Eleven years ago today, the Evil Empire was born. The Yankees officially signed Jose Contreras on this date in 2003, prompting Red Sox president Larry Lucchino to say “the Evil Empire extends its tentacles even into Latin America.” Contreras didn’t work out for the Yankees and, frankly, the Red Sox have had quite a bit more success than their division rivals since his signing, but I’ve always enjoyed the Evil Empire moniker. The Yankees are baseball’s villains and it’s all in good fun at this point. Someone has to do it, might as well be my favorite team.
Here is your nightly open thread. The Rangers, Islanders, and Nets are all playing, plus the Olympics started today, so talk about those games or anything else. You know how this works by now, so have at it.
There are very few quality Contreras highlight videos out there, even fewer of him with the Yankees. I think that video is from one of the MLB All-Stars vs. Japan All-Stars exhibitions they used to play after each season. Yeah, “All-Stars” was loosely defined.
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