Open Thread: It was five years ago today …
By
It seems like it was just yesterday, but on this day five years ago the Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez in exchange for Alfonso Soriano and Low-A prospect Joaquin Arias. Texas also kicked in $67M of the $179M left on A-Rod‘s deal. After volunteering to shift over to third in deference to incumbent shortstop Derek Jeter, the Yankees had their new megastar.
It’s no secret but A-Rod’s been one of the more controversial figures in New York sports history, and until his recent PED admission it was almost entirely undeserved. It’s nobody’s business who he chooses to date, and his postseason struggles are obsessed over even though they’re about 2% of the problem, with poor starting pitching being the other 98%. The fact of the matter is that A-Rod has been one of the most productive players in baseball since arriving in New York. He’s hit more homers than anyone else in that span (208), scored the most runs (596) and driven in the second most (616). It’s a trade you make a million times out of a million.
A-Rod will be holding a press conference tomorrow to address what’s already been addressed, in the very same spot where Andy Pettitte admitted his mistake last year. Something tells me A-Rod won’t get the free pass Pettitte has since received, he’s not a True Yankee™©® after all.
So anyway, here’s your open thread for the night. The Knicks, Nets, Rangers and Islanders are all in action. Anything goes, just be nice.
Photo Credit: Gregory Bull, AP
209 Comments»
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he’s not a True Yankee™©® after all.
I enjoyed this.
Is it just me or does it look like he is being crowned?
I guess we got the better end of the a-rod deal huh? Any idea what Arias projects to be?
Down 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, 1-2 count and two down, Cody Ross comes up to the plate, and boom goes the dynamite! I love hitting dramatic homers. Heh, just the other week I was down 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth as the Dodgers (against the Mets in an online match), and Andre Ethier hit a three-run shot to tie the game. Funny thing is the fact that I was down two outs with nobody on.
I think that, with The Rings in tow, it won’t be too bad. Granted, its going to be a shitshow, but I think this press conference tomorrow will go a long way towards bringing this team together and fostering the all important clubhouse chemistry that wins championships.
2009=Big year all around.
“It’s nobody’s business who he chooses to date.” His wife probably didn’t expect him to “date” while married. Was that not nice? Sorry.
Man what you know about this mans love life? nada this bitch wasn’t able to hold the king down.
whoa.. Wang learning how to bunt.
http://www.daylife.com/photo/08Cp52T02vaCP/yankees
I wish Giambi knew how to bunt whenever I saw the shift was on.
So that he never reaches base and therefore runs the bases again
Pitt is doing exactly what it needs to do to beat UConn–keep Thabeet away from the basket.
and body slamming Thabeet
That was a magnificent judo throw.
At the start of the speech he should say I didn’t shove no needles in me…(glance long and hard at pettite) and walk off with a
“Fuck you haters Imma keep shinning!!! MY PISS IS CLEANER THAN TOM BRADYS “
Correction MY PISS IS AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLEANER THAN TOM BRADYS
ARod pisses excellence.
He eats thunder and craps lighting
DaJuan Blair is like…84 times stronger than Hasheem Thabeet.
I remember why I hate Pitt. They look/play so dirty. Blair basically pulled an Arn Anderson move on Thabeetnasty.
Eh, that play wasn’t really dirty.
Man, Adrien has not been finishing lately.
That play wasn’t dirty at all
Blair is also exposing Thabeet; physical play negates his shot blocking ability.
Thabeet always gets outplayed by decent or better big men. He and Adrian have certainly sucked tonight. Luckily, Price is helping them.
Adrien’s offense has been down the last game and a half. Nights like this remind me why I don’t think Thabeet will be any great shakes at the next level.
My thoughts exactly on Thabeet. He is similar to Sheldon Williams always was outplayed by good opponents and I suspect like Williams will never be a force in the pros.
Adrian has been poor offensively, but he also has been poor on defense. He is getting killed by Sam Young tonight.
Regardless, it’s intimidating getting on the bus w/him.
Woo, Austrie!
Terrible game. Fucking awful, awful defense, terrible shooting, and the exposure of Thabeet.
I know I’ve touted him in the past but Hasheem Thabeet is quite possibly the most overrated player in America.
They were horrible outside of Price and Walker. Lousy in every way.
Kemba will be POTY candidate in 2-3 years.
It’s a trade you make a million times out of a million.
Correction: It’s a trade you make a BILLION times out of a million. I know that doesn’t make sense, but still, it’s true.
For all the people saying “OMG, we’ve never won since he’s been here!!!11!1!!1!!”, it’s not like Alfonso Soriano and Joaquin Arias are Born Winners who rack up titles and playoff victories left and right.
I’m not going to start because I will be writing all night , but for the money and all the shit I wonder behind close doors if Cashman and company if the same.
feel the same…..
sorry
Who had a better individual season than Barry Bonds did in 2001? Refresh my memory, what did the Giants win that year? While you’re looking that up, get me the Cards record in 1998 when McGwire hit 70.
I also seem to remember the 1998 Yanks didn’t have a single player who led the league in anything, no starters on the All-Star team, nobody hit more than 30 HRs, and yet they won more games than anyone, ever. How’s that possible?
I don’t preach to me my man I agree with you 100%
I don’t preach to me my man I agree with you 100%
Wow, you agree so much you posted it twice.
LMAO
I think the 1998 Yankees are something of an anomaly. Of the 11 players that got more than 150 AB, only two had OPS+ less than 100 (Joe Girardi-85 and Chad Curtis-90). Of the 12 pitchers that threw more than 15 innings, only two had ERA+ less than 100 (Mike Stanton-81 and Mike Buddie-79).
While that’s a wonderful model to build a team around, the chances of it actually working are exceedingly slim. You have to have exceptional health, avoid injuries, etc.
By definition, any team that wins 114 games is automatically an anomaly. That just doesn’t happen very often.
You’re right about the pitching, but the strength of the lineup was in its quality depth. When they sat down one of their regulars and played a Tim Raines, Chili Davis or Daryll Strawberry, they didn’t lose much. That added to their consistency over the season, and has been something the Yanks have lacked in recent years, a quality bench.
My larger point was not to get too caught up in any one player’s numbers. Its still a team game, and in the case of the 1998 Yanks the sum was greater than any part.
My larger point was not to get too caught up in any one player’s numbers. Its still a team game, and in the case of the 1998 Yanks the sum was greater than any part.
Can I retort by saying that it’s still a team game, and thus we shouldn’t lay the majority of the blame for our team not winning a title on the shoulders of one player and his numerous distractions, but should instead rightly point out that the Yankee teams during ARod’s tenure have been markedly weaker than the ones we had before he got here? That ARod and his media circus is probably 1% of the reason we haven’t won and that Weaver, Brown, Wright, Small, Chacon, Ponson, Rasner, et. al. have been 99% of the reason we haven’t won?
It’s a team game. It requires the majority of the team playing well. ARod has played well. Many, many, many of his teammates have not. ARod has largely been blamed as the symbolic figurehead of the team for most of Tanyon Sturtze, Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa, and Kevin Brown’s failures. That’s a little fucked up.
You’re right, and I’ve tried to make it clear that our pitching was more to blame than Alex was for our recent playoff failures. I think I even did so somewhere in this thread tonight.
But I also think his supporters overestimate him (and the impact of any one hitter) as if we can’t live without him. That’s not the case either.
Of course we can live without him. It’s just not wise or easy to do so.
Why? I saw the Yankees win title after title without a A-Rod type bat on the team. Why now is it such a need to have the leader in HR, run scored, and second most in runs driven in?
I agree I think the need for A-Rod sometimes is a bit overestimated.
Again, I didn’t say we can’t win without ARod. I just said it’s not wise or easy to try to win without ARod. I’m waiting for someone to propose a reasonably smart alternative had we decided to not pursue ARod in either 2003 or 2007.
I think it gets lost sometimes just how good Bernie was during the title years. He may not have hit as many homeruns as A-Rod, but during the chamionship run, Bernie was very nearly as good as A-Rod.
A-Rods OPS+ in his years with the Yankees: 131, 173, 134, 177, 150
Bernie Williams OPS+ in the four title years: 131, 160, 149, 140
Great point.
If they’re good executives, then yes they would agree. Anytime you make decisions like this to make your own life easier instead of trying to win more games, it’s a certain recipe for failure.
Well said, I’m not sure if I agree 100 %, but thats a interesting way to look at it.
Yup. I’ll take 14 years of media circuses and 14 years of idiots in the media calling our accomplishments tainted over 14 years of not having ARod’s amazing bat in the lineup and 14 years of not being the preseason favorites of the division.
Without ARod, our playoff streak would have ended earlier. Without ARod, we don’t have as good of a chance of winning a title. There’s only a tiny handful of players who are anything but a dramatic downgrade from ARod, and most of them aren’t available to us. We have been better with him from 2004 to the present; we stand to be better with him from the present to the future.
A title would be nice.
I agree. What you won’t admit though, is that it’s undoubtedly harder for us to win that title without ARod. We all would love to dump ARod and his media circus provided that we can replace him with a different player who provides the same team-carrying offense at a premium defensive position. Problem is, that player doesn’t exist.
Unless you happen to have some naked photos of Bill DeWitt Jr. we can use to blackmail him into giving us Albert Pujols, every other scenario involves us taking a step back in not only the media histrionics but also in the competitveness categories.
ARod MAKES US BETTER. Not having ARod MAKES US WORSE. When you can show me a scenario where we’re still a title-worthy team without ARod, I’ll start agreeing with you.
We haven’t had the pitching to win a title, but he certainly has done nothing in the playoffs in recent years to help us.
When Daryll Strawberry was the lightning rod for the 80′s Mets, his teammates loved it, because he was a good teammate (first guy out of the dugout when a fight broke out) and the press would leave the rest of them alone. And Daryll loved the spotlight, he thrived under pressure. Same could be said for Reggie in the late 70′s. Egocentric, self absorbed psycho-babbling bitch, just like Alex. But he did his best work in the World Series. He LOVED the bright lights. Came here to play on the biggest stage possible.
But in Alex’s case, his teammates are constantly being asked to support Alex, explain why Alex did this or that, help Alex fit in, etc etc. In his case, he doesn’t relieve the burden on a team, he adds to it. He’s a needy bitch. A gorgeous one stat wise, but if you ever dated a beautiful, needy bitch it gets old fast. And I’m tired of Alex.
LMAO……….. Well said and for that your going to get to fight these guys all night long.
I must handed it you I didn’t thinking anyone would go there, but I’m so happy you did.
WELL DONE.
Nah, I like most of the Alex supporters around here, and to a certain extent I’ve agreed with them until recently. Though I will admit I’ve always had my doubts about him.
But I’m just so sick of all the drama that surrounds this guy. It’s hard enough to win Baseball games without all this bullshit.
Totally agree I feel the same.
You’re both right, it is hard to win baseball games with all the Alex bullshit. It’s just way harder to win baseball games without a legit middle of the order bat.
Agree.
I just hope that now that Yankees have surrounded him with the best team I seen in years that he does his part and I don’t mean just adding to his totals. Because the bullshit is slowly inch closer to his overall value and the excuses are starting to get thin.
Winning makes all the crap a lot easier to deal with.
I just hope that … he does his part and I don’t mean just adding to his totals.
ARod “adding to his totals” helps us win ballgames. ARod “adding to his totals” has never, ever, ever, ever been a bad thing.
Last September adding to his totals didn’t mean shit. It would of been a lot nicer if he did it in August.
Last August ARod put up an .847 OPS. Meanwhile, Andy Pettitte put up a 5.84 ERA, Darrell Rasner put up a 5.52, and Sidney Ponson put up a 5.29.
So, again, ARod is NOT the reason we sucked in August.
He also went on something like a 3 for 32 stretches during some critical series that month.
Look Tommie the guy is a great player and I know that my criticism of him sometimes is a bit much. But I just want the guy to deliver the Yankees to promise land already. It’s been five years and all we can do is put up his stats. I the greed fucking Yankees fan that I’m want some rings.
I know, I know. You’re not illogical, just demanding.
VERY demanding. It’s far from the worst character trait ever. You’re good with me, our disagreements notwithstanding.
ahahah fam check reggies post season numbers….. he had mad series where he didnt walk/hit. In the series where arod has had an awful average he has still walked a fair amount. reggie was an ok post season player. and not the player alex is. Not in his wildest dreams
DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ.
5 World Series
Team W-L 4-1
G 27
AB 98
R 21
H 35
HR 10
RBI 24
BA .357
OBP .457
SLG .755
That’s how you earn the nickname “Mr October”
BINGO !!!!
Your quickly becoming my favorite commentator.
Anyone see Bruney on MLB Hot Stove?
Im loving his attitude.
yeah, he was funny.
haha yeah I just saw the repeat of it, he really brought it to Harold Reynolds.
Even if Boras loses manny as a client that hardly means he is in some sort of decline as an agent. He is representing big talent in the draft and a ton of players still in the sport. He had so many players in free agency this off season alone, he had to bring down a team bigger than any other executive groups representing an organization. I think you guys were the ones that posted that here – that speaks volumes about his agency and far more than any manny situation.
Not to mention, Boras is still arods agent in case any one has not noticed. That whole ex-communicating boras from the negotiations was clearly a ploy worked out by the two of them to get back in the yankees good graces after costing them rangers money and totally misjudging the yankees reaction. Boras still played a key role in arods contract Im sure as arod had almost no leverage at that point and cash still gave him everything he asked for,
I dont know why people still think arod actually told boras to get out. Then, after the negotiations, arod decided to take boras on again? Ummm no. Yanks were pissed – boras told arod to blame him, arod pretended like it was all boras and he was finished and the yanks came back to the negotiation table with offers flying – tht is the magic of boras. I think its called the art of deception.
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I’d love A-Rod to really come clean and say where he got it and who knew e.g. players, management , excets etc.
Blow it all open and get the steriod era over with
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http://www.bustedtees.com/yieldtosnitchin
This is still my favorite:
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In all seriousness, that’s information that could get him killed if the wrong people are behind it.
OK maybe he should not say exctly who/where he got them as maybe that is admitting to abuse of a controlled substance.
However I’d like to see him do a Giambi and say we all need to admit wrong.
I think if those who run MLB teams and those who run MLB in general did not know what was going on they are either incredably ignorant or in pathologic denial.
But didn’t he do that already? A-Rod said more in his interview than Giambi did in his press conference.
yeah, Giambi’s press conference was hilariously bad, but everyone gave him a pass b/c he hit that HR in the rain that time.
“i’m here to apologize for something…i can’t say what that is, but i’m sorry i did that think that i can’t say”
True, but I think the beat writers knew he had legal and MLB-discipline related issues as to why he couldn’t come out and say it. As it was, Selig called Jason to his office over what little he said.
right, he couldn’t be honest b/c there was MONEY at stake.
what a guy.
Please list all of the illegal, unethical things you’ve done in your life. Once I get that list, I will listen to your complaints about other people not admitting to illegal activities they’ve committed.
I have smoked marijuana, just once and only once. That is all.
I once did not come to a complete stop at a stop sign. I feel ashamed, I would like to apologize to all my NJ fans. It was a loosey goosey area and I was young and stupid. I had just got a job at GNC and I felt an enormous amount of pressure.
IETC.
Only about 75 mil.
You of course, tip the pilot of your Gulfstream 450 with 75 mil, but the rest of us might alter a few words we say to keep it. Call us crazy.
lol. i mangled my point and got sidetracked. wasn’t really trying to criticize Giambi, just support my opinion that Giambi’s apology was way worse than Alex’s.
but who cares? they were both dishonest and both lied to make a ton of money.
A-Rod got those HR bonuses, but Giambi’s $120M contract was earned dishonestly. it’s the exact same thing.
and Giambi has largely gotten a pass for it.
I still don’t understand why an admission of steroid usage isn’t sufficient.
One was to Peter Gammons, I’m sure the NY media has some questions that Gammons didn’t ask
I still don’t understand why anyone takes anything that Alex says seriously.
-He lied to owner Ton Hicks about steroid use in Texas
-He lied to Katie Couric about his steroid use
-He lied to Peter Gammons about Selena Roberts “breaking into his house” among other things
-He’s passed himself off for years as ‘The Next CLEAN HR Champ’ which he knew wasn’t true
-He signed a new contract with incentives based on his becoming the ‘Clean HR champ’ which he knew was false.
You have to be a fool to believe a word he says tomorrow. Not because I say so, but based on his track record for truthiness.
-He’s passed himself off for years as ‘The Next CLEAN HR Champ’ which he knew wasn’t true
That’s not true at all. The media proclaimed him the hope for a squeaky clean HR champ, he never said anything about it. It was all hoisted upon him, and he never said a word about it. He couldn’t have lied about it because he didn’t say anything.
Furthermore,
“-He lied to owner Ton Hicks about steroid use in Texas”
Tom Hicks probably never asked him. Because he didn’t want to know; none of the owners wanted to know. Any owner who tells you that he went and asked his players if they were using is a liar. Any owner who tells you he instructed his people to make sure his club was clean is a liar.
“-He signed a new contract with incentives based on his becoming the ‘Clean HR champ’ which he knew was false.”
He signed a new contract in order to get the most money he possibly could. The HR bonuses are a way to put performance-based incentives into the deal without violating the CBA. It’s a compromise between ARod and the Yankees that allows the team to pay less if ARod for some reason tails off in production levels.
I don’t get why Yankee fans are so up in arms about those HR bonuses. If he hits all 5 of those bonuses, it means he has been productive for us. That’s a good thing, the records don’t really matter.
“Texas Rangers owner feels ‘betrayed’ by Alex Rodriguez
Rangers owner Tom Hicks said he feels “personally betrayed” and deceived by Alex Rodriguez after Rodriguez admitted Monday in an ESPN interview that he used performance-enhancing drugs while with the Rangers from 2001 to 2003.
Sounding angry and disappointed in a conference call Monday, Hicks said he asked Rodriguez, while the slugger was playing for Texas, if he was taking steroids.
“Not in an accusatory way, but I certainly asked the question in a way where I came away with a clear answer that he had much too much respect of his body to ever do anything like that to hurt it with steroids,” Hicks said.
Rodriguez, 33, apologized to Rangers fans during the interview, but Hicks said he isn’t ready to forgive.
“I’d rather have one further apology to the owner of the Texas Rangers who signed him to that contract,” Hicks said. “Then I’ll decide if I accept that apology.”
.
.
.
Hicks said he had reservations about when Rodriguez began using performance-enhancing drugs.
“I certainly don’t believe that if he’s now admitting that he started using when he came to the Texas Rangers, why should I believe that it didn’t start before he came to the Texas Rangers?” he said.
.
.
.
Hicks said he gave Rodriguez, who was 25 years old when he signed his deal with the Rangers, financial counseling and introduced him to others who could help.
Hicks said he thought he mentored Rodriguez at an early age. He had frequent conversations with him and hosted Rodriguez’s rehearsal dinner at his house when Rodriguez married Cynthia in 2002. The couple divorced, though Cynthia was with Rodriguez for his ESPN interview Monday.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/shar.....c4291.html
Keep in mind that you’re quoting the owner of the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers are basically ground fucking zero for the late ’90s-early ’00s steroid boom. ARod, IRod, Juan Gone, Canseco, Palmeiro, Clayton, Kapler, Ledee, Segui, Dean Palmer, etc. etc. etc. And that’s only the guys we already know about, it doesn’t include the other guys people have huge suspicions about (Tex, Hafner, Tatis, Greer, Clark, etc. etc. etc.
So, pardon me if I think Tom Hicks is a gigantic lying douchebag. Like, 50% of the publicly admitted or suspected juicers made their way through Tom Hicks Rangers at some point in the past two decades. The concept that he had no fucking clue that steroids were around his clubhouse is preposterously ridiculous. I think this “conversation” with ARod where he asked his superstar if he was juicing occurred in his imagination in order to retrofit a backstory to his righteous indignation.
Tom Hicks is a lying bastard.
He also outbids himself.
And Alex isn’t?
If anything, we’ve seen caught Alex in numerous lies. I don’t see anything that directly connects Hicks to a lie in the same manner that we’ve seen Alex get caught lying recently. If you know about something I don’t, please link it because I haven’t seen it.
Also, many owners have huge businesses where they make their real money, Baseball teams are a toy to them. To think most of them are patrolling the clubhouse all day and/or are aware of what’s going on with the team on a daily basis simply isn’t the case. Most of them hire guys to run their teams, and stay out of the way. Steinbrenner was unusual in that sense, he was very hands on. Most aren’t that way.
I kinda want the home run king to be a Yankee again anyway … being a Yankee fan who hates A-Rod is just cutting your nose to spite your face. I think by the end of A-Rod’s career, he’ll have at least some of the respect he deserves…he never lost mine. I really don’t care that he’s a man-diva with a 9 digit bank account who used PEDs – the guy is one of the best baseball players ever regardless and he’s worked his ass off to get there. Now he’s the best player on the Yankees – that’s all that matters to me. Now if he ever throws a game? THEN I’ll have a problem with the guy.
“He’s passed himself off for years as ‘The Next CLEAN HR Champ’ which he knew wasn’t true”
I stand by every word of that. The media might have sold it, but he never said one honest word to downplay it. He therefore “passed himself off” as being something he was not.
He also signed a contract LOADED with incentives, based on this entire premise. He not only passed himself off as being the clean HR guy, but capitalized on the fraud as well. I don’t know what else could prove that any more clearly.
“guys, guys, hold on one second, don’t you know i’m not clean??” – arod to a group of reporters asking him if hes excited to chase Bonds, some time in 2006
what did you want the guy to do?
I don’t expect that, he just has to take the abuse now that he’s been outed. No spreading the blame, bitching about the other 103 unnamed players, attacking reporters who are doing their job. Just man up and take the blame.
The fact that so many people think that an admission of steroid usage is insufficient, even in the context of bold faced denials by Bonds, Clemens, etc. (and silence by tens if not hundreds of other users), in some ways makes his prior lies understandable if not justifiable.
All I wanted was an admission of usage. I don’t care about anything else he has to say.
btw, Hicks’s clubhouse was so full of steroid users that I’m not sure that he would understood the truth even if it hit him in the face.
Like torre and arod or hate them, you have to say one thing about them – they made the off-season a little more eventful for us.
I dont understand why it would even enter the minds of players like melky and aceves to join the wbc. They both only really have spring training to prove to the team that they should actually be brought to the bronx or they will be forced to rely on someone else’s injuries or failures for a promotion. But they still have the oppurtunity to make the club. What are the chances that they could both head over to the wbc against some of the better hitting and pitching around and actually perform decently in their limited playing time while there. I dont even know why they would put themselves in that kind of more difficult position. I say actually make it to being a major league player before you go play in the wbc or at the very least, put your job as a higher priority than some meaningless tournament in which they probably wouldnt even play all that much.
Well neither one is going to the WBC, so looks like they agree with you
seriously dude, what are you talking about?
there is a thread like 6 inches down the page called “Aceves to skip the WBC”
that doesn’t mean he’s going to skip to the mound while pitching for Mexico.
it means he’s not playing.
that doesn’t mean he’s going to skip to the mound while pitching for Mexico.
Heh, I laughed at the mental image.
The Mexican Gangster doesnt skip he cripp walks to the mound
Dave is rhetorically wondering why fringe guys like melky and aceves would consider playing in the wbc when it is much more important to be in camp with your big league club.
gotcha. so he’s ripping them for CONSIDERING playing while ulitimately deciding that it is more important to be in camp?
b/c i was worried he didn’t have a point.
I know that steve. I read it but i HAVE been saying fot weeks that it was ridiculous for them to go. I am just happy and not all that surprised they both came to their senses. I am just explaining why it made no sense for them to consider it in the first place and why im glad they changed their minds. Thats all. Make more sense now?
it does now, but you never actually SAID any of that originally
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....d-a-h.html
Allowing the D’Backs to sign and trade their own player, but will it also open up a chance for the Yankees to do so, as mentioned earlier by RAB
That’s some hot bullshit. If Selig and the MLB is going to allow a team to work out a contract agreement at the behest of and for the benefit of a different team in order to run an end around the draft pick compensation rules, I WANT OUR THREE DRAFT PICKS BACK.
This is a blatant double standard. Teams don’t want to sign guys who can help them because they can’t afford to give up a draft pick? OH, BOO HOO!!! Funny how nobody cares about us having to give up draft picks. Fuckers.
First Selig threatens to punish ARod, now this. Selig has utterly eradicated all of his fairness or credibility over the past two weeks. He should resign immediately. I am fucking furious about that bullshit.
It’s anti-Yankee collusion.
That was my first thought. If this goes through, there should be a total fucking shitstorm. Not just from the Yanks either, from the Mets, the Braves, the Phillies and whoever else gave up a draft pick to sign a player.
You don’t want to give up a draft pick? Boo fucking hoo, dems the rules.
And I feel no sympathy either for Cruz, Cabrera, Hudson, and Sheets, either. Nobody will sign you because they have to give up a pick? Lower your salary demands. Or build a fucking time machine and go back to December and accept arbitration. There’s a reason Darren Oliver has a contract and you don’t: He didn’t overprice himself and he predicted the market better than you did.
Bottom line, any 11th hour changes to the draft pick compensation is an egregious violation of the CBA and the Yankees can and should sue the balls off of Selig.
http://tinyurl.com/behee6
When I first saw the headline elsewhere, I just assumed they were going to adjust the draft pick compensation for you know, the future. How they hell can they decide the week that spring training starts to change the rules. It’s asinine. There had better be some sort of compensation back to teams that signed type A’s if their going to change the rules in the middle of the game. Do they ever change the rules in the 7th inning? Hell no. I hope the Yankees make a huge stink about this. Either that or just sign Cruz and the Orlandos and tell everyone to screw.
Orlando snares a line drive throws to Orlando….DOUBLE PLAY
“Boo fucking hoo”
I just love that phrase. I need to use it more often.
I totally agree, but Selig has always had a double standards when it comes to the Yanks.
I can’t see how the other teams are going to let this fly.
Oh my God something we all agree on.
LOL
See, you’re not ALL bad…
(i keed, i keed)
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com.....8;c_id=nyy
I continue to be impressed by him.
Rob,
Yea I mean Alex is so hated and his reputation is so tarnished that he might as well just go all out and make everyone hate him – the users, the non-users, owners, management, mlbpa, why not go for the jugular? I mean its not like arod already is taking this entire thing on his back right now, he might as well start accusing people and writing out lists and dealers. I mean the season is only a month away iM SURE that wouldnt cause a distraction to himself or the players. Better yet, arod should try to get seligs job while he is still playing so that he could really finally take responsibility for the mess he himself is so clearly solely to blame for and just clean it all up by himself while helping the yanks win the world series. And i bet yankee fans will still boo him but thats ok because he deserves it for having a somewhat strange personal life and having the biggest contract (even though he is the best player but what does that have to do with it anyways.)
I love A-Rod, always have and always will. Its pretty sad how dogmatic society can be … sigh – steroids haven’t affected my opinion of him at all. I’ve supported Bonds (its a sin he isn’t going to be a 1st round HOFer, let alone possibly never get in) and I definitely got nothing but love for Clemens. My heart sank when I saw the news A-Rod did steroids … but that’s because I knew all the unfair, arbitrary, sanctimonious bullshit he was about to go through, not because I think he at all “tainted” the game. Off the top of my head, greenies, cocaine, and segregation are just as bad as steroids … god forbid a player try to improve the his performance.
AD,
Im glad they wisened up and realized their job was more important than a meaningless tournament. it would be nice if gardner and melky actually provided competition against eachother rather than picking the better of two bads.
DAVE:
http://i435.photobucket.com/al.....tton-1.jpg
damn, I thought the open threads had a different format because i didnt see the pages on the sides.i gotcha though
Thanks.
You’re welcome, tommie.
And thank you.
(Told you I’d use it…)
I wonder what MLB will do about MVP’s.JUan Gonzalez(2:1996,1998),Miguel Tejeda(1:2002),A-Rod(3:2003,2005,2007) and so many more.To me that hurts the game more.Guys who are boarderline hall of famers could use those silver sluggers and MVP’s to make them better.
Somewhat ironically, MLB will do exactly what they should do: nothing.
You can’t go back in time and start invalidating records, awards, and results. You’re opening up a gigantic can of worms. Unworkable and wrongheaded. We don’t want to and can’t start going down that road.
Ummm…. you forgot the most obvious ones: Bonds 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
And Ken Caminiti, who admitted using steroids when he won the 1996 MVP.
It seems like it would be a shorter list to list the MVPs that are believed to be clean during their MVP year.
Canseco, Giambi, Mo Vaughn….
I as all Yankee fans were very happy that they traded for ARod 5 yrs ago today.
Now, knowing what we know now and how this all played out there is no doubt in my mind that they would of let him walk after he opted out. Arod and his little fragile ego are not going to survive 9 more years of this circus. He is forever scarred and all his stats could be flushed down the crapper and this is killing him inside. He knew all of the records and stats that meant something in the baseball world and he knew where he stood among the legends. Now he is nothing more then a cheater and a liar. Is it fair? No, but life is not fair.
maybe all of that will allow him to loosen up and hit better in the playoffs? if his stats don’t matter any more, than maybe he’ll just let himself be a baseball player.
no one knows what the next 9 years hold. maybe he dominates. it’s not like he’s never been booed before…
So, I’m about 250 pages into the Torre book, and I gotta admit, it’s a great read for Yankee fans. I was torn for a while on whether or not to get the book, as Torre came off as a hypocritical bitter phony writing it in the first place. Then again, growing up in the midst of that dynasty made me very interested in the book’s contents. This inner-conflict was rendered moot when my girlfriend bought me the book (score!). Now that all the hubbub from the book has died down (courtesy of A-Rod), it really is not the Yankee-bashing book it’s been made out to be by the media, but more of a chronicle of Torre’s years here, addressing both the good and the bad. Very interesting stuff
the Torre book? that’s soooo late January.
I will not contribute to Verdoosh. I hate him.
Well I’m not surprised, I got the book but haven’t started reading it… all that mess a few weeks ago was just to try to get people like us to buy the book. It worked, oh well.
I really hope that douchebag of a FBI agent gets shot during this season of “24″.
No way dude. He’s the mastermind behind the whole conspiracy.
I knew that broad was in on it.
I’m glad the “other” douchebag FBI agent was the mole, Jeanine Garofalo is too awesome to be evil.
Man, I knew she looked familiar, but I never put too much thought into trying to figure it out who it was.
She looks a little … thicker than I remember.
Heh, I remember that episode of “Seinfeld” she did when she was the girlfriend of Jerry’s and they were basically twins.
I’ve swept myself off my feet!!!
First mutual breakup in history.
Annie Wersching is hot. She’s the female FBI agent following Jack around.
All the A-Rod steroid scandal and Torre book news made me forget about the Jobs DUI. It seems like such a long time ago.
I had completely forgotten about that until you posted
Cause people are too busy deciding that the Yankees need to figure out what to do with him.
I don’t understand how the Yankees haven’t made up their minds about where to put Joba, made any official statements regarding the issue, and how come Joba has kept quiet too?
Stealth training?
Hey, it worked with Teixeira.
Since when have they not made up their mind, He’s a starter.
Sarcasm, yo.
Joel Sherman is a stupid person: http://blogs.nypost.com/sports.....ba_an.html
Why are you so dumb, sir?
This made me picture Jamie Moyer coming out to hells bells in the 9th and getting shelled
What is he trying to say? Like a toss up?
He meant to say it wasn’t a slam dunk, as in an easy decision.
I thought he meant more like a finger roll off the glass.
Facepalm.
and so this shall be the official Yankee facepalm meme image.
Here’s the stupidity defining moment in Sherman’s open letter in defiance of logic:
Yes, because you, Joel Sherman, have not yet mastered the concrete stage as outlined by Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development, where children master the concepts of Seriation, Decentering and Conservation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....evelopment
Joel Sherman is operating under the basic assumption that pitching in 60 games is better than pitching in only 30, because 60 is bigger than 30, and ignoring that a reliever “impacting” 30 games is only impacting 1/9th of that game, making his contribution, while in a “higher leverage” situation less impactful, while a starter “impacting” only 30 games is impacting 6/9ths of that game (or possibly more), and thus, actually can have dramatic impact on that came, regardless of the leverage index of those 6/9ths of that game.
Joel Sherman thinks that 60 shots of Patron will get you drunker than 30 bottles of Patron.
Wow. I’ve never heard it put quite like that before, but yes, I believe you’ve expounded upon the basic psychology underlining of Sherman’s stupidity.
This comment wins.
Joel Sherman thinks that 60 shots of Patron will get you drunker than 30 bottles of Patron.
My God tommie, if you were a woman . . .
Haha..he subscribes to the 2 quarters is better than 1 dollar because 2 is bigger than 1 theory. Got it.
“In those 200-or-so innings for a starter how many would you define as game-on-the-line high leverage? With someone such as Lidge or Papelbon or Rivera, just about every pitch they throw in a season is in a game-deciding moment. That is why the 70/200 thing doesn’t work for me. I can just as easily say would you rather have a pitcher impact 60 games (like a reliever) or 30 games (like a starter).”
Because (as we all know) you can’t lose a game in the 4th inning. But in those pressure packed 9th innings when you have to get 3 outs before you give up 3 runs, that where heroes are born.
Or maybe, you just don’t NOTICE it when you lose a game in the 4th inning. . . . . . nah.
They don’t even play any fancy intro music when the pitcher comes out for the 4th, so it can’t mean much.
But in those pressure packed 9th innings when you have to get 3 outs before you give up 3 runs, that where heroes are born.
That made me laugh.
Mission accomplished.
Pitcher VORP for 2008:
Jaime Moyer: 39.7
Brad Lidge: 26.5
Eww, you VORPie, you.
Jamal G = Jon Heyman?!
Jamal G = Awesome.
*Sorry, I’ve been watching a lot of How I Met Your Mother lately, and Neil Patrick Harris’ character, Barney, is the man; he’s all sorts of awesome.
Using WAR:
Moyer: +2.6
Lidge: +2.2
And that’s 150 year old Jamie Moyer having a good, but not great season while Lidge did his best Shiva God of Death impression out of the pen all year.
I saw Brad Lidge win many games last year with my own eyes.
I never saw Jamie Moyer win jack squat.
Actually Joel Sherman it is a lay-up they would take Beckett EVERY TIME even though their pen isn’t the greatest.
They could just have Smoltz close this season or Wake or easily make a trade.
From the comment section:
Here’s the botton line with Joba: Top of the rotation starters are available every year: The Mets got Santana last year, the Yanks got Sabathia this year, Peavy is on the block, Sheets will be available and — according to Joel –Halladay might be too expensive for Toronto.
But how many ice-water-in-the-veins closers are out there? This year was an anamoly, but only K-Rod really fit the bill.
And, in support of Joel’s argument, how would last season have ended if the Mets had Joba coming out of the pen down the stretch?
I’ll say it again for the blue seats to hear: PUT JOBA IN THE PEN ONCE AND FOR ALL and sign Sheets as a late-season backup.
Posted by: O Coelho on February 16, 2009 9:59 AM
Really? Top of the rotation starters are available every year? Really?
That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about anything ever.
Normally I wouldn’t be a douche and bust someone’s balls over a statement like this, but Bill Madden’s “the Yankees should cut teh cancer A*ROID and eat $270M for teh good of teh game and teh good of teh clubhouse and I’m teh stupid fucking idiot who has no idea what teh fuck I am spewing because I am so dumb” article the other day takes the cake.
+1
You know, sometimes I think that I may be coming off a bit pretentious with all this “mediot” basihing, but then I read another article like this and I feel that much better about myself.
Just saw Bruney on Hot stove. Looks like he’s ready already, I don’t think he’s on
USA’s roster but he should be.
BTW WTF is with this chimpanzee? Has anyone considered that it’s not a good idea to teach chimps how to open car doors and smoke and drink wine? No I’m not making this up The damn thing couldn’t open a door on the police car so he went to the other door and opened it. We’d be better off leaving the damn things in the wild thean having them in a zoo being taught how to do all this BS.
Yeah, I just saw that in the news. Crazy.
I am starting to get annoyed with the Hot Stove show on the MLB Network; they have awesome content but the analysts are such morons. Barry Larkin just said that, “Ken Griffey Jr. can play you a Gold Glove center field, right field or left field”. Really, guy? Really?!
Yeah, I haven’t watched much since the A-Rod thing. But good Lord, that three hour BBTN that was on last night was just brutal. They tried to make Kruk look smart by putting glasses on him.
After that shitshow last night, my goal is to watch as little BBTN as possible in ’09.
I have to hand it to Baseball Tonight, they are the one media outlet that even my masochist ass can’t enjoy. The reason I like checking out Mike Francesa and the two New York tabloids is because I love the stupidly; it’s entertainment for me. However, BBTN is just so moronic, I can’t sit through it. I literally can not sit through ten minutes of that crap anymore. Whether its Steve Berthiamue’s Boston homer-ism, or Kruk’s and Steve Phillips’ endless idiocy, it’s just too much for me to handle.
I laugh wistfully when I remember myself as a teenager. I thought Peter Gammons was the most awesomest reporter ever, and Baseball Tonight was appointment viewing. I felt like I was missing out if I missed BBTN.
Yeah, that was me prior to the 2007-2008 off-season.
BBTN is useful as a central place to get highlights of every game in an hour. They should leave the analysis to us mother’s basement dwellers though.
There’s certainly a change in our (sports fans in general) viewing habits (as we become more sophisticated in our analysis and desire more sophisticated content), but another factor is that BBTN has been considerably dumbed-down in the last 10-15 years. That show was very different in the early to mid-90s.
Oh he can, for a day or two.
“I grew up in a family where there was zero tolerance,” Teixeira said. “There were no drugs, there was no alcohol. That kind of stuff just didn’t fly.”
Wow. Where do I sign up to be in the barrel of fun known as the Teixeira household?
Holy fuck I can not wait for the season to start.
Holy fuck, I can’t wait for Street Fighter 4 to come in the mail tomorrow. Speaking of which, if it ships tomorrow, and I ordered overnight shipping, does it get here tomorrow or Wednesday?
Wed. Sometimes they ship early so it is received on the release date…but that if your lucky and the mail doesn’t suck after a holiday
I’d bet Wednesday. I should be getting my copy of The Show this week.
Oooh, I heard they specifically worked on player progression; this is from a guy from Operation Sports: http://tinyurl.com/cj4jz4
Epic WIN.
Nobody likes a bragger. Haha. So jealous.
Heh, this is a comment from the Sherman blog post:
Alrighty then…
Holy crap, new Propagandhi album.
Holy Shit. 13 yr old boy had baby with 15 yr old girl in England. Kid looks like hes about 10. Unbelievable.
i saw that… very sexy stuff!
nice