Monthly Archives: October 2005

As expected Theo Epstein will remain in Boston as the general manager of the Red Sox. Not much in the way of Yankee news today, but the Daily News reports that Luis Sojo may accept the managerial position down in Single A Tampa club, and Tony Pena might be offered the first base coaching gig with the big league club. The article suggests that Pena would be helpful both with the Latin players on the team as well as with the catchers.

In a column today about Billy Wanger, Murray Chass lists some of the big name free agent relievers who will be on the market this winter: Trevor Hoffman, B. J. Ryan, Bob Wickman, Todd Jones, Octavio Dotel, Kyle Farnsworth, Tom Gordon, Roberto Hernandez, Mike Timlin, Tim Worrell, Ugueth Urbina, Matt Mantei and LaTroy Hawkins. Timlin is reportedly close to re-signing with the Red Sox. It’s likely that Boston and New York will engage in a bidding war for B.J. Ryan, or Wagner or maybe even Everyday Eddie Guardado. Anyone else on that list get you all hot and bothered?

Hey, in true glutton fashion–this is a Yankee site after all–how about throwing caution to the wind and signing both Ryan and Billy Wagner? Never happen I know, and maybe it wouldn’t even be money well spent (Wagner is getting on in years for one, and there’d be whole lot of ego out there in the pen), but a boy can have his Christmas List can’t he? If the Yankees can manage to assemble something close to what they had in 1996, or what the Angels and White Sox had this year, that would be tremendous. They can probably do it cheaper than inking Wagner and Ryan, but it seems inevitable that at least one high (over?)-priced reliever will be wearing pinstripes next year.

According to Tyler Kepner and Sam Borden the Yankees will not keep Neil Allen as their bullpen coach next year. Maybe this creates a job for Guidry before he moves into the high-profile position of pitching coach. It makes sense to me that Joe Kerrigan will eventually get that gig. But who knows, maybe Gator gets it and Kerrigan slides into the pen.

Movin On

Josh Byrnes, one of the more celebrated assistant general managers in baseball is leaving Boston to become the GM of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, Theo Epstein is close to signing a new contract in Boston. (The Sox are dealing with their first Manny Ramirez rumblings of the winter as well.) Out West, it appears as if the Dodgers have given up on Paul DePodesta. Jon Weisman has the lowdown over at Dodger Thoughts.

Here in New York, the Yankees will hold their organizational meetings early next week. In addition to filling out the coaching staff, the team is expected to focus on landing a center fielder and relief pitching.

Around Town

If I could go back in time one of the things I would do first is see the original Broadway production of “The Odd Couple” with Walter Matheau and Art Carney. Of course, I grew up watching Tony Randall and Jack Klugman do the roles of Felix and Oscar and have seen the movie version with Matheau and Jack Lemmon many times. Watching Lemmon, I can’t help but imagine what Carney would have been like opposite Matheau. From what I hear from those who saw them it was comic nirvana.

I never did see Mathew Broderick and Nathan Lane in “The Producers” but when I heard the two were going to star in a revival of Neil Simon’s famous play I thought, ‘Aren’t they gilding the lily?’ And with Lane playing Oscar and Broderick playing Felix, surely they’ve go the casting mixed up. Looking at the still photographs in today’s papers, Lane looks all wrong for Oscar. Remember in the movie version of “La Cage Aux Folles” when Robin Williams tries to get Lane walk like a manly straight man and Lane can’t help but look like a Queen? The joke is that he’s incorrigibly effeminate. Seeing Lane dressed up Oscar seems like an unintentional extension of that joke.

In an excellent review today, New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley notes:

As this set-to-a-metronome production, directed by Joe Mantello, demonstrates with such clarity, the comic languages of “The Producers” and “The Odd Couple” are not the same. The humor of “The Odd Couple” is rooted in watching ordinary guys, equipped with an extraordinary arsenal of zingers, turn each other into irreconcilable caricatures of themselves, the way people do in bad marriages. The characters in “The Producers” are stylishly drawn cartoons, shaped by the performers’ delighted awareness of belonging to the intoxicating, heightened reality of musical comedy.

A similar self-consciousness informs Mr. Lane’s and Mr. Broderick’s attitudes in “The Odd Couple,” which automatically creates a distance between them and the men they are playing. Their performances are framed in quotation marks. Mr. Lane is “doing” macho and slovenly; Mr. Broderick is “doing” repressed and anal-retentive. That’s different from being slovenly or anal-retentive. And the gap between doing and being fatally exposes the cogs and gears of Mr. Simon’s impeccably assembled comic clockwork.

Brantley’s write up is worth checking out; the production sounds like it’s worth missing.

“If you have to hang in there beyond your time for the applause, if your happiness is in the hands of others, you’re in trouble. After you quit, though, there’s a long time between Monday and Friday.”

Johnny Bench speaking about Pete Rose to Canadian novelist/sports writer Mordecai Richler, March 1985.

I ran across the quote and couldn’t help but think of the situation Bernie’s in–almost at the end of the road. Will he come back next year as a part-timer, or go someplace else and be a part-timer? Hello Walt Frazier on the Cavs? Will he call it quits? Bench retired when he was 35. Remember Brosius hanging it up pretty early a couple of years ago? Never know when a guy is ready to walk away do you?

I could see Bernie moving on from the game pretty easily. But you never know, maybe it’ll be tough for him as well. I’m sure it’s not that simple either way. He’s only been playing baseball his entire adult life.

No matter what Bernabee decides to do I wish him the best of luck. Bernie has had an excellent career and I like him as much as I’ve ever liked any Yankee. I’d love to see him back in Ruben Sierra’s role next year but I’m also fine if he’s gone too. It’ll be down to Mariano and Jeter and Jorge. Time marches on, what are you gunna do?

To see Bernie’s career numbers check out the nifty new “Yankees in Flux” link section that Cliff hooked up to your right. Proper.

“I’m the general manager, and everybody within the baseball operations department reports to me,” he said. “That’s not how it has operated recently.”

With reports from the Times, the Daily News (plus Lupica), Newsday, and the Bergan Record (Klap).

Meanwhile, ESPN reports that Larry Bowa will be the Yankees’ new third base coach. Good way to fire up the ol’ Hot Stove season, huh?

A year after the Boston Red Sox ended their long championship drought, the Chicago White Sox, their cousins in futility followed suit and won the World Serious for the first time since WWI. The White Sox defeated the Astros last night 1-0 to complete a four-game sweep of Houston. Chicago became the first team since the 1999 Yankees to go 11-1 in the postseason.

It was fitting that the Red Sox had to beat their arch rivals last year to get to the Serious (and the way in which they toppled the Yanks likely helped sooth a few old sores too!), but superstitions aside I don’t think anyone could have been truly shocked that Boston won it all last year. They had an excellent team were one of the favorites all season. It is also fitting that the White Sox, whose legacy apart from the infamous Black Sox scandal is that they are a losing team without a legacy (or curse if you’d like) won it all this year. They were a solid team and they played very well this year but I doubt that many fans would have predicted that this was their year at the begining of the season. (Not surprisingly, this Serious didn’t draw in viwers like the 2004 Serious did–the White Sox ain’t the Red Sox and the Astros aren’t the Cardinals.) Eric Neel and David Schoenfield debated the relative merits of the Serious over at ESPN. I like Neel’s take:

I see this Series as worthy of some credit because the White Sox just got off an 88-year schneid, trumping their whining North Side brothers and providing a welcome antidote to all the Red Sox logorrhea we’ve been subject to these last 11 months, and doing it with a bunch of pretty likable and unlikely heroes. I further give this series, regardless of the level of play, some credit because it’s got heartache at it’s heart. What’s happened to the Astros here — the return to form of their offense after a brief period of productivity, the injury to Clemens, the struggles of Brad Lidge, their one “sure bet,” the repeated closeup shots of those terrible Chuck Norris beards — added up to another chapter in the star-crossed history of the franchise. The week began so promisingly, and it’s ending so familiarly. It’s sad. And there’s a kind of pathetic greatness in that. This club that’s waited 40-plus years for a shot is shooting nothing but blanks. I know that’s not entertaining, but it is strangely gripping, I think.

Plus, this series has that catch Uribe made in the bottom of the ninth, and that’s a bit of greatness right there.

Finally, it is also somehow fitting that the Cubs should be the last team standing here as well. (Now the Indians and Giants have replaced Boston and Chicago in the two and three slots, but 1948 and 1954 feel a lot different from 1908.) I have a feeling they’ll hold onto that dubious distinction for a little while longer but who knows? What if they go for the trifecta next year? Wouldn’t that be something?

Anyhow, congrats to the White Sox and their fans.

Meanwhile, on the home front, it appears that Brian Cashman and the Yankees have settled on a three-year deal worth just less than $6 million that will keep Cashman in New York. There has been no official announcement yet but that is because Bud Selig didn’t want anything to distract from the Serious. I figure Cashman and the Yanks will make a statement later today or tomorrow. Good news. I’m glad to have Cashman back.

My girlfriend is rooting for the White Sox to win the World Serious but more than anything she’d like the Astros to win a couple of games just to extend the season some. She isn’t ready for it to end. I can relate. I was exhausted after the 2003 and 2004 Yankee-Red Sox wars and welcomed the winter rest, but spring training can start tomorrow as far as I’m concerned. Em and I snuggled up on the couch last night and as we talked about the game, I realized how fortunate I am to have a partner who not only tolerates baseball but thoroughly enjoys it as well. Ms Shorty, all foot foot and three-quarters of her, announced to me that she was going to name every team in the American League. Which she did, slowly but surely, followed by every team in the National League. She nailed that too, and clapped her hands excitedly at the accomplishment and then insisted that I mention her feat in this space today (and just who am I to say no). Boy, was she ever proud of herself. Like I said, I’m mad lucky.

We actually turned in before the game went to extra innings and I kept waking up in the night wondering what had happened. I even dreamt about the outcome–which had the Astros winning 6-5. Much to my surprise–and I won’t lie, delight–the White Sox pulled it out in 14 innings. It was the longest game in Serious history: goodness. While most of America is tuning this Serious out, there at least are some diehards that got precious little sleep last night.

Speaking of sleepless, the perputually sleep-deprived Brian Cashman–baseball’s answer to Jeff Van Gundy–is expected to sign a new contract to remain the general manager of the New York Yankees. Again, nothing concrete went down on Tuesday, but Joel Sherman reports that there are two possible deals on the table: one for four years at $8.8 million, and another for three years at $5.6 million. (Meanwhile, Theo Epstein, whose contract is also due to expire next week, is negotiating with the Red Sox.) The season isn’t over and yet the beat goes on for the Yanks and Sox.

Yesterday came and went and still no definitive word about Yankee GM Brian Cashman. However, Tyler Kepner reports in today’s New York Times:

Brian Cashman may announce his intention to return as the Yankees’ general manager as early as Tuesday. Cashman’s contract expires next Monday, but he has interviewed coaching candidates for the Yankees in recent weeks and has given no internal signals that he intends to leave.

A person who works for a major league team and spoke with Cashman recently said that he would be shocked if Cashman decided to leave. The person requested anonymity because he did not want to betray Cashman’s confidence and because Cashman has not announced his intentions.

We all know Boss George has deep pockets. According to Jon Heyman in Newsday, the Yankees have offered Cashman a three-year, $5 million deal. The Yankees also plan to make Larry Bowa their new third base coach and Lee Mazzilli Joe Torre’s bench coach. Luis Sojo will be offered the position of first base coach but it is still uncertain whether he’ll accept the job or not. Ron Guidry is thought to be one of the leading candidates to replace Mel Stottlemyre as the Bombers’ pitching coach.

Watching Bobby Jenks and Brad Lidge both get smacked around last night simply made me appreciate what we Yankee fans have in Mariano Rivera even more than I already do. Sure, Mo’s got two famous blown saves to his credit (’97 and ’01), but hey, you wouldn’t be human as a reliever if you didn’t have a few big losses in there, right? And in Rivera’s case those two blips hardly overwhelm his great success.

I first-guessed Chicago’s choice of bringing Jenks in the game in the first place. With a rested bullpen, it just didn’t seem necessary. Just as they broke for commercial, Fox introduced Jenks like they were making the next rock star closer: cool name, throws gas. But Jenks’ location was awful and he allowed two runs to score tying the game at six. The night before he sent Jeff Bagwell down swining at hard stuff up in the zone. Last night, with the count 2-2, he throws a fastball down, and Bagwell was able to reach out and poke a single to center. Jenks made virtually the same pitch, low and away to Jose Vizcaino, who slapped the game-tying single into left (that hit must have brought back some fond memories for Yankee fans, as it was the same kind of single that won Game 1 of the Subway Serious back in 2000). King Kong one night, mediocre in two-thirds of an inning the next night.

Then Lidge served up a belt-high heater to Scott Podsednick of all people, who lined a home run to win the game for Chicago. Lidge is tremendous but has now blown two consecutive games. Pujols, you can understandable, but Podsednick is tough to swallow.

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…That the Yankees have contacted Larry Bowa about coming on to coach third base? Well, believe it. According to reports, the thinking is for Bowa to coach third, Lee Mazz to be Torre’s bench coach, and Luis Sojo to move over to first, leaving Roy White out of a job. Ron Guidry is also being seriously considered to replace Mel Stottlemyre. Guidry was one of my favorite players when I was growing up and he’s always seemed like an professional, competent guy. What qualifications he has for becoming a professional pitching coach, I wouldn’t know. Hmmm.

With Joe Torre’s situation now resolved, the Yankees next order of business is how they want to handle GM Brian Cashman, whose contract is due to expire at the end of the month. Meanwhile, Joe Girardi will leave New York to take over as the new manager of the Florida Marlins. While I’m pleased for Girardi, who has always been a favorite, I couldn’t help but think about Willie Randolph yesterday. For the longest time I refused to buy the race card when it came to Randolph repeatedly being passed over for managerial positions. He had never managed before, I reasoned. If he was willing to go down to the minors for a year or two and then still couldn’t get a big league job that would be different. But here comes Girardi, also with no prior experience as a manager, and just one season as a coach, and not one, but two teams were aggresively persuing him. Again, I’m excited for Giardi, something feels fishy about the whole thing.

The Yankees also lost out on landing the services of pitching coach Leo Mazzone. It appears as if the Braves pitching guru is headed for Baltimore where he’ll join longtime friend, manager Sam Perlozzo. (That’s a whole lot of zzzz’s, bro.) According to The Baltimore Sun, a deal could be announced later today. This is a bummer for the Yanks, of course. Fortunately, the Orioles pitching staff have already had a terrific pitching coach in Ray Miller for the past season and a half, so maybe Mazzone won’t make them that much better. (One can always hope, right?) The good news is that Girardi isn’t managing in the AL so he’ll be easy to pull for; the bad news is that Mazzone is now in the AL East.

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“Joe and I had a great meeting yesterday,” [Yankee owner, George] Steinbrenner said in a statement. “We both look forward to bringing a championship back to New York and our great fans.”

Joe Torre spoke to the media earlier today and declared that he will return as the manager of the Yankees in 2006. Torre said that he had some doubts about what he wanted to do, but after talking it over with his family and then meeting with George Steinbrenner in Florida yesterday, he is looking forward to coming back. According to the Associated Press:

“I realize I still want to do this thing. I still want to manage,” he said. “There’s only one place to manage in my estimation. It’s been the best time I’ve ever had, these 10 years.”

…”I just wanted to pretty much clear the air on everything that was part of my unhappiness or anger or whatever you want to call it, frustration. I guess you can put all those things under the same heading,” Torre said.

Torre wanted to make sure Steinbrenner wanted him back.

“I had to not only hear it, but hear the tone in which it was said,” he said.

I love that last line. Say what you want about Torre as a tactician but I’ve never questioned his sincerity, or underestimated his ability to deal with both Steinbrenner and the New York media. I know I’ll be happy having him around for another season. Now, let’s see what George has in store for Cashman…or vice versa.

According to Tyler Kepner in The New York Times, the Yankees have asked and received permission to speak with Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone. It might be pie-in-the-sky day-dreaming but it sure would be exciting to see Mazzone, who along with Johnny Sain is probably the most famous pitching coach in baseball history, working (and rocking) alongside Joe Torre in the Bronx.

And speaking of Joe, the Yankee manager is expected to address the media soon, possibly as early as this afternoon. At the same time, Brian Cashman is working behind-the-scenes with the Yankees about possibly returning as the team’s GM next year. Fortunately, Cashman’s current deal expires at the end of the month, which means that things will pan out soon enough.

I’m not saying nuthin, I’m just sayin: Pettitte, Clemens, Contreras, Duque. Maybe the White Sox are exorcising the spirit of the Black Sox cause they benefitted from every call–good and bad–in the ALCS. Four consecutive complete games? Wow, take a bow, that’s impressive.

Alex Rodriguez is one of the greatest players of all-time. In his second year in New York he had one of the ten best seasons any third baseman has ever had yet his poor showing in the ALDS will haunt him throughout the off-season. Some writers act as if Rodriguez’s lousy series is some kind of character defect or moral failing on his part, suggesting that Rodriguez doesn’t have what it takes, doesn’t have the toughness, the right stuff, in order to perform well in a pressure situation. Rodriguez’s playoff history shows that while he’s never had a career-defining monster series in October–though the 2004 ALDS sure wasn’t bad–he’s been anything but a bust (he was batting .330 in the postseason coming into this year). To Rodriguez’s many critics, it’s as if last year’s ALDS and the first three games against Boston simply didn’t exist. Or at least it didn’t fit their angle.

I don’t think Rodriguez helps himself either. When he fails, it looks as if he’s trying too hard. It feels as if he’s pressing. How else can we explain why the best player doesn’t play the best ball in the biggest spots? Rodriguez was quick to give himself the beatdown after the series ended, which was the correct move. He understands that he’s the highest-paid, most-talented and best-looking star on the most famous team in the sport. If he is anything but brutally honest and accountable, he gives fans and journalists another reason to pile on. But Luis Sojo is probably just one member of the team who thinks that Rodriguez is being too hard on himself and I agree. Had his teammates picked him up, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I don’t mean to minimize how his performance contributed to the Yankees’ loss, but I don’t think he needs to take all the heat either.

Steven Goldman, as usual, gave this issue some historical perspective earlier in the week:

The Yankees wouldn’t have gotten anywhere at all without Alex Rodriguez. The press and the fans can pillory him for his poor postseason performance, but it’s just scapegoating. A lot of Yankees didn’t hit in the Division Series. These things happen. Babe Ruth went 2-for-17 in the 1922 World Series. Joe DiMaggio went 2-for-18 in the 1949 World Series (though the Yankees won). Yogi Berra was 1-for-16 in that same series. The key for both Berra and DiMaggio is that their teammates picked them up. A-Rod’s didn’t. We could go on: Mickey Mantle, 3-for-25 in the 1962 World Series (Yankees won), 2-15 in the 1963 classic (Yankees lost).

Reggie Jackson was a homerless 2-for-16 in the 1977 ALCS against the Royals, but the Yankees covered for him and went on to the World Series. It was there that he earned the “Mr. October” appellation by hitting .450 with five home runs in six games. It wouldn’t have happened without support from his teammates. The great Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post cited the Yankees, “Dysfunctional Culture of Blame,” and called the “Are You a Real Yankee?” discussion that Rodriguez must not be subjected to “self-defeating foolishness.” He’s dead on.

I felt badly for both the team and for Rodriguez after the ALDS was over. That double play in the ninth really hurt. But as my partner Cliff mentioned to me on the phone, for the Yankees it should have never come down to that. The series should have been won already by that point. And you know what? If Rodrgiuez manages to stay healthy, and if he is fortunate enough to have some more opportunities to play in October, I think he’s going to be just fine. How long did it take Bonds to get the playoff monkey off his back? A looooong time. If he gets the chance, Rodriguez will eventually have his day in the sun. I’ve little doubt about that. In the meanwhile, he’ll come back next year more motivated than ever to prove his worth. I don’t think he needs to prove anything to anyone, but until he has a great post-season, I’m not so sure he’d agree. And there are a lot of people out there who’ll take his side in this one. So be it.

But if I ran into homeboy on the street, I’d tell him, Chill out, dog. You had a great season. It was very much appreciated. You had a forgettable playoff series. That was disappointing. Keep your head up, you are going to be just fine.

While the Yankees collectively lick their wounds over the teams first round exit, the first order of Hot Stove League business concerns the immediate future of General Manager Brian Cashman whose contract is up at the end of the month. Cashman, Torre and Stick Michael have been a successful management team for New York, but in recent years they have been competing with a trio of advisors (Billy Connors, Damon Oppenheimer and Bill Emslie) in Tampa who are close to George Steinbrenner. The Yankees proved this year that they could out-perform huge off-season mistakes, but you have to wonder if that can continue to happen indefinitely.

In a perfect world, Cashman and Stick Michael would be allowed to run the team without interference, but we do not like in any kind of world as simple or clean as that (as a matter of fact, George King reports in the Post today–without any direct quotes–that Michael wants out). There is too much money and too much ego involved. Nobody really knows what kind of mental and physical condition Steinbrenner is in but it is evident that a nasty power-struggle is going on behind the scenes with the Yankees.

Mike Lupica thinks that Joe Torre would be nuts to commit himself before Brian Cashman’s situation is resolved

Understand something: Cashman doesn’t hate working for Steinbrenner. He hates working around the weasels in Tampa, guys who would be getting Brian Cashman coffee if they worked in the same office. Steinbrenner is the one who made the weasels matter as much as they do. Now he has to make them matter less.

It is why Cashman’s play is the one to watch now, why Torre should wait before saying anything to anybody. Because if Cashman stays, with the authority he deserves and the authority that would make this thing run a lot better than it does, then I believe Torre’s situation becomes a lot less dramatic. And he no longer feels as if he is the last man standing, with all his top lieutenants gone.

I’m not saying that the Yankees won’t continue to do well after Cashman and Torre leave, but my hunch is that it could get a lot worse before it got better. We’ve seen George screw up his good thing before so there is every reason to think he’s capable of allowing it to happen again.

The season is over. The season has just begun. Here in the northeast we look forward to the leaves turning colors and then gradually falling to the ground. This year, due to the steady rain we’ve seen for the better part of the last week, the foliage may not be so wunnerful after all. Though we need the water, all this rain is bound to sperl the autumnal beauty as it were.

As usual there are a lot of changes to be expected in Yankee land (Bernie, Girardi, Ruben, Leiter, Torre, Cashman). The first significant move happened yesterday when pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre officially stepped down. This comes as no particular surprise as Stottlemyre has been chided by George Steinbrenner and his Tampa Faction for several seasons now. Some fans will be quite happy to see Stottlemyre leave. Yet the main concern is how will this effect Joe Torre and Brian Cashman if at all. The word is that Torre will most likely stick around and manage the team again next year while it looks as if Cashman is done. That would be an unfortunate development. Disrupting the Torre-Cashman alliance could be far more damaging than splitting up Torre and Stottlemyre.

Torre will eventually speak with reporters and address his situation as well as his feelings about what went down this season. Whether that happens this week or next week, your guess is as good as mine. Needless to say, the local media is waiting with baited breath.

The Yankees’ cockamamie season came to a fitting conclusion the other night in California. In a game that decidedly pitted the Baseball Gods against the Bronx Bombers, the Yanks lost one that they should have won. Give the Angels credit for being opportunistic and taking advantage of the Yankees’ mistakes and blame New York for not playing their best ball when it counted most. Alex Rodriguez is getting killed here in New York, and he’ll just have to take the hit. He’s the teams’ marquee player and he had a bad series, so it comes with the territory. It doesn’t take away from his great season, but it sure was a lousy way to end it.

Still, as disappointing as losing to the Angels is, I feel curiously peaceful. The Yanks rebounded after a horrid start and played well enough down the stretch to win their divison and make the playoffs again. That is nothing to sneeze at. I’ve said this before but I think part of what distinguished the 96-01 teams was that they collectively appreciated how hard to was to win a World Series. It was a quality that made their run even more impressive because it wasn’t lost on the players how special their accomplishments were. However, I think some Yankee fans began to buy into the sense of entitlement that is peddled by George Steinbrenner and think the Yankees had somehow patented winning baseball. Now, the Yanks are becoming more like the Braves with each passing season–and I don’t mean that as a diss (or as literal comparison between how the two organizations are run). Ain’t so easy to win it every year. And as the old refrain against Steibrenner goes, you can’t arrange for success.

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