Open Thread: Careful what you say
ByAs promised yesterday, today’s Open Thread is dedicated to ribbing people who made some poor comments about the Yankees this season. I’ll try to leave out the trollish comments, since that’s to be expected of a troll. That is, unless it’s too good to pass up.
To start we’ll venture off this blog and over to LoHud, where Pete Abraham was in charge. On March 25, he had this to say.
I would suggest that if the Yankees did not have Alex, they would be far more likely to win over the long term. His 24 + 1 mentality is not conducive to championship play. I realize it’s spring training, but the Yankees have looked terrific. They’re a much better team when they aren’t sitting around waiting for him to hit a home run.
I’m surely not the last one who has pointed this out. Pete’s definitely hearing it from all ends today about this.
(And don’t forget the since-removed Ian O’Connor article on why the Yankees are better off with Cody Ransom than A-Rod.)
How would the Yankees have fared this postseason without Hideki Matsui? I’m glad I don’t have to ponder that too long. But if pc69 had any say in the matter, the Yankees would have DFA’d Matsui in June.
“I know I will catch all kinds of shit for this but Matsui is done and is liability to this team. Just DFA him and pay him his money.”
Sorry, pc69, but as Matt ACTY/BDD said, that’s just monumentally stupid.
From the same thread, Andrew said, “Even if this team makes the playoffs, they are going nowhere.” Oops.
Later that month, when talking about the Yankees performance with runners in scoring position, YankeeScribe said: “The offense lacks balance. I blame Brian Cashman…” It’s chic to blame Cashman, I guess. Sorry, YankeeScribe, but this was a pretty well-balanced offensive attack.
Garry, after the Yanks lost their second game to the Nats, said, “This is not a championship team. End of story.” Glad you’re not the one writing it, bro.
The fire Kevin Long comments always make me chuckle.
Ace, you are so wrong it’s painful. “The Red Sox are a flat-out better team than the Yankees in every facet of the game.” It does get better. On June 29th, he said, “I’d rather give Shelly, who is having a monster power year in AAA, a shot at DHing than have Matsui taking up a roster spot to fail at the only job he is physically able to perform.” He also asked us to come back at the end of August and “we’ll see how your precious Matsui is faring then.” Pretty damn well, Ace. Pretty damn well.
We’ll end this with a comment from yesterday. Yes, at 11:16 a.m. on the day that the Yankees would eventually win their 27th World Series title, Virginia Yankee said, “girardi has recreated 2004.” For the commenters, this gets the biggest oaktag of the season. I still need to ban this guy, I guess, as per my promise.
This took way too long, and there are surely lots more poor comments lingering in older threads. If you want to add to this, use the search function to the right and post what you find in the comments (with links, which are the time stamp).
235 Comments»
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Oh shit. This is gonna be fun. Can’t wait to get home in a hour to get this shit done. I remember a lot of stuff.
My favorite comment I made all year:
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-438978
My favorite comment was just the changing of my name from RAB poster to Rocky Road Redemption.
As soon as I heard Kim Jones say it, I knew: It was perfect.
I’d also like to take this time to say:
Nick Swisher, YOU’RE MY BOY!!!!!
TSJC’d
I assume you’re using that non-sarcastically, unlike I usually do.
Actually, my favorite player is Tex. I LOVE Swishy, don’t get me wrong, but Tex was a guy I championed for in the offseason and I was really disappointed when it looked like the Sox would get him, and then thrilled when we stole him from under thier nose (originally I was disappointed when we got Swishy since I thought it meant we weren’t getting Tex). Tex is the perfect storm for NY, a great player with the right attiude in the prime of his career just waiting for the big stage.
Swishy was awesome in a different way; I didn’t expect him to be much more than a bench player when Nady got hurt, and he exceeded my expectations. Plus, “If I were an ice cream, I’d be a Rocky Road” is the best. Postgame quote. Ever. So in that sense, Swishy is my boy.
Get all that?
Yeah, I get it.
I’m just saying that you saying “YOU’RE MY BOY, SWISHY!!!” is a little different than me saying “YOU’RE MY BOY, SCOTTY!!!”, because I’m saying it in mock derision of Brosius-lovers/ARod-haters.
You’re being sincere in loving Swish. Which is totally a cool thing that I agree with. Yours is genuine, mine is tongue in cheek.
Eh, I was just joking.
Not about the Swishy love, about adding TSJC’d.
R.R.R you mean choking.
Lanny does not approve of you Super Fan-dom, Matt.
Yeah, but it was a different commenting era back then.
It wasn’t arbitrarily set either.
Meh, he was just commenting to the score.
This is hilarious and I’m glad you kept your promise of calling people out.
Don’t forget Adam Schein suggesting the Yankees should trade A-Rod (WHAT!?!) and saying that the Yankees would never win a World Series with A-Rod on the team.
Fuck you, Schein.
Oh man.
I am going to keep reading these while I futilitously attempt to create a postseason WAR for Mariano.
Is it any wonder I have a headache already?
What’s your methodology?
Guess.
(No, really, basically find whatever the formula is for WAR/WARP/VORP, once I figure out which one of these is most useful) and apply it to Mo for the postseason.
No, I don’t know what I’m getting myself into. I haven’t done math since I was 16.
I’d go with WAR because it’s based on FIP. I have no idea what WARP and VORP are based on–I wanna say PRAA/R, but that could be wrong. Basically, you’er gonna have to sift through playoff data from 95-09, convert the figures into runs, and then figure out where Mo fits.
I believe you can also use tRA for calculating another kind of WAR.
I can’t understand tRA. Goes way, way over my head.
Each batted ball type is assigned a run value and it’s calculated that way. It’s like FIP but with more than K/BB/HR.
OH and the values aren’t just randomly assigned; there’s actual math behind it.
WARP is WAR –Wins above Replacement Player vs Wins above Replacement.
Okay, I lied. WAR and WARP try to measure the same things, but use different stats to do so.
11.0
+42
One could spend weeks finding all the dumb comments made by just 4 or 5 commenter’s. All though they might all be the same person.
Yeah, the one’s who’ve been consistently wrong about this team have been the incessantly negative types and the bridge jumpers. The former are unreachable, the latter are monkeys.
in fat pete’s defense, we’ll never know if he is right or wrong; he said, “more likely to win without Alex”
just playing!!!!! he is one sad, sad, fat little man; Go Jankees!!!
It will be an interesting night in the comments. I have this question for the site what apparel will you be buying? I will be buying 2 sweatshirts, probably a hate and some new shirts.
hate is another word for hat.
And love is another word for Centaur.
Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.
I’m getting the on the field sweatshirt, the chamionship hat and t shirt, plus i got the world series hat, program, and chamionship pennant, damn thats a lot
I needed a new Yankees hat, so I bought the on-field World Series one with the two patches. I also needed a jacket, so I grabbed the one Girardi, the other coaches and the front office guys were wearing, and I landed the world champions hooded sweatshirt. I’ll also be buying the World Series DVD. A lot of stuff, but well worth it.
I started by perusing some of the threads you linked from. This one is under the Kevin Long needs to be fired link (that game was the end of the Washington Nationals series loss):
“tampayankee says:
June 18th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Nice and disgracefull. 7 runs against the shittiest team in baseball. That jackass Cashman is staying pat and looking at pitching. This team is destined for fourth place, thankfully Clueless Joe has that 27 on his back to remind him of the championship he will never win.
Forget this weekend with that dead team and the heat in Miami hopefully only go 1-2.”
Where’s THCM and his rewrite of that show with Skip Bayless where verybody on the show agreed the Yankees were destined for fourth place and heading down an organizational abyss?
I remember watching that episode, but I’d love to reread the quotes again straight from the horse’s mouth.
Fuck you, Skip Bayless.
Skip Bayless is a cock.
Better late than never…
(CONVERSATION FROM ESPN’S FIRST AND TEN, 5/18/09):
MIKE (HOST): The boys in the Bronx finally starting to earn that money that they’re making out there, the Yankees on a five-game win streak, 3 consecutive walk-off wins. Ryan – Is this a sign of things to come or just a blip on the radar?
RYAN STEWART (RS): Before the season started, Mike, to me the Yankees were the third best team in the AL East behind Boston and Tampa. Now Toronto’s jumped ahead of a couple of teams, so they’re now the fourth best team in my eyes. I love what this team has done when it comes to the off-season acquisitions and spending the money and going for it. But until the Bombers find a way to put Joba back in the ‘pen, they’re not going to win 85 to 90 ballgames. With all the money that they’ve spent, they still don’t have enough quality arms, and pitching is where it’s at if you want to win in the majors. i like A-Rod and he’s come through a tumultuous time, he’s hit a couple of home runs, he’s got a lot to do, still, but it’s on the mound in my eyes, Mike, they don’t have it there.
DOUG STEWART (DS): I think so. Since they get Alex Rodriguez back, they’re 7-3 with A-Rod, they were 13-14 [DS FUDGES THE NUMBERS A BIT HERE, BUT IT'S A MINOR ERROR] without Alex Rodriguez, and their last 4, their last 7 games, they’ve only given up 4 runs one time. CC Sabathia has pitched OK so far, Mark Teixeira is starting to turn it on, synonymously he always starts out slow so he’s starting to turn things around, and I think that the fact that they have the biggest payroll in baseball means something, and I mean it hasn’t meant a lot over the last couple of years, and i think that right now Joe Girardi is starting to get a feel for this team, the pitching’s been OK, I think this might be a sign that the Yankees are back on the track which they intended to be.
SKIP BAYLESS (SB): I’m with Ryan on this one because the point here was, over the weekend, they were just as close to losing 3 straight games as they were to winning. Just me, I was SHOCKED on Friday, in fact I fell asleep, when it went to the ninth inning because I felt Minnesota had it in the bag because Joe Nathan does not cough up games like that and they got him, or he coughed it up, however you want to look at it, but this is a blip to me, because I’m with you, I still… and I respect, you make valid points, I respect the Yankees… I still think Boston and Tampa are just overall better teams and I think that will show itself over time. I love what Toronto is doing so far, but I think they’ll end up in third place and I think the Yankees could be fourth place in this league.
RS: I’m sorry for cutting you off Mike. With all the money you spent, it shouldn’t come down to a walk-off home run for you to win a ballgame. And i don’t know if the team has confidence in Joe Girardi like they did in Joe Torre. Maybe that’s just a me thing.
HOST: But doesn’t it say something about the team that they’re actually starting to win these type of ballgames, these close ballgames where they were losing them earlier in the season?
SB: Ok. Tampa just quietly won 4 out of 5 and they still got a nuclear weapon down at triple A in David Price, just wait until he comes up. I don’t trust the overall starting pitching enough. And again, A-Rod hit the first pitch he saw for a home run and then he was like hitting .150 for a while. I just don’t know if he’s going to make that much of a difference against two organizations in the Red Sox and Tampa that are overall better.
DS: 2 things… The Yankees haven’t done this, won back-to-back-to-back games with walk-off home runs since 1972, that’s a good indicator, and, Chien-Ming Wang has been doing fantastic in the minor leagues pitching several, you know, scoreless innings so i think they might be turning the corner.
HOST: And AJ Burnett starting to pitch well too, maybe they CAN put Joba back in the bullpen (RS in the background: “That’s what they need to do!”) IF those, uh, starting pitchers come around.
“RS: I’m sorry for cutting you off Mike. With all the money you spent, it shouldn’t come down to a walk-off home run for you to win a ballgame.”
Dude, really? What the fuck?
Funnily enough the Yanks actually did go 1-2 against the Marlins…
Now I gotta go look at that gamethread to see what idiocy tampayankee was dropping there.
My favorite comments was actually an article from ken Rosenthal, when he wrote his mini drama about how shitty the Yankees’ season would be.
Ken is short.
Well when you’ve got no juice, you can’t be very tall.
And that, my friends, says it all…
We have now come full circle with this comment.
The Gammons parodys were pretty funny, albeit not dumb.
http://www.mensjournal.com/brian-cashman
Most egregious. Most wrong. Mmmmm…delicious greed.
I remember reading that and laughing.
Favorite line: “God, is it going to be fun to see. Nothing is more entertaining than watching the rich choke on their own greed.”
That comment goes into the “it’s just a game, dude” files…
Also from that same piece:
“The GM of the New York Yankees may be the worst ever at the best job in the world. Which is why he’ll inevitably fail this year in his shameless attempt to buy a World Series.”
Matt Taibbi, Sux homer and douchebag.
Here are 2 from Charlie in game 2 of the LDS that caused me to no longer follow game threads during the game, but instead laugh at the idoicy after the game had completed:
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-619268
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-619257
Fuck Girardi and Mo.. And I was gone.
Sorry, the first one was wrong.. here is the Mo one:
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-619268
Link Fail.. not sure why it’s not going to the right comment.
It goes to the right comment for me. Wait a sec; the anchorpoints sometimes take an extra beat to load.
There should be a special level of FAIL-hell reserved for Matt Taibbi.
http://www.mensjournal.com/brian-cashman
DUMBEST. ARTICLE. OF. THE. YEAR.
You had the concept right, but the personnel wrong, Matt. It is us who are watching your journalistic acumen jackknife and explode in a giant conflagration of idiotic lunacy and incorrectly predicted grave-dancing. What has gone wrong with American society for the last 8 years is not the Yankees spending largesse, it’s the dumbing down of the American body politic to the level where false narrative (like yours) has replaced dispassionate reason.
Stick to Real Time with Bill Mahr, Taibbi. You’re out of your depth.
IDK. Perlman’s legendary “Don’t like the Yankees because I said so”, and the one I found about the guy who said everybody in baseball was stupid, especially if they had a college degree, are both VERY much in contention.
Although there’s a phrase I liked. He likened Cashman to a “cabbage in heels.”
While obviously it’s one of the biggest wastes of cognitive energy I’ve ever spent, picture it for a second, a cabbage in heels.
Worthy of beginning-era Disney & Dali.
this is all i had for cabbage and heels
http://www.innerrhythmstudios......_patch.jpg
mildly nsfw
Big ups for posting that shitty, shitty Taibbi article, i remember catching that nonsense in april. Hilarious when writing about Sarah Palin… Brian Cashman, not so much… when it comes to baseball hes a homeristic red sox douchebag.
Nick Saint at Business Insider wrote a scathing rebuttal after the yanks clinched the ALCS, worth the read: http://www.businessinsider.com.....-0-2009-10
wow. my world has been rocked. my socks are off. It’s almost like an intelligent-business-journal caliber writer wrote an article about baseball…that was actually intelligent! I especially loved the part about how buying a world series IS a general manager’s job. God that was a good read. Almost as if FJM had come back to life for one last article, except instead of ripping it up bullet-point style, he wrote an epic, sprawling diatribe that may have been the best baseball-related article anybody has ever gotten paid to write.
Red Sox land Hermida for 2 minor leaguers. Is this their Swisher-esque insurance policy in case they don’t land the big fish free agent to fill LF?
Pretty good move by the Sox. They also didn’t give up anything to get him either. I was hoping that Yanks might try to pick him up if he was non tendered by the Marlins.
Probably.
I’m more intrigued by the Royals flipping Mark Teahen for Chris Getz and Josh Fields. If they nail the deal down (MLBTR says it’s on-again, off-again), that may be the ever so rare “This is a win for both teams”. I think both Royals fans and Sox fans can be pleased with that swap.
So Hermida is supposed to be Insurance policy against potentially losing Jason Bay? Hmm. They still need to hold onto Bay. Hermida shouldn’t be counted on to put up loftier stats than JD Drew.
Hermida could be a trade chip offered for another run at Felix Hernandez.
Meh, Hermida’s not going to get you much in a trade.
Wasnt he a non-tender candidate? That sub-.400 SLG is ugly, although some of that is due to the stadium i assume. But still you have to laugh at the posts at MLBTR saying hes going to go 30-35 HRs next year.
nah–Nick Swisher >>>>>>> Jeremy Hermida
I think this is their replacement for Baldelli, not Bay
Exactly. He could get better, but eventually the tools need to translate into production.
I’ll never forget Kabak prematurely saying that “Girardi should be fired” in one of the game threads. It was during a Joba Chamberlain start, and he gave up some early runs when Kabak made the completely irrational proposal. We actually ended up winning the game too. Good thing we didn’t fire Girardi, things seemed to work out pretty well.
Heh. Against the O’s I believe it was. The Aubrey Huff fistpump game was it?
We all say stupid shit from time to time.
I believe I called for Girardi’s firing a couple times.
Well, we had a lot of pessimism here from some pretty loyal commenters, but there is one in particular that needs to be called out, just because of last night.
Charlespoet, you gonna apologize to Matsui at the parade, or are you going to do it some other time?
He’s composing a lyric ode to Godzilla as we speak.
No it was even worse during the first 8 games against the red sox.
I think just about everyone makes an irrational comment when they yankees are playing bad. I myself have made a few especailly during that white sox series.
Anyway my favorite comment was by John Kruk who says the redsox will win because they are the only team “dolled up” (what ever the fuck that means) for the playoffs and their only weakness is the middle relief.
I don’t know what you mean, the red sox are the only complete team with no weaknesses.
/Kruk’d
yankees strengths>>>>>>>>redsox non-weaknesses
I posted early didn’t know you going to have this.
dalelama says:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:11 am
As a Yankee fan in living in Philly territory I have had the opportunity to watch both closely for the last three years so my prediction is not based on the outcome of one game but an objective analysis of both teams personnel over an extended period of time integrated with my thorough knowledge of baseball. And to put it simply, in a short series vs. 162 game schedule the Phillies are the better team. Now that doesn’t mean the Yanks won’t win or that I won’t be rooting hard for them, it just means one should place their money on the Phillies. That way will take some of the sting out of the final outcome.
11/5/09- 3 years of objective analysis wasted, my thorough knowledge of baseball ? Maybe not, one should place their money on the Phillies and it would of stung a lot more, in a short series vs. 162 game schedule the Phillies are the better team I GUESS NOT
mustang says:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:38 am
“And to put it simply, in a short series vs. 162 game schedule the Phillies are the better team. Now that doesn’t mean the Yanks ”
But if your saying that the Phillies are the better team in a short series that means that the Yanks won’t win. ?????
So basically if the Yankees win it’s out of pure luck or because the Phillies fail to live up to their full potential
Good Theory
We will speak again when RAB puts up the 2009 Yankees World Series Championship thread.
dalelama says:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Mustang, Exactly right, my heart says Yanks but my brain says Phillies…I will be the first to be happy if the brain is wrong but when it comes to baseball that is rare. I hope you are right. I will be right here.
11/5/09- Brain WRONG !! Well at least his heart in the right place.
V says:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Bull.
You think Ruiz is better than Posada based on 100 hot ABs.
I can’t call you an imbecile, so…
Bye.
dalelama says:
Talk to you when it is over and Posada has had his usual .239 series and Ruiz hits .350
11/5/09- In the 2009 World Series Ruiz .333 vs. Posada .263
I will still take the guy with 5 RINGS.
HERE ENDETH THE LESSON
Let’s reminisce about a dearly departed friend named Lloyd Johnson. FIRE UP THE 2008-2009 HOT STOVE!!!
“Lloyd Johnson says:
December 9th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Wouldn’t mind ROBERTS to the Yanks, that way we good get rid of “Bad Attitude Cano” in a hurry. Don’t worry about 1st Base, Adrian Gonzalez will fill that spot nicely, IF we don’t get TEX? We gotta get Bobby A back, and quickly! Then just worry about the Pitching Staff. Thats where our problems lay. Even a couple of middle range starters ( Garland?) would be okay, we are not that far away from that next Pennant. Onw other thought: I sure would like the Yanks to finish that McLOUTH deal with Pirates, thats the final piece of this puzzle.”
http://riveraveblues.com/2008/.....ent-223865
I still think Lloyd was Mike Francesa in disguise.
Imagine if we had Garland instead of CC or AJ…. ahahahahahahahaha
Imagine if we had basically any other second baseman in the league except Cano and maybe Utley…ahahahahahahaha
[Slow clap]
I’m not worthy.
I don’t understand why people insist on capitalizing all letters of some names.
Don’t worry about 1st Base, Adrian Gonzalez will fill that spot nicely, IF we don’t get TEX?
That’s just a nice big ol’ plateload of epic grammar fail right there.
That Nate McClouth he’s a ball playah!!!
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs.....dbook-2010
“Question: Who should play center field for the Yankers next year: Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner?
Answer: According to James’s projections, neither. While Cabrera projects at .278/.341/.406 and Gardner at .277/.368/.375 (with an impressive 36-of-44 stolen base record), James has farmhand Austin Jackson at .294/.356/.411.”
Wow, I doubt even Yankee fans even predict AJax can do that next year.
If A-Jax does that well next year I’d be flabbergasted. Yes, that’s right, flabbergasted.
Sterling?
But then again, you just can’t predict baseball…
Ajax’s BABIP made for interesting conversation this season. I think the line drive rate was solid, but it didnt really explain the puzzling duration of Jax’s strong BABIP run. I’d really be content with that OBP and SLG though.
Oof, I was thinking he’d be lucky to even break a .340 obp. .294/.356/.411 is pretty much an allstar in CF. I’d take that in a cocaine heartbeat.
I think he has a little more power than that. A .110 ISO is pretty punchless. I’d be ok with the BA/OBP though, although I don’t know if he’s capable of that just yet.
I’m sure i’ve said a couple doozy statements this season, especially after dropping those early season games to the Red Sox. I think reading batshit crazy posts every now and then livens the site.
I try not to post when they lose because I know I’m too emotional and I’ll be irrational.
I know I’ve posted when I was at a low point.
What I remember from you most was something like ‘we can’t beat them…’
yep. i definitely said that. batshit crazy moment.
BTW, lots of fans are saying that the stng of 04′, no matter what, will “never go away”, even now that we’ve won.
Don’t know about you guys, but with this world championship, it’s gone. Completely.
It was gone for me sometime in 2005.
Look, people, shit happens. You can’t let fear run your life. If anything, the collapse of 2004 should be EASIER to walk away from because it was so unprecedented that it’s the very definition of a statistical outlier. We may never ever see a collapse like that again. That may be painful to be the only team to collapse that way, but it should also give you confidence that we probably won’t ever be party to something like that ever again do to the utter rarity of a swing from 3-0 to 3-4.
Yeah, it sucks. It’s not going to happen to us again, though, so stop fearing boogeymonsters that aren’t real anymore.
The sting of 1960 still burns deep in my soul, I’ll never recover.
Sound like my dad.
My mom was walking home from middle school listening on the radio when it happened and she told me she cried.
And then it was but a memory when they won in 1961.
Every time the name Mazerowski is mentioned, my father goes on a story mode.
‘ugh, the freakin’ Yanks outscored them in that series like 30-7 and still lost. broke my heart!’
Hah
M-A-Z-E-R-O-S-K-I
/TSJC’d
Yeah. Messed that up.
Shame on me.
I break into cold sweats whenever we face the Pirates in interleague play.
There was a traffic jam from 1989 that I’m still pissed off about. DRIVE!!!! USE THE SHOULDER IF YOU HAVE TO!!!!!! AAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
+1
What the fuck is wrong with some people?
Sorry:
“…but it should also give you confidence that we probably won’t ever be party to something like that ever again
dodue to the utter rarity of a swing from 3-0 to 3-4.”And that, my friends, is the worst thing I have said all year. HAVE AT IT!!!
Actually, I believe you said that Marte was a good guy to have in the ALCS vs. the Angels as a LOOGY, then admitted you were wrong and that Bruney would be a better choice.
As it turns out, you were right the first time but, for perhaps the only time as far as I know of, WRONG in the end.
It’s like a comment vortex. I’m right and wrong simultaneously, it all depends on when you’re asking.
Wasn’t there a time when you were leading the “dump Matsui on Seattle” charge?
Yeah, that was pretty dumb. But he wanted to pick up Manny after dumping Matsui, so he had a point.
Yeah. I was all about eating salary to dump Matsui on anyone available, but only because I wanted to clear a spot for Manny or Dunn as the DH. Provided that we were willing to make that cumulative 30M AAV financial investment, of course.
So, it was kinda dumb but kinda smart.
What was stupid though, not baseball related was saying that the cowboys are a shitty team after you got a little too upset for me poking fun at your Jets.
Touché.
Time will tell on that one, though. There’s still half a season left for the Cowboys to get shitty again.
THEY ARE SHITTY
You should always take a bomb when you get on an airplane, because the chance of there being two people with bombs on a plane is vanishingly small.
That’s not really what they were saying though; not fear that it could happen again, more like that “nothing could ever make up for that”.
Which I disagree with. A championship while Youk watches us on his plasma screen, sitting on his fat ass, does a fine job making up for it.
You know, ’04 didn’t bother me as much as ’01. I’d rather not get to the WS than get there and lose. I have never been as emotionally invested in the Yankee/Red Sox hatred/rivalry thing as some people. I don’t care if another team’s fans are obnoxious, or if sports writers and pundits crap on the Yankees and fellate the other guys. Well, I won’t say it doesn’t bother me a little, but I’m focused on the Yankees and winning. That ’04 collapse? It’s no different to me than any other loss. It just happens sometimes. They did their best, and Boston beat Mo and Tom Gordon and shut down the Yankees bats. No shame in that. I consider Boston’s 1978 collapse as far worse, having such a huge lead so late in the season, and collapsing. But I take no special pleasure in the fact that it was the Red Sox who the Yankees caught that year; it would have been equally gratifying to have run down any AL East team. This was a great year because you could tell from early on how much all of these guys wanted it. Maybe it wasn’t the case in those prior years, I don’t know. But this was a great team and a great year on its own. It doesn’t redeem any prior bad year, or mean anything for next year. Let’s just enjoy it.
I made to comment to Pete’s twitter about his comments on Alex. He proceeded to send me 7 Direct Messages and began swearing at me. He then demanded I not re-tweet his messages to me. You can see some of it at @rtnichols, but seriously that guy has a problem with people poking fun at him. I wish I could tag all his posts with “interested reader”.
egomanical.
Honestly I was just busting his chops and he had a meltdown. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of him doing this, but I didn’t think he would go off the deep end. He’s evidently very proud of the fact that the Yankees cannot win with A-Rod. Oops, they can.
Same thing happened to me. I was joking that he’d have more free time on his hand after the Red Sox were eliminated and he DM’d me a nastyish message saying he doesn’t work for the Red Sox and is still covering baeball. Guy really can’t take any playful ribbing at all.
“He then demanded I not re-tweet his messages to me.”
Yeah most media members arent used to having their words come back to bite them, usually they just file them away. Got to love modern technology, where you cant hide that shit- and if you talk stupid it should be thrown in your face for everyone to see.
He actually told me I was “making shit up.” Except that I was quoting him. Facts are tough to deal with I guess.
Meh. He’s kind of a dick anyway. Good reporter, just a dick. He blocked me from following him because I tweeted him something like you love taking shots at the yankees, don’t you?
He’s a good reporter but a downright horrible analyst. The problems people have with him started popping up when he decided he was analyst supreme.
For overall thread of the year I nominate the game thread where A-Rod hit the game ttying HR off Nathan.
That was amazing…but I think this website almost shut down from excitement and over-posting when Damon and Tex went back-to-back off of Bard. That was an amazing moment during the course of the season.
Obviously the A-Rod homer meant more, being that it was in the playoffs, but crushing the hopes and dreams of every red sox fanboy when Damon and Tex made little Daniel Bard eat shit was something special.
But I agree with you…it was nuts when A-Rod took Nathan deep. I’m so over joyed that he performed well this post season and shook the idea off of him that he couldn’t perform in the postseason.
Speaking of dumb, bitter comments, anyone read PA’s latest blog post?
http://www.boston.com/sports/b.....an_do.html
“Baseball sometimes has a language all its own. If something goes wrong, you’ll often hear a player say, “All you can do is wear it.”
Such is the case for Red Sox fans now that the Yankees have won their 27th championship. You can complain all you want, but all you can do in the end is wear it.
It’s not exactly a feel-good story anyway. The Yankees have an obscene payroll and built a stadium that caters mainly to the wealthy. A team that spent nearly half a billion in free agents last winter is not exactly the little train that could.
The Red Sox and then the Rays ruled the AL East and now the Yankees are back on top. I agree with Tony Mazz: A Yankees championship might serve as a little kick in the pants to the Red Sox.
Now the Hot Stove season is officially here. The General Manager Meetings, believe it or not, start Monday in Chicago. Extra Bases will be there and we’ll be live-blogging the whispers.
The Yankees are on top of the mountain. Now 29 other teams will start plotting how to knock them off. “
He wrote this, of course, for fans of the team with the 2nd highest payroll in Baseball. Boston isn’t the little train that could either, Pete.
Boston: the little train that could: NOT!
I’m sorry, but the Yankees winning and them not is never a good thing.
If you’re a Sox fan, of course.
I mean, that’s kind of a dumb comment.
Boston is actually 4th, but your point remains the same.
Correct.
And at least the Yankees never pretend to be the little train that could. We know we’re the big man on campus, per se, when it comes to resources. It’s the Sox that always paint themselves as the scrappy, underfunded underdog — an entire franchise playing on the media image of Dustin Pedroia, imagine that.
the second round draft pick with the 575K signing bonus?
what an underdog
Fun fact: The chef at my work actually played high school ball and was pretty good friends with Dustin Pedroia.
Maybe fun for me…
fun fact: a kid from my high school who babysat me when i was a little’n pitched at AZ state with pedroia. (in the pirates system now, i believe – Pat Bresnehan)
Best part: It costs far more to get in the door at Fenway than Yankee Stadium. The ceiling is lower but the floor is higher.
And the Yankees have a better OZ/$ for their beer prices.
I’m too much of a cheapskate to buy beer unless the game is truly horrible and I need something to keep me going.
My player of the year is Cody Ransom the man who made me realize that all the negatives I had ever seen in A-Rod were wrong.
Cody showed me the true side of the FORCE.
any tips on good spots at the parade tomo? i hear the start is less packed.
Kevin Martin out 6-8 weeks.
Boo.
If I may post a comment that’s kind of tangential … (here bowing to all wonderful RAB posters and asking for indulgence):
Out of habit I take the daily paper, and in my case it’s the Denver Post. The Post employs a purported baseball writer named Troy E. Renck (spelling dubious, like the man). I was sorely tempted to email him after a recent story to ask him, “Hey, I know they pay you to hate the Yankees in print, but do they pay you a bonus to make it palpable?”
Everything he wrote was either along the “best team money can buy” shit, or simply, “Root for the Phillies, because they’re not the Yankees.”
But I think I’ll gloat here, the best place for gloating: IN YOUR UGLY FACE, Renck, you jackass!
Here’s the thing: Posada is going to catch everyday in the playoffs. Every single inning of every single game. And if he doesn’t for any reason other than injury, Joe Girardi should be fired because that’s like, Managing 101.
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ift-16267/
Yea, Molina was a real difference maker on Monday night. Ditto Game 5 in Anaheim. Just because the team won doesn’t make that the right call.
That 1 AB in each game still bugs you, huh?
Yes. It was a terrible decision then, and is still a terrible decision.
One he should be FIRED over?
Cancel the parade, folks. Joe’s fired.
No, it’s borderline fireable in my view IF it plays a major roll in us not advancing, which it had the potential to. But it didn’t because we’re just too fucking good.
Agreed. The Yankees were just good enough that it didn’t make that much of a difference.
There’s just no way you can convince me that Molina made that much of a difference in AJ’s performance.
Though, I don’t want Girardi’s head for it. As long as they won…it doesn’t matter one bit who they ran out there.
But I definitely would have felt better with Jorge catching every game.
That last game w/ a bottom three of Gardy, Molina and Burnett was especially brutal.
Well, whatever now… but it still probably wasn’t the right move based on one simple fact.
Posada’s bat guarantees to give the offense a better chance to score. Molina catching does not guarantee to make A.J. pitch better.
But it all worked out! It’s the end of the Jose Molina era.
I’ve had this argument so many times, I don’t really feel like getting into it again. But really, nothing that happened this postseason proved without a doubt that Molina starting was the correct move.
i think girardi’s assessment was that the potential betterness of AJ-to-molina was more important than the 1-2 ABs molina would get. And i still don’t necessarily disagree. We all know good AJ is good with anyone, and bad AJ is bad with anyone, but on the off chance that we get in-between AJ (a rare creature, for sure, but one that does, in fact exist), who hasn’t got his best stuff or control, but might still be able to gut out a decent start, I’d rather the catcher who is most likely to be able to get the most out of him. Not saying that that’s molina, just that that’s an subject on which none of us have any real perspective, and Girardi probably does.
Again, it’s an old argument, but it’s a relevant one nonetheless, seeing as posada and AJ will both be on the team next year. My opinion for next year is, of course, that Joe should try a little harder to get at least 20-25 of each pitcher’s starts to posada so that there isn’t an issue like this next year (or any splits will be obvious sample-size flaws), but for some reason or another there was evidence – not irrefutable by any means, but evidence nonetheless – both statistical and perceptional, that suggested that starting Molina with AJ would be advantageous. With that I will not argue. I do hope, however, that there is not such a bounty of shaky evidence like that next year.
Although you’re right in the sense that the call for Girardi’s head was a bit hyperbolic.
Thank you, that was my point. Not dredging up an old debate.
Lincecum got caught with some weeeeeed.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=4627319
I found it kinda funny. Think he’ll get as much shit as Phelps did?
(No)
Probably not because he’s not as famous as Phelps.
Yeah; Phelps was, deservdly so, a national icon. Linececum is just a young stud pitcher on team that was barely above mediocre. Not famous enough yet, although he is really fun to watch.
Which is a very obvious, rational point that I seem to have overlooked in my attempt at sarcasm…
Lol, good call Matt.
-1 for me.
I was on the train home after a game a few weeks ago and I was standing next to a couple of guys and one of them was talking about how he knew someone who went to a party with Tim Lincecum and Lincecum told the guy that he pitches while high all the time. I figured at the time “I guess I could see that” but I hadn’t heard anything to back it up, so I dismissed it.
this made me laugh though
If I were a pitcher, I’d definitely pitch high.
+1
My dad used to listen to Hendrix before he pitched during high school. Do the math.
If I were a __________, I’d definitely ______ high.
Sincerely,
Joseph Pawlikowski
You’ll pay for pigeonholing me, Mr. Carlos.
Naw, it’s all good. The ladies love getting pigeonholed by me, if you know what I mean.
TWSS
bad idea. believe me. my only blown save in HS (my coach was a total B-Jobber, that fuckhead) came when i tried that. It was towards the end of my senior year and i was fucking sick of my coach’s shit, so kindof a passive-agressive fuck you. VERY humbling experience
Lol, I could always see that too.
He’s got that look and I feel like he’s always starring a bit blankly.
This is BRILLIANT.
I will bring this up whenever somebody whines about the payroll.
Shoutout to Nick in SF from loHd on this find.
http://www.newyorker.com/image.....2_p465.gif
*LoHud*
I’m going with this one:
http://img120.imageshack.us/im.....linwz4.jpg
How about the fact that the Yanks have had the #1 payroll forever and hadn’t won anything for the past 6 years?
It can’t be about payroll this year and something else those other years.
Off season predictions:
Johnny Damon signs-2 years/22 mil
Andy Pettitte signs-1 year 10.5 mil
Matsui winds up back in Japan.
Jerry Hairston signs-1 year 2.5 mil
Xavier Nady/Chien Ming Wang both sign incentive laden 1 year deals.
2010 Opening Day payroll-190 mil.
I have a hard time thinking they go two years on Damon, unless it’s for a little less money than $22MM.
Maybe, but there are no big FA LFs for 2011, either. So the 2nd year isn’t a horrible idea.
An interesting fallback option might be a Crawford trade, which I know you’d like. Even then, it’s 10.5 mil to pick up that option.
I’d like it if the price is right. I’m not sure if the price justifies the marginal upgrade from Damon to Crawford.
Yeah, what you lose in pop you gain in defense. Carl’s OBP has never been great, either. I have a feeling Yankee fans will like Carl Crawford much more when he’s on someone else’s team.
Yeah, his walk rate needs to get better. His defense is great, but I don’t know if it makes up for the lack of pop at a non-premium defensive position.
Yep.
Glad we see eye-to-eye.
Supposedly Damon’s looking for $8m/yr for 2 years.
Johnny signs a 1/11 + 1/11 team option.
Andy signs a 1/12.
HazMat signs a 1/11.
Hairston signs a 1/3.
Nady is not offered arb and walks.
Wang is non-tendered and signs with the Dodgers.
Hinske leaves to sign with the Orioles (AL East rotation, holmes.)
Duchscherer is brought in on a 1/5.
2010 Opening Day Payroll – whatevs.
As for other teams…
I’d like to see the Giants go out and get a big bat to complement that rotation.
I woukldn’t. I don’t want competition for the Yanks.
No chance they resign Hairston. Pena is younger, better and cheaper.
Hairston’s career line: .259/.328/.373/.701 85OPS+
Pena’s career line: .287/.317/.383/.699 83OPS+
This is a great thread. It is Game 2 vs. the Twins. Scroll to the bottom for some ripping of Damaso Marte by a large number of regulars.
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....d-v-18252/
Then again, I liked Coke more than Marte, so what do I know?
BigBlueAL says:
October 9th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Great move putting Marte on the roster. This better be the last time we see him pitch this post-season.
Sounds like a plan.
My bad.
When do awards announcements start? Next week?
In all seriousness, you know what the 2010 Yankees will lack?
An 8th inning guy/primary set up man who gets us to Mo.
I’m not a B-Jobber, and am looking forward to seeing Joba start next year. But I think Hughes gets moved to the rotation as well, and that means our setup man would be Damaso Marte or David Robertson. Both are nice, but neither will replace what Hughes gave us this year.
I think Marte and D-Rob will do a fine job.
yes, very much. if not: melancon, aceves or some minor league power arm will get a shot. And seriously, after this year, when Joba WASNT the 8th inning guy, shouldn’t we just trust what the organization is doing?
Ian Kennedy.
Joe Girardi will be our setup guy next year. we won’t have a sub-2.00 ERA guy out there, in all likelihood, people aren’t always going to feel totally comfortable in the 7th/8th innings of close games, and there will be some blown saves along the way. And yet, somehow, despite the lack of a SECOND totally dominant bullpen arm, the yankees will still win 98 games, and have a bullpen ERA of about 3.50. You heard it here first.
I’m trying to find something stupid I said this year, no success yet. I guess I must be right all the time.
i reeeeeeeeeeeeeally loved the suggestion of sending matsui to seattle for a wii console.
?!?!?!?!
what happened to the rest of my commment? NOOOO it was so thoughtfully put together and wonderfully designed.
well basically i outed myself as a handsome cody ransom backer and oaktagged myself (somehow that seems ironic)
and then i said arod totally turned me. all he had to do was get caught having done stgeroids and divorce his wife…WHO KNEW?!?!
WHO KNEW?!?!
WHO BUT?!
I went back and watched the MLB highlights for all of the playoff games. It’s amazing, I’d say most of the great moments in this postseason were A-Rod moments. Unbelievable.
Word.
The D-Mart six pitch, six strikes, two strikeouts incident against Utley/Howard was definitely one of my favorite moments of the year.
Yeah, that was pretty awesome. Looking back, there were, in my estimation 7 memorable wins from this postseason.
Game 2 ALDS: A-Rod off Nathan
Game 3 ALDS: A-Rod and Posada off Pavano
Game 2 ALCS: A-Rod off Fuentes
Game 6 ALCS: Damon 2 run single, A-Rod bases loaded walk
Game 2 WS: AJ Burnett, Tex, and Matsui lead the way against Pedro
Game 4 WS: A-Rod off Lidge
Game 6 WS: Matsui explodes
7 great wins, and Alex had “the moment” in 4 of them. All 4 were tying or go-ahead hits from the 7th inning or later. This leaves out the other big hits he had in other games (2 run homer to put ALCS Game 4 away, the bases loaded walk, etc). It really is amazing how great he was.
link to the mlb highlights for all the playoff games?
Thanks for calling me out but lets be honest, as a team, the Yanks collectively stunk offensively at the time when I made that comment about the offense. It’s one thing to make a dumb statement before the season starts, it’s another to make a statement after two months of watching the team play. Once Posada came back and Jeter and Cano started getting hot, the whole offense got better.
Hey, we’re just having fun. You happen to get unlucky because your comments came at tough times. They were obviously the easiest to pick from.
It’s all good. I’m just saying I don’t think I was the only one who began to have doubts about this team at that point in the season. I’m happy that they proved me wrong…
Bro I’ll be the first to admit I made plenty of rash comments that came when the team was frustrating me, and in hindsight, look foolish.
This site (RAB) has the most thoughtful/knowledgeable commenters of any baseball site I visit.
And yet I am continually amazed by the number people who seem to forget that during the course of 162 games in 6 months, every team is going to go through some rough stretches.
Perspective. It is a wonderful concept.
Heh I tried to convince my Met fan of a father that using a LOOGY is not over managing as Girardi gets shit for that and he calls me a fucking idiot!
I laughed.
Oh come on! Where is that John Kruk piece! That was a facepalm of epic proportions.
I’m going to go print it out and get it framed… right next to my 2009 World Series memorabilia.
I’m not militant against ESPN like some here, but this is ridiculous. There is nothing left on ESPN’s homepage about the World Series. Not one thing. Unbelievable.
In the MLB page there was a pretty good article ranking all 27 Yankees championship teams. The 2009 edition finished a respectable 10th.
Didn’t you know that Va Tech vs ECU is a bigger deal than the World Series, Moshe? Did you miss that memo or something?
So for next year who else on the Yanks do you think will come back?
Damon and Matsui have been said a lot and personally both should come back for a 1 year deal if possible.
But what about Nady, CMW, Molina, and others?
I think they all should come back too.
Nady could be a great bench option should he come back. He can also start a few games at home where Swisher struggles. If the Yanks offer arbitration and he leaves then they’ll get a compensatory pick. So maybe they could offer him arbitration.
CMW should also come back. He’s been great in the past and I’m not buying the argument he completely lost it. Once he’s completely healthy I’ll be interested to see what he can offer and if he’s close to form then the Yankees will have good depth in June or whenever he comes back. He’ll be injured for half of the year so I don’t see much other teams risking in acquiring him.
And Molina should come back too. Yeah you don’t like him but I’d rather have Molina and Cervelli as back ups than use some random crap guy like Kevin Cash. Just insurance.
I think Nady should be allowed to leave. His recovery time will likely take too long for him to contribute.
Molina should be gone as well. Cervelli can replicate his performance for a fraction of the cost.
CMW’s a bit more tricky. I go the TSJC route and non-tender him and hope to get him on an MiL deal.
Nady should be ready for spring training. Recovery time for position players is roughly 6 months.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....y#Recovery
this is the second time though
It shouldn’t make much difference. Everything I’ve read (that’s from someone with medical knowledge and not just a columnist) says that there is no more risk or longer recovery with a second TJ surgery. Even if it is longer, there’s more than 9 months from his surgery until opening day, so he should be ready to start the season.
I want Jose Molina and Xavier Nady as far from the Yankees as possible. A trade to Timbuktu would be nice.
Damon and Matsui: yes
Nady: yes
CMW: yes
Molina: no
Don’t forget Jeter, Pettitte, Posada & Matsui will be on Letterman tonight. Joba is also going to be on Jimmy Fallon…I can’t stand Fallon but I’ll have to watch.
I would like to take this time to announce that i am, and always have been, through thick and thin, for the last 200 or so games (ST included), basically since Sabathia’s contract was inked, a certified, card carrying, girardi and cashman homering member of the muthafuckin Positive Posse. Suck on that, IronHorse, Axl, Ace, mustang (in the beginning – he cleaned up his act), Brazillian Yankee, and if-only-you-were-real alex gonzalez. I said from the getgo that the yankees were the most likely team to win the world series this year, and never wavered. Thank you, you’ve been great.
/takes bow
PROCTOR! Where is PROCTOR!?
From Rotoworld:
David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Braves have signed Scott Proctor.
According to O’Brien, Proctor signed a “split-contract,” meaning that he’ll receive less money for any portion of the season spent in the minor leagues. Because of the World Series, the team has yet to confirm the signing. Proctor missed the entire 2009 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May. The 32-year-old right-hander was released by the Marlins in October, but the Braves hope he can be a contributor in 2010.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Upon learning Proctor had not been signed by the Dodgers, Scott Proctor’s Arm pointedly remarked, “Woohoo!”
Joe Torre is going to manage the Braves next year? hmmm, I wonder if Donnie is going with him.
I think Pete Abe is the reason the Yanks won. His frothing hatred of Joe Girardi was some kind of hex. He was like the giant Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man…a harmless thing that had grown int a huge scowly dangerous thing.
I also think that some nights when the Yanks were losing the game threads were just too crazy to read…they pissed me off more than the Yankees losing. The ledge jumpers were out in full force. Instead of being a comraderie of fans who lived by the team, died by the team, you had the jumpers who couldn’t figure out if it was a ledge or a bandwagon they were going to jump on or off.
I really hate their negativity during a game thread because it obscures some of the people on here who can use humor and talk about other things when the Yanks are going down in flames. I just hate the harpers and whiners. And I usually wind up leaving the thread for the night.
I don’t think I said anything to awful. I’ve had a good feeling about this team way back when A-rod was out and CC and A-rod were struggling, but they still managed to stay around 500.
And after all the walk-offs, I started thinking this could be their year.
I will throw myself under the bus and say I advocated benching Swisher in the playoffs. I believe the next game is when he did get benched, and then came back and started hitting again.
In my defense, this is why I’m posting on a message board and not actually, you know, working in baseball.