Some late-night links
Posted by: Sam Borden - Posted in Misc on Nov 10, 2010 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Here are a few nuggets for you to snack on if you’re not into “I Love Money” on VH1 …
• Joe Morgan issued a brief statement about being bumped from ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” in which he says the station was moving in a different direction over the past two years and he was “not comfortable” with that direction. Rrrrrrrright.
• George Vecsey from The Times says it’s all happening a little fast with George Steinbrenner and the Hall of Fame.
• The Red Sox are seriously considering a push for free agent catcher John Buck, according to ESPN Boston. Buck had been mentioned as a potential Yankees target but I suspect he’ll end up elsewhere.
• Judging by your emails over the past, say, three years, a legion of Yankees fans is in mourning tonight: After all, David DeJesus was traded … but to the A’s.
• If you haven’t seen this “Wheel of Fortune” insanity yet, do yourself a favor and watch the clip then read the article about how the woman did what she did. It’s pretty amazing.
OK, that’s it for tonight. Thanks for all the comments. Back at it tomorrow.
Remember, the Red Sox don’t buy players, they sign and partner with them.
What different direction was a broadcast of baseball game going in?
Competency!
Forget bobcat.
My wife said that Wheel of Fortune clip was the best thing ever on this blog.
I’d believe it was competency if it was any other network besides ESPN. When it comes to baseball they seem clueless sometimes so in that respect Morgan was no different than those who signed his checks.
That Wheel of Fortune winner seems a little fishy.
I almost wish Jeter had retired or was retiring because it’s hard to see him being ripped like this. I don’t care what anyone is saying about his gold glove – I refuse to read one word about it. However, if this is what it’s like at the end of a player’s career, I wish they would all retire early….He can’t hit, he can’t field, he sucks. Got it.
Betsy
I agree, Jeter has been the Yankees SS since before I can remember. He has always been the most respected and highly regarded person in baseball in my lifetime and it just irks me that he is getting older and everyone is calling him useless.
Betsy, the thing is … it’s nothing new. This criticism nonsense about Jeter’s range at SS has been going on steadily for TEN YEARS now, starting back in 2001 when he was only 27!!! Some guys post about his range now like they just had an epiphany!
Me? I’m going to enjoy watching him to the fullest next season. Just like with Mo.
So the end is not far for them … so what? What’s the point of that? No one thinks they’re going to play another 10 years, or even 5. A Yankees fan is supposed to fret NOW about what the Yankees are going to do at shortstop THEN???
I don’t think so!
A very thought provoking, well written and intelligent article by George Vecsey on Georege Steinbrenner in the New York Times.
Heck, This Jeter range dispute goes back to the days of Rey Ordonez…
Sure, that Wheel of Fortune contestant may have solved a 27-letter puzzle with only one letter and an apostrophe, but Fan Graphs shows her UZR is a -0.6 because of her limited word range.
She should really be moved to designated spinner.
“He can?t hit, he can?t field, he sucks.”
Yankee fans have said the same about Bernie, Giambi, Alex, Robbie, Jorge and dozens of other Yankee players in the last 10 years.
Derek is in good company.
Jeter has been shortstop and leader of 5 Title winning teams in 15 years. That’s golden in my book. He can do no wrong.
Carl,
That was funny
Betsy,
The more pleasant type Re: Jeter seem to be here at the moment. The problem is they don’t appreciate what they have. When these guys are gone, and if the Yankees hit a few cold years, will the doubters ever admit to being wrong?
Pat, I have no problems with reasonable criticisms of players (and Giambi doesn’t belong in that group you listed, IMO), but when HOF (or near HOF) players’ careers reach their near-ending point, you’d hope that fans could exhibit a little class…………In Jeter’s case, the “captain intangible” or “captain double play” nicknames make me sick. Some fans.
Joe:
Thanks! I loved it. So cool. And the explanation, while still insane, kinda makes sense …
“When these guys are gone, and if the Yankees hit a few cold years, will the doubters ever admit to being wrong?”
Never going to happen under the current economic system. Look at what they did last time they missed the playoffs. They may not get a SS to replace Jeter, but they would supplement the offense enough around him to make sure it didn’t matter.
Booming farm + the ability to spend double, triple out competitors = no sustained down period. Cash knows what he’s doing.
SAS, I admit I wouldn’t know; I’m skipping most of the Jeter talk. For one, contract talks bore me. For another, I don’t think these talks are going to be problematic. Lastly, I really have no desire to anything about Jeter at this point; I’m happy with my opinion of him.
When these guys are gone, and if the Yankees hit a few cold years, will the doubters ever admit to being wrong?
—
Doubters of what? Jeter has been a big part of the yankees, so has the million and millions of dollars spent on pitching and the players around jeter. The yankees moved on from Bernie and are preparing to move on from posada. They will move on from Jeter just the same. Like they moved on from Ruth and Gehrig and Dimaggio and MAntle and Berra.
If the yankees miss the playoffs in the future, it will likely be from other complications than ‘Jeter no longer plays short’
Fans will miss Jeter that was in his prime. Not the one that had a OPS a mere 13 points above Francisco Cervelli and is going to get paid twice his market value.
They made the playoffs in spite of Jeter and a bunch of other problems bigger than Jeter last season. And if Jeter can no longer provide .800 OPS offense then there isn’t much to lose from not having him there.
The yankees had a huge advantage when they had Posada, Jeter, and Bernie playing out of their minds up the middle.
We’ll have to make due now with Montero, Robbie, and Granderson. I think the yankees will do fine.
If you look at the Yankees 2B before Cano, there is a motley crew there. From lackluster bats to lackluster defenders. The biggest constant was Jeter able to project a good bat from the SS position. Cano will lock up the middle of the infield , providing that constant even if they have to bring in a variety of SS’s around him.
For anyone who feels uncomfortable with the idea of the money being committed by the Yankees to their older veterans, this bud’s for you …
(Tom in N.J., speaking of the days of Rey Ordonez!)
Bonilla to be Employed by Mets for Next 25 Years
Posted by Neil Paine on July 2, 2010
Remember Bobby Bonilla’s second stint with the New York Mets? The one that lasted just one season (1999) and provided negative wins above replacement (-1.5 WAR)? As the WSJ reports, Bonilla actually looks back on it fondly, thanks to a bizarre buyout negotiated by Steve Phillips:
“One year from today, the Mets will add to their payroll a 47-year-old, past-his-prime power hitter who has a reputation as a malcontent—a player who has been retired from professional baseball for nine years and won’t play another game again.
Nevertheless, starting on July 1, 2011, Bobby Bonilla will remain on the franchise’s payroll for 25 years, collecting an annual salary of $1,193,248.20. Those are the terms the Mets agreed to Jan. 3, 2000, when they bought out the final year of Mr. Bonilla’s contract.
[...]
This unusual arrangement between him and the Mets, though, is characteristic of his time with the team—4½ years marked by controversy and unmet expectations. By the time Mr. Bonilla departed, the Mets were so eager to be rid of him that they agreed to defer payment—with interest—of the $5.9 million they owed him in the final year of his contract.”
For you trivia buffs, the above is also the answer to the question, “How did Steve Phillips get into broadcasting?”
jerkface -
Really cool link in the prior thread. Thanks for that.
****
Sam -
I was actually watching WOF that night (it’s one of my daughter’s favorite shows) – it was really incredible!
I like the New York Times and it was an interesting sports article but its’ sports section is not as good as other NYC papers and never has been.
So this is how I feel in regards to the aging players we have. Its a little out there but stick with me and I’m sure you’ll get it.
Ill use Posada and Jeter since they are the two with the most diminishing talents right now. 2 years ago my dog died. I got my dog when I was in the 4th grade and I loved him, he was always there when I got home from school and was there every morning when I woke up. He was a great dog in my mind but he hated other dogs and would try to fight every dog that got near him, he would eat stuff off the table and do other things that made us question why we kept him around, over time he started having issues, he couldn’t control his bowels and he puked on the floor. Frankly we were starting to get sick of it, eventually we had to put him to sleep. It was sad, a few months later we realized how much we missed him even with all his flaws, thinking back I would say that if I had known he wasn’t going to live forever(I knew he would eventually die but I didn’t want to accept it) I would have been able to look over his flaws in his last few years of life and appreciated him more instead of focusing on all the annoying issues he brought to the table.
What I am trying to say in my really odd analogy is that for a long time, jeter and posada were like the great dog I got when I was in the 4th grade. Now they are a lot like my sick old dog and when they are gone I think a lot of us are going to wish that instead of focusing on their flaws in their last few years of their baseball jobs, we will be thinking we shoud have appreciated them more before they were gone.
Maybe that’s only how I feel about it.
Catcher Defense Rankings:
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.c.....e-rankings
Ouch.
So knowing both Posada and Cervelli are bad behind the plate, why would the Yanks want Cervelli catching roughly half the games over Posada? At least Posada is very likely to hit better.
A good DH + Posada C > Posada C + Cervelli
Jacksquat
This season I don’t think they really had a choice at catcher, it was either Posada or Cervelli. Next year, if Montero gets the starting job, he may be bad defensively but it can’t be worse than what we’ve had. He is said to have power so I’d take him behind the plate and posada as the DH. If that is the case then Cervelli will truly be the backup. Not sure if that’s what you were talking about
ericns1 November 10th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
I like the New York Times and it was an interesting sports article but its’ sports section is not as good as other NYC papers and never has been.
************
It depends what you think good is.
I promise, last post on the sad topic on my mind and in heart tonight…
http://tinyurl.com/27pqcgl
Thanks for letting me share.
~Rosy
Compass Rosy
He must have been something extra special to get Junior to come out and speak, something he hasn’t done since before his retirement from baseball. That speaks volumes about how important he was to not only the fans who listened to him but to the players he announced about.
tyanksfan36November 11th, 2010 at 1:54 amJacksquat
This season I don’t think they really had a choice at catcher, it was either Posada or Cervelli. Next year, if Montero gets the starting job, he may be bad defensively but it can’t be worse than what we’ve had. He is said to have power so I’d take him behind the plate and posada as the DH. If that is the case then Cervelli will truly be the backup. Not sure if that’s what you were talking about
———
Well I was assuming Montero would only catch roughly half the games in his first season. I don’t think he’d catch 130+.
What time today does the Jeter bashing commence?
Woke up this morning to “Got You Babe” on the alarm clock.
RIB
typically the Jeter bashing begins later in the day
When is enough, enough?
One would think if the opposition has/had a plausible point of view that it wouldn’t take days to make.
Good morning morning people.
RIB -
At this point, I don’t know what the purpose is any more. The point has been made. We get the point. We don’t necessarily agree with the point.
Let’s move on, please?
(And by the way, for anyone who thinks the bombardment will be over once Jeter signs, someone has already posted that if the contract isn’t something he’s comfortable with, he will continue to complain about it.)
totally agree, its been discussed to death, and no one is apt to change their feelings at this point
on to another topic, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all our veterans out there.
I too am not looking forward to the Jeter bashing today. Lucky for Posada that his wife let it slip that he would DH next season or we would have to hear Posada bashing too. On a side note, did anyone read my post last night where in an odd way I tried to compare them both to my dog? I know its out there but I think it makes some sense, to me at least.
I’ll join upstate kate in giving thanks to all the veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice.
And like Kate said, a Big thanks to all the Veterans.
I intern at an elementary school on tuesdays and this tuesday they had their veterans day program. They invited friends and relatives from all branches of the military to come to be honored. They held a breakfast for them and their families and the students had been working the whole semester to learn the certain songs for each branch that they sang to honor them. At the end they sang some song I’d never heard of and we passed out flags to the kids, when the veterans who were in attendance turned around, they were met with about 1000 kids waving flags. It brought tears to my eyes.
tyanks
I loved your dog story, and I totally understood what you were saying.
We had to have one of our dogs put to sleep in April; she was 15 and had multiple health issues which we dealt with until she stopped eating (she was always such a chow hound). She hung in there for one last visit from my son in college. We got her when she was 3, after our previous dog had died, and my son had asked at the time if she would be his “growing up dog”, which indeed she was.
tyanksfan36 -
I did read your post. I didn’t think it was a bad analogy. I don’t know if Jorge & Derek have reached the puking up all over stage, though!
But I do think you make a really good point. First of all, they’re going nowhere, so what good does it do to be tearing them down? They’ve given so much to this team over the years – we’re not talking scrubs here.
Doreen
I don’t think they’ve reached that stage either. Maybe they are at the “drinking out of your cup” stage. Not too serious but sometimes you wonder lol. I think people need to get over the contract stuff and appreciate them while they can because there will never be a core 4 again. We need to appreciate them and not bash them. And for all the people complaining about how much he will get paid, you would think that money was coming out of their pockets.
tyanksfan36
To me, that core 4 phenomenon is something of so much value. It’s got sentimental value, historical value, and also financial value. There are few if any teams today that can boast of 4 players intrinsic to their success still together and still productive and still helping their team get to the playoffs.
The Yankees are so “in your face” (and I don’t mean that in a bad way) with their history – the Ruths, the Gehrigs, the DiMaggios, the Mantles. Well, Jeter, Mo, Posada and Andy (despite his 3-yer hiatus) are the modern stalwarts of the Yankees. They’re legendary. It goes beyond the norm, which is why I don’t understand the discussions that dismiss this as mere sentimentality. When Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are inducted into the HOF, there will be no debate over which hat they’ll wear. On Old-Timers Day in the future, people will fill the seats because the “Core Four” will be there. (It won’t be like now, where aside from Whitey & Yogi, it seems the majority of the OTs are guys who’ve also played for other teams and spent some glory years with the Yankees).
Yes, it helps that the Yankees had the money to keep their own players. Certainly. Other teams don’t have that ability and that is one reason why it doesn’t happen often that players retire with the team they came up with.
But you can’t deny the importance of making sure the Core 4 walk off into the sunset in pinstripes.
But at this point in their careers, all of them are worth so much more to the Yankees than to any other team.
RhapsodyInBlue November 11th, 2010 at 6:30 am
What time today does the Jeter bashing commence?
Woke up this morning to ?Got You Babe? on the alarm clock.
**********************************
When it was first used, I really did not like the term “core 4″, but it does symbolize what they have meant to the team.
I am sure there are others, but in modern times the only other players I can think of that played for one team their entire careers were Biggio and Bagwell for the Astros.
Doreen
That was spot on. No amount of sabermetrics or statistics can calculate their value over the years. Its all about sentimentality. Rays fans love Carl Crawford. I think that if the Rays could afford to keep him until he was 40, I don’t think the fans would complain even if he started to decline. The core 4 have been loyal to our team for their whole careers(minus Andy but I love him enough to look over that) and we should be loyal to them by not throwing them under the bus. Jeter and Posada, in the long run this past season were not the liability that everyone makes them out to be. I’m going to continue enjoying them so that when they are gone I won’t regret not appreciating them.
Good morning.
To all our Vets. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
And a special thanks to my good buddy the “Great White Snark”- GB.
And to show how financially important the Core 4 is, they are putting out the Core 4 Yankeeography next week and I’ve already got it preordered on Amazon.
REPOST…………….Off topic, but vital………. in honor of Veteran’s Day, I’d like to thank all the military personnel who have or are serving our country to protect our freedoms. And I’d like to thank their families for the sacrifices they make. To my mom, thanks for being the first woman Marine enlistee from the great state of Minnesota during WWII. And of course, thanks for hooking up with dad in the Marines so that I could be here today!!!
A big thank-you to all the veterans
Happy Veterans Day
Hey all. First of all I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. At a time like this words feel inadequate but I need you to know that I read each and every word that you posted and every email that was sent to me and am just so grateful to all of you who reached out. Losing a parent is very hard. Losing a sibling is torturous.
We went to services in Texas where my brother lived and then his family flew here for services where he grew up. So it’s been tough couple of weeks. I am still in the process of regrouping but I wanted to connect back with you and again to thank you for the caring and support you showed. It truly meant the world to me and I will never be able to thank you adequately.
On a good day I am aware of how special our community is. At a time like this it is magnified a thousand fold.
Once I feel I’ve gotten my equilibrium back, I will definitely be back to get ready for #28.
God bless,
Trisha
And as a side note –
To “whomever it is” that feels the need to call my business phone every morning at the same time but never answer when I pick up, thanks for the call. Very considerate of you under the circumstances, but my brother’s death is still fresh enough that I wake up much earlier than that every morning and stay awake. So I really don’t need a wake up call in the morning. But why stop doing something you’ve been doing for at least the last four months, right?
MTU -
“Great White Snark” – that was priceless!!!
tyanksfan36 -
As for what went “wrong” this season it was PITCHING and injuries. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
AL/JCPD-
I’d like to thank your relatives for their service as well.
On a personal note. My Father fought at Anzio during WWII. He would almost never speak about the War even though I asked on numerous ocassions. I understand from speaking to others that was common.
He now rests in peace and maybe someday we’ll meet again and I’ll get those answers.
“I really did not like the term ?core 4″
I still don’t. Only phrase I dislike more than core 4 is “True Yankee”.
Trisha-
I hope you find peace.
And my thanks to your dad, MTU
Trisha…. peace and prayers to you
To all the Vets out there…..thank you!
Trisha
I am sorry for your loss. I couldn’t even imagine what you are going through.
As for the board, you are probably better off not coming back for a while. It has been the most awful place save for a few posters. The Jeter talk is incessant and its all negative.
I too want to thank all of the veterans.
trisha -
It’s good to hear from you. I’ll continue to keep your family in my prayers and look forward to the spring.
it is so nice to see you Trisha
MTU
my father would never talk about his war time experiences either.
Trisha-good to “see” you around-I’ve been thinking about you.
“Core 4″ isn’t the best, but it’s a shorthand at least, and everyone knows what you mean when you say it.
Doreen:
Re: The Core Four
Well said and when the time does come for Old Timers Day, many of the skeptics that have been posting negative thoughts concerning Jeter and Posada will be among those that stand and applaud them loudest when they’re introduced. Such is the world of hypocrisy.
Jason Stark commenting on the Rangers financial situation.
“For one thing, the new deal doesn?t kick in until 2015, when Lee would be in the fifth season of his next contract.
For another, Rumblings was told, the new Rangers ownership has already used a large chunk of the upcoming TV money, which it collected up front as a signing bonus, to help finance its purchase of the franchise.
And, finally, the Rangers are about to lose their status as a revenue-sharing taker, which was allowing them to collect $8 million to $15 million a year.”
Pretty much the same things SJ and I have been saying so either reading this blog is his source or someone else is reading the situation the same way we are.
New Post: Giving thanks to those who served
JCPD-
It’s a dream.
But maybe someday Man will overcome his own brutality, and the horror of War will no longer be necessary.
Then we won’t need any more soldiers or places to bury them.
And no more innocents will die.
With the history of Mankind we both know it’s unlikely.
We need an Alien spaceship to come down. For real. Maybe that would unite us.
Doreen
It was pitching and injuries. Hopefully our luck is better next year.
MTU, maybe we should all head over to Roswell!!!
JCPD-
Been there. It was a weather baloon.
trisha -
Great to see you post again. You have been missed in more than one way. I hope you are your family are doing better, and I will continue to pray for both your family and your brother.
MTU -
A weather balloon – really? Now I need to re-think everything about where I came from.
JCPD -
I don’t know if you answered my post from yesterday, perhaps I missed it; Do you know yet where you’re being sent on business?
Back later ………..
Anyone that wants Jeter gone should be forced to root for the Mets