Archive for Asides
Late-night reading: Aroldis Chapman, profiled
Posted by: | CommentsThe winter sports team in New York are making it hard to forget about baseball season. After tonight, the Knicks and Nets are a combined 1-18, and the Giants and Jets are mediocre at best right now. So for those of you jonesing for a late-night baseball fix, check out Ronald Blum’s interview with Aroldis Chapman. The New York-based AP sports writer sat down with the latest Cuban defector to talk about baseball. Chapman discusses walking away from his life in Cuban by simply exiting a hotel in Rotterdam and his experiences watching Game 6 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium.
With the Hot Stove still to warm up this winter, we haven’t heard much about Chapman. We know what he can throw, and we know that he has visited with a good number of teams. We don’t, however, have a sense of the dollars or years it will take to sign him, and rumors have ranged from $15-$50 million. I don’t expect the Chapman talks to heat up until the Winter Meetings next month in Indianapolis, but when they do, you can bet that the Yanks will be right there in the thick of things.
A brief musing on the Silver Slugger awards
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday afternoon, to nearly no fanfare, Major League Baseball announced the winners of the 2009 Silver Slugger awards. Among the American League winners were Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, and the rest were your typical mix of good hitters, popular players and Torii Hunter. No one wrote a 900-word rant on Baseball Prospectus about the inanities of the awards; no one on The Book Blog wrote a sarcastic press release about the awards. They were simply ignored.
So my question is this: Why do so many get up in arms over Gold Gloves and not just ignore them as we do the Silver Sluggers? Both awards are fatally flawed; the winners are chosen by the coaches and managers in each league and not by people who are either more neutral or exposed to more games by the simple fact that they’re not on the field. The selection process doesn’t make sense, and the awards are basically industry recognition of popularity and a job decently well done. It’s hardly a coincidence that six players in the AL won both Silver Sluggers and Gold Gloves. These aren’t objective awards; they aren’t meant to be; and everyone should just come to grips with that reality.
River Ave. Chattin’
Posted by: | CommentsThe hot stove hasn’t quite taken off yet, but we’ve still seen more than our fair share of rumors in the last week. Frankly, I’d rather talk about the Yankees winning the World Series again, but whatever. Bring it all on. See you at 2pm.
Popular in merchandise sales; popular in ticker tape
Posted by: | CommentsAs the afterglow of the Yankees World Series win still burns bright amongst New Yorkers, two stories today prove just how popular the Bombers are. First, the Gotham Gazette reports that Yankee fans dumped 56.5 tons of ticker tape on Lower Manhattan last Friday. That’s 20 tons more than the Giants enjoyed when they won the Super Bowl in 2008. Included in that great weight of paper were some unshredded personal documents. Oops.
From an economic perspective, the Yanks’ World Series win has been great for merchandise sales. According to the Biz of Baseball, sales from World Series merch are trending at second-best all time. The Red Sox are, of course, on top of that list. Fans flocked to buy Boston gear after an 86-year drought. Yankee fans had to wait only nine season between titles and are rewarding themselves with championship t-shirts galore. Of course, as Modell’s president Seth Horowitz noted, numerous fans may be either of the fair weather variety or the world title-or-bust persuasion. “Sales were relatively soft going into the World Series, and then they exploded,” he said. “It was almost as if the fans wanted the championship and nothing else.”
Guess who doesn’t have an innings limit anymore
Posted by: | CommentsAmidst the news from the GM Meetings can word from Brian Cashman, via Chad Jennings, that both Joba Chamberlain’s and Phil Hughes‘ innings cap in 2010 will “not be significant.” After years of discussion about innings limits, the Yanks are ready to let their youngster loose, and it makes sense. Joba threw over 160 innings this year, and a 30-inning bump would put him at 190 innings. That’s a threshold reached by just 21 other AL pitchers in 2009.
The decision to let Hughes’ innings limit slide is of another nature. As Mike just noted, Hughes as a major part of the 2009 bullpen but threw only 106 innings because of it. At The Yankee Universe, Moshe Mandel speculates that a lack of an innings cap for Hughes is motivated by the 146 innings he threw in 2006. The Yanks may be willing to allow Hughes throw approximately 175 innings in 2010 because of that past.
Rumor du Jour: Roy Halladay
Posted by: | CommentsThat Jon Heyman, he just loves tying every big-name pitcher to the Yanks. Today’s rumor of the day from Heyman suggests that the Yanks will inquire about Roy Halladay. The Blue Jays’ was infamously not traded this past July, and that non-move was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back as J.P. Ricciardi was fired by season’s end. Unless Halladay can be gotten for cheap, the Yanks probably won’t acquire him for the same reason the team didn’t trade for Johan Santana: Halladay will be a free agent after 2010, and the team will not pay for him in both prospects and cash. The career Blue Jay turns 33 in May.
First season a success for Yankee Stadium Metro-North stop
Posted by: | CommentsThe ridership numbers are in for the new Metro-North Yankees/E. 153rd St. station, and officials at the commuter rail are pleased with the results. During the regular season, ridership levels averaged 2800 per weekday game and 4000 per weekend game. Those numbers reached 4800 per game for the playoffs and peaked for Game 6 of the World Series with over 6000 fans turning to Metro-North last Wednesday. “Overall, for the first season, the results are very good. It is a big success,” Howard Permut, president of Metro-North, said. For more on this station’s first season in operation and my thoughts on why ridership was lower than initially projected, check out my coverage at Second Ave. Sagas.
Yanks cut loose Towers, Guzman
Posted by: | CommentsIn a basic roster maintenance move, the Yankees have outrighted both Freddy Guzman and Josh Towers, according to Chad Jennings of The Journal News. Unsurprisingly, both players have elected free agency rather than accepting a minor league assignment. It’s unlikely that either receives a major league deal in free agency. Guzman has speed but no bat, and Towers hasn’t pitched well since 2005. Towers did pitch well over 18 starts and one relief appearance for AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, so maybe he’ll return. Chances are, though, that Towers, 33 in 2010, will seek out a team that will have him a bit higher on the depth chart.
A history of football at Yankee Stadium with Regis Philbin
Posted by: | CommentsAlthough the first college football game at the new Yankee Stadium is still a year away, the New-York Historical Society is opening up its doors to the history of the game in the Bronx. Tonight at 6:30 p.m., the Society is hosting a discussion on the history of college football at Yankee Stadium, moderated by Regis Philbin. The famed TV show personality will be joined by Dave Anderson, sports columnist for The Times; Pete Dawkins, a former Heisman Trophy winner; Thom Gatewood, a former Notre Dame player; and Tony Morante, the Yankees’ Tour director and team historian. According to the press release, this is the first in a series of NYHS events looking at historic sports events at Yankee Stadium, and this evening’s porgram will “explore the legendary Army vs. Notre Dame games and the popularity of college football in a bygone era.”
The fine print: The New-York Historical Society is located 170 Central Park West at 77th Street, and tickets are $24 for non-members and $12 members. However, the NYHS’ Twitter feed just published a discount code for those looking for half-priced tickets. I’ve been to some of their other programs, and they’re always interesting.
Scott Boras will have none of this ‘hometown discount’ nonsense
Posted by: | CommentsReporting from the GM meetings, Joel Sherman says that superagent Scott Boras indicated that he’s looking not for a short-term deal for Johnny Damon, but possibly a three or four year commitment. “Greg Maddux was the unique pitcher when it came to durability,” said Boras. “And (Damon) is the Greg Maddux of position players when it comes to durability.” That’s certainly true; Damon’s played at least 140 games in 14 straight seasons. But Damon is the kind of guy that always seems to be on the brink of breaking down.
One year plus an option? Fine. anything more than that, then have fun in San Francisco.
