The LoHud Yankees Blog

Greetings from Pittsburgh, where I’ll be writing columns about the Jets this weekend. For those of you who may live in this area year-round: Wow. It’s really, really cold here. Kudos to all of you for not freezing on a daily basis.

Anyway, there have been some – what’s a nice way to say it? – interesting moves over the past few days, no? From an AL East standpoint, two things jump out at me:

1. If you’re a Yankees fan, you should probably start worrying more about the Blue Jays. Not because they’re going to be making much noise this year, necessarily, but because GM Alex Anthopoulous is the real deal. Anyone who can get Vernon Wells’s contract traded is a borderline miracle-worker in my book.

2. The Rays seem like they’re conducting their offseason in a time machine. Look, could they strike gold with Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez? Sure. They could. As a value play I like Manny at $2 million more than Damon at $5 million-plus but in both cases there’s a reasonable chance that the Rays end up with two big names who don’t produce much (or, in Manny’s case, simply stop showing up to play). I understand it’s a hard time in Tampa right now and nobody goes to the games, but I’m not so sure that these two guys – once you get past the initial name value – will do much to help stabilize the franchise.

It’s also worth noting that, if you’re upset about how little the Yankees have done this offseason it could be worse – you could be an Angels fan. I’m sure GM Tony Reagins has some kind of reasonable explanation for wanting to take Vernon Wells from Toronto (I mean, he does hit for power sometimes) but that contract is just indefensible. Put it this way: The Angels will end up spending slightly more on Wells than they were planning to spend on Carl Crawford. I’m not a scout or anything, but that doesn’t seem like it makes a whole lot of sense.

* Those are AP shots of 2004-version Manny and Johnny.

Next up in out Pinch Hitters series is Todd Keryc, a 28-year-old out of Columbia University who spent the past six years in television production. He was raise in Connecticut, but his dad raised him to be a Yankees fan (he also became a Patriots fan, go figure). The first game he ever attended as Jim Abbott’s no-hitter.

For his post. Todd looked at the idea of loyalty in sports, and specifically what loyalty has meant for the Yankees connection to Derek Jeter, and Derek Jeter’s connection to the Yankees.

—

Sometimes in life, good behavior goes unnoticed while bad behavior goes unpunished.

LeBron James took his talents to South Beach in a nationally-televised spectacle and set off a media firestorm regarding his stunning lack of commitment to a place he called home. Every angle and aspect of “The Decision” was dissected for weeks, with most everyone agreeing that LeBron could not have handled it much worse. Meanwhile, LeBron’s favorite baseball team, the New York Yankees, was thinking long and hard about their fall date at the negotiating table with their own franchise player.

Derek Jeter was about to conclude a 10-year contract that paid him just south of $200 million, perhaps the only baseball mega-deal that did not go sour for either player or team. During the decade, Jeter became the Yankees captain, helped the team to nine playoff appearances and five World Series titles. Until 2010, he was the model of consistency, never hitting worse than .292, making seven All-Star teams in nine years, even winning four (controversial) Gold Gloves. Instead of extending his deal and eliminating the pending free agency, the Yankees rolled the dice and Jeter bombed out. He finally showed signs of aging, suffering through career lows across the board and losing any possible leverage in the negotiations.

The dialogue quickly grew contentious. The Yankees turned to their favorite November tactic: hardball, a strategy they previously tried in 2007 when Alex Rodriguez opted out of his contract and the team vowed not to resign him. Weeks later, Rodriguez was given another record-breaking deal. Knowing Jeter had no intention of leaving this year, Brian Cashman used that loyalty to his own advantage. He dared Jeter, saying “we’ve encouraged him to test the market and see if there’s something he would prefer other than this.” The selfish player cashed in while the loyal player would have to cave if he wanted to stay.

Eventually, Jeter and the Yankees settled on a shorter deal with some incentives and a player option for a fourth year. All attention turned to Cliff Lee, a player who had been traded three times within a year, all out of the fear of losing him to free agency. The Yankees made the largest offer and certainly had the largest need. With a history of peak playoff performances, Lee would not shy away from the grand stage. Only he did shy away, returning to Philadelphia and forgetting the fact that they were one of the teams to send him elsewhere. Is it possible Lee watched the Jeter saga play out and thought twice about his relocation? If a team could treat a player of Jeter’s stature and loyalty with such disregard, how would they discuss a hired gun?

The divergence on loyalty comes between player and fan. Most players care about earning a good salary, playing in a good city, and succeeding in their chosen profession. They change teams freely in hopes of improving one of those barometers without concern for the faceless mass of humanity known as fans. Conversely, fans are loyal beyond fault. We stay with our teams for a lifetime, through wins and losses, championships and heartbreaks. We agonize over roster moves and lament pitching changes gone awry. We watch many people pass through the organization, hoping to find that special player who can represent our city and bring us a title. We spend decades hoping to find someone like Derek Jeter.

As a society, we are fascinated with big numbers. Alex Rodriguez is capable of hitting 50 home runs and LeBron James is capable of scoring 50 points. They are powerful, graceful athletes, blessed with impeccable timing and skill. They are also victims of their own talent. They are convinced that fans will love them unconditionally as long as they continue to produce on the field or court. There is no incentive for them to remain loyal to a city or franchise. Rodriguez bolted from Seattle for a big contract, forced his way out of Texas for more wins, and then somehow coaxed the Yankees into giving him even more money while continuing to win. James forced Cleveland’s hand in personnel moves for years, openly flirted with other franchises while still under contract, then left for Miami anyway. The Yankees went back on their public stance in order to retain A-Rod. The Cavs would have renamed the city if it meant keeping LeBron. The bad boys were rewarded for disloyalty.

Meanwhile, Jeter continues to plug away, the last hope for a marquee player to spend an entire career with one team. He may be fading on the field and his salary may far outweigh his contributions in the coming years. His range will only decrease further and eventually he will change positions. The franchise will openly wonder what to do with him and how to transition into a new era without the captain. Through it all, Derek Jeter will stay firm on one point. He is a Yankee for life.

For that, we should all be thankful.

Associated Press photo

So you know how the Yankees pass around the WWE championship belt after each game? Well, they’re not the only New York team that’s being linked to old-school pro wrestling.

If you haven’t seen it already, take a second to watch Bart Scott’s postgame interview with ESPN after the Jets beat the Patriots last week. It’s like something out of the Ric Flair finishing school and, as it turns out, Scott has no problem admitting that Hulk Hogan is one of his heroes.

Anyway, all of this is a long way of reminding you that I’ll be hosting a Jets live chat on LoHud Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. So, if you’re one of those people who likes the Yankees and Jets (or you just like Macho Man and the Ultimate Warrior), please stop on by with a question or comment. The link to the chat is right here. We’ll also have a chat going during the game on Sunday, and you can find that at the same address.

Hopefully I’ll see some of you over there. CAN’T WAIT!

(By the way, if you want to see the video, it’s here.)

Have you ever wanted to have drinks with the Yankees GM? Now you can.

Next Wednesday, Jan. 26, Cashman will be guest bartending at Foley’s in Manhattan (a terrific bar, by the way) as a way to raise money for prostate cancer awareness and prevention.

Here are the details:

When: Jan. 26, 6-9 p.m.
Where: Foley’s New York Pub & Restaurant, 18 W. 33rd Street (near 5th Ave.)
Why: Half the money from drinks poured by Cashman will go to Ed Randall’s Bat For The Cure

It’s a great idea for a fundraiser and a great cause. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll check it out.

* I found the picture of the Yankees glasses here.

Back in 1968, Mike Sommer went to his first Yankees game. The man who took him was his father, who was in the stands for Don Larson’s perfect game. Mike is a member of the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club and maintains a blog called The Sommer Frieze, which dates back to 2005. He’s done some Internet radio work including being a guest on the Yankee Roll Call Internet Radio Show, a spot on Joe Boesch’s show on WGBB 1240 AM and the now defunct Yankee fan Club Radio Show. For his Pinch Hitters post, Mike took exception to the notion that the Phillies high-powered rotation automatically makes Philadelphia the team to beat in 2011.

—

Ok. The hyperbole has already started.

Already people are calling the Phearsome Phoursome of the Phillies’ 2011 rotation the greatest Phront Phour ever — or at least in modern times. What they consider modern, who knows?

They need to study baseball history. Maybe it is, maybe not. But other great staffs didn’t make it to the Promised Land.

What to expect from the Phils’ rotation?

• Halladay: 34 next year. 2 CYAs, a runner-up and a third. A perfect game and a postseason no-no last year. 162 g. average: 17-9, 3.32.
• Oswalt: 34 next year. Five top five CYA finishes. 162 g. average: 16-9, 3.18.
• Lee: 33 next year. A CYA. 12 g. average: 16-9, 3.85.
• Hamels: Just turned 27. 162 g. average: 14-10, 3.53.

Very good. But let me list just a few other rotations. I just want to list a couple and make a point.

1920 White Sox
Red Faber. 23-13, 2.99; Eddie Cicotte 21-10, 3.26; Claude (Lefty) Williams 22-14, 3.91 and Dickie Kerr 21-9, 3.37.
With a few weeks left in the season, the you-know-what hit the fan about what happened the previous year. The White Sox, with the controversy, finished second. Cicotte and Williams kicked out of baseball.

1954 Indians
Wynn 23-11, 2.73; Lemon 23-7, 2.72; Garcia 19-8, 2.64; Feller (last decent year at 36) 13-3, 3.09; let me add another—Houtteman 15-7, 3.35. 111-43.
AL pennant but swept in the series. Three Hall of Famers.

1966 Dodgers
Koufax (his last year) 27-9, 1.73 (3 CYA); Drysdale 13-16, 3.42 (1 CYA); Osteen 17-14, 2.85 and Sutton (a 21 yr. old rookie) 12-12, 2.99.
Three Hall of Famers and swept in the series.

1971 Orioles
Cuellar (1 CYA) 20-9, 3.08; Palmer (3 CYA, HOF) 20-9, 2.68; McNally 21-5, 2.89 and Dobson 20-8, 2.90.
Lost series in seven.

2002 Yankees
Mussina 18-10, 4.05 (HOF? 270 wins) Wells 19-7, 3.75 (239 wins, one less than Pettitte, probably not HOF but …), Clemens 13-6, 4.35 (354 wins, 7 CYA, but the Mitchell Report), Pettitte 13-5, 3.27 (240 wins and maybe more? Mitchell Report).
Lost in division series. Not to mention El Duque, 8-5, 3.64 as the #5.

Braves of the 1990s
Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz and depending on the year, Millwood, Neagle or Avery at #4. Just one championship.

1989 Mets
2nd place, 87 wins despite Cone, Fernandez, Ojeda, Darling, Gooden and Viola.

Just saying …

Let the Phils’ staff earn it first.

Associated Press photo of Cliff Lee

With Scott Boras in town for Rafael Soriano’s press conference, it seemed only natural that he and the Yankees would have the opportunity to make some serious progress on the Andruw Jones negotiations, too. As it turns out, it didn’t take very long for those talks to reach a conclusion. According to SI’s Jon Heyman, Jones will be joining the Yankees as their fourth outfielder on a $2 million deal, with the possibility of another $1.2 million paid if Jones hits various incentives.

As mentioned before, I think this a reasonable gamble for the Yankees. Jones’s splits show he can still be effective against lefthanders and, although Curtis Granderson has definitely made progress in that area, it’s never bad to have a guy who can step in against a tough lefty. Considering the cost of the contract, I think it’s pretty good value for the Yankees.

* I’m sure this post’s subject isn’t the first and won’t be the last Counting Crows reference made to Andruw Jones but I always liked them and that song, so …

We interrupt this Yankees programming for a special announcement …

So, judging by my emails (and some of the comments here), it would appear that there are at least a reasonable number of Yankees fans that also cross over as Jets fans. If you’re one of those – or if you just like talking football – please let me cordially invite you to a LoHud Jets Live Chat on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

I’ll be in Pittsburgh for the AFC Championship game this weekend and will be happy to take all your questions and comments on Mark Sanchez, Braylon Edwards, Rex Ryan and, of course, the Jets minor league system (sorry, old habit …). I’ll also be live-chatting during the game on Sunday.

Come on by if you can and we’ll have a “goddamn snack” together. At the very least, it’ll help pass a few more hours as we get closer and closer to spring training. The chat will be hosted here.

* That’s an AP shot of Mark Sanchez from earlier this season.

In talking about the Yankees’ rotation next season, much of the focus has been – understandably – on who, exactly, will fill out the back end. Particularly if Andy Pettitte retires, the fourth and fifth spots seem like they could go to anyone, really.

So those are two questions marks. CC Sabathia is as close to a sure thing they come and Phil Hughes certainly did enough well year to earn some measure of confidence that he can be a significant contributor again in 2011. That leaves A.J. Burnett.

Yesterday, Joe Girardi told reporters that new pitching coach Larry Rothschild has spoken to Burnett though it’s not clear if they’ll be getting together before spring training begins. Girardi, ever the optimist, said he believes that Burnett “is going to have a bounceback year, I do. But I tend to look at the positive side of things.”

That’s Girardi’s approach but even he would acknowledge not everyone shares that same opinion. What you think about Burnett’s chances in 2011, I suppose, are closely tied to what you think of his 2010 – was it an anomaly or a sign?

Here’s the thing that alarms me as I look at his numbers: Last year, Burnett was so much more hittable. It wasn’t like he was terribly wild (his walks-per-nine actually went down 0.4) but he wasn’t fooling anyone either. Despite issuing fewer walks, his WHIP went from 1.401 to 1.511 and his strikeouts-per-nine fell by 1.5 from 2009. In other words, he wasn’t missing bats anymore.

For a guy like Burnett, a hard-thrower who had been a power pitcher during his most successful times, those numbers don’t bode well for the future. Can Burnett rediscover that dominance? Maybe. Whatever happens, you can bet that Burnett will be at the top of Rothschild’s to-do list.

* That’s an AP shot of Burnett.

For our Pinch Hitters series, Joe Nicoletti brings a perspective none of us at LoHud could possibly match. Joe is an insurance executive, born in the Bronx, raised in Westchester, and currently living in Connecticut. He’s a diehard Yankees and Jets fan — “I spend most of my free time sticking pins in my Tom Brady voodoo doll,” he wrote — and back in 1979, he was at Yankee Stadium for the game that followed Thurman Munson’s funeral. For his guest post, Nicoletti beautifully took us back to that night.

—

I’m sure any Yankee fan who was alive at the time remembers exactly where they were when they heard the news that Thurman Munson had been killed in a plane crash. I was 11 years old. For me, like so many other young Yankee fans during that time, losing an icon like Thurman Munson was a very traumatic experience.

I’ve attended numerous Opening Day, Playoff, and World Series games at Yankee Stadium over the past 35 years, but by far my greatest Yankee Stadium experience occurred on August 6th, 1979.

As many people already know, Bobby Murcer delivered one of the eulogies at Thurman Munson’s funeral earlier that day and then knocked in all five runs in a stirring 5-4 comeback victory over the Orioles on national television later that night.

The whole night was a very surreal experience. My father and I got to the park early for batting practice. The stands were pretty full, but the mood was very somber. Most of the people in the stands were talking about Thurman Munson (mostly in hushed tones). Many people were crying.

Ken Singleton played right field for the Orioles. He was very friendly with the fans before the game. He shagged fly balls and purposely botched some of the balls to give everyone a laugh. I remember thinking that he seemed like a really nice guy.

The Yankees were down 4-0 in the 7th inning. Bobby Murcer came up with two runners on and drilled a home run to right field to make it a 4-3 game. My father and I were sitting in the right field stands. As the home run ball sailed over our heads, I briefly contemplated throwing my glove at the ball (in those days, I brought my glove to every game) to knock it down, but I chickened out at the last second. I’ll never forget the vision of the laces on the ball spinning as it whizzed right over our heads.

When Murcer came up in the 9th inning with two runners in scoring position and the Yankees still trailing 4-3, it almost seemed inevitable that he would get a hit to win the game. When he did just that, the crowd erupted. It was so loud that you could actually feel the stadium shake.

After the game ended, the fans in the stadium didn’t want to leave. Everyone just kept clapping, partly for Bobby Murcer, but mostly for Thurman Munson. After a little while, Bobby came on to the field (in his socks) to thunderous applause.

Despite the fact that the outcome had very little effect on the standings (1979 was just not the Yankees’ year), this game provided me with a wonderful and lasting memory.

I’m not one for getting autographs, and I’ve never had the desire to meet or talk to players. Bobby Murcer was the exception, though. I always thought it would be great to talk with him sometime about that night. Years later, I did get the chance.

A few weeks after being diagnosed with brain cancer, Bobby Murcer was a guest on Michael Kay’s radio program. I called in and spoke to Bobby for a few minutes about that night. I thanked him for providing both me and my father with a very special memory. He was very gracious, and he told me how much he appreciated my phone call. He also told me how special that game was to him and how he gave the bat from that game to Thurman Munson’s widow, Diana.

It’s hard to believe that August 6th, 1979 was over 30 years ago. Either time flies, or I’m getting old.

Associated Press photo of Munson, pulled from this Star-Ledger story about Munson’s legacy

Two interesting Andy Pettitte nuggets:

1. According to Joe Girardi, Pettitte – although still likely to retire – has been throwing at home in Texas, just in case he decides to pitch again this year. “He wants to be prepared, whatever his decision is,” Girardi told reporters. Hmmm.

2. Ostensibly in between bites of pancakes yesterday, Brian Cashman told a crowd in Connecticut that when he last spoke to Pettitte he asked the pitcher to be sure about his decision, whatever it ends up being. In other words, Cashman doesn’t want Pettitte to come back if he’s not fully invested in the idea of playing another year. “I told him don’t ‘Brett Favre’ us,” Cashman said, according to the Middletown Press. “You got to be all in and fully dedicated to play. Do I need him? I need him, but I don’t want him to play if his heart’s not in it.”

What does it all mean? My money is still on Pettitte staying retired. Then again if he’s staying in shape and throwing …

* That’s an AP shot of Pettitte.