy wasn’t so bad after all.
sorry folks the Mercury News can’t be read w/o registration but Matsui is getting big time publicity in SF
SOS dont feel bad for some reason I always seem to get them confused ie my search for the JOba t shirt for one of them this past summer ( I still forget if it was Jennifer or Rebecca looking for it lol)
Woo-hoo— I’m a grandfather … waitaminute…
frits,
Michael Kay told Joba he looked sharp yesterday. Joba told him that some taylor took care of him.
This blog has gotten wacky! Is it a full moon?
it helps when you drink.
Sorry Rebecca. Again,im not the sharpest tool or I would have been in by now.(B.O.F.)
Thanks Gayle.
uhh, that would be “tailor”
Randy,
I agree re: the conditioning coach. I don’t know where it stands right now.
Personally, I’d like to see Dana get promoted and they bring in someone to work with him. The reason? A new guy comes in (like Marty Miller did last year) and he looks to reinvent the wheel.
The Yankees get beseiged with guys holding all kinds of academic credentials in the fitness profession. Hopefully, the next guy is a baseball-centric guy, who isn’t looking to change too much because the program in place right now is a good one. They just need more bodies to help implement it because Dana can’t do everything himself.
It’s the snow. All of the snow is intoxicating.
I tried going through the Flickr but all I could see were images of Flam Flamming his Flam Meat. But then again my name is Idiot Face.
S.o.S.27 I was impersonated once before, it was actually pretty vile.
The only way I can see Matsui wanting to go to the Giants is if they really, really court him and make him feel that he’s wanted and needed. Other than that, an older player going to the NL? I dunno about that. You also have to place some importance on his business value to the Yankees. His bat’s pretty decent as well. lol.
this is funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkO347dg4ZM
Mel I believe he would rake in the NL, the SP isn’t as strong out there as it is in the AL
ESPN News Channel just said that Joba was going to stop by “The Hot List”.
Brandon,
I was thinking that it would be better for an older to play in the AL because of the DH.
Where do they film?
mel – they were nice threads, don’t get me wrong. he was rocking the jeans w/ the sport coat. it looked good. he just didn’t tuck his collar under the jacket so it was hanging loose.
Not in Syracuse =(
Just out of curiosity, are there any original posters here now from the very beginning of this blog?
“We’re not interested in prospects or someone who’s a year or two away,†Sabean said. “They have to contribute and show their face next year.â€
the Giants are still going to finish last. trading prospects is just nutty. they need a hitter much better than Matsui just to get their offense back to the pitiful level it was at last year with Bonds.
you can’t replace Bonds with Matsui and expect to improve.
they are better off trading everyone on their roster over 25 and starting over.
RM,
Thank you! That was the best Flim/Flam, I mean Jib Jab yet!
I still have tears in my eyes.
Idiot Face.
Word cant express how much joy you bring to my day.
RM-Why isnt I.P.K. in it?Is I.P.K. santa cluase?
interesting update from MLBTR:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....llpen.html
he thinks Viz is out of the picture. i didn’t get that from king’s piece, though.
I also think the Viz is out of the picture.
If David Riske can get 13+ million, so can the Viz.
I like the Viz but, not at 4+ million a year for 3 years. Too much money for the Viz.
I’d roll the dice on a one year deal with Hawkins before I go multi-years with the Viz.
SJ Dana is listed as the S&C coach on the Yankees website is that a promotion or the same title he had last year. Also it still lists Mike Borzello as the BP catcher. I thought I had read in here that he went to LA with Torre do you know if he is staying??
RE The Hot LIst many times that is an old interview that has been re-packaged to air on ESPN News. What they will do is take the interview from First Take and have the on air talent ask the same questions that the first person asked BUT because the original interview was split screen they can make it like the current guy is the one doing the interview.
I read somewhere that the Viz was looking for linebrink type money, in the neighborhood of 4yrs and 19 million
Viz wants too much $$$, not under this regime Viz
That’s the right move, but I’m going to miss the “Nobody beats the Viz” comments.
hmmm,
But can’t one argue that Matsui last year was far better than Bonds last year?
Wouldn’t Matsui be an upgrade in LF?
Because of the lack of registration, anyone posting here since the beginning is probably on their 4th user name by now.
Nobody Beats The Viz…..except when he is asking for Linebrink money.
If Dana is listed as the S&C coach, that is a promotion because he was the assistant last year. Then again, he could still be the interim guy following Miller’s firing.
Getting info out of the Yankees on hirings is like asking for state secrets! lol
I think Borzello stayed. I’m not aware that he went with Torre to LA. I could be wrong on that though. Just haven’t heard anything to that effect.
No Viz. Lets try converting some of our starting pitchers in the minors i.e. Oelendorf. Relief pitchers are a crap shoot anyways. One year their unhittable the next they cant get anybody out. Not worth the money.
i’d agree in re: viz. relievers seem to be lightning in the bottle, and if you could catch it with hawkins it would preferable than shacking up w/ vizcaino for 3 or 4 years. that’s a long, long time, especially for a guy who averages a lot of innings, mr. “everyday”.
Wondering Out Loud
I’m wondering why in the world the Yankees are not trying to trade guys like Karstens, Rassner and Igawa to teams like the Mariners who need a 4th or 5th starters. Clearly there is value there and they can start to restock the A and AA teams with position prospects.
I’m also wondering with guys like Bruney,Britton, and DeSalvo – they also have value as quality middle/setup relievers. Atleast with this group the Yankees know what they have. Britton has been good in the majors and the minors – if you don’t like him – trade him. Bruney for all the ups and downs atleast has shown he can handle the pressure of playing in NY. DESalvo has demonstrated he is finished with AAA and needs to play in the Majors.
THis hording of good not great pitchers makes no sense. I’m not saying trade all of them – but half should be traded.
They have pitchers like Horne and White for backup starters in the 4th and 5th slot. Vasquez and Wright for relievers/Starters and Patterson who was quite good. All this in case someone gets injured or flops.
Cmon Cashman start clearing space – you don’t want Santana anyways……
SJ you are so right on the hirings and firings although yesterday I was searching the press releases (they have the Yankees press releases on their site since 2001) trying to find a prelease about the marketing money as well as relationship they have with Yomouri and laughed quite a bit about some of them. I think Kevin Brown might hold the record on times on the DL, but re-reading press releases annoucning this signing or this release was pretty funny.
FYI the Hotlist interview is a NEW one not what I thought it might be ie a re-packaged piece from this AM.
FYI JOba has said he has not spoken to Girardi yet (found that somewhat suprising) and said he is looking forward to the challenge of starting but would do whatever the team feels is best.
I actually recall reading on here that Borzello left. Poor Mussina
I think Pete said it.
Karstens and a young “B” level arm would be nice for Marte.
I read that Borzello was going to LA with Torre.
Big V
Good point. At least trade them for minor league position players if we cant get any major league ready players for them. We have an abundance of pitchers that are not in our future plans. But not enough infield depth at the higher levels. Perfect example of that is getting back Nick Green.
Time to move some dead weight.
Also young JOba is looking like he has lost some weight
SJ244,
I really appreciate the inside info you post, particularly stuff like who’s already working out with their personal trainers. I read that Melky was working out with ARod and his personal trainer during the season – do you have any idea why Cano wasn’t working out with them too?
Gayle: I agree. I saw pictures at http://yankeesfans.livejournal.com and he looked GOOD.
Gayle,
Yes! That’s the first thing I noticed. Joba’s face looked slimmer, and I was wondering how much of that was the goatee.
He did well, and looks very sharp. He’s not in Nebraska anymore.
He blinks a LOT, though.
Karstens and a ‘B’ arm? Wasnt it reported that the Pirates were asking for Tabata in a Marte deal?
“But can’t one argue that Matsui last year was far better than Bonds last year?”
sure, you could argue that. but it wouldn’t make it true.
Althought Joba would make a great starter, right now he needs to be in the pen.
Thoughts? Criticisms? Flams?
Also young JOba is looking like he has lost some weight
All I can say is thank you Phili and Tom Gordan. While im at it thanks to Houston and Petitte for Hughes.
“He blinks a LOT, though.”
it’s the MIDGES!! they’re following him.
Did anyone see the Karstens piece on YES this week?
I was doing three things at once but did I hear him right when he said he had worked out with Al Leiter this off season and he was planning on doing it again.
Dr. Cox,
It was so refreshing to see him willing to either or both. He said 200 or 90 he’ll do it. He said if they need him to set up and hand it to Mo, he’ll do it. Whatever it takes to win a championship.
I say that it’s refreshing, because it seemed so different from how Papelbon handled it last year. He was perturbed to hear that he was going back to closing in the Spring of ‘07.
I wouldn’t trade Kennedy/Cabrerra for Lester/Crisp, let alone Johan Santana.
Pete — You hit it on the head with your last sentence. I agree with SJ44, Hank called the Sox out and exposed their bluff. The Twins weren’t taking Ellsbury plus OR Lester plus under any circumstaqnces, but that was being used to make the Yanks bargain against themselves. So now, given that nobody with a brain would trade Hughes for either of the Red Sox packages, Hughes comes off the table and, as time passes, the price for Santana goes down.
Let me add that I’ll be glad to see Melky back. He’s better than his stats because he has a knack for doing things that win games, and he gives the Yanks flexibility and youth in the OF. Matsui-Damon-Abreu would be a very brittle combo over 162.
Mel I would venture a couple of things on the blinking. remember he is not actually in the same studio as the guy who is doing the interview so he doesnt see him only hears him through his IFB. Basically he is is not really looking at anything other than the camera sosort of spacey that way.
Also it probably has been a very long day for him his first appearance was at 8AM today and seems to have been pretty busy throughout. I would imagine that ESPN probably has him pretty busy doing interviews across the country via sattelite to promote their NEXT issue.
While I’m glad Joba will do either, it would be a mistake IMO not to at least try him as a starter.
mel -
I understood that Papelbon wanted to close all along, and that he was quite happy to hear that that’s what they decided to do. I do know Terry Francona always wanted him to close.
Rebecca -
Last night you mentioned a camp you went to. Was it Summit?
I agree with you Dr. Cox (REAL FLAM TALKING)
And Mel yes, it is refreshing, he is such a team player at such a young age. He is going to be a true Yankee and we are going to party like Mickey and them did back in the 50’s heh.
Does anyone think that Matsui could handle 1B? If he can that would be a great way to keep his bat in the lineup everyday and keep Giambi’s glove on the bench.
Doreen,
That’s the party line. When the news broke out, Papelbon had some comments that weren’t so accomadating. Then the Sox started the spin control. When I went back later to verify Pap’s comments they had been purged and replaced by the ones you’re referencing. The original comments couldn’t have been up for more than a few hours.
Of course what do I know. I’m an idiot face. lol.
Yes, the Sox are in a good position by sitting and waiting. Which proves that Hank was very stupid for issuing a public deadline to the negotiations. There was no reason for the Yanks to do that. It can only hurt them.
mel,
the problem with getting a conditioning expert outside baseball is that baseball conditioning is so baseball specific. i was over at the red sox mlb site looking at who they had in conditioning and while no one person jumped out at you, they have the numbers there.
they have a guy who oversaw andrews birmingham facility for pitchers who’s just an assistant trainer with the red sox. their top guy has a decade of mlb experience heading programs. they just seem to be more on top of it. i may be wrong , but it seems like there’s a real opportuity for the yankees to upgrade their organization by improving the conditioning team.
the problem of having dan cavalea be the main person is that while good he’s limited in his experience and knowledge. for example, one thing that i know he doesn’t understand is on how to increase throwing velocity and bat speed. last year on his web site he gave detailed work out routines to increase both. his program to do this was based around strengthening the core. that’s the way to be strong , but not necessarily the way to be fast.
it sounds like a yogism ,but the way to be fast is to do that something really fast. it’s a neuroscience thing more than a stronger muscle thing. it takes alot of neurons firing together to throw or swing fast. i can tell from dana’s writings that he doesn’t know much about this. with olympic sprinterss they harness them to a vehicle that is set to accelerate at speed slightly higher than the sprinter has ever gone before. once the sprinter’s neural system feels the speed , he or she more likely to do it without help.
when swinging a lighter bat the speed can be felt and more likely recreated with a regular weighted bat. another speed tip is that you have to relax to go fast. cavalea doesn’t seem to know about the neuroscience side of speed and conditioing, but no one person would know all this stuff. that’s why a conditioning team is the way to go. probably more than you wanted to know, but the point is that the yankees can do more in the conditioning department.
Doreen: Yes! How did you know?!
“I’m wondering why in the world the Yankees are not trying to trade guys like Karstens, Rassner and Igawa to teams like the Mariners who need a 4th or 5th starters. Clearly there is value there and they can start to restock the A and AA teams with position prospects.”
well, how do you know they are not trying?
Rasner might look to be a nice long-man option for us this year, but the others don’t have much of a chance here.
Karstens working with Al Leiter? Now we can’t bring him up, unless we want to play five hour-plus games every day this year.
Joba has the kind of stuff that makes an ace an ace.
To me, having him in the bullpen is a waste of his talent.
He dominated big league hitters throwing only half his pitches.
I can’t wait to see him with his full arsenal.
Its true, at the present time, the Yankees don’t have an ace.
If Joba pitches like he has, there is your ace. He’s that good.
Lot of pressure for a 22 year old? No doubt.
However, if Justin Verlander can be the ace of a staff at a young age, so can Joba Chamberlain. They both possess the same type of dynamic stuff.
they are not trading those guys because nobody wants them. They are all bums.
Doreen,
Of course he could have just been irritated that he spent the whole off-season training to be a starter. I’m sure starters and relievers have different training programs. My take was that he was surprised at the switch and that he hadn’t been consulted about it.
But, again, what do I know?
“Yes, the Sox are in a good position by sitting and waiting. Which proves that Hank was very stupid for issuing a public deadline to the negotiations. There was no reason for the Yanks to do that. It can only hurt them.”
yeah, except it worked beautifully.
but i guess you know exactly what’s going on.
mel: You know quite a bit
Mel-
You can spot a Flim Flammer from a mile away, so you in fact know a thing or two.
Rebecca -
Because my daughter went there for 2 half summers a couple of years ago. She now goes to NYIT, their VIP program in Central Islip, NY.
Mel -
Ahh! Verrrry interesting, regarding Papelbon. Shoulda known.
Doreen–Ah, okay. My last summer was 2001, so it’s not likely I’d know her.
Some of the best summers of my life, though.
Pitchers like Rasner and Karstens are a dime a dozen. Teams do not need to trade for players like that. They just sign them to minor league contracts after they get released.
randy l,
Thanks. My eyes just glazed over. lol. You sound like you know your stuff. I think you should be the S&C Coach.
Randy L. Director of Strength & Conditioning.
Jennifer & Rebecca,
What were our titles again?
“Yes, the Sox are in a good position by sitting and waiting. Which proves that Hank was very stupid for issuing a public deadline to the negotiations. There was no reason for the Yanks to do that. It can only hurt them.â€
Yeah, the best way to win negotitations is to make your best offer and continue to increase it indefinitely. That way you get nothing else done and let everyone know that you are willing to be played.
OMG this day is taking forever!! ANd it is only made worse, by lack of baseball news.
She had a wonderful time there. She went in 2003 and 2004. I wish we’d known about it earlier. Better late than never, though. Long ride there, and I have a really funny story about coming back home from dropping her off, with my sister and niece in the car. Suffice to say, I had (we BOTH had) a really “blond moment” – and neither one of us is blond!
mel: I believe I was something like ‘Optimist Prime’ and ‘founder and director of Optimism Campaign’, or something like that!
Rebecca & Buddy,
HaHa. What’s the saying? “I enough to know that I don’t know very much”
Doreen:
You are qualifying yourself for Idiot Face material. Keep blabbing. But then again, my name is actually Idiot Face.
Jennifer –
It’s been a long WEEK!
Idiot Face:
Please dont ever leave this board.
The best part was that some yahoo was trying to tell us that Senator Mitchell had no role in the front office. lol.
Doreen,
Just ignore him. What does he know? He’s idiot face. lol.
Sorry, Idiot Face — it’s been that kind of a week.
Mel -
Randy l. was the go-to guy last year on Giambi’s plantar fasciitis. His very knowledgeable statements got me to do some research of my own. Learned alot. May not always agree with him, but I always respect what he has to say.
See, I wasn’t here when Idiot Face first showed up, so I’m a little behind!
Doreen: My brother was there in 03 and 04, perhaps she knew him!
I think my favorite part was it was the one time of my life I was actually best athlete at something (or close to it)! I was ultra, ultra competitive though…
I forget what my favorite part was…either the camp plays or the banana boat. The banana boat was great…
My first year, I caught one of my counsellors acting as goalie during field hockey and prurposely letting a goal in so that the game would end in a tie…I got SO pissed off, and I asked her why, and she said ‘because at Aummit everyone’s a winner’ and it totally didn’t fly with me…but she was a Toronto Blue Jays fan, so I guess it’s understandable.
And I loved the trampoline.
Doreen dont take anything I say personally. I am the one of the boards who is the jokester. im sure you had a bad week but at the end of the day….
I am an Idiot Face.
So if Peter is not a Yankees fan, who does he root for?
If the Yanks want to revisit the deal, they should call the Twins, make an offer – Hughes, Cabrera the guys from the minors the Twins already said they’d accept, and tell them they have 5 minutes – the deal is off the table when the phone is hung up. No going back to Boston or anyone else.
This team is more settled than a year ago. Players were re-signed, experience was gained in the form of Chamberlain, Hughes, Kennedy, and Shelley Duncan. Many questions have been answered. Some fine tuning is yet to be done in the bullpen with the lefthanded pitching and the emergence of some in the system to nail down the remaining spots all to be finalized by the end of March.
Last but not least is the fire that Joe Girardi will put in this team.
Boston is much the team that finished just ahead (2 games) in their division and with a farm system less than what they believe they have. They’re not a flawless team.
Peter is a Red Sox fan. Its obvious. We all really dont care he just wont come out and admit it.
Idiot Face,
Thanks for the comic relief. I know you try to lay low, but I ferreted out the 411 on you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Comic
If it’s a long week what you all need are cheer-up songs, ones that automatically put you in a good mood.
My favorites:
Learn to Fly –Foo Fighters
Stay With You –Goo Goo Dolls
Let Love In –Goo Goo Dolls
Sofia –Live
Nemo–Nightwish
Dani California –Red Hot Chili Peppers
Losing my Religion –REM
ANYTHING by U2.
Dr. Cox-
That makes sense considering he is a Patriots fan.
my favorite post all week!
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12.....f_9366.htm
Just say ‘NO’ to Vizcaino.. no way in heck would i give him 3/12 no way.
Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan regarding Yankees prospects.
He’s doing a marathon chat by the way and he’s still going.
http://www.baseballprospectus......061498#new
Rebecca:
You have terrible taste in music. That is all.
Dont think for one second Pete’s New England roots have ever left him.
Granted, he does an excellent JOB covering the Yankees, but the reason i put the JOB in caps is because that is precisely what it is to him a JOB.
He bleeds old, Red, Sweaty, gym Sox.
Kevin,
They’d probably do it like that. The offer doesn’t leave the room, but I don’t think that Hughes will be included. There was a big sigh of relief through the whole organization when the deal fell through. Cashman wasn’t the only guy who was against trading away Hughes.
Guys,
Peter has said many, many times. He’s a fan of stories. As a beat writer he can’t be a fan in the true sense of the word. Although wouldn’t it be great to have the Yankee answer to Peter Gammons? Abe vs. Gam.
Oh, I know.
But I didn’t even get into the medieval stuff or Hebrew reggae I listen to.
I win.
Rebecca-
Ever listen to Mordecai Ben David?
Trade Matsui for Lincecum or your fired Cashman!
Buddy–Not yet, but I guess now I will
Rebecca-
I was just kidding, is there such thing as Hebrew Reggae?
Jews are some of the best rappers in the world.
Beastie Boys
Matisyahu
Coolio
Joey Lawrence
Madonna
Immortal Technique
The Sugar Hill Gang
Rebecca-
Hebrew reggae.I gotta listen to that,seriously.Can you name a singer?
Hebrew Reggae – Matisyahu
Please please please first Madonna is no rapper. Second she is not Jewish lol. Whow didnt think conversation could degenerate so much as now but we have hit a new low lol
Yep! Check it out
שהותי ×”× ×•×•×”
(I don’t know if I spelt it right, but it’s Shotei Ha’Nevua)
http://www.foools.com
They did a concert at Syracuse when I was a sophomore. I got to meet them afterwards at Hillell, it was awesome.
My favorite is daka ba pardess
Yeah Madonna a rapper now thats funny.
Dang. My Hebrew-fu is way off.
שוטי ×”× ×‘×•××”
so, i see its been a slow day. sucks that I missed out on Frits V Flams part 2
mel-
i knew i was getting carried away with the conditioning stuff , but i just couldn’t help myself. but did you notice that i’ve taken your advice about spacing. thanks’s again for that constructive criticsm.
and doreen, i don’t even agree with myself all the time. especially pre coffee vs. after coffee.
Matisyahu is the hasidic reggae singer.
I think Snoop Dogg is also Jewish. He sometimes lapses into Yiddish.
I don’t drink coffee.
Not being addicted to caffeine has its benefits.
Though I have yet to find them.
mel
Yes Dave and dave are two different people.
SJ, I completely agree about joba – its a waste of his talent to have him in the pen when he can start and be a legit ace. As for Stein’s deadline – it did work and im sure it achieved the goal stein had. However, it could have backfired. If the yanks were forced to go back into the negotiations, they would like pretty foolish esp after doing the same thing with arod. They would have lost ALL of their credibility or whatever little stein has left. Also, i think it succeeded in pissing the twins off – stein was trying to say he was in control which isnt exactly what you want to do to a team you are trying to negotiate with. It worked out but it could have just as easily blown up in little stein’s face if the sox didnt back out. Luckly, we called the sox bluff and they folded. I still dont think the twins are too happy about it which may impact future negotiatioins with them if we have any. Im just praying Johan goes onto the market next off season.
Rebecca:
Try being addicted to pain killers. Its’s the Pits. But my name is Idiot Face.
Just let the winter meetings subside and some down time come in to play and this blog becomes nothing short of a gigantic parrot pet store with a dramatic drop of substantial posting.
Rebecca,
OMG. I can’t believe that you like U2, they’ve been a band longer than you’ve been alive. Their original music (Gloria, Under a Blood Red Sky) is 10X better than what they churn out now. Clash, Police, Cure, Depeche Mode. I know I’m dating myself but they’re classic.
Mellow faves of the day “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. “Grace Kelly” by Mika. “Apologize” by Timbaland.
Man Hank would be such a bully at the poker table. He’s had two incredible reads all ready this offseason. And he sat down at the table with the most chips.
Idiot Face: I know people that were. So I don’t really find it funny, sorry.
randy l,
lol. I forgot about that. Yes, it did look nice and it was very informative. Were you a jock? Ex-jocks usually end up studying kinesiology or sportscasting.
Mike,
Very true stein took two huge chances at the table and came up winning big both times. In one, we succeeded in keeping the best hitter in the game who looked like he had no shot of returning and in the other, he succeeded in not letting the sox and twins pound us for prospects in order to pay 150 million to acquire johan. Stein seems to be slightly smarter than his father in this game or maybe it is just begginners luck. Only time will tell.
Idiot Face –
OxyContin, Percocet, or Vicodin?
mel: But there are many band I like that have been together longer than I’ve been alive!
Hell, my first concert was Simon and Garfunkel!
“What other likely number one starters do you see aside from Buchholz?”
call me crazy ,but from watching his games on tv he doesn’t seem to throw hard enough to be an ace. even on the no hitter , i couldn’t fgure out how they were swinging and missing so much.
i think buchholz is overated. he’s no joba.
JOBA CHAMBERLAIN:
For Everyone talking smack about Joba… Here is my impression.
I went with a friend to the Modell’s Santa appearance.
We snuck around to the back and caught Joba walking in the back door. We asked him for an autograph and he obliged.
I asked if he wanted to start next year. He said ” I just want to Pitch”
He was running late by 10 minutes to the event and still signed for us. After the appearance a small crowd had discovered our spot. HE SIGNED FOR EVERYONE. Doesn’t sound like a guy with an ego does it.
Later that night we went to the JOBA signing at Circuit City.
Waited five hours in the cold with everyone. Only to find out that he could only sign Circuit city baseballs. How Lame. I badly wanted my ESPN mag signed. I HATE AGENTS.
He was polite, I wished him well next season and he said thank you, Merry Christmas. NICE DUDE.
Here is a photo of both balls he signed and you can clearly see the left ball (Circuit City) is a better autograph. (Nice warm comfy store. VS. Right Ball (Outside) Cold ass nyc street autograph.
http://i226.photobucket.com/al.....s/JOBA.jpg
I love them both. THANKS Joba & Thanks Pete for the heads up on the appearances.
Rebecca: Chill out, thats why Im the Idiot Face.
O.K. Time to get back on track.
Now we all love Moose, but with so many youngsters and at $11M do you think it would be foolish to trade him?
Doopahead, whats your candy of choice? haha
Buckholz has an awesome change and curveball to go along with a decent fastball.
Check out this article.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/m.....s-kennedy/
Pete’s a BoSox hack. He loves strippers and whining.
mel,
check out shawn megofna’s cover of “i’m yours”. i believe it’s @ http://www.myspace.com/shawnmegofna , but my work blocks myspace. i actually like it better than the original.
i’ve hated u2 since the dawn of time (well the 80’s, which was the dawn of my time), but i’m down with the clash and the cure for sure.
Mussina for Kazmir. Do it Cashman or your fired!
I think I will go snort some oxy.
If you they took a census of all the Peter-Haters here, I doubt they’re be many Yankee fans there.
Idiot Face, I’m fine. Just pointing out that not every joke is in good taste
FYI it had nothing to do with agents. Couple of things of note for someoone who has had to organize signings such as this many a time. He probably got paid by Circuit City so it was in their best interest to have the thing he signed have their logo on it.
Second, when someone does a signing unless you limit what they can sign and how much they can sign (ie only one item per person) the things would go on for days.Someone will pull out 5 magazines, a photo they took and a baseball and expect them all to be signed. By doing it how they did it it was the most organized, effective and best use of time management way to do it.
Guga wrote:
Later that night we went to the JOBA signing at Circuit City.
Waited five hours in the cold with everyone. Only to find out that he could only sign Circuit city baseballs. How Lame. I badly wanted my ESPN mag signed. I HATE AGENTS.
If anyone believes Flam’s story I have another one for you. I was wandering around Penn Station, and I ran into Lou Gehrig. Needless to say, we started having a conversation – and really hit it off. We both have a sort of Pre-WWII mindset, so I think we could relate to each other. Anyways, Lou got around to telling me how much “poon” he used to get, and how he and Tino Martinez took a time machine to the future to take part in a Girls Gone Wild fisting competition in Cabo. Crazy stuff, I know. Anyways, he told me to look for his return to pinstripes this March; he thinks this team’s really gonna rock balls.
Um, Flam is full of sheeot.
Will Leotch,
Way to join the party 10 hours late there buddy.
Mel firstly he has a full NTC being a 10 and 5 man. Second we need someone who can pitch some innings with the youngsters being on innings counts. I am one who believes that Moose can still be effective, he showed signs of it later in the year. I think last year was a big wake up call for him in terms of what he needs to do in order to be successful this year.The question will be can he get his head around it and pull it off.
Gayle,
It was all for Charity at ciruit city & while I understand your point in regards to order & organization. They asked for a 20 dollar donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs.
Given that he only signed 200 balls that night. They could have maximized the donation by offering tiers. $20 for the circuit ball perhaps $50 for anything else.
My math only say’s $ 4,000 to charity could have been significantly higher. I Still HATE AGENTS.
Joba on the hot list on ESPN news right now!!
giambi’s,
Thanks. Looks like Shawn’s from my part of the world, but sadly I’m not into the local music scene. (I really HATE Jawaiian, which is mix of Reggae & Hawaiian music). Sounds like a talented kid, though.
Check out this split-scene video. Some film-school guy made it for his friends who were getting married.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=d0dA9-27soc
Joba’s uncle used to have a meth lab back in Nebraska. We tweaked together all the time.
So, Fukudome is choosing between a few teams. I wonder if the teams that lose out will come asking about Matsui. I mean, he’s also a lefty slugger. Less of a fielder, but at least he’s a pretty known quantity in MLB. Padres, Cubs, these teams are both in the mix.
gayle,
agree with you. there’s a lot of knowledge locked in that head. totally loved his change of attitude. after he came to terms with the fact that he’s just not the same pitcher anymore he was a trooper.
Hey, Im in the process of becoming an agent.
mel-
just to really confuse you; william h. calvin is a neuroscientist who advocates the idea that the sequential ability in the brain that allows language came from eons of throwing rocks as weapons in prehistoric times. it takes a big brain to do that and language piggybacked on the neural machinery that evolved. so talking and writing and throwing are linked.
i’m still catching up on the language part of the equation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Calvin
it’s not a totally crazy theory. a few years ago, i told will caroll of bp about it in an email and he included mention of calvin’s theory in his book about pitching. “the throwing madonna” is calvin’s best book on the subject.
the best part of the theory is that it rationalizes spending so much time on rock throwing (baseball) . who would have known that throwing and language are linked.
randy l,
Thanks. Now my eyes not only glazed out, but they fell out. From the brief article on Mr. Calvin, I gathered that use of the hand axe kicked the brain up a notch on the evolutionary scale. Does that mean that computers have kicked it up another notch? Well, maybe not. Some of the comments you read hear debunk that theory.
Randy:
That is a fascinating theory.
It means that next season, there will be no need for words or interpretation, when Manny and Papi are laying in the dirt following a high inside fastball delivered by JOBA!
nettles vs. lee
good link . i forgot about gomez. still, just that he’s comparing kennedy to buchholz maybe says he doesn’t think buchholz is a numebr one either.
he says 94 tops with buchholz. that’s what i saw too. velocity doesn’t usually increase so buchholz may be 91-92 in a few years. that just doesn’t seem enough when there are so many pitchers in the high 90’s.
Joe Sheehan is the only analyst that will admit to thinking that Hughes may be better than Joba. I love that there’s even such a debate.
Isn’t it funny how something that is “bunk” isn’t true, and something that is “debunked” is proved untrue. It’s like the bunked version of flammable/inflammable. I don’t mean to start another linguistic Boredom Barrage. It was pretty cool how, after yesterday’s grammar talk, a few people did start at least noticing their mistakes. Bit by bit…fighting back!
think buchholz is overated. he’s no joba..
Uh, did you look at his stats? His numbers from the MiL are comperable to Hughes, Beckett, and a ton of other great pics. They’re both awesome pitchers. How hard does Maddux throw? Or, Hughes for that matter?
Twins too clever by half.
The had a very good offer from the yankees, and they choose an inferior deal, to spite the evil empire, and now Boston’s offer may now be off the table.
It’s no wonder why Santana want to leave.
The human language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out a tune for a dancing bear, when all the while we hope to make music that moves the stars to pity.
Robert O’Kelly — You may remember they pointed that out on Seinfeld.
However, based on my understanding, “bunk” is something false that hasn’t been disproven. “Debunking” such an idea means disproving it, thereby ridding it of its “bunk” status.
I probably should have consulted with M-W.com before submitting, but I’m going with my gut.
new england-
i wonder about hughes’ velocity too. hughes was injured most of the year so it’s hard for me to judge his velocity. joba’s velocity is electric. look at verlander to get it off red sox yankee comparisons. verlander is clearly an ace who throws high 90’s. he’s as strong late in games as at the beginning. he’s more the prototypical ace.
an ace like maddox is an exception to the rule. buchholz may be good, but i think his ceiling is a #2 starter. not that there is anything wrong with that. i think the red sox would be pretty happy with that.
yeah, it isn’t fair to denigrate clay buchholz. he has been excellent. it’s okay to say you think hughes is better, but you cannot accurately and objectively say that buchholz is garbage.
Then again, you can refer to something as “bunk” even after it’s unproven. Who knows. It has to be something along those lines.
What makes the human race, and to a lesser extent dogs and cats the only mammals to not replicate themselves in mirror images of their parents? Just curious.
Maybe I’m being a homer, but I’m surprised that a lot of folks seem to be minimizing Godzilla’s value.
I only saw about a dozen 100 run/100 RBI guys last year.
OPS? Top 50, better than A Rios and G Sizemore, nearly the same as Jimmy Rollins.
Now do that math over the last four years, and where would he rank in these areas? One of baseball’s near-elite.
Add the intangibles (cult following, international ambassador, total good guy), and I see a lot of value!
Awesome article Nettles, really informative…thanks for the link.
I missed that Seinfeld episode / comment, and I appreciate the sweaty reasoning. Makes some sense. I’d look into it more, but I think the day one consults online grammatical sources in order to prepare comment number four hundred and whatever for a sports blog, well, something is just a bit off there. I’ll check with the trusty OED when home, of course
Add the intangibles
Insaneo porn collection.
Hughes may not have the velocity of the flamethrowers, but there’s something about his pitches that’s difficult for hitters. Don’t remember what it was, something about the ball arriving earlier than the batter thinks it will?
BTW, Phil still has to pass the Red Sox test. He hasn’t pitched against them yet, has he?
Buchholz didnt do nearly as good as Hughes in triple A – he also doesnt have the control hughes has. Hughes has some of the best minor league numbers i have ever seen.
Many of the trade proposals heard here during the winter meetings were enough to make one very nervous.
mel its the superb control
clay buchholz has sticky fingers.
Man, a lot of posts to go through.
This isn’t entirely true. What is going on here is conditioning of the faster muscles which is actually a falacy.
To give you an idea of my background on this, I worked with my father who ran the Physical Therapy Department at NYU. He was one of the pioneer with EMGs and gate studies, one of the first PhDs of Physical Therapy. In a book he authored on the subject of conditioning of fast vs. slow moving muscle fibers (both types are contained in any specific muscle in your body) and his extensive research on it found that conditioning under slow conditions allowed for greater strength building in both muscle fibers. Moving faster only increases strength in your fast fibers.
By gaining strength in your fast and slow moving fibers it allows for quicker acceleration of the muscles being employed.
What you are talking about is work done to help create muscle memory, which is beneficial in that the instinctive reactions will quicker due to the muscles being trained to react that way, but those methods do not bring about a quicker swing without the fibers being strengthened enough to perform.
Dave,
We’ve seen that it takes Phil a little while to figure out each level of ball he’s played at before mastering it.
This year he had early innings trouble. Nerves? Trying to be too fine? Should he just trust his stuff?
Frosty: Haha, might that be the source of his great changeup?
Did anyone get to see Joba on Mike and Mike In The Morning today?
watching CNN.
they say Bonds “is very close” to signing with the Oakland A’s.
mel, Hughes really didn’t have his “legs” under him till September. The injury was healed but it takes a lot more time to build up the strength that was lost.
Hamstring injuries also affect mechanics. He wasn’t driving off his leading leg any where near as much as he normally did.
He was returning to form in September and October.
Bonds in Oakland?
WTF did Billy Beane have for dinner?
A-point,
Yes, Hughes looked great towards the end of the year. He’s such a bulldog and I think he has more of a poker face than even Wang!
I liked how he was getting back to being a groundball pitcher, giving up homeruns are bad.
Is that some new prision?
On a more serious note, I did hear this. I read that Beane was now looking at “going for the win” this year. That along with other comments lead me to believe they might look to add a power bat to the lineup, which Barry would do.
Barry might come fairly cheap as a lot of teams won’t take the chance of losing him to jail and the court case – which is thought to be in April or May.
If that is the case, then Haren isn’t up for sale unless its to get great up coming arms they think can start producing right away. He was talking Hughes and Kennedy as the starting point for getting Haren.
A-Point: Phenomenal post. I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to sports science & nutrition (though not in the sense that I’m super knowledgeable), so I love reading about this kind of stuff.
Mel
Did you ever consider that while other mammals may look the same to you, they may not look the same to each other?
Randy 1 …. I agree with you regarding Bucholz’ fastball, which tops out around 94 mph. However, take note that he throws both a two-seamer and a four-seamer, and the fastballs in the low 90s are the two-seamers.
Also, he has three excellent pitches which have great separation: his fastball(s), a super 12-6 curveball, and a deceptive, screwgie-like changeup. He already throws them anywhere in the count, and for strikes.
Curt Schilling can be a blowhard, be he does have some insight. He has said in the past that “the hitters tell you how your stuff is.” The fact is, as you acknowledge, that Bucholz has swing-and-miss stuff. I was skeptical myself when I saw the radar gun, but hitters just don’t get good swings off of him. If he stays healthy (the BIG if), he should be very good.
P.S. Until I saw Hughes’ relief appearance against Cleveland, I thought he was all hype …. two pitches, OK velocity, pretty straight fastball. But against Cleveland he had a lot more late life on his fastball, and his curve did not “roll” as much … more bite. But I saw Brendan McCarthy look that good a couple of years ago, and now he’s Just-a-Guy. So, who knows?
Maybe both teams should have just traded for Santana ….
giambi’s sweat stain I could tell from your “new” name.
Mel, a lot of that has to do with mixed breeding and the complexity of the DNA strands. You can tell the difference between animals of a specific species. I bet you any farmer would be able to tell the difference between each of his sheep for an example. Though I imagine her comment is more on the stark variety of humans and dogs and cats as compared to the other species.
For instance, tigers (with some exception where you have albinoes) will look like tigers, same coloration, stripes and so forth. With humans you could have two parents with brown eyes produce a blue eyed child. (As a simple for instance)
Brian, I think that both pitchers have a lot of potential. Hughes did not have the same mechanics he normally had during the period of time he was being lit up. The loss of velocity and the arm angle problems probably affected the late movement on the ball.
The one thing I’ve seen is both have shut down skills, the thing is it remains to be seen if either of them are able to keep up their ways as the batters and teams get more time to look at them and study them.
A-Point,
Thanks. It was just a random question that popped into my head the other day. You’re answer definitely confirmed my assertion that Yankee fans are definitely on top of the evolutionary scale of fans, not only in their knowledge of baseball, but in most things in general.
*Your*
The Bonds-to-A’s thing is also not a joke, here is a story in today’s SF Chronicle about it:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....STPL2P.DTL
Brian Sabean, the Giants’ GM, will be on KNBR 680 in a few minutes, but since he never reveals anything and can’t comment about players under contract with other teams anyway, I don’t see much value in tuning in. For you, that is, I’ll be listening and I’ll report back if there are any shocking developments.
Man, we are really slow today, aren’t we?
Stupid finals.
a-point-
your dad obviously knows his stuff. i’m just happy to have some of it right considering i’m not an expert.
i’d agree that strength comes after the speed develops. i’m just saying as a practical matter that the way to train for speed is to go fast; and not to expect doing core execises to create speed as a byproduct. core exercises will keep you healthy, but they don’t make you go fast.
to give you a concrete example. tiger woods swings his driver about 120 mph on an average drive. he can probably swing 140 mph all out. an average person swings about 90 mph. if the average person wanted to gain 10-15 mph, doing core exercises probably wouldn’t help much. what would immediately help is simply training as fast as possible over period of weeks. a lot of speed is hardwired in all of us. most people simply don’t access it. it’s not easy to train at maximum speed ,and it takes a lot of focus.trying to go fast and doing something as fast as possible somehow accesses that hardwiring . i wonder what your father would think of calvin’s theories.
all i know is that playing around with training like this i’ve had some surprising results. i think neuoscience applied to sports performance is going to be the next big thing for performance enhancement; and it’s legal .
to bring the conversation back to the yankees, dana cavalea can keep them healthy and that’s good, but they need another kind of coach to teach them speed.
Bonds in Oakland ” I didn’t knowingly do it. Don’t put me in jail.”
Wouldn’t it be sweet if we could send Giambi back to Oakland. To think Steinbrenner wanted to sign David Ortiz, soon after they signed Giambi. Ortiz a Yankee now instead of Giambi-we’d probably have another WS or two! Let’s not forget Vlad. Steinbrenner wanted Sheffield. Hopefully Boss Jr. doesn’t make the same mistakes.
Bullpen-Unless we trade for someone, there are no FA RP’s worth signing for one year, let alone 2-3 years. Would trading Matsui bring us a good lefty for the bullpen, and free up salary to make a trade and long term commitment for Santana more palatable to the Yankees. If so, the Yankees should try to trade him. If not, give him a 1st baseman’s glove and let him try a new position for his 13M.
“i think neuoscience applied to sports performance is going to be the next big thing for performance enhancement;”
Again, this is very interesting. Yes, legal and quite ethical, I would imagine.
The next big thing after that, maybe decades down the road, will be genetically engineered ballplayers.
Perhaps R-OP’s generation will live to see them and look back on the steroid era with a chuckle.
Mike Mussina’s most valuable, clutch, post season, elimination game other than Game 3, 2001 ALDS v Oakland, was his appearance in relief in Game 7, 2003, ALCS v Boston. He came in with no out, I believe runners on 1st and 3rd, and got out of it. My point is we are dying for middle relief, long relief what have you. Mussina is here, let him do it.
brian( red sox fan)
you describe buchholz pretty much the way i see him. i just don’t think that’s ace material because of the velocity. i don’t know what to think of hughes. all i have to go by is watching him on tv when he was rushed up to the majors in the early season and then brought back after rehabbing. he clearly was not at his best all year.
neither hughes or buchholz seems to have the velocity to be an ace like verlander. joba on the other hand does. it’ll be interesting watching these players compete against each other because that’s where the intangibles will come out.
“Curt Schilling can be a blowhard, be he does have some insight. He has said in the past that “the hitters tell you how your stuff is.â€
This is incorrect. If you read Schilling’s analysis of Phil Hughes on his blog, you would realize he has zero insight into anything except himself.
Don’t know if this has already been written but…..
Mitchell Report to be released next Wednesday or Thursday. Rumor is all 30 teams will be included in names named.
Randy l. they are already doing things as you describe, but it is just really begining. My Dad did experiments with giving feed back through EMGs (electromyography)in efforts to “retrain” muscles that had been injured. By having the person rehabilitate with getting feed back on how much the muscles are producing (EMG measure the electrical output of muscles during exertion – for a simplistic explaination)and he found that the rehab was accelerated.
Another area he studied was nerve conduction velocities. Most top atheletes have a faster response to stimuli than “normal” people. There is a finite speed that the impulses travel down the nerves, but he found through such tests as evoked potential graphings that the atheletes actually had faster brain response times in the “f” waves these stimuli evoked.
I think it would be fasinating to see how A-Rod would test out with these things. It could account for his generally higher level of sucess.
Another thing that my father had tested with evoked potentials was visual fields. Again, much faster registration in the brains for those highly trained as compared to “normal”.
The study worked with using some very specific conditioning laid out for the “normal” subjects, and they found that there were increases in the rates, but they were not able to ever get them to the highest levels. I imagine that some genetics come into play with all that.
I think A-Rod also has incredible vision. He had talked of being distracted by a coke in the hand of someone in the stands at Fenway.
I will have to ask him about what he thinks of Calvin’s theories. Even though he is “retired” – twice now, he still is involved with various studies and doctoral students.
Just as a bragging point, my father had a Lab at NYU named after him. Believe me, that is a tremendous honor as most times universities name building after those who pay big money to the school. My father didn’t. He worked with NASA in developing excersize equipment that could be used in space.
Sorry for the long post, hard to shut it off when I get started with this stuff.
I am glad, Brian, that we can have a red sox fan here that can debate intelligently with us, instead of just trolling the board and angering people.
Thanks for that.
As for Hughes and Buchholz, I see them as comparable. Hughes throws harder with better mechanics (imo) and a better curve, but both pitchers have the ability to dominate the opposing batters with their stuff. It will come down to who is mentally strong enough and who has the better control / pitch calls.
Imagine Mussina’s mind in one of the two pitchers… talk about how amazing that could be.
berra8: Where is Schilling’s blog entry about Hughes? What does it say?
Where does Curt Schilling say anything about Phil Hughes?
Wheres Frits at?
Tommy, I wouldn’t be surprised by that at all. Trouble is there are ethical issues with all that, in how do you determine who would get those genetical enhancements and so forth. Plus, it would probably mean a decrease in the pay as the top athletes wouldn’t be as rare.
Pat, I am sure every team will have names on the list. The Yankees already know one name that will be there. I think there will be a number of surprises on it though, and I hope that Mitchell didn’t just go by hearsay and has documentation and reasonable levels of proof for his allegations. Otherwise he might be spending his remaining days in court.
sorry for the double (now triple) post.
The interview with Sabean is over, he actually said more than I expected. He loves Alex Rios and said that, if a deal with Toronto goes down, it will probably go down early-to-mid next week or not at all. The deal would most likely be for Lincecum, not Cain. Sabean didn’t say this explicitly, but it sounds like he actually rates Lincecum very slightly higher than Cain, but that Lincecum is more attractive to Toronto.
The subject of Matsui-to-the-Giants didn’t even come up, unless I missed it (which is possible, I was distracted for a short time), I think people should really forget about that possibility unless something else comes out about it. I just don’t see it happening.
Also, I just heard a report that the Tigers are claiming to have sold $1.2 million is season tickets since the Cabrera/Willis trade. I’m sure the same thing will happen with the Yanks if they can somehow acquire Noah Lowry!
I’ve read Schilling’s blog before. He kind of likes to pretend to be objective without actually being objective at all. It makes me giggle.
Toronto could get Santana and Cuddyer with Rios, Litsch, Chacin, and Overbay cuz that package buries Boston’s Lester or Ellsbury, Crisp if Lester is being offered, and two nobodies. Rios alone is better than that package. Toronto’s rotation would be Santana/ Halladay/ Burnett/ McGowan/ Marcum. Cuddyer would be their RF. They could figure out who’s at 1B. Ty Wigginton? I know he’s a 3B, but I think he’s played some 1B. He’s used to playing on artificial turf
from playing with Tampa Bay.
Rios and Overbay would be Minnesota’s RF & DH, respectively. If they re-signed Silva, their rotation would be Liriano/ Silva/ Litsch/ 2 from Chacin, Baker, Bonzer, and Slowey. They could trade one of those 4 arms for more hitting and/ or re-sign Eric Milton to either a minor-league contract or a one year contract with a low base and incentives based on GS and/ or IP which I think are legal.
“Most top atheletes have a faster response to stimuli than “normal†people.”
Thanks for the info in the post.
I’ve seen that theory somewhere in print and for the life of me can’t remember where.
I just re-read my post and can’t believe all the spelling errors.
Sorry about that. Guess my stimuli to reaction isn’t near what it should be. 
darkhorse, do you think that the Jays would be in the market for Santana though? His salary might not fit in with their financial plans. I agree with your assessment regarding which is the better offering.
“Perhaps R-OP’s generation will live to see them and look back on the steroid era with a chuckle.”
As a reader of Brave New World, I can say nothing scares the bejaysus out of me more than genetically engineered children.
Except tornadoes and thunderstorms.
A-Point-
Great info on your Dad’s accomplishments, you sound very proud.
To all who say Mussina will refuse a trade, the Yanks can strongarm him by telling him this:
1. He is competing with Kennedy for the fifth starter slot in spring training.
2. He is not guaranteed to be in the rotation for most of or the whole year including the postseason if at all.
3. He will be moved to the bullpen if he is ineffective in the rotation since he’s making $11M.
We’ll see how fast he makes a list of teams to go to when he doesn’t want to risk being in the bullpen in his walk year. I’d tell him make a list of N.L. teams save the Mets, Philly, and the Dodgers.
He’s not being traded to anyone in the division, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Seattle, or Oakland and why strengthen Kansas City or Texas as he’ll be better than any #3/4/5 they have?
No way is he going to the Mets and possibly facing the Yanks once or twice in 2008 and 2009 if the Mets re-sign him after ‘08.
He should not have the comfort of playing close to home with Philly as he got his comfort in the form of a 6-year $88.5M contract followed by a 2-year $22M extension on a team close to home.
He’s not pitching for Torre, nah-ah.
If the Yanks draw him in 2008 i.e. they draw his team in interleague play and he starts one of those games, whatever.
The only reason I don’t include an ‘08 interleague opponent in the “not going there” list is I don’t want an entire divsion being shut out from being able to get him. 13 out of 16 teams is more than enough for him to choose from. My top choices would be Atlanta (Smoltz/ Hudson/ Mussina/ James/ Hampton), Colorado (just went to the World Series), Arizona
(just went to the N.L.C.S.), Chicago (won their division, great baseball city and city in general, short flight to home in PA), and San Diego (Peavey/ Maddux/ Young/ Mussina).
Anyone watching the Nets vs Rockets?
Strongarm: maybe he doesn’t care if he’s in the rotation or not. Some guys will do what it takes to help the team. If he helps the team by being in the pen or as a spot starter, maybe he’ll be ok doing that. he’s gonna earn his $11M (or is it 12?) either way.
Hillabama: No, should I?
Strongarm Mike Is not going to pitch that far from his home. He is a very family oriented person. Only options would really be NY Mets, Baltimore, or Philly. And I’d bet the house that he’d wouldn’t go to any of them.
UGh, I have to go x-mas shopping tomorrow, I am not looking forward to it.
Jennifer: yeah. I forgot to mention that. And is this really his “walk year,” or you think he’d retire after this year if the Yankees don’t pick up his contract again, or if one of those teams don’t pick him up? He doesn’t seem like an extravagant guy…doesn’t seem like the type of guy who needs to spend another year far away from home making another $10M
Rebecca, I’m unable to watch the game. I was hoping someone has an update. you know, more than just the score.
Whats the word on Matsui?
Jennifer: I have no clue what to get anyone for Christmas. Good luck!
I don’t understand the contempt for Mussina coming from some of the fans.
I know the guy struggled, but the guy has had a phenomenal career.
And they are going to need him next year.
BTW, tomorrow is his birthday.
Happy 39 Mike!
jennifer: Amazon gift cards!
It’s what I tell everyone to get me, anyway.
I think Mike will talk away. As I’ve said before I’ve met him a number of times, and he seems like the type of person who doesn’t like change. And I don’t see him going back to the O’s espically after something I heard that happened after he left. I don’t really want to get into it, but it was pretty scary.
I have lists from my cousins children, they are getting older so of course they are looking for more expensive things. Off to target for me.
** ugh make that walk**
I don’t really have beef with Mussina. I was at that last ALDS game where he came in for Wang. He hadn’t pitched in a while, and he pitched really well. I think maybe he’s just getting old and he needs more time between starts. So this year is going to be a good year for him with the 3 rookies with limited innings and 2 regular starters.
I had doubts about him being good out of the pen, but it seemed to be working pretty well. We’ll see what Girardi does.
“FUK U DO ME” IS A GREAT NAME FOR A JAPANESE SCHOOLGIRL.
Rebecca, the gifts that I need to get tomorrow are for 5 year old twin boys and a 7 year old. Everyone elses gifts will wait. I need to have something to give to the kids at Christmas.
Cleveland Indians(won divisional series 2007, 1997) 2 rings
Detroit Tigers(won divisional series 2006) 4 rings
Anaheim Angels(won divisional series 2005, 2002) 1 ring
Boston Red Sox(won ALCS 2004) 7 rings
Florida Marlins(won world series 2003) 2 rings
Arizona Diamondbacks(won world series 2001) 1 ring
New York Mets(still crosstown rivals) 2 rings
Atlanta Braves(rivals for mid 90’s) 1 ring
Baltimore Orioles(same division) 3 rings
Toronto Blue Jays(same division)2 rings
2+4+1+7+2+1+2+1+3+2=25 rings
New York Yankees 26 rings
26>25
Best team? The numbers don’t lie.Even if we don’t play for
the next 15 yrs and the Cardinals(10 rings) win the series
15 times consecutively, we’ll still be on top of MLB.
I’m not into gift cards unless it’s for someone I need to mail a gift to, or unless it’s because they want something specific and I can’t afford it, like when my sister wanted a coach briefcase. Sometimes it just seems impersonal. Plus the people I’m thinking of don’t really read that much :-\
Jennifer: Hmmm
That one’s tough!
Mike Mussina is not getting traded. He basically sucks right now.
Jennifer,
boys that age love Legos. There are all sorts of cool sets that Lego has come up with. They have different “worlds” maybe you can get the 5 year olds two differnt worlds, or two parts of the same world.
I’m a 24 year old girl and I love legos!
Interesting thought, I don’t think they have legos. I’ll have to check that out. Thanks for the idea.
The only problem with legos is, they aren’t up to speed as most 5 year olds,
Anyone else received this booklet from the US district court on getting settlement refunds from those visa/ mastercard crooks?
I have a 6 year old nephew who loves building the really complex stuff, like the Star Wars sets, the Undersea stuff, the Knights, etc. etc. I think when he was five we got him the Undersea suff.
http://www.lego.com/en-US/products/default.aspx
here are the relevant sets.
What should I do tonight?
jon, please share, I didn’t get one? Is it refunds for late fees?
Phil thanks for the link i’ll look into it.
Call Joba, he’s in town right?
Buddy, too soon. Gotta wait a couple days. Dont you know the rules???
Buddy, I gotta wait a couple days.
sorry for the repost…
I felt like killing Jon Heyman yesterday after watching him on the Yes hot stove show. With his brilliant opinions and about how he doesn’t understand how the Yankees could let Alan Horne stop them from getting Johan Santana. I felt like killing Michael Kay today, on his radio show he put down Ian Kennedy’s abilities, they looked pedestrian to him. They both threw around the comment #4 starter. Here’s some questions I would ask before shooting them though, if Kennedy and Horne are so meaningless, so disposable why are the Twins insisting on them? When would it be appropriate to Stop the Twins from filling their basket? When is enough enough? How long before the Twins want the fillings in Cashman’s teeth.
Opie and Anthony have a funny bit about people who have a microphone being experts. That’s Heyman and Kay, their experts becuase they have a microphone. Cashman’s an expert. His opinion is a qualified one. Kay and Heyman are writers who get access they don’t deserve. They can spare me their opinion on pitching talent it’s as qualified as mine or yours or you’re (happy mel) grandma’s. Is it too much to ask the Yes network to have on Al Leiter or Gene Michael. Jim Leritz is always around or how about a satellite hook up to Jim Katt driving around the country in his RV. Here is my opinion on Kennedy, his stuff is at least as good as Andy Pettite’s was when he came up and it’s a lot better than what Pettite throws now. Crazy me liked seeing him pitch well when we needed him to last year. I took it as a good sign. Alan Horne – never seen him before but Heyman’s never heard of him before so I’m a little less inclined to just throw him away.
I was just remembering back in 1996 there were some Baseball Writers with their “opinions” who wouldn’t stop writing stories about how the Yankees should trade Derek Jeter to the Reds for Barry Larkin. That the Yankees had a real shot to win the Series that year and you never know about young players and Barry Larkin could put the Yankees over the top and even if Jeter has a great career with the Reds if Larkin helps win the Series that it would be worth the price. These stories went on until the trade deadline because they swore the Yankees had interest in Larkin (maybe they did for second but Mariano Duncan ended up hitting .340 so I doubt it).
I’m stupid but not dumb. I know they do it to be provocative and they would be killing the Yankees for giving away the store if they had made the trade and telling us what a bad trade it was when Horne, Hughes and Kennedy are aces somewhere else and why oh why cant the Yankees ever keep their good young players. Theirs never a negative repercussion for being wrong.
I love Pete becuase he’s honest and puts thought into what he writes , whether you or I agree with him. Heyman’s been a dope for awhile now and he’s made it all the way to Si and before to long hell be at Espn as a Baseball reporter/Expert. Heyman the TV Star all cuz he knows took a journalism class in college. If he covered a hospital for a year writing stories would you let him operate. But he’ll tell Cashman how to do his Job.
I’ve covered the talentless Michael Kay before nuff said.
and yes I love you Pete hope that don’t make it weird.
I think they overcharged fees for foreign transactions. If you have visa/mastercard/diners club card and used them while abroad, you’re likely to be eligible.
http://www.ccfsettlement.com
warning to mel: at the risk of more body parts falling off,do not read past here.
a-point-
i’ve already caused mel’s eyeballs to fall out of their sockets so i’ll only say that it sounds like your dad is in the forefront of cutting edge stuff. that kind of research is as important to regular people as world class athletes because it ’s often used in rehabilitation to help people live normal lives after some misfortune. but the same principles are in play.
the one disconnect is that the people involved in the research like calvin and your dad do are so smart that they don’t usually get involved with sports. so a lot of the knowledge they get doesn’t find it’s way to the athletic field.
what i try to do on a personal level is take these ideas and do things like swing as fast as i can for years to see see how far i can hit a golf ball( which is really a kind of throw) or see how many days in a row i can throw as hard as i can without my arm falling off. it’s actually surprising how far you can push the limits without hurting yourself. i’ve come to the conclusion that calvin is right that throwing is a very natural activity.
i think, as time goes on , pitching performance coaches will come to the same conclusion and create programs that emphasize throwing more (and faster) rather than less.
Before game 1 of the WS, Kay was asking Heyman about wakefield being left off the WS roster.
It had not only been predicted here, but had been made official earlier that day.
Heyman had no clue about it.
All you need to know.
He is now WFAN’s new baseball insider.
Good luck.
Kennedy is going to be very good, scouts be damned.
http://modernrooters.blogspot.com/
If any of you have some free time, please check out this article I wrote on Jon Lester. I’m hoping for some feedback from fans who don’t like the Red Sox. Thank you to those of you who take the time to read it.
Jennifer
Anything Nerf goes over big in our house and there are lots of great ones they make now. Gameboy stuff, build it yourself kits and videos are also good.
If you don’t like their parents, musical instruments or anything that makes a loud repetitive noise is the ultimate revenge.
” I’m hoping for some feedback from fans who don’t like the Red Sox”
well, you’ve come to the right place.
Ethan–Read and commented
Yeah I can’t root against Lester so if hes traded to the Twins it frees me up to hope for assorted arm injuries for all the Red Sox pitchers. Did you want a comment on your writing or your analysis of Lester
Rebecca,
Earlier you were commenting on your music tastes and I was surfing Itunes the other day and found a really nice group, “Finger Eleven”. Kind of rock/alternative but honestly I liked so many of their songs I bought the album which I rarely do.
I would recommend them for anyone looking for something new and interesting.
1. why are the Giants willing to part with Lincecum ??
150 Ks in 144 inng.
2. Legos are necessarily safe for kids with oral fixations.
Kudos to Lester for his perseverance, no doubt.
Could you imagine if he was a Yankee?
Susan would never make it through the broadcast!
Frosty,
I really don’t think they are. I think it’s speculation run amok.
randy l,
Read your last thesis. Good stuff. Why do research if it can’t be used for a cause as noble as sports?
You guys were talking about pro athletes right? Didn’t they test someone a few years ago and he was off the chart? It was like muscle twitch/hand-eye coordination. I want to say it was Kobe/MJ/LBJ or somebody.
As far as muscle memory goes, gymnasts have a saying. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Thanks for reading Rebecca. And James, I want more of a comment on the content if the article, not the writing. I’m not a writer, I don’t pretend to be. I’m just a fan who has some things to say about baseball and I hope at least a few people find it interesting enough to comment so I can open up a discussion.
I didn’t mean for the article to be a feel good story, and tried not to mention his cancer as much as most sports writer types do. I just meant for it to evaluate his development, and open up a discussion on what his potential might be for the future.
ethan-
read your blog. i think that while lester is good, he’s older ,shorter, throws less hard, and has less command than hughes. i don’t think he’s comparable to hughes. on the other hand he’s lefthanded and has a lot going for him. he’ll probably have a very long mlb career, but i don’t see him being better than a #3 on a good staff.
one thing that crosses my mind is that with all the quality pitchers being brouht up so young there are going to be a lot of good young free agents in about 2112 who are 27-28 years old. lester has two years already in. hughes will have his 6 years in and be about 26.
If they are willing, I try to get him, Matsui, Duncan, Horne. Done deal.
Tommy,
After Susan’s debacle at the end of Game 4, I was kind of trying to forget she existed. Plus she has one of the worst radio voices I’ve ever heard.
Thanks a lot for reading Randy. Yeah, I was in no way trying to compare him to Hughes. All I did was contrast him to Hughes in one aspect and say how Lester doesn’t belong in the same category of prospect. Not that any of them are “technically” prospects anymore, more like works in progress.
How did the Lester fare against the Yankees, an unusually patient team?
dontfirecash:
I’ve got nothing against Susan and i was not offended by her meltdown. It’s only a baseball broadcast after all.
What bugs me as a native NYer and Yankee fan is having to listen to an announcer with such a pronounced Boston accent.
Ethan:
Nice take. Though I have to admit I really have no vested interest in Lester’s development as a pitcher while he is on the Red Sox.
Plus, we have our own feel good story in JOBA!
I do like some of the bands listed on your blog profile, if that is any comfort.
Hey, good enough for me Tommy : )
Tommy,
Speaking of accents, have you ever heard of Arnie Spanier from the Bronx? He has a sports-talk show on during my drive-time. Loud, obnoxious, and funny.
I agree with you with about Suzie. While it was a little over the top it was not nearly as bad as people who blogged here live said it was. And it was just plain nasty how all the ESPN radio talk show hosts parodied her afterwards.
Hey Ethan, let me put it a different way.
Of course, I follow the development of Sox players because they are our biggest rivals.
I just have an intense hope, in the irrational fan sense, to see Red Sox pitchers fail. Especially against the Yanks!
Lester has only had one start against the Yankees and it was not a good one:
3.2 IP 8 H 3 BB 7 ER
mel-
no kidding, it should all get back to baseball. i’m not sure who the athlete was in the study you mention , but i vaguely remember it. mj was lot better baseball player than people give him credit for. if he would have started younger he would have been really good.
i was in sarasota when he was with the white sox and watched him hit often . he had amazing eye hand coordination, but he didn’t have the hang of releasing the bat so he had no power for someone his size, but he almost always made contact which was impressive for someone with so little baseball experience.
santana is a player today who is probably off the charts on arm speed and eye hand coordination. he seems like a natural in everything he does. i’m hoping the yankees get him as a free agent next fall. that way they yankees get to keep their kids and still get the best pitcher in baseball.
No Mel, I am not familiar with that name.
I’m not sure the market either.
Susan’s “meltdown” was more like a small quiver if you ask me. She also recovered quickly and was helped by Sterling.
It was clear to anyone that heard it what had transpired.
I think the overboard attacks were borne from personla dislike and probably some level of sexism.
I actually like the homey vibe of radio broadcast. I just cannot stand her accent.
And at times, Sterling’s mistakes are just as annoying.
Mike,
OUCH!
Randy,
How tall was MJ? Not too tall for baseball? What position did he play and what was his speed like?
Tommy,
Thanks. He has his own show (out of LA?), but his hometown was the Bronx. So I thought you guys here would’ve known him.
Also, they made like Sterling was going to die of embarrassment from the whole scene.
Just dreaming. Imagine a Lincecum/Cain in the rotation.
Petitte,Cain/Lincecum,Hughes,Kennedy,Joba. That is stacked.
then in four years,
Hughes,Cain/Lincecum,Kennedy,Joba, Horne? Marquez? who knows, all I know is that could be amazing.
Yanksrule: I know this is way late, but I’ll check them out when I get a chance!
My favorite band, Live, is alt rock, so it’s a good sign =)
Always like Suzyn Waldman. I only wish the Yankees hadn’t moved her into the broadcast booth and left her in the clubhouse. Some of her best work was when she covered the Yankees for WFAN– I used to listen often just to hear her reports– and then for YES. Actually, Suzyn’s best moments on the air are the three minute clubhouse reports she conducts after the game: she’s articulate, succinct, pithy, and anticipates, and answers, every question a knowledgeable fan would have thought to ask.
In contrast, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone ask baseball players dumber questions than Kim Jones does in the Yankees club house.
Mike R.
December 7th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
“Lester has only had one start against the Yankees and it was not a good one:
3.2 IP 8 H 3 BB 7 ER”
Okay…fair is fair. Whenever I have referred to Arod’s performance in the postseason in recent years everyone points out the “small sample size.” By that same reasoning does it make sense that Lester pitches poorly against the Yankees based on the grand total of 3.2 innings?
If I was on the air that night and watched Torre dissolve in the interview room and then in the clubhouse, I might have become unstrung on the air also.
Ray,
He was responding to my question on whether or not Lester faced a patient team like the Yankees. A Red Sox blogger mentioned the high number of walks that Lester’s given up.
It was simply an “asked and answered”. Nobody made any judgements. Well, I said “OUCH”, but I just dropped a brick on my foot and I’m an idiot face.
p.s. I don’t ever wish injuries on players, but I’m getting really close it with your Celtics.
Re Suzyn: I don’t fault her for the “meltdown.” We all know she has a close relationship with players and can be a bit emotional. In general I love listening to ballgames on the radio. I really liked Scooter, Fran Healy, and Bill White. The only problem I have with Suzyn is that she tends to always agree with John. She seems a little afraid to disagree with him. And he is probably better if someone checks him.
Jon–
Yes I got it in the mail yesterday and being as I do a ton of foriegn travel for work I thought about doing it BUT then too much scam stuff goes on through the mail and it seemed not that official so I threw it in the trash can.
Also heard a great story on the way home tonight on XM`75 about the winter meetings and what do teams who are not doing much of anything do while these meetings go on.
It was also reported in teh Globe and Mail (which is a big national daily) see below
True story: The Blue Jays were sitting in their suite on Wednesday, shooting the breeze. Telephone rings. It’s the Seattle Mariners. Bill Bavasi, their GM, wants to talk. Gives J.P. Ricciardi the team’s suite number. So off go the Blue Jays, wondering what it was all about. A young pitcher for Alex Rios? “We don’t want to talk about anything between us,” Bavasi tells Ricciardi as he enters the room. “We’re just tired of looking at each other. We wanted somebody else to talk to and figured you guys would be fun.”
mel -
he played right field i think. and was very fast. he coved a lot of ground with only a few steps. i remember him stealing bases easily. he did look funny in a baseball uniform . all legs. at the time i saw him, he would hit the ball without unlocking his wrists which didn’t create any power. releasing the wrists at the last moment is a big generator of bat speed and he didn’t do it. you could tell the game was new to him. the amazing thing was that he hung with the pro players. i remember being surprised he was as good as he was at that stage.
i think he would would have been a decent player if he stuck with it.
Mel,
Wishing injuries on the Celtics huh? A dear friend of mine was told me to “play nicely”. Just teasing.
Gayle
Great Jays/Mariners story.
So how about them Devils?!
NINE straight!
WHAT I FEEL RIGHT NOW
CLICK ME
if the yankees part with matsui, can the yankees get some players that they then can turn around and possibly get johan without giving up hughes. Im thinking of getting lowry and sanchez. turn around offer lowry/sanchez/melky/horne? and even keep IPK
Lester was diagnosed with cancer very shortly after that 2006 start against the Yanks (he took one more turn).
Brandon: That is brilliant!
I’m sorry if I offended anyone by posting the stats from Jon Lester’s only start against the Yankees. Mel asked. I googled and answered that is all. It was not meant as a critisism, disparaging comment or indicator of potential future success.
It was an innocent post.
No Worries Mike.
…talk about dying a painful, slow death…
*doesn’t realize that it’s 12.30 AM and is still wide awake*
Cash shops at Walmart again according to newsday.
The Yankees, searching for affordable bullpen help, met with the representative for Japanese free agent Kazuo Fukumori during the winter meetings in Nashville. Fukumori, 33, served most recently as a closer for the Rakuten Golden Eagles. He went 4-2 with a 4.75 ERA in 34 appearances, striking out 33 and walking 17 in 36 innings, before going down with an elbow injury.
I really hope that they do not sign this guy. He had a 4.75 era against basically triple A, here his era would probably be closer to a 6 or 7. Just sign Vizcaino!!! Viz proved he can get people out when Torre actually gave him a day off from pitching. Instead of giving Viz $4m or $5m he is going to bring in cheaper unproven pitchers who won’t get anyone out.
I think Suzyn Waldman is one of the best.
Hey, Tom Hanks’ character in A League of Their Own was a parody of guys who just don’t get how real, personal and important this great sport gets for so many of us.
People in the stands who felt they may be watching their favorites in pinstripes for the last time — from Gehrig to Paul O’Neil to Bernie — know what it’s like to say good bye to something great.
The passionate posts on this blog are a testament to the belief that there’s something important in this parade of champions in pinstripes.
Waldman gets it.
I think that Lester start Vs Yanks was part of the Boston Massacre in 2006. Also it was the same week he was diagnosed with Cancer. Not saying anything, just some info.
Of all the players I have read the giants are willing to give up – none of them seem to be very good. I dont think any of Brad Hennesy, Noah Lowry or Jon Sanchez would help the yanks. None of them did very well in the NL west last yr – they are not going to improve coming to the AL east.
And id prefer that we dont acquire Hawkins, Mahay, Affeldt, Grabow or Trever Miller either. There really is no solid relief in free agency any longer. And we certainly arent going to get anyone remotely decent inked to a one yr contract. If linebrink got 3 yrs and 19 million and talent like the viz is asking for the same, how good could someone willing to sign a one yr deal be? The answer: They prolly wont be in the majors the entire season – the viz wasnt and hes asking for 3 yrs. We need impact players in the bullpen. If we arent going to sign any, DONT SIGN ANYONE. Lets see what the in house options can do instead of blowing another 5 million on garbage relief. Making a trade for someone like marte is another viable option of course.
The yanks met with Kazuo Fukumori too. What a waste of time – that pitcher wasnt even good in Japan. More hits than innings pitched for his career. There are some decent japanese pitchers coming to the mlb but he isnt one of them. And do the yanks really want to go there again? At some point, you would think one would leearn from his mistakes.
The Yankees have the talents to bring up in house for relief, but I don’t think they have any lefties. Just even to mix up the look you need a lefty reliever.
That is one of the things that Pettitte brings back to the rotation, and a good reason why Moose and Kennedy are important. Power pitchers are great, but if you mix them in with control type/ slower pitching, it changes the timing of the batters.
Waldman’s passion for the game is undeniable. The knowledge is there as well. That fact that a Boston girl who was truly a die hard Red Sox could be a big and somewhat secretly unapologetically Yankee fan is kind of cool. They all should really.
She doesn’t have the job because she the most talented although she works as hard if not harder than anyone. I only listen to the games on the radio when I’m in the car but it seems to Susan reads the commercials while Sterling selfishly hogs the microphone so I have no complaints about her. Although I never stop complaining about George’s water boy Kay. An absolute joke “The New York Yankees” with the worst play by play man in baseball history radio or tv.
Some people probably even like him. Cuz he’s familiar. Someday you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
The best use for Susan is as the Yes Hostess. I don’t know whats on Yes right now but since it isn’t a game I wish It was Susan talking about whether or not Andy Phillips is coming back next year. Tell me you wouldn’t watch.
Andrea
You’re high if you think Mussina is accepting a bullpen role in his walk year when he’s made one relief appe arance in 501 regular season games. You’re on crack if you think a guy who
is 39 years old today could suddenly be a reliever or swingman. He is a starter and his next contract will be as one -that’s where the money is, what he’s best at, and what he is. I can’t see him taking less than $6M as a starter from anyone for ‘09 after making $11M, how do you expect him to take $2M or less to be a last man in the pen? In his mind he’d probably think he was worth at least $6M or a little more than half of what he was paid this year for ‘09. Don’t be suprised if he gets 2 years @ $6M or more a year from a desperate team who’d keep their fingers crossed for his 2010, but he’s not getting even a year and $6M -maybe even $4-5M- if he’s a reliever. And again, what makes you think an ancient 500 GS in 501 G career starter (which he is) could magically be a 50 or more games a year reliever?
It is in Mussina’s best interest for his future career i.e. what little time he has left to accept a trade. If he refuses a trade, the Yanks can always just tell him he’s not only a goner after 2008 but he may not even make the postseason roster if he isn’t good enough. Trust me he won’t want to be on a World Series championship Yankee team and not even pitch in the postseason to help them win it. You tell me he’d care less, I doubt that. It’d gnaw at me that I wasn’t considered good enough to be the 11th man on the postseason pitching staff esp. after I pitched 8 years to finally be part of the winning. He also wouldn’t like the prospect of scrambling to find a good team to join.
Better to be traded to Atlanta before 2008 than to be a Yankee all 2008 then let go, and wind up with Baltimore or
the Chi-Sox. If he went to Atlanta he’d make them even bigger favorites to win the N.L. East (Smoltz/ Hudson/ Glavine/ Mussina/ Hampton).
Boy that first paragraph had some gibberish in it
That fact that a Boston girl who was truly a die hard Red Sox could be a big and somewhat secretly unapologetically Yankee fan is kind of cool. They all should really.
That she could become a Yankee fan is kind of cool and all Red Sox fans should as well. Don’t want professor mel to flunk me
upgrayedd – that’s two d’s for a double-dose of pimpin
If Moose isnt traded he doesnt really have a choice – he is making alot of money to pitch for the yanks. If he isnt good enuff to start, he has to pitch in the pen or accept a trade. Personally, i dont think any team wants him and i think he will be forced to pitch out of the pen. I really dont think it matters what he wants any more – he isnt good enough to start making demands. If he wants to start, he can start pitching better than onoe of the young guys and earn his spot.
Susans voice is really, really annoying. And what she says is pretty annoying as well – i cant stand sterling any longer either so it is getting extremely difficult to listen to the games on the radio.
The Yankees wont ask Mussina to accept a bullpen role. The will let him pitch his way out of the rotation and let Kennedy Hughes and Joba compete for 2 spots. And be flexible with the youngsters because unlike Moose they are flexible. They might ask if hell take a trade. They asked Giambi last year, he said no.
If Moose pitches like he did the second half of last yr, he is going to the pen. I dont see them sacrificing a game every five days to make sure Moose is happy when we have a youngster who can take over waiting in the pen wasting his talents. The yanks will force Moose into the pen if he gets rocked in spring training – they have to. They cant afford to let Moose lose every five days if he has nothing left in the tank. Maybe he will come out in spring training like he did in 2006. Afterall, that was all 2 yrs ago… In that case, i can see him starting over IPK. Joba and hughes will be in the rotation no matter what – they have too much talent to pitch one inning every couple of days. And one of them will probably turn into an ace – i hope.
Yea, if he agrees to a trade – i believe he may be traded. The only problem is i doubt the yanks could get anything usefull back for him. Id say giving him to the mets may be where the most value lies – but they dont have any solid bullpen arms to give either, maybe heilman but i dunno if he would even be good in the AL east. He would certainly be better than any of the FA options and his numbers were solid last season. We also may need Moose because none of the young guys will pitch 200 innings- hughes and joba wont even be close. They will both top out at 160 or so. We need someone to take over the rest of those innings or take their spot if they cant acclimate to the majors. I think Moose has more value on the yanks than anything we would get back for him in a trade.
Here’s a good trade for the Yanks:
Mussina to the Braves for 26-27 year old Manny Acosta (2.28 ERA in 21 games in relief for the Braves in his rookie season).
Yanks clear $11M, slot Kennedy into the rotation, fill a bullpen slot, and stick it to the Mets cuz the Braves would seal the division title with a Smoltz/ Hudson/ Glavine/ Mussina/ Hampton rotation no matter who the Mets get and no, the Mets are not getting Santana, Haren, or Bedard with what they have or giving up Reyes to get one of them. I can’t see Mussina not wanting to join a rotation with Smoltz, Hudson, Glavine, and Hampton.
The Yanks could use that $11M cleared + $3M cleared letting go of Vizcaino + $2M cleared letting go of Villone = $16M total as follows:
1. Sign Ron Mahay for 2 years @ $4M/yr. = $8M ($4M in ‘08).
2. Sign LaTroy Hawkins for a year and $3.5M (a measly half mil > 2007 Vizcaino).
Yanks have $16M – 7.5M = $8.5M left over from signing these two and trading Mussina for ‘08. Who cares if Mahay is making $4M in ‘09 with Farnsworth’s $5.75M and Hawkin’s $3.5M off the books after ‘08?
Yanks 2008 rotation:
Pettitte/ Wang/ Hughes/ Chamberlain/ Kennedy
Yanks 2008 bullpen:
Rivera, Hawkins, Mahay, Acosta, Farnsworth
2 from the following 17 pitchers competing for the final two slots:
Ohlendorf, Britton, E.Ramirez, DeSalvo, J.Veras, Karstens, Rasner, Henn, Igawa, Bruney, Beam, C.Wright (a dozen guys who pitched for the Yanks this year), Albaladejo, Marquez, Horne, S.White, Patterson (guys who didn’t pitch for the Yanks this year). It could be 20 pitchers with Cox, Melancon, and Sanchez in the mix.
The Yankees should trade for John Rodriguez. The Yanks don’t have a 4th outfielder. Brett Gardner is cool, but he had an inconsistent stint with Scranton. I’d start him out at AAA. John Rodriguez would be a solid 4th outfielder. Good fielder and some discipline at the plate. I’d make that trade.
While there might not be the typical 4th OF, there are 4 OF players on the roster right now. Abreu, Damon, Matsui and Melky. Why would they want to have 5?
E-ROC
December 8th, 2007 at 2:17 am
The Yankees should trade for John Rodriguez. The Yanks don’t have a 4th outfielder. Brett Gardner is cool, but he had an inconsistent stint with Scranton. I’d start him out at AAA. John Rodriguez would be a solid 4th outfielder. Good fielder and some discipline at the plate. I’d make that trade.
_______________________________________________________
Why? He’s a corner outfielder, not that fast and is 30 years old. He spent 8 years in the Yankee farm system. Perhaps his obscene strikeout numbers are the reason.
John Rodriguez is not that good, what’s up with the love affair with this guy.
I don’t think there’s a love affair. Just a suggestion.
How about Matsui to the Mets for Delgado then Matsui to San Francisco for Lowry and Aurilla? Or Matsui to the Giants for Lowry then Lowry and Aurilla to the Mets for Delgado? Same results either way.
BENEFITS BY TEAM INVOLVED IN THIS THREE-WAY TRADE:
YANKS:
Delgado, a real 1B, takes over 1B.
Damon has LF all to himself.
Giambi remains at DH.
Batting order is Damon/ Jeter/ Abreu/ A-Rod/ Delgado/ Cano/ Posada/ Giambi/ Cabrera. WOW!
We could be looking at 2006 Delgado or 2007 CARLOS PENA with Delgado, folks.
Yanks shed $6M in salary through ‘09 (Matsui’s $26M through ‘09 – Delgado’s $20M for ‘08) but could clear $20M letting go of Delgado after ‘08 for all $26M cleared.
They have the option to keep Delgado for $12M or $15M for ‘09 depending on his A.L.M.V.P. ranking. If he has a season like his 2006, he’s a steal at $15M for ‘09. If he has a nice but not great ‘08 but has a monster ‘09, he’s a steal at $12M for ‘09. If he’s good but not great 2008-09, guess what? He’ll still bury 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07 or 2007-08 Giambi. Oh yeah, he remains in N.Y. and could move to DH to make room for Mark Texiera at 1B with Giambi off the books if he was brought back for ‘09.
METS:
Shed Delgado’s $20M and get Lowry for Pedro/ Perez/ Maine/ Lowry/ T.B.D. They could still get a starter via trade. Aurilla is the 1B or they could sign Sean Casey or bring back Ty Wigginton to platoon at 1B with Aurilla (”Wiggy” would be insurance for Wright as well).
GIANTS:
Get who would be their best/ star/ cleanup hitter in Matsui and offset his $26M by shedding Aurilla’s $4.5M and Lowry’s $2.25M for ‘08. Matsui would cost them only $26M – $6.75M = $19.25M through ‘09 incl. only $13M – 6.75M shed trading Aurilla and Lowry = $6.25M in ‘08! They could always trade Matsui and his $13M for ‘09 in the ‘08 offseason if he was amenable to being traded. Or keep him at $13M for ‘09.
Yeah, right. The only thing the yankees get is another 7 million dollars tacked onto the payroll, a guy that has no glove playing first who strikes out a ton. The only one geting screwed on your “deal” would be the Yankees. Forget it, Mets fan.
**getting*
**getting**
Yesterday’s Sports Section of the NY Times should be required reading for all ARod fans. Selena Roberts has written a lengthy account of ARod the ‘businessman’. Titled “Behind the Facade” the story begins on Page D1, the Front Page of the Sports Section.
I know this is crazy, but since this what seems to be going on around here lately, let me add this one to the madness:
Arod moves back to SS
Jeter moves over to 1B and
Yankees trade for Inge to play 3rd.
Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
The Yankees can give up a couple b prospects and add another right-handed bat to the lineup. The big thing will be that Girardi needs to go down to FLA and let Jeter know that this is the way it’s going to be if he wants another ring.
Also, regarding Arod the slum-lord, to me it is not a story. I’m pretty sure that this was one of his many deals that I’m sure he personally has nothing to do with, someone in his entourage is most likely not doing their job.
Now if Arod’s name comes up on the Mitchell report let me know, that will be a story. I mean this reporter rights this article and thinks she is exposing some huge story.
If the President of the United States can get some lovin’ in the Oval office and survive that, I think Arod can survive this.
Before everyone gets up in arms regarding the slum-lord comment, I do not condone this and Arod should everything in his financial power to fix this, I just don’t think it is a huge story. Like I said, it most likely wasn’t him personnaly doing this. However, since it is his name, he should man-up and fix it ASAP or get out of the real estate business.
Now that the Santana circus is behind (at least the first round) I have come to the conclusion that if the Yankees do get Santana the offer will NEVER include Hughes in the package. If the Sox get Santana they will NEVER give up two of Lester, Bucholz, or Elsbury.
The Yankees came to the brink of deviating from their master plan but Minny got greedy and tried to get more. They should have taken the offer on Saturday – Sunday.
Cashman has convinced the Yankee hierachy that keeping the Jewels is THE ONLY WAY to a dynasty. They are willing to risk Santana going to the Sox and helping them to win a WS in ‘08 since they feel it means they are one step closer to their dynasty.
Dynasty’s are not easy matters…it takes dealing with pain…one could argue that the Yankees have done an excellent job of preparing for a new dynasty…We have still made the playoffs while other teams like the Mets and Indians were absolutely horrible for many years before they were even able to compete let alone make the playoffs.
I want to take fans back to 2004. The Yankees let Pettite walk out the door (a huge mistake…Rule #1 NEVER, EVER let homegrown Yankee stars walk out the door…they are not replaceable by stars from other teams), The Yankees were trying to trade for Randy Johnson before the trading deadline and the DBs were still pissed at us about signing Wells out from under them after the 2002 season. The Yankees were offering CANO and Wang. The GM of the DBs said they sucked (he was fired after the ‘04 season for being so spiteful). We did not get Johnson until the start of the ‘05 season. Arguably if we had Johnson (he was having a phenomenal season in ‘04) we would have found a way to close out the Sox when we were up 3-0.
But here is the question, we likely would have won the series but we would have absolutely sucked in the future. For that matter, if we had Pettite in ‘04 we would have won the ALCS in ‘04 as well, but we would not have drafted Hughes (he is the draft pick we got from Houston after Andy left)
I want to go on record and say knowing what I know now I wouldn’t change a thing. We would have beat Boston in ‘04 and would have been favorites to beat St. Louis in the ‘04 series…but our future would have sucked…no chance at a dynasty…which is what the Yankees want…The RED SOX want it too…Thats why they are NOT Going to gut their farm system for Santana.
Dynasties involve pain…would you give up Wang and Cano in ‘04 if you knew you’d win the series but you would suck (no contention for 3-5 years ) afterward?
Maybe we wouldn’t have won anyway even if we do trade Cano and Wang before the trading deadline in ‘04. maybe boston was a team of destiny.
Thats why they won’t trade Hughes. We can argue but it is clear they Yankees strongly believe that he is an ace. They are no longer in the business of trading Yankee stars…they now know they are hard to find
For me, the main thrust of that article is the notion of real estate as investment being overcome by irresponsible speculation. Sort of like the drivel spewn by late night infomercials.
Investors who only care for the buck involved, without stopping to think that, hey, people might actually have to live in these dumps.
I think she tries to tie Arod to this meme. She may have been a bit haphazard in her connection, and may have an axe to grind, using this issue as a way to swing it.
On another note, it always comes back to the Yankees and it always comes back to Arod.
From Paula Canney, a lawyer connected to Greg Anderson, on Bonds’s attorney dream team:
“If you could turn the Yankees into lawyers or the lawyers into Yankees, I’d take Bonds’s dream team over the Yankees starting lineup….even with Arod.”
Tommy,
Everyone deep down-inside, wants to be a Yankee.
” In a perfect world, everybody would be a Yankee fan “.
Rod should have skipped this dalliance with rental residential real estate. There is a sickness in the landlord-tenant business which we inherited from the English. In the time of the Five Points in old New York, landlord and tenant were locked in one-sided combat pitting a large number of underdogs against a solitary, rich, uncaring owner who held all the cards and was favored by the law. The same story today is no better only a little different. Now it’s the underdog against a faceless, uncaring corporation, the new/old favorite enemy of the left.
There are slumlords who put fail to provide window guards, exterminate rats or provide heat. But there are more landlords who try to run a profitable business in a fair manner only to find out that charging people rent for a roof over their heads is sooner or later compared by some lawyer or newspaper editor to forcing people to pay for oxygen. Unavoidably, renting to those who cannot afford to own is seen as the rich taking advantage of less powerful people. Forget the fact that landlords who choose to own rental properties are playing an important role, maintaining the supply of rental housing stock in a business that would rather you own instead of rent.
A-Rod, Inc., – - not the person – - owns this property. But the name always brings the person into the spotlight as the person. Michael Jordan found this out when a ruckus was rightly raised over Nike’s use of factories employing child labor. Even though it was really Michael Jordan, Inc.’s problem, the celebrity was held publicly accountable.
My point is two fold: Selena Roberts took an easy shot at Rod, firing from inside the tenant’s apartment at a rich, absentee, dilettante landlord. Easy to do, sells well especially in rent-controlled NYC. (Oh bravo, NY Times). But also, shame on Alexander and his peeps for investing in something that was destined to bring him exactly this kind of bad publicity.
Vader,
Schilling will go to his grave knowing that, rueing it every step of the way.
“On that front, the Yankees’ proposed deal gives the Twins Cabrera, but that’s not enough. Cabrera’s a highly useful fourth outfielder, but offensively he’s stretched as a regular”
Interesting assessment of Cabrera in any proposed deal for Santana by Dayn Perry of Fox Sports.
“There is a sickness in the landlord-tenant business which we inherited from the English.”
Make that the Dutch and the English.
Strongarm-
Mussina to the Braves won’t work, because we’d be required to take back an onerous salary-?Hampton in return, or pay about 6-7M of his contract. Mussina would, however, put up better numbers in a NL pitcher friendly park.
Giambi, to move salary, is untradeable + he has a NTC. Let’s hope he comes to spring training in great shape!
Latroy Hawkins would be a huge mistake as he was rocked with the Orioles in 2006 and is not a power pitcher witnessed by his low strikeouts/nine innings with Colorado. Ditto on Mahay-no more than one year with a club option for the 2nd year. Vizcaino also should not be signed for more than a year-was awful in the 1st half and faded down the stretch. Our best options are to trade for a good lefty bullpen arm, see if we can make a deal to include Farnsworth and a prospect, for a good set up arm, and let the rest of the bullpen arms come from our minor league system-Veras, Britton, Ramirez, Horne, etc.
Murphydog:
I don’t always agree with you, but on this one, you’ve nailed it. Well I think so anyway.
I agree that landlords play a vital role and in no way mean to imply that all landlords are careless. There are many out here who don’t see owning as the be all and end all. Especially those that choose to live in urban enviornments.
Roberts is trying to portray ALex as a poster boy for the get rich quick through real estate crowd, regardless of the consequences.
I agree that he should stay out of this business, or stick with property that will have tenants who are closer to his realm.
BTW: I think this is probably the best time of the week to discuss these issues on this blog. People seem to t ake offense to these discussions during the peak times; though I think Baseball and political and cultural issues make fine bedfellows at all times.
Jon/Gayle –
We also got the class action settlement paperwork. It was from the U.S. District Court in PA. We had visited France during that time period. They gave 3 options, a quick $25 settlement, or more involved ones where you had to estimate the refund due to you. In any event, I went to the website provided – one click and I was done.
Gayle, I think you should go to the website (ccfsettlement.com), since you did spend a lot of time traveling abroad, to satisfy yourself it wasn’t a scam. We figured it was an easy and unexpected $25 for us!
(And you have until 5/30/08 to do so.)
NOW, BACK TO THE YANKEES:
In the Star Ledger this a.m., the report was Matsui to the Giants for a prospect and an unnamed player. I say this is not enough! But the article also stated that the talk has not gone very far yet.
Regarding the discussion about Mike Mussina being traded. First, I can’t see that happening – with one year left on his contract and no desire to play elsewhere, I doubt Mussina would even agree to a trade. But beyond that, I believe he still has value to the Yankees as a pitcher and as a mentor. I agree with the person above who posted that he could be used in middle/long relief and spot starting. I think if he is presented with that as his role, he will make the necessary adjustments. I know he is a creature of habit, but within a defined role, I bet he could do it.
“Rod should have skipped this dalliance with rental residential real estate”
just read the article. for the first time something about arod really bothers me. it wasn’t really a dalliance because it was something like 47 million in investments. even for alex that’s a big number. no, this was a serious attempt at making serious money. making money off of really poor people in this way is pretty pathetic.
growing up the way alex did should have given him the sensitivity to know better. i think he just lost sight of what was right in his goal to be a billionaire. maybe he had just met warren buffet and temporarily lost his mind in an attempt to be like buffet.
this shouldn’t be hard to fix for him. come up with late rent fees in line with other apartments in the area, send out some clean up crews, and take 20 minutes of his time to set some policies for his people who oversee these kind of properties.
dressing up in a santa suit and distributing toys to the kids who live there would be nice, but that would be expecting too much. with all the talk about how alex valued his boy’s club involvement in miami, this story is disturbing.
next time i see alex get painfully drilled , i’m going to think he deserved it. he needs to do something about this.
Randy l.
Even if it’s not directly ARod’s fault, I think it’s in his best interest, but more importantly in the best interests of the people who live in his rental property, to do what needs to be done. It is probably relatively inexpensive (for him) to get the property in shape, and as you say, straighten out the people involved in running the place. And it would go a long way toward ameliorating whatever bad press this brought him. He’s not the first rich person to put his money into something thinking they’re doing a good thing and have it mismanaged by someone else.
Just saw that Mike Loretta is staying with the Astros.
Regarding the talk of Mussina,,
There are several reasons for the Yankees not to trade him and or treat him like some bum and demand he pitch in the bull-pen (the Yankees don’t operate this way but I’ll address it).
1. Mussina is in his contract year. He had a rough go last year and you can be he’ll be fully prepared to pitch his best in 08,, whatever that means, a serviceable #4,5.
2. NYY needs his innings. With the 3 rookies, and especially Joba and Hughes with significant innings restrictions, the Yankees need him to carry some load.
3. He has a NTC. I’m sure he’d like to win a championship and feels he has unfinished business as a pro. It does not make any sense for him to waive this to among other teams, the Phillies who play in a bandbox and his ERA would soar.
4. The Yankees are a class organization and they will treat this pro with the respect he has earned. He will be a SP first off, only if he cannot hack it, will he be asked to go to the BP. The Yankees will treat him with dignity while attempting to win.
Doreen
To get an idea of what this journalistic pig is all about, read her stories about the Duke Lacrosse team scandal…and, that was after she was given the evidence. She’s no more a journalist than Jimmy Swaggart is a minister with morals.
Highly unlikely Moose goes anywhere.
He’s a 10-5 guy who can nix any trade, but he’s also going to get more than his share of innings because of the innings-cap on the kids.
They are going to need him to pick up the slack more than you think, especially when it’s inevitable that someone in the rotation will go down at some point.
The Trinty may not see any DL time, but any minor injury to any of these kids will be dealt with extreme caution and likely shutdown until the medical/training staff is absolutely certain they are okay to pitch.
Aches and pains happen to every team, so Moose will get plenty of action nest season.
There has been a big downturn in real estate lately due to the bank troubles. More likely the investment in these properties are for tax writeoffs. And it isn’t that he invested in slums, $600 a month rent isn’t fleecing the poor. If these people were really poor they would be in HUD housing which is $200 or so a month.
The quotes this lame reporter gives are from people who DIDN’T pay their rent and got upset over being evicted, and from someone who probably thinks that A-Rod should pay their rent.
This piece was socialistic crap that was in the paper simply because it was against A-Rod, the favorite whipping boy for some NY papers.
It was poorly constructed and the insinuations brought out in the article were weak. The whole hit job, which this hack writer is known for, could be torn apart in about 5 minutes by anyone. Trouble is, because its the NY Times, which has turned into a leftist rag/ tabloid, some people believe what is written there. A-Rod could bring his lawyers in on this, but it probably is better left ignored. Those who would take it very seriously are those who don’t like A-Rod and want justification to do so.
The Yankees will have about 1250 innings to play this year. With about 420 innings going to Pettitte and Wang, another 250 innings to the bullpen, and another 180-190 innings going to Kennedy, that leaves , that’s 400 innings to spread between Mussina, Hughes and Chanberlain. That works about to just about 150 apiece.
RE – ARod: There are many ‘professionals’ involved in running a Housing/Apartment rental business. ARod is the owner, not the landlord, nor is he a person involved in the daily running the business. He just paid for it and profits by it. If the owner was someone from China, and a toilet busted in one of the apts, do you expect the Chinese owner to fix it?
Yes, ARod is the bottom line, and he needs to get his employees to do a better job. The landlord, his brother-in-law, whomever, need to get on the ball.
It’s good to call this out, so hopefully ARod will do something. But to directly blame him for the day-to-day operations of any of his properties is stupid, and this is just another article to exploit ARod and sell some media.
OK, my addition wasn’t good, but, that’s about the way it should work out, if, nobody gets hurt.
Bottom line- Mussina isn’t going anywhere, they need his productivity. And Mussina needs the innings to have any hope of landing a decent contract as a FA in 09.
Makes all the sense in the world to hold onto him.
Matsui talk would be non-existent if not for Giambi clogging up the roster with his bloated contract.
The best hope of the Yankees is to see Giambi have a just good enough year and attempt to deal him at the July 31st trading deadline. Even then they’d have to eat some of his contract which at that point would stand at about $ 11M. There’s no plans to pick up his 2009 option regardless of what he does in 2008.
“1. Mussina is in his contract year. He had a rough go last year and you can be he’ll be fully prepared to pitch his best in 08,, whatever that means, a serviceable #4,5.”
I think the big thing that a lot of the media ignored in the rush to declare Moose “done” is that he had a hammy injury during spring training. Is it any surprise that an aging pitcher didn’t have his fastball if he missed 6 weeks of building up arm and leg strength? You do that by just cranking your FB in there when it doesn’t matter…you can’t do that when you’re trying to win ballgames.
Assuming the Yankees aren’t hit by a mindblowing array of hammy injuries again this season, I think Moose will get back most of the velocity he lost between 06 and 07.
G’morning everyone.
Good morning, “Becca
“Matsui talk would be non-existent if not for Giambi clogging up the roster with his bloated contract.”
True, though Giambi – if healthy – is one of the most productive offensive forces in the league. Top 10 OPS in 2006.
Give Matsui a 1B glove, let him compete for ABs over there.
Actually I’m pretty sick about folks going out of their way to find ANYTHING to beat up A-Rod about. We only know of him because he’s a BASEBALL PLAYER. Choking in the Post-Season is fair game, but all this other stuff, WHO CARES? OK, a lot don’t like him. Big Deal! Get over it. Tired of reading all the ragging on him for Non-baseball stuff.
There is no team on Earth that would want Mussina for 11Mil, not even the Yanks, but
THEY have no choice. He should start the season as a spot starter against Weak teams to try & limit the Young guys innings so they can pitch & be effective in P/S. If somehow he proves capable of getting guys out, fine, if not ship him to the Pen for long relief lost cause innings eater. For 11 Mil he should be happy to do whatever Joe G. thinks is best for the team. If somehow he is able to show a sharp curve & great command again then let him start on a regular basis, but you know he can probably give 5 good innings, so that will strain our bullpen over time.
Joba said yesterday that he would prefer to start, but would be happy to go back to the Pen if that was best for the team as well. That’s where I’d love to see him for the rest of his career. We’ve got enough starters that will get us thru 6- 7 at least. Lets recreate the glory days when we owned the late innings, & Joba would be a good start to making that happen.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3146436
Pettitte accepts arbitration, formally returns
If the Yanks are not going to get a Good SP or RP in return for Matsui, they are better off holding on to him for 08. His offensive numbers are nothing to sneeze at. He is a flat-out VERY GOOD HITTER. His defense slacked off because of injuries, but he remains one of the most dangerous LH hitters in the game.
Mussina was a very good pitcher in his days, outdueling Pedro Martinez on a number of ocassions. He would be a good mentor to Kennedy who says Mussina is his idol. He could mentor Kennedy to throw his patented knuckle-curve. Pettite will mentor the other two studs Joba and Hughes, and teach them what it takes to be a winner in the big leagues, and teach them his best pitch, cut-back fastball.
The Yanks have plenty of young RH relievers in-house already. They do not need any more…Olendorf, Veras, Patterson, Albaladeja, Britton, Bruney, Edwar, Farnsworth, Karstens, McCutcheon, Marquez, Horne, the list goes on and on…
Now lefties, they are short on. The only candidates that I know of in-house are: Kei Igawa, Chase Wright and Sean Henn, none of them showed me much to trust last year. Unless the new Pitching Coach can do miracles with them, I do not see any change in 08. They should definitely get a good lefty reliever either by trade or FA.
The Yanks should use Giambi’s walk year to their advantage because he’ll probably be motivated knowing he’s playing for a contract.
“This piece was socialistic crap that was in the paper simply because it was against A-Rod, the favorite whipping boy for some NY papers.”
“Those who would take it very seriously are those who don’t like A-Rod and want justification to do so.”
a-point-
#1 i like arod a lot as a player,and believe he’s the best player in the game.
#2 the issue is charging $100/day late fees to disadvantaged people and not $600 a month rent which if you know tampa/ st pete is no bargain.
#3 i’m a big believer in libertarian principles about the free market , but one of the economic freedoms we have is to not take advantage of someone who’s in trouble. arod’s company crossed a line here if it’s true.
#4 you spoke eloquently and enthusiastically last night on the blog about the work your father has done in medical research and about the academic buildings that are named after him that he earned through contributions to his field. do you think that he’d be proud of your statement about social justice in this country?
#5 i think we can safely say that you didn’t grow up worrying about late fees.
#6 sorry if # 5 is harsh, but when you buzz one by my ear about something you know nothing about , it’s coming right back at you.
Don’t forget though that many of these players who had “rough” times this past season are working with strength conditioning and personal trainers. Mussina is doing this, despite past methods not including working out.
Remember when Giambi came back after being out for about 1/3 of the season? He was trimmed down and doing fairly well, trouble is he was in spring training type shape, meaning that his timing wasn’t quite there. Competition with all the others for DH and first base meant little playing time to get his groove going.
Think about all the players in the early part of the season who were not in great shape. Abreu (hurt rib cage and over weight), Damon (legs and over weight), Melky (over weight), Giambi (footsy problems reported as a multitude of different things and over weight), not to mention all the hamstring injuries.
If the Yankees come into spring training in shape and ready to play this club as it now stands could be awesome. Fewer injuries would have made a huge difference last season, and with how close they finished to Boston you can see they would have been in the division lead.
Tucson… why would you waste a potential ace starter in the bullpen? This has been gone over thousands of times, the smarter thing to do would be to have him start and see how he does. He could turn out to be the next Clemens, would Clemens have been as valuable in the bullpen? No. He earned his chance at starting. If he can keep runners to a low number in his starts it makes a bigger impact than shutting down the late inning or two he would be in. Also there are arms in the minors that could very well fill those roles.
If Joba can’t do well as a starter then he can go to the bullpen. Starting the season there limits his innings and he could never get his chance. He has 4 pitches he uses. Three of them are plus pitches. That is starter material.
Vizcaino rejected the Yankees offer of arbitration. Does that mean he’s looking to go somewhere else? Maybe he wants to join Torre in L.A. Good luck with that.
After pizsing away a third of his contract, Giambi should be playing for nothing. The only year he had that he was close to being what they thought was 2002. They paid for a .300 hitter and 35 homer, 120 RBI. They go a .250 hitter…when he played.
**they got a .250 hitter**
http://www.nj.com/sports/ledge.....amp;coll=1
Fred Lewis coming up in Matsui trade talks?
Randy, it’s a pity this hack writer didn’t think to show any pictures.
Hey guys, that article I post…
Luis Vizcaino declined arbitration.
Uh oh.
Perfect…a 28 year old with limited talent.
Randy you don’t have a clue as to what I know. I’m not some kid still wet behind the ears.
I’ve been living on my own for over 40 years, and I have had times where I was without a job. So, yes, I personally had to worry about late fees. I have earned my own way in life, I have never taken unemployment despite the fact that I could have. I never take handouts, period.
I have no sympathy for people who whine and cry over a $600 a month rent or a $100 late fee. I’ve had times when I worked 3 jobs to make ends meet. If I came up short then I sold things or did whatever else I could.
Griping on the rent he charges is plain out BS. This isn’t soviet Russia where you are told where to live. The tenents chose to live there, to rent there. It is their obligation to pay the fee. If there are true concerns over the conditions of the housing then there are government agencies that would be called in to ensure they are corrected. Notice that was not reported as being the case in this hatchet job.
I was brought up to earn your own way. To take responsibility for your own self and actions. This is not supposed to be a socialistic society, yet that is what it is becoming.
Being that this is a blog that is supposed to be about BASEBALL in general and the Yankees specifically, I’m not going to go into the political arena with this.
A-Point- Mariano has been our MVP forever. Would you really would have preferred him to have been an ACE starter? He helped us win many more games in relief then he ever could have as a starter, & Joba has the chance to be just as automatic & dominant, & I believe has a better chance to be dominant far longer out of the pen than as a starter. We’re much stronger now in starting pitching than in relief so that is where he belongs.
Rebecca, at least the Yanks will get a supplimental pick out of it. For NYY, that usually is an expensive erly mid 1st round pick. NYY pays over slot and gets some great talent on the draft eligibles that fall through because of bonuses.
**early mid** Really need an edit button
We are trading Matsui because of a OF/DH logjam. So why in the world would we want Fred Lewis in a Matsui trade?
Seeing as Cashman is not crazy or an idiot my only thought is that he wants to put Lewis in a package for another piece. Possibly Damaso Marte. Purely speculative on my part, but I think that it makes sense.
Unless the Yankee Front Office has information that Matsui’s knee operation and past wrist injury have affected his production, trading him for a few B-level prospects is a mistake.
During his 5-year career Matsui has put up very, very good numbers: .295 BA/.371 OBP and averages around 25 HR/100 RBIs when he’s healthy. Its hard to see that production being replaced by trading him.
Additionally, its important to keep a strong 4-man outfield rotation. Johnny Damon will likely need periodic rest, even if he is in great shape this season. Melky goes through periodic hitting slides where he needs a rest now and then. Granted Matsui is not a “defensive gem”, but he can play adequately in limited exposure.
He should be their primary DH, unless either (a) injuries have affected his skills, or (b) Giambi is set for a return to 2005, 2006 production levels.
“Being that this is a blog that is supposed to be about BASEBALL in general and the Yankees specifically, I’m not going to go into the political arena with this.”
i agree about sticking to baseball , but it’s a character issue for arod if the article is true. i think murphydog said something to the effect that this just isn’t the kind of investment that’s good for arod because of the kind of business that it is. he’s right.
my apologies if i overstated my case, but if there’s one thing i hate, it’s priviliged people taking advantage of disadvantaged people.
arod is better than that.
“just wait and get the draft picks at the very least. don’t insult yourselves with accepting that”
Way to think like the Twins GM and not a Yankees fan.