Archive for February, 2009
Open Thread: How much does that scoop cost?
Posted by: | CommentsEver wonder how SI.com’s Jon Heyman ends up breaking so many signings? Sounds like Rich Lederer of The Baseball Analysts has a reasonable explanation (h/t The Yankee Universe). He starts off by noting Heyman’s recent breaking of the Jason Varitek signing, and then makes an observation regarding Heyman’s biography:
If you’re wondering how Heyman got wind of the news before any of the Boston beat writers or columnists, be aware that he had Mark Teixeira going to the Yankees before anyone else and, according to his biography, also “broke the story of Barry Bonds going to the Giants in 1992…Alex Rodriguez going to the Yankees in 2004, A-Rod opting out of his $252-million contract in 2007 and Manny Ramirez going to the Dodgers in 2008.”
Let’s see here. Is there a common thread among Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek, and Barry Bonds? There’s got to be something. What could they all have in common? Oh yeah! They were all represented by Scott Boras at the time of those respective transactions. Is Heyman then a media puppet, used by Boras to hype up his clients in exchange for scoops on those clients signing? Lederer apparently thinks so.
You see, Boras throws Heyman a bone on a Tek or Tex signing but also uses him to spread rumors about the level of interest and terms in ongoing free agent negotiations to create a false sense of demand. Teams that fall for this trick wind up competing against themselves, which is exactly what Boras desires.
While Boras is no fool, Heyman is a tool for the Scott Boras Corporation. Boras knows how to game the system to get the best deals for his clients and will gladly use Heyman as long as the latter plays along or until the market realizes what is going on. As it stands now, it’s almost as if Heyman, who is no stranger to the Boras suites during the winter meetings, is on the SBC payroll.
Lederer goes on to chronicle Heyman’s work regarding Manny Ramirez, starting with his trade to Los Angeles last summer and going all the way through January 28. Given the emphasis Lederer puts on certain lines, I can completely understand why he comes to the puppet-master conclusion.
This does work out for us fans in some way. We hear about signings rather early, as we saw during the Teixeira saga. Since it’s information we crave, this works out well. However, it also creates a mass of false information in the interim, which can be bothersome. We can filter out this noise, however, and just concentrate on Heyman’s “this is a done deal” reports. In other words, I’d recommend subscribing to his blog so you can find out about things like the Mets agreeing in principle with Oliver Perez. For the rest of the material, though, you might want to familiarize yourself with the “Mark as Read” button.
This is your open thread for the evening. The local teams are off in hockey, the Knicks host L.A. in the only local pro hoops action, and new No. 1 UConn heads to No. 7 Louisville (Go Huskies, right Matt?).
Caribbean Series kicks off today
Posted by: | CommentsToday is Day One of the Serie del Carib, which runs through the end of the week. MLB Network is carrying the Venezuela-Dominican Republic game at 5pm Eastern, as well as the Mexico-Puerto Rico matchup at 10pm, so if you’re yearning for some live baseball action, here’s a nice little hold over. Maury Brown at The Biz of Baseball has the rest of the broadcast schedule, including the announcers.
There are no current Yankees (minors or majors) playing this year, but there are some notable ex-Yanks in the event, namely Felix Rodriguez, D’angelo Jimenez, Ruben Rivera and Jackson Melian. By far the best big leaguer playing is the Padres’ Adrian Gonzalez, who’s suiting up for Mexico and will be a teammate of Bill Pulsipher. Yes, that Bill Pulsipher. Jorge Aranguare Jr. of ESPN took a deeper look at each team’s roster.
Enjoy the games if you’re going to watch.
As Torre backpedals, Moose calls out former boss
Posted by: | CommentsThe Joe Torre Book Tour gets started tomorrow afternoon at the Barnes & Noble at 46th and Fifth Ave., and the general consensus is that this book tour will make or break his Yankee reputation. He isn’t off to a great start.
The big issue right now revolves around his critiques of A-Rod. As Neil Best writes today, Torre is attempting to backtrack on his A-Fraud comments. On his Friday appearance on Larry King Live, Torre claimed that his less-than-glowing nickname for the Yanks’ third baseman was simply a joke. I don’t buy it and neither, it seems, does Mike Mussina.
In the Bob Klapisch column linked above, Mussina opines on this debacle, and his words ring true:
“Joe has started something that a lot of people are going to have to answer to,” Mike Mussina said by telephone on Thursday. “Joe’s going to have to answer to it too, but it won’t be as bad for him because he’s with the Dodgers now. But it’s going to be bad for the guys he left behind.”
[snip]
Mussina said, “it’s not just what goes on in the clubhouse, it’s sitting on the bus, or if you’re out having lunch. As a ballplayer you need to know who you have to watch out for and who you can trust. First and foremost, you should be able to trust your manager.
“I mean, people knew that Brown was out there, and that Randy was ornery all the time. And Pavano is whoever he is. But if you’re their manager, you can’t go out and write about them like that.”
This gets back to an issue that will plague Torre in two weeks. He will show up for Spring Training in Glendale, Arizona, and confront a bunch of players who have, for weeks, heard about Torre’s throwing the guys he doesn’t like under the bus. Would you trust your manager with that knowledge? I don’t understand why Torre wrote the book, but things aren’t looking good for Torre’s reputation.
The eighth highest paid man in all the game
Posted by: | CommentsSports Business Journal, via Maury Brown, reports that Bud Selig’s total compensation exceeded $18 million in 2008. His $18.35 million package put him $7 million ahead of the NFL’s Roger Goddell and makes Bud Selig, the beleaguered commissioner, the eighth highest paid person in baseball in 2008. Suddenly, the Yanks’ spending doesn’t seem so exorbitant, and all of the outrage over escalating salaries may be a bit misdirected.
Could declining sports sponsorships change the sport?
Posted by: | CommentsSports teams seeking new corporate sponsorships in 2009 might find themselves disappointed by a lack of interest. We’re all used to seeing commercials, billboards, and other advertisements from corporate sponsors in the automotive and financial services industries, but the credit crunch is going to suppress their marketing budgets. The result could be the bursting of the sports bubble, Jordan S. Solomon of Gibbons P.C.
That seems pretty obvious, right? If companies are cutting back on their marketing budgets, sports teams will see less money than they’ve been used to in years past. True, baseball and football aren’t as directly reliant on corporate sponsorships as NASCAR, but if there are fewer marketing dollars flowing into our favorite sports, they’ll surely suffer.
We’re seeing signs of this changing tide in the Citi/Mets saga. We’ve long known that Citi would sponsor the Mets new stadium, CitiField. But when the credit crunch started hitting hard this past fall, Citi fell into some trouble. This caused a bit of an uproar about their sponsorship of the stadium. Congressman Dennis Kucinich thinks that the Treasury Department should “demand that Citigroup cancel its $400 million advertisement at the Mets field“. That would certainly have an adverse effect on the Mets ability to keep their payroll at the level it’s been the past few years.
Solomon also points to broadcasting as an area affected by these marketing cutbacks. Since many of these companies also advertise with broadcasters, we will see a cutback there, too. This means broadcasters will likely not pay as much for exclusive rights, as they have in the past. That’s another area which could deal a financial blow to our major sports.
What I do find strange, though, is the assumption Solomon makes at the very end of his article:
eams that are unable to offer the highest salaries will be unable to attract the best players and without the best players, teams will have difficulty winning. Losing teams will have a more difficult time attracting sponsors. It is a vicious cycle that is bound to have a lasting effect on how the sports industry has been operating during this sports bubble, which could be the next bubble to burst.
This is true, but only to an extent. As we’re seeing this winter, many teams aren’t willing to spend. This will drive the price down on free agents — it is a market, after all, and if there aren’t dollars flowing in a market prices will go down. Some teams, possibly of the small market persuasion, will get Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu for a sweetheart price. Not only that, but the team with the biggest wallet has piles of money tied up in future salaries, thus taking them out of the bidding for many free agents, including, by default, those who play first and third base.
What I’m trying to say is that as baseball revenues fall, salaries will fall as well. The teams best positioned for this will be those with smaller and shorter term contracts on the books. If sponsorship and broadcasting rights get squeezed enough, the Yankees, the team with the huge wallet, might find themselves in a tough position because of their current salary commitments. A smaller market team with few long-term contracts, like, say, the Pirates, might find themselves better positioned in a slumping market.
Yankees MtoM Catcher Prospect List
Posted by: | CommentsSteve at Yankees: Minor to Majors posted his list of the organization’s best catching prospects yesterday, and I don’t think I need to tell you who’s number one. I agree with the list entirely, although at first I was thinking PJ Pilitrere over Chase Weems. After thinking about it for a bit, it’s clear that Weems’ upside trumps Pilittere’s probability. Is Jose Gil really only 22? Holy geez, it seems like he’s been around since the days of Nick Johnson. Make sure you head over and check it, Steve’s doing some great things over there.
Musings on Manny
Posted by: | CommentsAs the Steelers sealed the Super Bowl deal tonight, pitchers and catchers started eying their calendars. In less than two weeks, these players will head to points warm for the annual Spring Training rite. While their position player brethren will join them a few days later, a few key players remain unemployed.
Former Yankee Bobby Abreu is still waiting for a job, and Adam Dunn remains unsigned. But the one of the bigger on-field catchers of the Hot Stove League is still out there. After ensuring that options worth a combined $40 million wouldn’t be exercised, Manny Ramirez is still a free agent looking for work.
It’s surprising, in a way, that Manny is still out there. He’s a career .314/.411/.593 hitter with a 155 OPS+. Age hasn’t slowed him down too much, and had Mark Teixeira landed in Boston, he’d probably be Bronx-bound right now. But as fate would have it, Manny, persona non grata on the one team that could really use him, has suffered from the poor economy.
According to the latest reports, Manny may find that a two-year, $30-million offer is the best he can do. It’s hard to imagine Ramirez happy with that deal. It does seem to be all about the money for him.
So I have to wonder about the Yanks. I know the team is, according to GM Brian Cashman, done with their free agent signings. I know they want to get younger all around and better defensively. I know they have too many outfielders. Could the team really pass up Manny at $15 million per though? Travis at Pinstripe Alley pondered this question over the weekend, and I’m almost tempted to agree. Manny the bat is an appealing target, and if the price drops, who could say no?
Open Thread: Super Bowl XLIII
Posted by: | Comments
That’s Super Bowl 43 for those that don’t know how to read Roman numerals once they get beyond X’s, V’s and I’s. Don’t worry, I had to look it up myself.
This year’s matchup is pretty much everything the NFL and NBC could have hoped for. You’ve got the historic power franchise in the Steelers and the feel good underdog in the Cardinals, who are making their first ever trip to the big game. The last time these two teams met was Week Four of the 2007 season, when Pittsburgh walked away with a 21-14 win. That was the second to last game Matt Leinart has started in the NFL.
The Steelers had the league’s best defense by far this year, giving up just 237.2 YPG, nearly 23 YPG less than the next best defensive unit. Only once did a team gain more than 300 yards of total offense against the Steelers this year. The Cards offense, on the other hand, was one the best this year, averaging 365.8 YPG, a distant second in the NFC behind the Saints’ supercharged attack. They racked up at least 300 yards of offense sixteen freaking times this season, so something’s gotta give.
Arizona’s going to rely on University of Pittsburgh product Larry Fitzgerald just like they have all year, but the Steelers held Andre Johnson, TJ Housyomomma , Plaxico Burress, Reggie Wayne, Randy Moss, and Terrell Owens to a grand total of two touchdowns (56.6 YPG on avg) in seven total meetings this season. Troy Polamalu has the ability to match every big play Fitzgerald makes with one of his own.
John Manuel of Baseball America ran through the SB43′s baseball ties earlier this week. Steelers running back Mewelde Moore spend three years in the Padres’ farm system and was rated the system’s 29th best prospect back in 2001. Third string QB Dennis Dixon was the Braves’ fourth round pick in ’07 and is still active in their system, but he didn’t play baseball in ’08 because of a knee injury. Hines Ward is a former 73rd round pick of the Marlins and Cards’ corner Matt Ware spent two years in the Mariners’ farm system. Polamalu was rated the fifth best prospect in the state of Oregon out of high school in 1999, but he instead went to USC on a football scholarship and the rest is history.
Here’s your open thread for the night. I’m assuming SB43 will be the primary topic, but feel free to talk about anything and everything. Just be civil.
Enjoy the game.
The wonderful world of Carl Pavano
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the more obvious aspects of Joe Torre’s book is the former Yankee manager’s dislike of Carl Pavano. At least that’s the one remaining thing upon which Torre and all the people he reportedly skewers in the book can agree. Pavano, on the other hand, isn’t too happy about it.
Writing on the ESPN Radio 1050 AM blog, Andrew Marchand notes a statement by Pavano concerning the book:
“I am extremely disappointed that someone I had a lot of respect for would make these type of comments in his upcoming book,” said Pavano, in a statement released to 1050 ESPN New York through his agent, Tom O’Connell. “I wish nothing but the best for Joe Torre and my former Yankee teammates, but with that said it does explain why I haven’t received any Christmas cards from Joe the last few years.”
Now, I can understand why plenty of Yankees past and present — such as David Wells who called Torre a punk — may take exception with the excommunicated St. Joe’s words. But Pavano shouldn’t look his gift horse in the mouth. The Yanks paid him $40 million to be a fraud. He should take his money and stay out of this, no matter how right he may be in calling out Torre.
Melky out of options
Posted by: | CommentsMLBTR has started to put together it’s annual list of players who are out of options, and this year it includes the Yanks’ very own Melky Cabrera. There was some confusion on our part whether he had used an option last year (mostly because we were too lazy to look), but he did spend 21 days in the minors last year, eating up his final option. His first option was used when he was sent down following his disasterous 2005 debut, the second option was used when he was sent to Triple-A to start 2006. Melky will have to be passed through waivers to be sent to the minors from here on out.
The only other interesting name on the out of options list is the Rays’ Jeff Niemann. He’ll have a very tough time cracking Tampa’s pitching staff, and I’m sure there will be a ton of interest in the former fourth overall pick.
Just 21 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
