The Wanger gets some extra work in
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- March
- 4
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The Yankees seem intent on supporting the NBA this spring.
CC Sabathia has been a regular at Magic games. Joba Chamberlain was there tonight along with Chien-Ming Wang, who flipped some souvenir balls to the crowd.
Jobs looks pretty studious in those glasses.
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on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 12:14 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Give that Joba credit. Apparently Wang isn’t close to his team mates and now Joba dragged him to a BB game. That Joba is everywhere and having fun. Disney with CC last time.
The other pitchers are dwarfing Joba. I guess he’s larger than life because Brackman, CC, Hughes all make Joba look small.
It’s nice to see Wagner smile like that. Can’t wait to see him pitch in his first regular season game.
THAT’S Joba? He looks awesome. Much better than that Picture Day photo!
It’s the glasses + argyle sweater, really.
Alex’s comments certainly were innocuous enough, but let’s flip the script.
What if Jeter saw Pujol’s power up close and said, “I love Albert’s power. I’d love to have him hit cleanup for us.”
Oh, who am I kidding. Jeter wouldn’t say anything like that.
m,
Exactly. Jeter is smart enough to not even make a comment like that. He ‘gets it’.
I said this to a student today, but A-Rod is like the Michael Scott of baseball. He doesn’t mean any harm, he just said stupid things. And he doesn’t realize they’re stupid.
ha ha Andrea, great analogy. So true.
Andrea – Yea I’ve heard that comparison before, but it still is the BEST one there is. It is perfect.
My student got a kick out of it. I don’t know how else to explain it. If you think about it, A-Rod very rarely does anything maliciously. He’s just not a smart guy. You can be a baseball genius and still be a big dumb idiot.
I actually feel bad for him. And the thing is, if Reyes were an outfielder or something and he said “I want him hitting lead-off for us,” no one would bat an eyelash at it because Jeter isn’t the outfielder.
“Jobs looks pretty studious in those glasses.”
They say looks are deceiving.
Wang is just adorable!
Joba = nerd
I hope Wang doesn’t blow out his foot making an awkward throw.
Sometimes a cigar IS just a cigar. Not everything requires deep thought, especially when it comes from Alex’s mouth.
repost from previous subject
pat
March 4th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Sorry GB
Didn’t mean to ruin the fun by showing the rest of the quote.
——————————————————————————————
That stuff is common fare around here any time things get slow.
The article you linked about John Odom is sad. Hate to see youth wasted, regardless of the reason. It’s a tragedy for his family.
It makes the Josh Hamilton story the mirror image of the Odom story. Similar, but opposite. I still don’t see Hamilton as a hero who overcame adversity, but, doesn’t mean I’m sorry that he turned it around. A hero/enlightening tory is RA Dickey, who’s pitching in the majors despite being born without an Ulner Collateral Ligament in his pitching elbow/forearm (Tommy John Surgery when it’s torn).
Is that a two-seamer from Wang? The kid from row 8 gets his hopes up only to see the ball drop to the kid in row 5.
CORRECTION: hero/enlightening ***story***
Actually, hero is wrong…admirable is what I meant.
lol, Will. Post of the day. Good one.
pat,
Alex does enjoy himself a good cuban cigar when he plays poker. That’s breaking 2 laws right there.
Will to the M: that’s hysterical.
GB, your comment about Josh Hamilton reminds me of a tennis match I was watching a few years ago when an analyst was bragging on Jennifer Capriati’s comeback after her drug and arrest issues.
The other analyst said, “Okay, but lets celebrate the people who don’t get into that kind of trouble in the first place like the Williams sisters.”
Good form Will, good form.
I’m watching the game from earlier today (I love MLB.TV). Cody Ransom looks awesome in that first inning.
“Is that a two-seamer from Wang? The kid from row 8 gets his hopes up only to see the ball drop to the kid in row 5.”
hahahaha
Joba’s kind of appropriate looking with those glasses as Sean Avery is back in town.
GB
Since you re-posted in the next thread, I will too.
To me it was a sad commentary on viewing players as “assets”- something Cashman has been guilty of. They may be assets but first and foremost they are human.
Joba rocking the argyle sweater+glasses, he looks like a guy who would work at a coffee shop not an ace pitcher with triple digit heat
Lara08
March 4th, 2009 at 1:02 am
GB, your comment about Josh Hamilton reminds me of a tennis match I was watching a few years ago when an analyst was bragging on Jennifer Capriati’s comeback after her drug and arrest issues.
The other analyst said, “Okay, but lets celebrate the people who don’t get into that kind of trouble in the first place like the Williams sisters.”
————————————————————
Pretty much. People always yammer about steroid users stealing money and cheating, but, ask the would be teammates, family and former owners of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays whether they felt that Hamilton stole from them or cheated them out of wins and millions of dollars.
Steroid users got every player a raise. And every owner a better TV deal. But that’s neither here nor there and I’d rather we talk about Wang and Joba hanging out and cool vibe around the team these days.
pat
March 4th, 2009 at 1:06 am
GB
Since you re-posted in the next thread, I will too.
To me it was a sad commentary on viewing players as “assets”- something Cashman has been guilty of. They may be assets but first and foremost they are human.
————————————————————
Perhaps what Cashman said was inappropriate or not PC, but, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t true. I don’t look at that any more awkward or wrong than what Rodriguez said today. Completely harmless until the media started yammering about it.
Yeah, its amazing, a $4 million signing bonus from Tampa for Hamilton and he blew it if I’m not mistaken. I wonder if the Rays tried to work out some magic on that contract the way the Yankees tried to do with Giambi?
Hamilton didn’t cheat anyone but himself and the Rays front office. Folks who use steroids cheat the entire league and every baseball fan out there. It’s kind of different.
I see what you’re saying, but it’s easier to forgive someone who hurts himself rather than someone who hurts the game as a whole.
Phil: I’m with you! Wang and Joba look so happy!
Hamilton didn’t just hurt himself and the Rays but that’s between his wife, his kid and his family.
Yeah, players are assets and its business. That’s why I have no problem with players making their money. Some people only think its a business for the team and as soon as the player gets that mentality he’s selfish. He’s just supposed to play for the love of the game.
Caple’s article on people whining about sports salaries was cool.
Andrea
March 4th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Hamilton didn’t cheat anyone but himself and the Rays front office. Folks who use steroids cheat the entire league and every baseball fan out there. It’s kind of different.
I see what you’re saying, but it’s easier to forgive someone who hurts himself rather than someone who hurts the game as a whole.
————————————————————
Hamilton cheated his team mates out of a lot of wins by not being able to play. His wife said be was going through $100,000 every 6 weeks, until the money ran out. Is there a difference?
Yeah, there’s a difference. Steroids and street drugs are not the same addiction. But Hamilton has a feel-good story of redemption and steroid users do not. So people like Hamilton and shun Barry Bonds (though there’s no indication that ever got clean).
From the previous post about Hughes. That surely doesn’t call for kudos for the Yankee minor league system. Last year they’re teaching Hughes the cutter in AAA. Now Chaves is gone. This year they teach him the power curve in the Majors. Of course the power curve is better, but why wasn’t it taught before this? Do they have a plan in developing a pitcher? They’ve had the kid since he was 18. Who’s in charge and what are they doing?
Andrea
March 4th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Yeah, there’s a difference. Steroids and street drugs are not the same addiction. But Hamilton has a feel-good story of redemption and steroid users do not. So people like Hamilton and shun Barry Bonds (though there’s no indication that ever got clean).
————————————————————
You’re wrong. Steroids are habit forming, because they create the need for the adrenaline rush coming from workouts and also a need to feed the ego. Different addiction, but, still addiction.
There is a difference in cheating your organization because of steroids and cheating your organization because of street drug use?
The only difference is one was playing and the other was not because he went missing for six weeks. I’m glad he’s better. But people feel cheated and wonder what they are seeing is real when it comes to steroids. I feel cheated out of not seeing a healthy, dedicated Strawberry, Gooden and even Hamilton.
I guess this is where I act as if I really feel cheated, duped and horrified by steroids.
The difference between baseball in the 60s and baseball now is that we know steroids are used. Over forty years steroids have been in baseball. I can’t wait for someone to do a real book that puts all this stuff in perspective. Steroids Era my behind.
I never said it wasn’t an addition. I said it wasn’t the same addiction. I know all that. You’re kind of ignoring my point, though, so I am losing interest in trying to make one.
Someone on the radio said that Bonds (supposively) started steroids because Sosa & McGwire were getting all this attention for what he had been doing for years. How different would baseball be if he had chosen to ask out loud how these guys were doing it instead of joining in?
Ralph Kiner talked about when he first saw drugs/amphetamines in baseball back in 1946-47. He had used them as a pilot of a seaplane searching the Atlantic durning WWII and said theat he had used them during parts of his early career. That stuff has been around since the ’20s and the military passed them out to the troops in WWI and WWII to keep soldiers moving towards objectives.
OMG – Arods quote was actually taken out of context. I am shocked and outraged! I just cant believe it. I guess this is how reporters help sell papers. i NEVER even realized.
All joking aside, it was nice to see the rest of the quote and realize that not only was arod giving a compliment to the speed of reyes (which is the best in the bussiness) but he also gave a shout out to gardner.
I guess now reporters could write that he is dissing melky and playing favorites. The headline could rid arod and his cyst want jeter and melky out of NY and i WOULD NOT be surprised. The sad thing is – no matter what the headline reads tomorrow, I wont be surprised. Is that sad that I am so acclimated to these ridiculous reports about him that nothing could surprise me at this point?
m
March 4th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Someone on the radio said that Bonds (supposively) started steroids because Sosa & McGwire were getting all this attention for what he had been doing for years. How different would baseball be if he had chosen to ask out loud how these guys were doing it instead of joining in?
————————————————————
I suppose the boost in performance by using steroids would depend on what and how much you use. You look at the production of McGwire, Sosa and Bonds and their production before and after were significant. There was no such spike with Rodriguez. He has monster years is Seattle at the King Dome, and slumped slightly after moving tp SAFECO for a year and a half. He went to a launching pad in Texas, which coincided with his peak player years. Even coming to New York, his numbers weren’t much different from the Seattle years. A little lower batting average and maybe a little more power. He played in smaller East Coast parks and started hitting more to right and right center. I’m not sure that he got much advantage at all.
People talk about it hlping him in the Texas heatt, but back in the 70’s and 80’s, Texas had a catcher, Jim Sundberg that had 6 straight years of catching 140 games a year and 5 of those years were 148 or more.
Nardi Contreras is czar of minor league pitching. The reason they probably didn’t change Phil’s curve was because he was an incredibly dominant minor league pitcher. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. They gave him the cutter last year, to give him a different look since he never liked throwing his old change. Then they apparently switched him to a split-change which he seems more comfortable with. He’s always used with the big cb and the tighter one. Looks like he streamlined the tighter one.
m
Some of the guys who were the most vocal in the last 10 years have said there were lots of good guys who never would have used if they didn’t feel the need to “keep up”. If hitting 40 HRs or playing 150 games naturally was no longer seen as great, they looked for the edge to be great.
Poor Pete. He tries so hard to make this a ‘roid-free blog.
An intelligent take on today’s nonstory from Jack Curry (who also broke the real ARod story today):
“Rodriguez also called the Yankees and asked them to contact the New York reporters who had covered his news conference and repeat that he was praising Reyes, not disparaging anyone. He did a dumb thing. Again. But presuming that he was dissing his teammates is even sillier.”
http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/?8dpc
I originally gave Curry credit but not so much now. Its like he’s straddling the fence. He knows its much ado about nothing, can’t get up for the story but he throws his peers a bone by labeling the comment as dumb.
I’m tempted to send a bottle of wine to the first reporter I read that flat out says Alex’s comments were nothing without qualifying it.
Good to see some rational reporting on A-Rod from Curry.
OOO A-Rod likes Reyes better than Damon & Jeter!!! A-Rod brought his family to WBC camp & scared off his teammates!!! A-Rod has a cyst on his hip, how dare he be the center of attention again!!!
Enough with all this sensationalistic media garbage about A-Rod. Everyone says that A-Rod is such a distraction but its the media who blows it out of proportion. I’m so sick of hearing his name at this point.
Lara08,
I agree, but look again at the last sentence I quoted, where he’s essentially criticizing those of his peers who overreacted.
The problem with the looping curve is that you have to pitch upstairs more with your fastball to disguise the curve which is why I’ve always liked the power curve – same arm slot and a flatter trajectory. Very good news that they’ve found a Change up he likes, a cutter for the lefties was also good. My point is that there doesn’t seem to be an overall plan on how to develop pitchers. They made him drop the slider but didn’t give him anything to replace it with for years. The cutter is just a modified slider anyways.
I guess so Clare. I’ll give.
Its probably too much for me to expect reporters to throw their peers (who make their entire profession look bad) under the bus the way they want athletes to do to each other.
“But presuming that he was dissing his teammates is even sillier.”
Would have been even better if he said: But presuming that he was dissing his teammates is even dumber.
I dont even think what arod said was actually all that dumb. Tell me arod is the first player in baseball history to say that he wanted another player on his team (who would of course displace a teammate) just to compliment that player and I will admit it was stupid. But i seriously doubt he was the first and I am absolutely positive he wont be the last. And i bet at no other time was a similar quote actually used in a legitimate newspaper.
Ken Davidson also has a rational take:
“First, we had A-Rod complimenting Jose Reyes, and therefore getting people wondering whether A-Rod intentionally slighted Derek Jeter. I wasn’t there to listen to A-Rod, but I think we have to cut the guy some slack, already. This goes back to Brian Cashman saying, correctly, that A-Rod is a poor public speaker. For gosh sakes, he was just trying to be nice to his temporary teammate Reyes.”
http://blogs.trb.com/sports/baseball/blog/
I really hope we’re getting to the tipping point on the ARod coverage, when most members of the media realize the ARod coverage has jumped the shark. I kindof had a sense of this in 2006, when at some point the tide seemed to turn a bit and the ARod bashing lessened.
(And, pre-emptve disclaimer – no, I’m not talking about objective coverage of genuine news, such as the positive steroid test, but rather the endless dissection of every phrase he utters and negative attention on every action, no matter how innocuous.)
What about Coke today – looked pretty good against some pretty good hitters and how about Gardy – hitting some pretty good pitching, the little jobber is looking good so far.
This A Rod navel lint picking is really boring.
400 posts about really nothing yet the din is deafening.
Bo,
All the pitchers, except Hacker, looked damn good today, against a pretty good lineup.
Clare
Yeah the kids done good. This experience is priceless for them, talk about a confidence booster. And Gardner – I know it means nothing until he adjusts to the adjustment of his adjustment which would be somewhere around the All Star break – but it sure is fun right now.
It is fun right now.
And you are right, Phil Coke was outstanding – but I was most impressed with Mike Dunn. He came in and cleaned up Hacker’s mess, and IIRC, he’s a converted outfielder who hasn’t even been pitching that long.
Veras and Robertson were also good, but they (and the Phils) have faced major leaguers before. This was Dunn’s second appearance in his very first big-league camp, facing essentially an all-star lineup.
Wally Matthews truly is a moron. One of the most idiotic columns I’ve ever read.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/.....310.column
Coke, Dunn and De La Rosa – three lefties that can dial it up to the mid nineties. Very, very nice.
Is that Joba or Johnny Knoxville?
Joba’s channeling of Ryne Duren is the best Blog photo yet.
It’s so pity .Because Wang can not play WBC for Taiwan
Taiwan Baseball Team now is difficult to play WBC
Wang you are Taiwan’s hope …
In case people want to know what happened w/ the Arod Jose Reyes comment. Here’s the full story.
“Here’s the set-up: Reyes, the Mets’ shortstop, had flashed his speed on the bases in a 10-1 win over the Marlins, stealing a run by essentially turning a bloop single into a triple, hustling to second on the throw from the outfield trying to nail a runner at third, and later stealing third and eventually scoring on a ground ball.
Afterward A-Rod was raving about the talent of both Reyes and Hanley Ramirez, the two young shortstops who are both on this team, when he was asked specifically about Reyes’ speed.
“I wish he was leading off on our team,” A-Rod said with a chuckle. “That’s fun to watch. Anytime you have that type of speed. I mean, we have a guy in (Brett) Gardner, and that’ll be fun. That’s probably the most fun you can have, is watching a guy like that run.”
From there A-Rod answered a few more questions at his press session, then headed back into the clubhouse, which is off-limits to the press in the WBC. Within minutes he must have realized, uh-oh. After all, Reyes and Jeter are both shortstops…oh no.
So A-Rod quickly sent word through the PR person for the Dominican team that he was only trying to pay Reyes a compliment. Then he called the Yankees to explain what he’d said and why, hoping to head off trouble.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....o_avo.html
Like some of us who don’t have the pitch forks said… Much ado about nothing.
im really hoping this cyst isnt going to keep arod from the WBC.
we just got that clown out of our camp, i dont want the circus to return for a couple of weeks at least.
im really hoping this cyst isnt going to keep arod from the WBC.
we just got that clown out of our camp, i dont want the circus to return for a couple of weeks at least.
_
And now we know what’s wrong with society….
I wouldn’t have known Joba without a scorecard! It’s a good look for him.
Wang looks like he’s having fun, too.
The Yankees seem to be having a very relaxed spring training, at least extracurricularly.
I got to watch the last few innings of yesterday’s game. Boy, did I wish I was in Florida! It looked so gorgeous there – the blue sky, the green grass. I’m tired of winter already.
I’m torn – I really hope Hughes has a chance to really make that impact this season, but that would mean something’s not going all that well for the starting staff. But it really bodes well for next season, when Pettitte will definitely not be back – if Hughes has really turned that corner – fine tuning his pitches and adding some – then next year’s rotation will not skip a beat. Well, of course, I’m jumping the gun, making an assumption that this year’s rotation is going to be fantastic. (It’s not a huge leap, but I hate to count my chickens, ya know?
)
My friend texted my last night. He said he bumped into “Joba and some asian guy,” he guessed it was Wang haha. He said it was an awkward conversation to say the least, because he was wearing a red sox hat. Also, Wang didn’t say one word.
Nice to see Joba rocking the ”wild thing” glasses.
great pic. the glasses work on joba.
and ‘FLIP’ is on my fantasy basketball team.
yes. it’s a deep league and i’ve had tons of injuries…
Wow, didnt notice Joba at all, until i read the post.
I didnt even realize that was the Jobber until I saw your comment on it, Petros.
more pics
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/bl.....mlb,145713
lol i didnt even know that was joba until i read the post