Today in The Journal News
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- February
- 21
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Alex Rodriguez confirmed that he will meet with MLB investigators as more questions of his connections arise.
Nick Swisher used to be the new first baseman. Now he’s fighting for playing time.
The Yankees will be on the field around 10 a.m. Back later with some reports.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, February 21st, 2009 at 7:44 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
You know, listening to ESPN, you’d think that MLB has already decided that he’s going to be fined and suspended and small children will rip their A-Rod baseball cards in anguish and shame…
Thanks for being out there, Pete. Bundle up this morning!
Good luck to Swish. But he is the same guy who lost out in Chicago to a guy named DeWayne Wise after all. Hard to beat out Tex if he lost his spot to Wise.
Swish could end up being very valuable to the Yankees and I wish him well. Hope they keep him for the season.
You know Chris, my kids haven’t ripped up any baseball cards yet but they did notice that Barry Bonds’ real head is slightly larger in proportion to his body than his bobble-head is.
Pete, first, I have to say I appreciate your tone over the past couple days as regards the whole A-Rod kerfuffle.
You have remained skeptical and diligent, which is your job; but I’m also sensing a strong desire to report and get over it rather than sensationalize. Very, very much appreciated.
Now, could you send a message to your brothers Joel Sherman and John Harper to do the same? Their stories on Persinal this morning were embarassing. They either failed to do simple research, or chose not to tell the whole story. Inexcusable.
Jack Curry on the other hand, did a wonderful job of telling the whole story. He laid out exactly why it is so troubling that A-Rod has a relationship with Persinal. But he also noted that many other Dominican players have a lot of faith in him and Persinal’s side of the whole Gonzalez story.
Compare their three articles:
Curry:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02.....ref=sports
Harper:
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....adows.html
Sherman:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02.....156268.htm
Harper and Sherman’s pieces were either inexcuably sloppy or misleading. If it’s the latter, it’s sad because the one thing they seem to be clamoring for above all else from A-Rod (or A-roid, if one is so inclined) is full disclosure. They should also provide the same.
Good luck to Swisher. It’s nice to get away from news about A-Rod, even if it’s just two lines!
Pete,
Can you do a poll on who would rather talk/read about A-Rod/steriod articles or baseball related articles?
As always you are doing a great job!
Observer283
Good observations. Harper is particularly shrill. He gets this high pitched nasally whine when he talks about this issue. He has lost all sense of proportionality.
Nice article about Nick Pete.
And please tell Johnny he sounds foolish saying he can’t pay his bills. Especially given the state of the economy. He is only going to tick people off.
As long as my good friend is here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....w_-3.html#
LOL
Arod-Shut-up. Every time you open your mouth there is drama, lies. Try playing baseball and keep a low profile.
No strippers.
No Madonna.
No “Haa”
No “tainted” trainers.
No more cheating.
No more choking in the clutch.
Hopefully you are not doing HGH.
Pete, thank you so very much for all your work down in tampa updating the blog! I know many people including myself have had harsh words for you in regards to your treatment of the
A-rod situation but you really got it right with this one.
Your latest article was an unbiased representation of the facts and it is much appreciated to not have to read a slanted “A-rods a liar and heres why column”. Thankyou
“Hard to beat out Tex if he lost his spot to Wise.”
Beating out Teixiera isn’t the issue. It’s beating out Nady. He’ll find some time. Nady isn’t especially effective against RHP’s (.317 career OBP, strikes out 4 times for every walk compared to .383 and 1.9 K’s for 1 walk vs. LHPs). Swisher’s power is largely as a lefty, but he too does much better overall against lefties (.396 career OBP and 1 K for every 5 AB’s batting righthanded, .338 with 1 K for every 3.5 AB’s batting lefthanded). If I’m Joe G., I might still lean to some sort of platoon with those two.
Jennifer
Damon literally cannot pay his bills being that all of his liquid assets are frozen in an investigation. This is not a metaphor for him losing a tiny bit of money. Read the article before you make a statement like that please.
Steve B…true, but what I like more is having switch-hitter options on the bench for late game situations, especially when Jorge and Melky are not starting.
This will make the bench that much stronger than years past.
So they froze his checking and bank accounts?
Steve B.
Response was to the statement made in the post that Swisher was to be the new first baseman before Yanks acquired Tex.
Why does A-Rod need to meet with MLB? He should tell them to flip off – did MLB ask to meet with any of the other steroid users? If Bud tries to suspend Alex, he won’t have a season because the players will strike. I despise the man more than I can say.
Betsy- SJ said Andy met with them also. Something every writer fails to mention.
You have to root hard for a guy like Swisher. 2 years ago he shaved his head and donated his hair for wigs for cancer patients. As fun loving as he is,he seems pretty grounded. Another Johhny Damon type personality can only help when things get tight.Add CC to the mix and its nice to see the clubhouse get a little looser. No more constantly scowling Sheffields, Browns or Johnsons please.
But it’s going to be tough for Girardi to keep everyone happy. I still think it’s more than likely an outfielder will be traded before the 2nd half begins.
jennifer-everything is frozen. He can’t touch his checking or savings accounts. Sucky situation.
Pete, great article on Swish.
I love how honest he is about being “bummed” for a (very) short time after Tex was signed. That’s a natural reaction for any player because they’ve got to think about their own career. I truly believe, though, that he’s excited about his opportunity with the Yankees. As disappointed as I usually seem about Swish probably being relegated to the bench (Nady is expected to be the main RF), I do think that he will get his at-bats. Joe is pretty good about that and clearly the Yankees like a lot of things about Swish (which Joe enumerated in this article).
I also like the below: Girardi seems to recognize that it’s important to let players be themselves (to an extent). Also, it’s nice to see the players bonding. Every team is going to go through a rough stretch or two during the season, so the more cohesive they are (starting in ST), the better equipped the team will be to get through these rough times (ie: not falling apart when things aren’t all sunshine).
Swisher also has added a dose of personality to a clubhouse in need of some with the departure of Jason Giambi. He appropriated a set of stereo speakers from Damon and has plugged his iPod into them the last two mornings.
“You can tell when he’s in there,” said Girardi, who would prefer music be played on personal headphones but is willing to look the other way.
Swisher, though a fan of country music, has a playlist of hip-hop songs that meets with general approval. CC Sabathia has made his way to that end of the clubhouse to get a better listen. He and Swisher spent time together earlier this week after practice.
“A good guy, a fun guy to be around,” Sabathia said. “You like having guys like that on your team. He makes it easy for everybody.”
sa- thanks I didn’t realize that.
Oops, sorry – meant to put quotes around the “Swisher has added a dose…….” part.
Jen, thanks! That’s not going to be something I worry about – I’m going to take SJ44’s tack: until A-Rod is proven to have used (and I don’t think he did) beyond 2003, this is all just a bunch of speculative hooey. I noticed that David Ortiz has come out with a positive quote about Presilan (sp?) – that seems to jibe with what Cano has said (I know M had concerns about this). I guess Ortiz’ quote won’t be splashed across the Daily News’ front page, though.
I don’t know; Girardi seemed awfully good at rotating guys around last year. I think as long as he is open with the players involved and everyone is on the same page, the guys will be, if not happy, at least “okay” with the situation. I would think it would be tough for any player to be part-time – of course they all want to play everyday, But if they are winning, they will all be happy, right?
I think it really is too bad that ARod had to go and spoil all the good, warm & fuzzy feelings we could have all had about this season. The new players seem to be the right fit, at least right now, and optimism for a good season seems warranted. The cloud hanging over is really difficult for me to deal with. Waiting for the next shoe to drop with Alex is upsetting to say the least. I agree with those who have posted that they are afraid of Selena Roberts’ book, as I am also afraid. Especially since it will not really matter whether what she says is true. It will be in print, and it will be all over the place and it will be a “hot topic” for a long time.
The other thing that bothers me is the Yankees do not have a replacement for Alex Rodriguez. You can’t GET a replacement for Alex Rodriguez. So he better get his head screwed on straight. And we all have to keep our fingers crossed that someone doesn’t come out of the woodwork with something post 2004. (Though I tend to think if someone had to the goods on that, they’d have come forward by now.)
espn on the updates says Alex was working out with Persinal 3 weeks ago, says it is on the back page of the paper. Well # they fail to mention that he was working out with him with the DR team for the WBC in the DR. and #2 that the guy was working for the WBC. The only reason I even knew this was becuase of SJ. Yes I realize now the daily news is reporting it, but it seems some reporters just want to take half truths funny considering that is what they are railing on Alex for.
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....pages.html
jennifer -
I think that hypocrisy is what is really getting folks ticked off.
Double standard, anyone?
Total double standard. I shouldn’t be surprised that espn is doing it. Only announcing that he was working out with him, but leaving out the where and why. A huge where and why.
jen, same thing with Nady. He is house hunting and said he cannot even use a credit card to put down a deposit because all of his assets are frozen. On the news last night some analyst said the problem with Damon and Nady was that they put all of their assets into one account rather than diversifying with different agents/accounts.
Or something like that.
Jennifer, I apologize for coming off harsh earlier. I was a little touchy and defensive of yankee players because of the fact that Alex has been getting railed with half truths and manipulated stories. I didn’t mean to take my frustration out on you and I understand that if you hadn’t heard this whole story that Damon’s comments would come off very foolish.
Pete
I know you are tryng to push the all-natural blog but here is a story that in light of the highest paid player in baseball using drugs should get some air-play:
MLB is charging little leagues big time licensing fees for using the names of the teams. I understand that MLB is a business but this is a tad short-sighted. The cost of uniforms incrases from approx $20 to $30 due to licensing fees which raises little league registration fees by about 10%…or in these tough economic times could result in a loss of many kids.
Here’s a chance for A-roid and all the steroid poster children to really help baseball…with the a small fraction of the money they make they can outfit every little leaguer in America.
How about it A-rod???