Monthly Archives: November 2008

Lenny Shecter is perhaps best remembered as the man behind Jim Bouton’s classic Ball Four. But for a generation of sports fans and writers who followed Shecter’s columns in the New York Post in the late Fifties and the early Sixties, he stands as one of the great sports writers of them all. John Schulian, Vic Ziegel (who was a pup covering high school sports for the Post in the early Sixties when Shecter and the other Lenny, Leonard Koppett were covering baseball there), and Roger Kahn all point to him as a major figure.

Perhaps because he was a newspaper writer first and foremost, Shecter is largely forgotten today. He had a quick-witted but thoughtful style and did write a handful of books, including The Jocks, a scatching a cynical collection of essays about the world of sports that was released the year before Ball Four. Shecter’s take on the famed Yankee teams of Mantle-Berra-and-Ford was much tougher in The Jocks than in Bouton’s book.

Shecter’s name did resurface this past September when Alan Schwarz wrote about piece about him in The Times. The following week, Stan Issac’s wrote a follow-up piece on Shecter. Both are worth taking a look at.

So leave it up to me, old Dorkasaurus Rex, to hit the microfilm room at the main branch of the New York Public Library, in search for old Shecter columns. Here is just a small sampling of some of his ledes that caught my attention:

April 7, 1961

The Yankee spring training camp had to be the strangest in ten years. It was run as though it was a St. Petersburg subdivision of General Motors and while there has long been an air of cold efficiency which hovers about the Yankees like the odor around the beach at low tide, an important softening ingredient was missing. Casey Stengel.

October 2, 1961

Great events of history are over swiftly. A ball, even if it’s the first in the long and noble history of baseball to be hit for a 61st home run, takes only a few heartbeats of time to be propelled from home plate to the outfield seats.

For those who were at Yankee Stadium yesterday, some 24,000 people, it was over all too quickly. It would have been better if the ball leaped in exaltation, turned in the air and wrote a saucy message (like WHEEE!) against the blue sky, dipped nobly and shed a tear over the monument to Babe Ruth in center field.

But the way it was the count was two balls and no strikes. Roger Maris hitched up his trousers, pumped the bat once toward the pitcher, Tracy Stallard, young Boston righthander, then waited.

(more…)

Freddy Rodriguez retrieves his T-shirt cart from a basement on West 118th Street near Lenox Avenue every morning. He hauls it down the subway stairs and takes the 2 train from 116th Street to Chambers Street and switches to the 1 train that carries him to South Ferry where he pulls the cart up more stairs.

“Then I get my T-shirts ready for the tourists in Battery Park,” Rodriguez explained. “I carry all the staples: Jeter, A-Rod, Mariano, Posada, Joba and the Statue of Liberty. I’ve got lots of hats and some sweatshirts now that it’s getting colder.”

Rodriguez smiled as he showed off his newest item.

“This Yankee Stadium water globe is going to be a big seller,” he said. “I’ve also got a connection that can guarantee me number 52 CC Yankees shirts the day after he signs.

“That will be great for business,” Rodriguez continued. “Nothing has ever gone my way, but that’s starting to change. When CC gets here I’ll officially be on Easy Street.”

Separating truth from rumor during the baseball season is difficult enough, but during the hot stove season, it’s easy to get burned if you don’t view everything you read with a skeptical eye. We know the deal: the rumor-mongering is intended to sell papers, conjure arguments on talk radio, and stir conversation and commentary on blogs like this to keep baseball relevant in a town where both NFL teams are in first place and the Knicks look like an actual professional basketball team for the first time in six years.

Speaking of rumors, we knew the Yankees, with their financial clout and now $32 million to work with (I like Cliff Corcoran’s conservative accounting), would be big players in this winter’s free agent market. The past 30 hours or so have seen one constant in the CC Sabathia Sweepstakes: the Yankees are the highest — and only — bidder to date.

Not long after our Diane Firstman gave the skinny on the landscape’s analysis of the record offer made to the 6-foot-7, 290-pound southpaw, which included a quote from a Yankees official who welcomed the Mets’ inclusion in the mix, Newsday’s David Lennon reported that the Mets put the XX on CC. Joel Sherman wasn’t as definitive in this blog post, but he did not discount the Mets as a player, if for no other reason than to jack up the price for the Yankees.

What no one needs to see as it relates to CC Sabathia are stories like this. LeBron James is a Yankee fan. He’s friends with Sabathia, who until mid-summer spent his entire career in Cleveland. But do we, and should we, care what James has to say on this issue? In James’ defense, I believe this is more of an indictment of the Cleveland reporter who felt compelled to ask the question more than it is on James, who could face a similar free-agent dilemma next summer. James could opt out of the remaining two years of his contract in July and go to the highest bidder, which according to the aforementioned report, is expected to be either the Knicks or the New Jersey Nets. But if you’re the Cleveland scribe, why create a mess now? Haven’t those fans suffered for long enough? As a former reporter, I’m embarrassed. Maybe I’d have used that question as an icebreaker for an off-the-record situation, but that’s it. No way do you go to press with that.

(more…)

If C.C. signs with the Yanks, I fear some entrepreneur will start printing up “Black Sabathia” t-shirts, showing him biting the heads off of baseball bats.

But I digress … here now the news:

• Over at LoHud, our buddy PeteAbe has photos from inside the new stadium.  Unfortunately, there are 12 photos, and they’re not all in one post.  You’ll have to page through them, but its worth it.  Pete also reports that Hank Steinbrenner “wants all the pitchers.”
• Hold the phone on yesterday’s report that the Metsies would go after C.C.  Marty Noble at MLB.com spoke to a source within the organization, and got a different take.
• Out in Milwaukee, GM Bob Melvin is a bit flummoxed by the supposed offer to C.C. (as per the Journal Sentinel)

“It sounds like they’re overbidding,” Melvin said. “If the speculation is true that we’ve offered CC $100 million, why would you offer $140 million? Why wouldn’t you offer $110 million?”

“(The Yankees) have been pretty adamant about bidding on everybody. That doesn’t mean that’s what the market is. That’s just one team’s offer. Until all the bids are on the table, I don’t know what the market is.”

• The News‘ Bill Madden likens the Swisher deal to similar trades in prior years:

His .219 batting average notwithstanding, Nick Swisher looks to be a high-upside acquisition in the same mode as Scott Brosius (.203 with the Oakland A’s) in 1997 and Paul O’Neill (.246 with the Cincinnati Reds) in 1992. That is, a quality all-around player who, for whatever reasons, had a down year and was in dire need of an environment change. Just as O’Neill had a personality conflict in Cincinnati with Lou Piniella (who wanted him to pull the ball more and hit for more power), Swisher fell into a batting funk early on with the White Sox last season and resisted advice from hitting coach Greg Walker and manager Ozzie Guillen.

• Also at MLB.com, Robert Falkoff reports that the Padres and Yanks have had numerous discussions regarding Jake Peavy, despite the no-trade clause in Jake’s contract.
• Darrell Rasner asked for and was granted a trade to a team in Japan, according to ESPN.
• Dwight Gooden, one of a few ex-Mets to pitch a no-hitter for someone OTHER than the Mets, turns 44 today.  Dwight no-hit the Mariners on May 14, 1996.
• On this date in 2002, the Yankees and the Yomiuri Giants sign an agreement to form a working relationship, hoping to establish scouting and marketing ties which will benefit both teams.

The Boston Globe‘s “The Buzz” is proving to be a strong Hot Stove roundup, and a helpful one given the local tendency to see every free agent through pinstriped glasses. Here’s some of the latest they’ve collected, the top two of which were updated this afternoon:

A.J. Burnett:

According to a report in the Toronto Star, the Blue Jays have an offer ready for Burnett for $54 million for four years that they have been waiting to make to his agent . . . According to the Globe’s Nick Cafardo, the [Red] Sox don’t want to extend themselves that long contractually or money-wise for Burnett . . . The New York Post’s George King writes . . . “word is spreading that A.J. Burnett will shy away from The Bronx.”

Derek Lowe:

According to the Globe’s Tony Massarotti, Derek Lowe is among the most probable targets for the Red Sox . . . “a major league source has confirmed that the Sox have inquired with agent Scott Boras about Lowe, interest deemed sincere enough that Boras has equipped the Sox with one of his famed marketing portfolios, or ‘books,’ on the player’s value.” Massarotti writes that Lowe “has never has been shy about declaring his fondness for Boston and East Coast baseball . . . Lowe has made Boston his No. 1 preference according to the Globe’s Nick Cafardo. . . . Cafardo also reported that the Mets are going after him strong and have the resources to land him. The Mets also employ Lowe’s personal trainer, Chris Correnti, but Lowe, who wants to play for a winning organization in a place where he’s comfortable, may not see the Mets fitting his criteria. St. Louis, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Detroit might be better fits, writes Cafardo.

These two pitchers are the Yankees’ top two targets after CC Sabathia (though Burnett shouldn’t be), but it just might be that neither wants to pitch for the Yankees, which could either pass those Yankee bucks on to the likes of Ryan Dempster and Oliver Perez, or, better yet (much better) into an increased offer to Mark Teixiera. Speaking of . . .

Mark Teixeira:

From the Globe’s Nick Cafardo: “The Sox also should be in the mix for Teixeira, in whom they have long had interest. The early chatter is a contract in the vicinity of 7-10 years at more than $20 million annually might whittle the field, though the Angels, Red Sox, and Yankees won’t likely feel their pockets burn no matter what they have to pay. . . . It would be a surprise if they don’t make a substantial offer, though it might not come on Day 1.” According to a report in the Washington Post, the Nationals may be making a run at Teixeira: “Against all odds and logic, the Nationals envision themselves as serious players in the Teixeira sweepstakes, according to team and league sources, and are believed to be preparing an offer they feel will be competitive with the others Teixeira is likely to receive. In other words, it would almost certainly be north of $100 million, if not $150 million.”

I don’t know about you, but the thought of a Boston infield with Kevin Youkilis at third, Jed Lowrie at short, Dustin Pedroia at second, and Mark Teixeira at first base is going to ruin my sleep until Teixeira (hopefully) signs elsewhere. I doubt Teixeira will quarantine himself on a losing team like the Nats, but he’s a Baltimore native, so it’s slightly less than ludicrous.

Meanwhile, heres something I stuck in comments earlier today that I’d be interested in getting your reaction to:

I don’t doubt the accuracy of the estimates of the Yankees offer to Sabathia, but I think a lot of the speculation about how much money the Yankees have to throw around beyond Sabathia is misguided and uninformed. Dealing in 2009 dollars only, I’ve heard estimates that the Yankees have as much as $80 million coming off the books, but my accounting shows something closer to $65, and that was before they spent roughly $9 million on Marte and Swisher for 2009. So $56 million minus $24M for CC . . . that’s $32M. That’s just a pair of $16M pitcher contracts before the payroll starts going up. That means no money for another hitter unless they’re willing to push the payroll past $230 million [or punt on one or both of those other pitchers, or if they don’t land CC]. With unsold suites, $11 million in unpaid taxes being collected by the city comptroller, and a federal investigation into their tax-exempt bonds for the new stadium, I’m not sure they have that much flexibility.

(more…)

My great aunt Anita passed away in the middle of the night. She was 95. I was at her apartment yesterday evening with cousins, aunts and uncles. Her family was with her and I can only assume that was a great comfort to her as the family matriarch.

Two of my cousins are due to give birth momentarily. So as we say goodbye to the end of an era in our family, we are ready welcome in a new one. That’s how it’s supposed to go, right?

The painting above is by one of my favorites–Richard Diebenkorn.

Moussa Akwari doesn’t mind working Saturdays.

“Everyone else wants it off,” he explained. “I volunteer and the boss loves me, but it’s really my favorite day.”

Akwari delivers party supplies – balloons, decorations, hats, horns, napkins, cups, plates and plastic forks – for a little shop on Broadway.

“It’s mostly boring office parties during the week,” he said, “but today there will be lots of birthdays.

“Last Saturday I delivered for a party on the Westside,” Akwari continued. “A boy was turning 10 years old and his mother ordered balloons and everything else we had for the Yankees. When I got there she had a blue and white cake with a picture of Derek Jeter and real Yankees hats and plastic bats and foam balls.

“They were going to eat cake and then play baseball in the apartment,” Akwari went on. “That must have been the best party ever.”

Akwari smiled and said:

“And it could only happen on a Saturday.”

That’s the James Bond from Ian Fleming’s novels.  

A few years ago, Allen Barra wrote a terrific overview of the Bonds books for Salon:

The Bond of the books was physically smaller than [Sean] Connery by about 2 inches and 20 pounds, and not quite so “cruelly handsome” (as many early reviewers described Connery). I had forgotten that James Bond wasn’t really a spy at all but a cross between the commandos Fleming had known during World War II and a highly trained assassin — obviously, or else why would he be licensed by his government to kill? The literary Bond chafed at the paperwork he was obliged to do plenty of, and unlike his movie counterpart — whose budget for sports cars, rocket-powered backpacks and speedboats, to say nothing of tuxedos, seemed to exceed the entire GNP of Great Britain — was always mildly resentful about his lack of funding.

In “You Only Live Twice,” he apologizes to Tiger Tanaka, the head of the Japanese secret service, for his meager expense account: “Under ten million pounds a year doesn’t go far when there is the whole world to cover.” In “From Russia With Love,” he ruefully compares his own arsenal with that of his Soviet rivals. “If only,” he laments, “his cigarette had been a trick one — magnesium flare, or something he could throw in the man’s face! If only his Service went in for those explosive toys!” And in “Thunderball” he envies the “CIA the excellence of their equipment, and he had no false pride about borrowing from them.”

Readers often come to, well, bond with Bond precisely because of his ordinariness. Unlike the Bond of the movies, the Bond on the pages doesn’t seem radically different from most of us. With the right background and training — and, of course, a willingness to kill in the line of duty — it’s easy to feel we could be the hero of those adventures. Chandler’s Philip Marlowe is somebody you’d like to have a drink with. Bond doesn’t interest us in that way; he’s more like someone you’d want to be if you had another life. Which seems to be precisely why Fleming wrote the books, to create a fantastic yet believable alternative existence.

The new Bond movie was released yesterday and Mr. Barra again looks at the differences Bond on the page and Bond on the screen (Wall Street Journal).

Today’s news (now with 37% more Nick Swisher in it!):

• The Mets have put their hat into the Sabathia ring, states the News.  This makes one unnamed Yankee exec happy:

A high-placed Yankee source Thursday reacted to the development by saying: “The Mets are in it? Great. Bring it on.”

• Add ESPN’s Buster Olney to the list of writers who think the country’s economic slowdown won’t impact the Yankees this off-season.  He estimates the Yanks opening offer to Sabathia at around $140 to $142 million over six years. Update: Olney states the offer became official Friday night, rumored to be 6 years and slightly over Santana’s $137.5 million contract.

Folks with other teams don’t know how Sabathia possibly can turn down the Yankees’ offer. But regardless of whether the Yankees sign him or not, their intention is to plow ahead and pursue other pitchers, as well. If they can sign Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, they will do so. If they can sign Sabathia and Derek Lowe, they will do it. If they can sign Burnett and Lowe, they will do it. If they can sign Sabathia and Burnett and Lowe, they will do it. If they can sign Sabathia, Burnett and Andy Pettitte, they will do that. They have the room to themselves, and their choices will largely dictate what leftovers will remain for others to choose from.

• Jayson Stark concurs with Olney …

If the Yankees, as expected, come roaring out of the free-agent blocks, offering CC Sabathia a six-year deal in the neighborhood of $140 million, how many teams can possibly even hang in there with them in the CC Derby? ….  So the honest answer is: There is probably no team that can shower money on Sabathia the way the Yankees can, especially in this economy. And it’s becoming increasingly clear they know it, too.

• ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick puts the Yankees under the microscope, and comes up with their probable plan for the off-season.  Most of the ideas you can guess already, but there is one quote I found interesting.

As Cashman points out, the Yankees weren’t exactly hoarding their resources last winter just because they passed on Torii Hunter, Carlos Silva et al. They spent $382 million on long-term deals for A-Rod, Rivera and Posada, signed Robinson Cano for four years and $30 million and shelled out $32 million more on Andy Pettitte and Bobby Abreu’s one-year option.

“Even if everything that we hope and dream for happens, we’ll spend less money this free-agent market than we did last free-agent market,” Cashman said.

• Here’s the Swisher portion of today’s news.  Newsday’s Ken Davidoff thinks the acquisition of Swisher shows that Cashman is still exerting some restraint in his team-building:

It means Cashman still values roster and payroll flexibility, a concept he put in doubt with his questionable three-year, $12-million commitment to setup man Damaso Marte on Wednesday.

It means that the Yankees appreciate the risk in giving a nine-figure contract to someone they don’t know firsthand — and that they’re certainly not going to give out two such deals in the same winter.

• Christina Kahrl of BP.com does her usual excellent job of analyzing transactions.  Here is a bit of her take on the Swisher trade:

The genius to the Swisher deal is that it’s a down-market solution for an up-market franchise.  … getting a player with experience at all three positions this early in the Hot Stove season engenders all sorts of follow-on possibilities. The Yankees can look at fixes at all three problem positions, but they can afford to be flexible and pick the best two fits instead of locking in on any one option. They can still pursue Mark Teixeira to play first for them, but they can also keep Bobby Abreu informed of where they’re at on that front, and that might help keep the latter’s price down if he’s determined to stay in pinstripes. It might even deke him into the kind of discounted, short-term deal that would really be in the Yankees’ best interest, whether Tex signs with the Yankees or not.

• Here is Baseball America’s take on the Swisher deal:

Swisher’s success in New York will be the key to the deal from New York’s standpoint; Texeira is redundant in a system full of similar fastball-slider relief pitchers, such as Anthony Claggett. The White Sox hope pitching coach Don Cooper and pitching coordinator Kirk Champion can work the same magic with Marquez that they have for the likes of Gavin Floyd and John Danks and pick up a potential power arm for the ’09 bullpen in Nunez.

• Even more opinion on the Swisher acquisition, this time from the Times‘ Tyler Kepner:

… Swisher is popular throughout the game, and he has some attributes the Yankees really like: he draws a ton of walks, he’s got a good glove at first, and he’s a switch-hitter with power who can also fill in at all three outfield spots.

• Meanwhile, the Post’s Joel Sherman believes that the Swisher deal means that Teixeira probably won’t become a Yankee:

The plan is to concentrate on starting pitching, namely Sabathia, and – at best – Teixeira is a backburner issue in case all the rotation avenues prove fruitless. Teixeira was pushed further to the backburner yesterday when the Yanks obtained Nick Swisher, who, as of now, projects to be the starting first baseman.

and …

Swisher’s acquisition from the White Sox helps Cashman avoid the Teixeira market. Swisher is not a Gold Glover like Teixeira, but is considered above average at first. He also can play any of the three outfield positions. But even if he ended up there (with a trade of Johnny Damon or Xavier Nady), the Yanks would likely still avoid Teixeira. They worry Posada, Rodriguez or Derek Jeter could end up needing to play first during the life of what would be a long-term deal for Teixeira.

(more…)

By swiping Nick Swisher from the White Sox for Wilson Betemit and two dubious pitching prospects, Brian Cashman has given the Yankees a rousing start to what could be a dramatically entertaining off season. Swisher’s power, patience, and versatility are all major assets, giving the Yankees plenty of flexibility along the outfield and at first base. He’s a legitimate defender at first and in the outfield corners, and has enough athletic ability to play a backup role in center field. Given his earlier track record in Oakland, he also figures to raise his batting average significantly from the .219 mark he posted with the White Sox. And he’s only 28 years old, which makes him a virtual toddler in the Yankees’ thirty something lineup. Make no mistake about it, this is a good first move for Cashman and the Yankees.

So what’s next on the winter agenda? Aside from the imminent bidding on CC Sabathia, I’m curious what will happen with Robinson Cano, who might by New York’s most enigmatic player. If the early signs of winter mean anything at all, the Yankees appear to be preparing for life with Cano in 2009. They’ve already given him permission to play winter league ball for at least a month, so that he can continue using the newfound batting stance he discovered late in the regular season. They’ve also made arrangements to have batting coach Kevin Long work with Cano during his winter league stint. And the Yankees have finally hired minor league defensive instructor Mick Kelleher as their first base and infield coach, at least in part because they believe that Kelleher will have a positive influence on Cano the way that Larry Bowa once did. (Let’s just hope that Kelleher has no influence on Cano’s power stroke. In 11 major league seasons with the Cardinals, Astros, Cubs, Angels, and Tigers, Kelleher hit exactly zero home runs.)

But not so fast. The Yankees, despite the warning signs listed above, should listen to several offers for Cano, their starting second baseman who played in a cloud-filled funk for most of the season. Of all the players the Yankees are likely to deal this winter, Cano still has the most trade value, more than Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy or Hideki Matsui. Cano was supposedly offered to the Padres as part of a package for Jake Peavy, but San Diego turned down that possibility. He might still become the centerpiece to a deal for another starting pitcher (like the Giants’ Matt Cain) or a center fielder (like Carlos Beltran, to borrow from an earlier rumor). With Cano out of the picture, the Yankees could then step up efforts to sign free agent Orlando Hudson, a player with which the Yankee front office is infatuated. Hudson, while five years older than Cano, would represent a significant defensive upsurge over Cano, who may lack the desire and work ethic to achieve his Gold Glove potential. Hudson would also bring some much needed positive energy to a Yankee clubhouse that has become too staid, too corporate, and too damn passive in recent years.

(more…)

This is a test post to see if the audio player appears…

find

The discussion around Juan Carlos’s coffee cart started out cold and calculating this morning.

“I hope the Yankees are already talking to CC and A.J. and maybe Lowe and Teixeira,” someone said. “We need to sign a couple of arms and maybe another bat even after the Swisher trade.”

Everyone nodded and the matter seemed decided.

Javier – the neighborhood’s voice-of-reason on baseball matters – peeled the lid off his coffee cup and nudged the conversation in another direction.

“I know everyone gets excited about free agents,” Javier said. “There’s some great talent available, but remember that other teams can start talking to our players, too.

“Guys like Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu played hard and won games for us,” Javier continued. “I know the decision makers can’t get emotional about ballplayers, but we certainly can.”

Everyone nodded again.

“Remember all the times Giambi signed autographs outside the players’ gate?” someone said. “Once he brought an armload of Yankees yearbooks and passed ‘em out. Every time he came over I asked him if we were gonna win the World Series and he always said: ‘I’m gonna do everything I can to make it happen.’”

“How about last year when Abreu got that big walk-off hit,” someone else said. “He came out of the Stadium after the game and was high-fiving everyone. I didn’t have anything for him to autograph so he signed the back of my hand. Now I’d hate to see him sign with anyone else.”

Emotions may sometimes lead to “bad baseball decisions,” but they always point to the best baseball fans.

The annual “Running of the Free Agents” begins today …. so stay inside and read this:

• Mark Feinsand of the News has an update on Mike Mussina’s 2009 decision:

Mussina, who won 20 games this year for the first time in his career, told the Daily News Wednesday that he plans to make his decision early next week.

“I’m still kind of up in the air,” Mussina said Wednesday from his home in Montoursville, Penn. “I’m enjoying my time off, but then again, I always enjoy my time off.”

• Mussina earned two 3rd place votes (and Rivera three 3rd place votes) in the AL Cy Young balloting, with the award going to the Indians’ Cliff Lee (MLB.com).
• Tyler Kepner of the Times was in on a conference call Wednesday with Joe Girardi, and the manager reiterated the Yanks’ primary need this off-season:

“We know that we have to fill some needs in our pitching rotation, and there are some pretty good starters out there and we understand that,” Girardi said. “We’re going to do everything we can to fill the needs of our rotation, and that is more than one guy. There are other pitchers out there that have thrown very well, and we’re looking at those guys as well. We would like to add as many as we can.”

(more…)

“Swisher is a rare point of agreement between Paul’s computer and the interal compass of an old baseball guy. He has the raw athletic ability the scouts adore; but he also has the stats Billy [Beane] and Paul [DePodesta] have decided matter more than anything: he’s proven he can hit, and hit with power; he drew more than his share of walks. . . .

“Swisher is noticeable, isn’t he?” says Billy, hoping to hear more about what Swisher looks like. How Swisher really is.

“Oh, he’s noticeable,” says an old scout. “From the moment he gets off the bus he doesn’t shut up.”

–from Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Nick Swisher was the first player taken in the Oakland A’s 2002 “Moneyball” draft and the 16th overall, a pick the A’s received as compensation when the Red Sox signed Johnny Damon. With the 17th pick, the Phillies drafted a left-handed high school pitcher named Cole Hamels. The son of major leaguer Steve Swisher and a product of Ohio State University, Swisher needed just two and a half seasons to work his way up the A’s ladder and in 2005 he was their starting right fielder at age 24. Swisher spent the next two seasons splitting time between first base and all three outfield positions. By his 27th birthday, a little less than a year ago, he was had established himself as the best hitter in the A’s weak offense with a career .251/.361/.464 line, a tick below his .261/.379/.476 career line in the minors.

The A’s had signed Swisher to a five-year deal the previous May, buying out his arbitration years for what amounted to $24.55 million over four years with a $10.25 million option for 2012, but on January third of this year, the rebuilding A’s traded Swisher and his new contract to the White Sox for outfielder Ryan Sweeney and a pair of pitching prospects.

Swisher began the 2008 season as the White Sox’s center fielder, almost by default. After a quick start, his average and power numbers began to plummet, soon followed by his signature on-base percentage. Swisher hit rock bottom at the end of May, then recovered with a strong June (.315/.402/.630), but hit the skids again in July only to see his playing time diminish after the trading-deadline arrival of center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. With the White Sox in a pennant race, Swisher made just six starts over the season’s final two weeks and appeared only as a defensive replacement at first base in Chicago’s one-game playoff against the Twins. He started just once in the Chisox’s four-game ALDS loss to the Rays, going 1 for 3 with a pair of walks in their Game 2 loss and popped out in a Game 4 pinch-hitting appearance.

All together, Swisher hit just .219/.332/.410 while splitting his season between center and first base, with some additional work in the outfield corners. According to ESPN’s Keith Law, Swisher suffered through:

. . . a horrific year, looking slow and even apathetic, almost as if his patience at the plate was the result of indifference rather than a desire to work the count. He can still run into a ball if a pitcher makes a mistake, but his bat was slow and he would foul off average fastballs and miss plus heat entirely.

Our YES pal, Steven Goldman sees Swisher’s down year differently:

If you look inside Swisher’s stats, you will see that his line-drive rates were actually up from 2006 and 2007, but his batting average on balls in play dropped by 52 points from 2007 to 2008. In other words, he was still hitting balls hard, but they were caught at an abnormally high rate. We call this bad luck, maybe very bad luck. If he doesn’t overreact by tying his swing into a pretzel, he’s an extremely good candidate to rebound.

Steve also points to Swisher’s bizzare home-road split, which saw him hit a typical .247/.361/.517 at U.S. Cellular, but a miserable .189/.301/.294 on the road, this a year after hitting .270/.376/.474 in his road grays for the A’s, as another likely indication of a fluky season.

The Yankees certainly hope Goldman, not Law, has the right take on Nick the Swish, because he’s their problem now. The Yankees acquired Swisher and the $21.05 million over three years remaining on his contract from the White Sox yesterday along with minor league closer Kanekoa Texeira for infielder Wilson Betemit, Triple-A starter Jeff Marquez, and Double-A reliever Jhonny Nuñez.

(more…)

The Yankees just picked up OF/1B Nick Swisher from the White Sox for triple-A starter Jeff Marquez (and possibly others, though it seems Marquez is the main piece). Both players had bad years this year. The big question is whether or not this will impact the Yankees pursuit of Mark Teixeira, or if Swisher is more of a Shelley Duncan/Wilson Betemit replacement. Discuss. I’ll be back later to break this one down.

Update: The full deal is Swisher and Double-A righty reliever Kanekoa Texeira for Marquez, Wilson Betemit, and Double-A righty reliever Jhonny Nuñez, the last of whom was the player received for Alberto Gonzalez at the trading deadline.

By Mike Vaccaro

What I’ll always remember most are the eyes: eyes belonging to professional baseball players, who aren’t supposed to be impressed by much and are surprised by even less. Eyes filling a clubhouse containing men who had already won three consecutive World Series and 11 consecutive playoff series and were already being listed among the greatest dynasties of all time.

And yet late on the night of Nov. 1, 2001, and early in the morning of Nov. 2, those eyes were all rheumy and moist and wide with wonder. Even the Yankees couldn’t believe what they’d just seen, and done. Even the Yankees couldn’t quite fathom that, a night after Tino Martinez had rescued them with a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 4, Scott Brosius had done the same exact thing, taken Byung-Hyun Kim deep and sent Yankee Stadium into the kind of frothy frenzy that you can still summon in your ears, and your memory, all these years later.

I remember it especially well because it is the only time in 20 years as a newspaperman that I’ve ever blown an edition. I was working for the Newark Star-Ledger at the time, and had written a “running” column which described how valiantly the Yankees had fought in losing and going down three games to two in the Series, and I’d done so without composing a backup “early” column in case it didn’t work out that way.

But it was clear: lightning had struck once the night before.

Couldn’t happen again.

And then it did.

I had already left the press box to stand outside the Yankees clubhouse, to avoid the rush and the crush of postgame. There was a TV monitor set up there, which was on a four-or-five second delay. Which helped add to the surreal nature of the moment, because Kim was still in the stretch position on TV when suddenly there emerged from the tunnel leading to the home dugout a roar that defied explanation. And could mean only one thing.

(more…)

Marcus Carter showed some wear on the 2 train this morning. The stress of too much work and too little pay was catching up with him.

“I sleep okay,” he said, “but I’m still tired all the time. I guess it’s from worrying about having to wake up in a subway tunnel or under a bridge next month.”

They have cut him to part-time at the warehouse in Hunts Point. He got another job washing dishes at a downtown coffee shop, but the pay isn’t very good and the hours are worse.

“The traveling and the split shifts mean 18-hour days,” Carter explained. “I also work weekends at the coffee shop and my paycheck still comes up short, but the bills keep coming.”

So Carter keeps looking for anything he can get.

“There ain’t much out there,” he explained while scanning the newspaper classifieds. “Actually there are jobs, but I’m not qualified to do most of them: CPA, dental hygienist, medical assistant, sales manager.

“Maybe I could do something in sales,” Carter reasoned. “But who would buy anything from me? Who’s buying anything, period?”

The sports pages were more promising.

“Here’s something,” Carter said. “This baseball story has all kinds of information from an ‘unnamed Major League executive.’ That sounds like a growth industry with free agency ready to start. ‘Unnamed’ means there’s probably not much responsibility. ‘Major League’ means a job in baseball. ‘Executive’ means my mother would be proud. Perfect!”

Carter laughed at himself.

“Guys like me don’t get those kinds of jobs,” he said, “but at least it was funny.”

You take what you can get on the 2 train these days.

T-minus one day till free agent hell breaks loose … here’s the news:

• Over at Newsday, Ken Davidoff pokes holes in the public statements that Hank, Hal and Brian are all working with the same mindset on how to build the team.

“Cashman understood that the key to roster management was controlling the years you commit to players.  … the Yankees were using their financial might in a more intelligent way: Paying over slot in the draft. As Cashman said, better to pay them well on the front end than on the back end.

Cashman’s vision started to melt away a year ago at this time …  the Steinbrenners – both Hal and Hank, we should stress – decided they needed to retain their own free agents at all costs. They signed Jorge Posada to a four-year, $52.4-million deal, an investment that already looks terrible; Cashman wanted to give Posada two years and an option … the fact that A-Rod has nine years left in pinstripes seems to horrify, rather than excite, the Yankees and their fans.

There went some roster flexibility, and they sure seem happy to fritter away at it some more, starting on Friday. Will they really bid six years for CC Sabathia? Would they possibly go seven for Mark Teixeira?”

• MLB.com reports that Al Leiter has taken his microphone from the YES Network and will be a studio analyst for the new MLB Network next season.
• Aside from clearing out the area near “the bat” soon to make room for a pedestrian walkway to the new ballpark, demolition of the old stadium won’t really take place until Summer 2009, as per LoHud’s Pete Abe.
• From the Times, we read that in other old stadium news, Babe Ruth’s monument was VERY carefully excavated and wrapped up for its move across the street.

(more…)

The Yankees have signed their first Type A free agent of the offseason, re-upping lefty reliever Damaso Marte, whose $6 million option they had declined just last week, with a three-year deal worth $12 million with a club option for 2012. Marte joined the Yankees just before the trading deadline this year in the deal that also brought Xavier Nady over from the Pirates.

Marte’s Yankee career didn’t get off to the best start as he struggled in two of his first five outings for the Bombers, allowing six runs in his first 4 2/3 innings. His fifth Yankee appearance saw him throw 42 pitches in 101-degree heat in Texas. Marte hadn’t thrown that many pitches in a single outing since August 2006 and promptly developed discomfort in his pitching elbow. Four outings later, Marte turned in another stinker, setting his Yankee ERA at 11.05 after nine appearances. Though Joe Girardi insisted that there was nothing wrong with the Dominican lefty, Marte faced just one batter over the next nine days, eventually informing the media of his elbow discomfort on his own.

The time off did trick as Marte returned to action on August 22 and posted a 1.64 ERA over his last 15 appearances, striking out 13 in 11 innings, while allowing just nine baserunners. The Yankees have clearly chosen to focus on those last 15 outings rather than on the first nine and that bit of elbow pain.

By declining Marte’s option only to resign him to a multi-year deal, the Yankees have done exactly what many expected they would, though I’m troubled by the length of the deal, particularly given that Marte will turn 34 before pitchers and catchers report. Perhaps the most significant success of the 2008 Yankees was their ability to piece together one of the best bullpens in baseball from an assemblage of home-grown arms and minor league free agents. Perhaps just as impressively, they were able to replace parts on the fly when, for example, Brian Bruney broke his foot, or Joba Chamberlain moved into the rotation.

That success seemed to teach the Yankees all they needed to know about the fungibility of relief pitchers, prompting them to release struggling veteran LaTroy Hawkins, whose signing last winter seemed like little more than a hedge against betting the pen on those other unproven arms, and trade Kyle Farnsworth, the lone big-money holdover from past failed attempts to buy a better bullpen, in the wake of the acquisition of Marte. When Marte struggled in his first month as a Yankee without doing much damage to the pen as a whole, that seemed to provide another lesson. Still, here we are again, evaluating a three-year deal for a veteran set-up reliever.

I would have understood if the Yankees had picked up Marte’s option, using him as a hedge against coming set-up man Mark Melancon or against a second look at lefty Phil Coke in the major league pen. I would have understood a two year deal at a reduced salary, which would have allowed the team to trade Marte either at the deadline or next winter. Three years plus an option? That I don’t get. Not when the option would be for Marte’s age-37 season. Not given that bit of elbow trouble in August. Not given all of the pitching already in the Yankee system.

(more…)