Monthly Archives: December 2008

Karl Sharperson woke up to rain pounding off his apartment window on Jerome Avenue. It was well before dawn, but he quickly splashed water on his face, brushed his teeth and pulled on his lucky T-shirt: Alex Rodriguez number 13. He added two sweatshirts and a coat before heading downstairs to meet the weather.

“I knew it was gonna be cold and wet,” he said. “But it’s no big deal because I heard that CC and A.J. are in the neighborhood. The word is that there might be a big press conference soon. That will be the beginning of something big and the end of something bad.

“I’ve dealt with four years of lousy Carl Pavano jokes,” he continued. “I’m Karl with a K. He’s Carl with a C. That’s C for candy-ass.”

Karl with a K is happy that’s all in the past.

“We’re gonna have a strong starting rotation this year,” he said. “No more buttock bruises or car crashes with garbage trucks. Nobody could line up a string of injuries like Pavano had. Nobody.

“I’m free from all the jokes and this team is free from a lot of drama,” Karl with a K continued. “So let’s get CC and A.J. announced and then sign Andy and get ready to play ball.”

Karl with a K pulled up his collar and yanked down his hat to keep off the rain.

“I hope the weather is better on Opening Day,” he said. “At least we know the good stuff is on the way.”

Powered by the thought that American ingenuity is not dead (as “proven” by this ) …. here’s the news:

• MLB.com reports that the BoSox have made an official offer to Mark Teixeira, but points out that adding Tex to the lineup could cause a logjam:

The Red Sox have Kevin Youkilis at first base and Mike Lowell at third. To open a spot for Teixeira, the Red Sox might have to trade Lowell and move Youkilis across the diamond.

However, Lowell, coming off right hip surgery, is likely to have to prove his health in Spring Training if he is to be dealt. Last winter the Red Sox re-signed Lowell, the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 World Series, to a three-year, $37.5 million contract.

The Red Sox control Youkilis contractually for the next two years, so it’s highly doubtful he would be moved. …  David Ortiz … is a 10-5 man … meaning he could veto any trade.

(My take: From a public relations standpoint, it would be hard for the Sox to trade the beloved Big Papi.  Youkilis is too valuable to trade in that he plays both corners well, and is insurance for the “old skill set” Ortiz.  The “rational” Sox rooter would understand trading the older, recovering Lowell, although I would think the Sox would have to pay some of Lowell’s salary to move him.  The Twins have a void at third, but even if the Sox paid a good portion of Lowell’s salary, I couldn’t see Lowell’s back holding up on that unforgiving Metrodome turf this season.)

• Could Manny be Manny AND be an Angel?: MLB.com reports that should the Angels not be able to re-sign Teixeira, they may set their sights on Manny Ramirez.  Manager Mike Scioscia thinks Manny would be OK in Anaheim:

Asked if he’d be for it if things could be worked out with Ramirez, Scioscia said, “Absolutely. Talent like Manny’s is real. He’s a winner. Whether it happens or not remains to be seen. But we would not rule him out.

“We have discussions obviously on character and makeup. We would not rule Manny out. When he’s motivated — and he showed that in the last part of the season — this guy is one of the best talents in the game.”

(My take: Dear Mr. Scioscia … couldn’t it be that Manny was motivated during the last part of the season because he was playing for a new contract?  Isn’t it a prerequisite that players are self-motivated during most of the season anyway?  Aren’t you worried that Manny will coast if he ends up on your coast?  Wouldn’t an outfield with both Vlad and Manny make Torii Hunter’s head [and hamstrings] explode?)

• Over at SI.com, Jon Heyman notes that it appears the Yanks are falling behind in the race for Teixeira, and may therefore go for Manny:

There are those suggesting the Yankees are only in the running for Teixeira to either monitor the rival Red Sox or drive up the price for the switch-hitting slugger. But while it’s true the Yankees don’t appear as eager to sign Teixeira as the Angels and Red Sox, they do appear willing to sign him at the right price. After already signing CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett for $243.5 million combined, the Yankees appear disinclined to offer $200 million for Teixeira, which is what it may take to get him.

That’s where Manny may come in.

While the Yankees have a trio of accomplished corner outfielders — Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Xavier Nady — they appear to love the idea of Manny and could still utilize Damon in centerfield on occasion.

• Meanwhile, the News is reporting that there is a split in the Yankee front office over whether to pursue Ramirez:

One baseball official told the Daily News that the Yankees’ interest in Ramirez is more than cursory, that they see the slugger as the perfect complement in their lineup to Alex Rodriguez, forming a 1-2 punch like he did in Boston with David Ortiz.

The official believes that the Yankees are “going hard” after Ramirez, to the point where they are willing to give him a three-year deal worth from $22 million to $25 million per year.

Two other officials are skeptical that the Bombers would commit three years to the enigmatic Ramirez … (however) if the market is limited, the Yanks will try to jump in with a two-year, $50 million package.

According to a source familiar with the Yankees’ thinking, Brian Cashman has been lukewarm to the idea of signing Ramirez, but the rest of the front office – most notably Hal and Hank Steinbrenner – believes he is precisely what the Yankees need to bolster a lineup that underachieved in 2008.

(My take: The Yanks must choose.  Will they go for an eight-year, $200 commitment to a young elite first baseman, a position at which they are at a distinct competitive disadvantage currently, and who would make their fiercest division rival even more formidable if he signed with them instead.  Or, will they opt for a two to three-year, $50-75 million or so commitment to a 36-year-old, moody, below-averaqe outfielder with an occasionally cranky knee who would have to patrol a spacious left field, and seems to turn himself on and off as he sees fit.  As Alex, Cliff and Anthony McCarron discussed, the age of the Yanks roster and the length of some current contracts results in perhaps a three-year “window of opportunity”, which would seem to lean for signing Ramirez, but how do the Yanks pass up the chance to lock down first base well into the 2010s?)

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Bert Campaneris--1983 Topps Traded

In the second game of the 1972 American League Championship Series, Oakland A’s shortstop Bert “Campy” Campaneris stepped into the batter’s box against Detroit Tigers reliever Lerrin LaGrow. Campaneris, a thorn in the Tigers’ flesh throughout the early portion of the series, had done considerable damage in his first three at-bats, with three hits, two runs scored, and a pair of stolen bases. At the direction of their manager, Tiger pitchers had thrown fastballs in the general direction of Campy’s legs, in an attempt to brush him back off the plate, or perhaps even injure the Oakland catalyst. Predictably, LaGrow threw his first pitch—a fastball—down and in on Campaneris, hitting the Cuban shortstop in the ankle.

Most of the Oakland players knew that one of the A’s’ batters, given the Tiger struggles in the early part of the series, would eventually become the victim of a deliberate brushback pitch. “I was in the on-deck circle,” said A’s left fielder Joe Rudi, “and I feel the Detroit pitcher threw at him. Campy had run the Tigers ragged in the first two games, and when [Billy] Martin gets his ears pinned down, he’s going to do something about it.”

Other members of the A’s agreed with Rudi’s analysis, including Oakland first baseman Mike Hegan, who observed the fateful pitch from the Oakland dugout. “There’s no question in anybody’s mind,” says Hegan, “and I think if the truth be known, I think we saw something was gonna happen, but didn’t know exactly what it was gonna be. Those orders to Lerrin LaGrow came right from Billy Martin—to start something, to do something. We had won the first game, and I think Billy Martin wanted to light a fire under his ballclub, and Campy was the guy that they were going after because he was the guy that set the table for us. There’s no question that Billy Martin instructed Lerrin LaGrow to throw at Campaneris.”

When LaGrow’s fastball struck the bone of Campaneris’ ankle, the A’s’ shortstop staggered for a moment, glared at the Tiger pitcher, and then, in an unusually violent reaction, flung the bat toward LaGrow. Spiraling about six feet off the ground, the bat helicoptered toward the pitching mound. The six-foot, five-inch LaGrow ducked down, barely avoiding contact with the bat, which ended up a few feet behind the mound.

Almost on cue, Billy Martin led the charge of Tiger players and coaches from the dugout. Martin ran directly toward home plate, but three of the umpires managed to hold back the Tiger manager, preventing him from completing his assault on Campaneris. Nestor Chylak, the home-plate umpire and crew chief, ejected both Campaneris and LaGrow, while attempting to calm an infuriated Martin. “There’s no place for that kind of gutless stuff in baseball,” seethed Martin. “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in all my years of baseball… I would respect him if he went out to throw a punch but what he did was the most gutless [thing] of any man to put on a uniform. It was a disgrace to baseball.”

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Kevin Sanders headed downtown to collect on a bet yesterday morning. A horse he liked – Toga Tiger – outran the field in the second race at Aqueduct.

“Word on the street had him a sure winner,” Sanders said. “I like fast horses when my money is riding on them.”

Toga Tiger paid off big and the money felt good in Sanders’s hand. But it didn’t feel good enough to pass on some poker.

“I live by the words of my father,” Sanders explained. “‘You can’t win if you’re not in the game.’”

Sanders sat at a table in a back room on the Lower Eastside and was up big for awhile. But he lost some hands and came home with nothing.

“You win some and you lose some,” Sanders said. “I’d rather lose a few than play it safe and never win big. Everything is a gamble: horses, cards and even baseball.”

Baseball is Sanders’s true passion.

“I bet my heart, my soul and my life on the Yankees,” he said. “But I never bet money. Baseball is too important for that.”

Building a baseball team is a different kind of gamble.

“I know that signing a guy like A.J. Burnett is a risk,” Sanders said. “He has had injuries in the past, but he also has shutdown stuff when he’s right. I think you’ve got to bet on him being ‘right’ if you want to win.”

And that’s all Sanders really cares about.

“I don’t mind taking losses at the table or even the track as long as the Yankees keep winning the arms race,” he said. “That’s gonna get us back to the World Series.”

Sanders smiled.

“Bet on it.”

Inspired by Alex’s post on a great “last-minute shopping” baseball book, I’m listing a few others that look interesting (though I haven’t gotten to read these …yet):

• “When Baseball Went to War“: “Drawing on the resources of The National World War II Museum and richly illustrated with many never-before-published photographs, (this) is a fitting tribute to the players of the Greatest Generation–heroes who saved America’s Game thanks to their efforts on the battlefield and on the ballfield.”  Also includes an audio CD featuring interviews with the players of the era.
• “First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson“: ” …presents a full picture of the man whose grace and confidence on the field were matched (if not surpassed) by a voice that spoke out, long and loud, for the equal opportunity, civil rights, and humanity of all Americans.  Jackie Robinson’s letters are a rich and invaluable contribution to his singular legacy and to the dynamic history of the civil rights movement.”
• “Baseball’s Greatest Quotations Rev. Ed.: An Illustrated Treasury of Baseball Quotations and Historical Lore“: The author of the “Dickson Baseball Dictionary” is back with a new edition of the best baseball quotes.  “One unique feature of this revised edition is the inclusion of pull-out sections featuring quotations by and about many of the game’s most quotable characters. Included are extended lessons in Stengelese, Reggiespeak, Earl Weaverisms, and famous announcers’ home-run calls …”
• “Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball“: “Wally Yonamine was both the first Japanese American to play for an NFL franchise and the first American to play professional baseball in Japan after World War II. This is the unlikely story of how a shy young man from the sugar plantations of Maui overcame prejudice to integrate two professional sports in two countries.”
• “Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back“: Josh Hamilton tells his story of immense talent derailed by drug addiction, and the subsequent spiritual journey which led to his getting a second chance.

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My wife is a photographer. 

Recently, she started her own website: bluepearprints.com, featuring a lovely selection of originally composed and designed photo note cards.

And now, she’s got a holiday sale cookin.

Peep, don’t sleep.

Let’s play the name game … Teixeira, Rivera, Cabrera …. ok, enough of that … here’s the news:

• Has Andy been playing coy with the Bombers?:  SI.com’s Jon Heyman reports that “Pettitte’s people apparently are telling folks he has a $36-million, three-year offer from another, unnamed team.”
• Buster Olney at ESPN.com trots out the cautionary tale of A-Rod’s signing with the pedestrian Texas Rangers as a way to argue that the Orioles and Nationals should stop with the notion of signing Teixeira:

But history tells us, over and over and over, that winning — as in contending — is what really draws fans to your ballpark, not some shiny bauble. Cal Ripken single-handedly drew fans to Camden Yards at the end of his career. With all due respect to Teixeira, he is not Ripken. He is not Barry Bonds. Few players have that kind of box-office allure.

Alex Rodriguez did not. After the Rangers drew 2.5 million people to their ballpark and finished with a record of 71-91, they went out and spent $252 million to sign A-Rod. The next year — when A-Rod did his part, slamming 52 homers and driving in 135 runs — they went 73-89 and drew 2.8 million. In other words, adding the best player in the game made only a slight difference in the Rangers’ attendance because they still weren’t winning. Inevitably, A-Rod’s salary became an enormous weight on the Rangers, wrecking their payroll flexibility. In order to retrieve that flexibility, they cut a deal with the Yankees in which they had to eat almost 40 percent of Rodriguez’s contract.

(My take: Baseball Prospectus pointed this out quite well in their book “Baseball Between the Numbers”.  It isn’t worth it for a middling team to make a mega-million investment in one player, as it only takes them from X games out of the playoffs to maybe X-Y games out of the playoffs.   And the playoffs (not the regular season) are where many teams make their profits for the year.  Attendance (and therefore revenue) will increase in the years following a playoff appearance, so teams should make that one player mega-million investment when there is a very good chance it will make the difference between making and not making the playoffs.)

• ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer tries to sort out for prospective new teams whether Jake Peavy would be be “all that” away from Petco:

Is Peavy going to post the same ERAs with some other team as he has with the Padres? No, he’s not. Not consistently, anyway. But unless his employers are expecting that, they shouldn’t be at all disappointed. If you adjust Peavy’s ERA over the last five seasons to account for his home ballpark — granted, in something of a crude fashion (my note: “ballpark index“)– he still winds up seventh best in the majors, right between Roy Oswalt and Carlos Zambrano. Is there any team that wouldn’t be thrilled with any of those three?

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Looking for that ideal last-minute holiday gift for the sports fan in your life?  Look no further than The Best American Sportswriting of 2008, edited by Bill Nack, who is one of the finest sports writers we have.  

Nack is a first-rate reporter, a dedicated craftsman, and a true storyteller.  He came up with Newsday in the late Sixties and wrote about horse racing.  His experience in the field culminated in the seminal book, Secretariat: The Making of a Champion.  In 1979, Nack joined Sports Illustrated where he excelled at the bonus, or take-out piece, writing beautifully about Willie Shoemaker, Keith Hernandez, Rick Pitino, Bobby Fischer, Rocky Marciano, and, of course, Secretariat, to name just a few. (Nack’s best work is compiled in the stellar collection, My Turf.)  

Nack now works for ESPN.com.  Roger Ebert, who has been friends with Nack since they went to college together, wrote a wonderful essay about his friend last week.  If you love words, and care about language, you must check this out.  It could be the highlight of your week. 

I recently caught up with Bill recently to chat about The Best American Sports Writing 2008.

Bronx Banter: As a writer, how do you approach a project like this?

Bill Nack: I just look for the stuff that I liked the most. The stuff that I thought was the best written and best told stories. I read 70-80 stories that Glenn Stout sent me. I got it down to 35-40 and then it became really tough to pair it down. The last ten were very difficult.

BB: Did you work with Glenn or alone?

BN:  I did it on my own. There were a couple of pieces that I had questions about but not many. He left it up to me totally. I trusted him to give me what he thought were the 70 best and after that I felt it was up to me to find the ones that I thought were the best. And occasionally, I’d call him up and say, “What do you think of this one?” Some to me were slam dunks, in fact most of them were. Jeanne Marie Laskas, SL Price. The only problem that I had was in trying to get a mix–of traditional sports with obscure sports. And I was very conscious of the mix.

BB: Did you also want to mix-up bonus pieces and newspaper stuff?

BN: Yeah I did actually. I wanted to make sure there was an adequate representation of newspaper columns which are a dying species. And when I read Rick Telander’s piece on Doug Atkins that was a no-brainer. Same thing on Rick Reilly’s piece. The piece on Bo Jackson, by Joe Posnanski, that was kind of a column, that to me was an easy one. That raised a problem because I wondered if we should have two Bo Jackson stories in one book. And I really liked the ESPN.com piece by Michael Weinreb. I loved both of them. And what I liked about them together is that they were completely different takes on the same guy. I think I did consult with Glenn on that one. I said, “Do you mind if we have two Bo Jackson stories?” And he said, “No, no, they are both very different.”

BB:  I actually like having them back-to-back for just that reason.

BN:  The one thing that I noticed in the first batch of stories that Glenn sent me was that there was no humor. It was very serious. The poor woman who was lost in the wilderness and saved by her dog, the Terry Fox run across Canada, the world’s tallest tree, Scott Price’s piece on the poor coach who died from a foul ball.  And I looked at it and thought, “God, some of this stuff is really gloomy.” I happened to be a subscriber to Golf Digest and Dan Jenkins is a regular contributor. I started looking through my old issues and ran across Dan’s piece about trying to play golf as you grow old. I started laughing as I read it, because he’s one of the funniest writers that’s ever written about sports. I finished it and thought this has got to go in there. So that’s the one humorous piece that I found. I also liked it because I’m 67 and play golf. And there are a lot of older men who still play, so I thought it had a wider appeal. It was not just funny, which I needed, but it was something that a lot of guys could relate to. You don’t have to be 67, all you have to do is be 50.

BB: Was there a sense with the Tom Boswell column on Clemens and the Hank Aaron story that you wanted to get in pieces that were timely?

BN: Oh, definitely. I did think of that. I thought people would like Tom Boswell’s piece because it is a comment on Clemens.

BB: I thought the Aaron piece was phenomenal.

BN: I showed some of the pieces around before I made my final choices. Some people loved the Tommy Craggs thing and other people said, “You can’t put this in there. Who is this guy?” I just laughed. But they were bent out-of-shape because Craggs is criticizing the press in his piece. Who is this guy to criticize the press? I said, “I have no idea and I don’t care who he is.” I thought he had a very interesting, sharp take. And when I read it I thought, you know there is a lot of truth in this. I might not agree with everything, but I thought there was a lot of truth in it. I had friends in the piece that he criticized but I ran it anyway.

BB: The collection has some good young talent, like Wright Thompson, who has made the series several times now.

BN: I thought that was a terrific piece he did on Beijing. Really well done. Almost personal in a way. He didn’t just write a piece. He got you into it with vivid imagery. I’ve never met Wright Thompson, I’ve only read a little bit by him but I thought, this is really good. I didn’t know anything about him, but like Tommy, I liked his work and was happy to put it in this book. If you want to know the bottom line, I didn’t consider personalities, I didn’t consider names, I just put in people who contributed to making this the best possible anthology I could put together.

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Orders were flying over the counter at a deli on Water Street this morning.

“I’ll take a Western with home fries and rye toast,” someone shouted.

“Give me a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich to go,” someone else yelled.

“What kind of bread?” the man on the grill asked.

“Slap it on a well-buttered roll,” they answered. “What else would you use for a heart-attack special?”

“I’m just trying to make sure you get what you want,” the grill man said.

Everyone seems to be getting what they want these days.

The Yankees got CC Sabathia to head the rotation.

Sabathia got a record contract and a call from Derek Jeter.

“The money is nice,” the guy who ordered the Western said, “but I bet the call from Jeter didn’t hurt.”

A call to A.J. Burnett added another power arm to the pitching staff.

“The Yankees are pulling out all the stops to get everything for everyone,” the guy waiting for the heart-attack special said. “We’re getting what we want and the players are getting what they want and the media is even getting something.”

“What’s the media getting?” the Western guy asked.

The heart-attack special guy smiled and said:

“The newspaper writers can now use the old ‘hefty lefty’ tag they’ve had in storage since David Wells left town.”

The grill man wrapped the sandwich and slid it down the counter.

“One heart-attack coming right at you.”

Guess the Yankees Opening Day payroll … win a prize!  (nah …)

Here’s the news:

• Buster Olney of ESPN.com believes that just because the Yanks have committed 1/4 of a billion dollars to two pitchers, it doesn’t mean they’ve lost their minds and abandoned their supposed new ways of team-building:

Because the Yankees waited to pursue Sabathia, rather than deal for Santana, they still have Hughes and Ian Kennedy and Austin Jackson and all the players mentioned in the Santana talks, and as the pitching talent pool has increased at the major league level, there is now more time for those youngsters to develop. It actually has been more than a decade since the Yankees have had as much minor league talent stacked up as they do now. Yes, they will sacrifice draft picks in landing Sabathia and Burnett. But keep in mind that the Yankees will have picks in the first and second round of the draft in 2009 because of players unsigned in 2008; it’s not as if they are being shut down.

• Over at the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo wonders if the Yanks acquisition of Sabathia and Burnett will make people think of them as prohibitive favorites in the same vein as the Tigers were supposed to be after acquiring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis last year.  Nonetheless, one N.L. executive offered this opinion:

“The one difference is that the Yankees are loading up on pitching while the Tigers did get Dontrelle, [but] there were still questions about their bullpen and their starting rotation,” said one National League executive. “If the Yankees get another guy [Burnett], re-sign Andy Pettitte on top of Sabathia, I’ll take my chance that they might be the best team in the American League.”

• If not Tex, then who?: Lyle Spencer at MLB.com writes of the Yanks interest in Mark Teixeira, but has some ideas on what they might do if they don’t sign him, but DO sign Manny:

If the Yankees pass on Teixeira — leaving first to Swisher — and move on Ramirez, they could shop outfielder Xavier Nady, who made $3.35 million in 2008. Nady, who can play first as well as the corner outfield spots, is eligible for free agency after the 2009 season, and would be an appealing fit for all the clubs who lose out on Teixeira and Ramirez.

• Hank is psyched, and wants the world to know it: Newsday’s Kat O’Brien goes over the Yanks successes at the Winter Meetings, and includes this deliciously-grandiose quote from Hank Steinbrenner:

“I can sense the excitement and the confidence that’s spreading around the entire organization about what we’re getting done and what we may get done still. A rising tide lifts all boats, and the confidence and the excitement right now among the team and the organization is contagious.”

• (more…)

Enough is never enough.

According to George King in today’s New York Post:

According to several baseball officials, the YankeesNew York Yankees remain in the Mark Teixeira hunt. But the same connected voices insist if the Yankees don’t land the switch-hitting first baseman, they will turn their money toward controversial slugger Manny Ramirez.

“If they can’t get Teixeira, they are right there on Manny,” an official with knowledge of the Yankees’ plan said yesterday.

…Only fools count out the Yankees when it comes to free agents.

A curveball is hard to find and easy to lose and it usually goes flat somewhere along the way. There was an old man on the 2 train this morning with a theory on why Ian Kennedy seems to have found his curveball with the Indios de Mayaguez in Puerto Rico.

“They have the best baseball weather this time of year,” the old man explained. “I grew up in Mayaguez and wish I was spending the winter there, too. It’s the perfect place for Kennedy to polish his curveball and get his confidence back.”

Kennedy carries a 2-2 record and a 1.56 ERA into today’s game against the Lobos de Arecibo.

“I’ve heard he looks great,” the old man said. “I believe in the kid and still think he’s going to be a good Major League starter.”

The old man crumpled his coffee cup and gripped it like a curveball.

“I used to do some pitching myself,” the old man said. “I could drop curveballs in for strikes all day.”

The old man smiled because he knows that the best curveballs come from memories.

“It’s a lot easier to talk about ‘em than it was to throw ‘em,” he admitted. “Good curveballs have a way of getting lost.”

Kennedy lost his sometime last year and got knocked around by big-league hitters.

“They were sitting on his fastball and changeup,” the old man said. “He needs to have a third pitch working. Maybe now he’s found the curveball I lost all those years ago.”

Another smile tugged at the edges of the old man’s mouth.

“I know he didn’t really find mine,” the old man said. “He found his own curveball and that’s going to make all the difference.”

$243.5 million worth of pitching acquired in the last two days … kinda takes your breath away, huh kids?  Here’s the news:

• Over at ESPN.com, Keith Law doesn’t have a major problem with the signing of Burnett:

I’ve seen Burnett compared to Carl Pavano by fans, but the comparison doesn’t hold. Pavano was more injury-prone at the time he signed with the Yankees than Burnett has been; Pavano had had shoulder or elbow trouble in just about every season of his career until he rattled off two straight healthy years with Florida. Pavano also had nowhere near Burnett’s raw stuff, nor his ability to induce strikeouts or ground balls. It is, of course, possible that Burnett’s tenure with the Yankees will resemble Pavano’s; pitchers do get hurt, and Burnett has some affinity for the trainer’s room. But Burnett brings an upside to the table that Pavano never did — that of a shutdown No. 1 starter who, in the Yankees’ rotation, will always be pitching in the spot of a No. 2 or 3 starter.

• Ken Davidoff of Newsday thinks the Yanks should tell Andy Pettitte to just move on, but … :

Call Andy Pettitte, and tell him sorry, but his time is up. Keep in touch, keep in shape. Maybe he can do a Roger Clemens-esque return close to the All-Star break — at the $16-million salary he wants, moreover, just prorated.

With A.J. Burnett coming aboard Friday, the Yankees have four high-end starting pitchers in CC Sabathia, Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain. That’s your October starting rotation right there, and it’s superb.

So don’t give up entirely on the youth movement. Allow Alfredo Aceves, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy a chance to contribute from that fifth starter’s role, rather than overspending on the fading Pettitte. Maybe Phil Coke and even Andrew Brackman can get into the mix.

One veteran official from an American League club wisely noted, “It’s not the five spot that’s been the Yankees’ problem.”

• At the Post, Joba Chamberlain approves of the signings:

“The way our front office did things today was fantastic,” he said. “They went about their business and got things done, and it is very exciting.” …

“I feel less stress because you have all these guys around to be leaders for you,” Chamberlain said. “It takes a little pressure off of everybody.”

• Also at the Post, Johnny Damon likes the moves:

“All of us saw how he dominated us,” Damon said of the right-hander, who was 5-3 with a 2.39 ERA and held Yankee hitters to a .213 batting average and fanned 72 batters in 71 2/3 innings. “We always said if we had this guy we would have won the past three years.”

Burnett, who forfeited $24 million across two years in Toronto when he opted out of his contract, is one of the elite AL hurlers when right. However, injuries have plagued him.

Still, Damon is wild about teaming Burnett with CC Sabathia and Chien-Ming Wang. Chien-Ming Wang

“On most teams, Sabathia, Burnett and Wang would be No. 1 starters,” Damon said. “We have three No. 1 guys.”

(more…)

I will start with a confession: I now love A.J. Burnett. I love his sizzling fastball and knee-buckling curveball and disappearing changeup. I love his sneer and his stare and his cocky glare.

I used to hate all of it when he handled my team – one, two, three – spit and walked off the mound like he owned the world. A guy like Burnett is easy to hate when he’s on the other side, but I find him irresistible now that he’s with us.

I officially fell for him last night in a bar. The music was loud, but the shouts were even louder when the news rolled across the screen: “ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that the New York Yankees and free agent A.J. Burnett have reached a preliminary agreement on a five-year, $82.5 million contract.”

The barroom cheered and cheered and cheered again.

But some people were not cheering. Those people look at Burnett and see everything that can go wrong. They see his past injuries and the length and size of his contract and some other things that I can’t even understand right now because I’m in love with a talented pitcher who can get batters out.

That’s why I look at Burnett and see everything that can go right. I see the blazers and the benders and the Bugs Bunny changes. I see the frustrated Sox and Rays and Jays and O’s who will now hate Burnett as much as I used to.

I see a beautiful baseball summer with A.J. in a rotation with CC and Chien-Ming and Joba and maybe Andy, too.

And then I remember the true love this game can bring when you believe in the promise of the future and not just some possibilities drawn from the past.

What is it with ex-Florida Marlin pitchers that makes Cashman offer them expensive free agent contracts?  Anyhow, here’s the news:

• The Yanks continue their accumulation of starting pitchers with initials for their “first name”, as ESPN reports that A.J. Burnett will be signing on for five years and $82.5 million.
• Mark Bowman of MLB.com points out that the Yankees may have had a geographical edge over the Braves in signing Burnett:

“All I will say is that we made a very competitive offer,” said Braves general manager Frank Wren, while only confirming that Burnett wouldn’t be coming to Atlanta. “I would say geography was a primary factor.”

When Wren returned from the Winter Meetings late Thursday night, Burnett’s agent, Darek Braunecker, informed him that Burnett was having difficulty with his decision and needed more time.

One thing the Braves couldn’t offer was a geographical overhaul that might have made Atlanta more appealing to Burnett’s wife, Karen, who chooses not to fly.

Now she’ll have the opportunity to take a three-hour train ride from their Baltimore-area home to see her husband in New York.

“We knew we couldn’t move Maryland closer to Atlanta,” Wren said. “We were swimming upstream all along.”

• Will eight be enough for Teixeira? During the Winter Meetings, the Angels apparently presented their FA first baseman with an eight-year offer of unspecified dollar value (but rumored to be at least $160 million but more likely upwards of $180 million).
• The Cabrera for Cameron deal has apparently been put on temporary hold as the Yanks focused on getting Burnett.
• To make room for C.C. and A.J., the Yanks non-tendered P Chris Britton and OF Justin Christian (MLB.com).
• MLB.com notes that if the Yankees are still interested in FA Ben Sheets, they should know that the Rangers are also on the radar, and Sheets is from Louisiana with a house in Dallas.
• Following up on a story yesterday, Yahoo!Sports reports Bernie Williams will be joining the Carolina Giants (Winter League), as a step towards making the Puerto Rican WBC team.
• The signing of Sabathia has improved the World Series odds for the Bombers from 6-1 to 3-1, reports the Times.
• You can pre-order your authentic Sabathia jersey from the MLB shop.
• Over at BP.com, tucked into an article on the costs of new stadia, is an amusing little CC Sabathia nickname from Neil DeMause: mL Sabathia (yes, I’m a math/science geek … and I approve of this humor).
• Jeff Robinson turns 48 today. The Yanks got him from the Pirates (along with Willie Smith) after the ’89 season for (D)on Slaught.
• Dale Berra turns 52 today.  Like Robinson, Berra was also acquired from the Pirates, along with Jay Buhner (!) and Alfonso Pulido for Steve Kemp, Tim Foli and cash afther the ’84 season.  Berra amassed 217 ABs with the Bombers in his two season with them.  Buhner of course was notoriously dealt for Ken Phelps (grumble grumble … sigh) in 1988.
• Happy 73rd birthday to Lindy McDaniel.  Lindy pitched 111.7 innings of relief (in only 62 games) in 1970, amassing 29 saves along the way.  More importantly perhaps, he was traded to the Royals after 1973 for Ken Wright and a guy named Lou Piniella.
• On this date in 1961, after his amazing 54-homer campaign, Mickey Mantle signs a one-year contract for $82,000.
• On this date in 2001, the Bombers sign Jason Giambi to a seven-year deal worth $120 million. The 2000 MVP and 2001 runner-up drove in 120 runs, hit 38 home runs, and had a .342 batting average for the wild card Oakland A’s.
• On this date in 2003, Kevin Brown is obtained from the Dodgers for Jeff Weaver, Yhency Brazoban, Brandon Weeden (minors), and cash.

Check out my take on the Yankees in the wake of the A.J. Burnett deal over at SI.com.

It’s safe to say in all the time that I’ve known Cliff, I’ve never seen him so emotional.  I’ve seen him livid about specific plays and games–heck, he was furious (and rightfully so) when the Yankees didn’t sign Carlos Beltran in favor of Pavano, Wright and Womack.  But never anything that approaches his disgust over the AJ Burnett deal.

During the course of the season, Cliff and I will chat during a game and I’m the emotional one, flying off the handle, shouting at the top of my lungs when Alex Rodriguez just misses his pitch and fouls the ball off.  And Cliff is always collected, rational, measured.  Not a vulcan, just not easily led by his gut.

Now, I’ve savaged AJ Burnett for the past few years.  But my initial reaction here is to look for the positives.  Maybe I’m just reacting to Cliff’s reaction, and I want to keep the balance in the Bronx Banter universe (we can’t both be raving mad men at the same time, can we?), but maybe Burnett will produce.  One thing for sure–the Yankees now have a starting staff with STUFF.  Throw CC, AJ, Joba and Wang at you?  That’s STUFF, man.  When’s the last time you could say that?

My feeling is that this is Cashman pushing his chips into the middle of the table and saying, “All In.”  He’s got CC for three years, which will coincide with the end of the careers of Mariano and Posada and maybe even Jeter.  This is all about the Yankees winning now. 

Same as it ever was.  I’m not defending this deal–I think five years is crazy too–and I’m not saying that I’ve ever rooted for Burnett, but I’m open to jumping on the bandwagon.  What’s the alternative?  That he’ll be the lovechild of Kyle Farnsworth and Carl Pavano?  I already suspect that.  All I can do is be pleasantly surprised. 

And Burnett really does have STUFF.

Over at SI.com, our pal Jay Jaffe thinks the deal could come back to haunt the Yanks, still he does point to some bright spots:

Burnett’s combination of fragility and perceived squeamishness calls to mind the darkest chapter of Yankee GM Brian Cashman’s tenure, the two deals he inked at the 2004 winter meetings with a pair of injury-riddled pitchers coming off rare healthy, effective seasons, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright. The Yankees just cleared the former’s four-year, $39.95 million deal from the books this fall. A teammate of Burnett’s with the Marlins from 2002 through ’04, Pavano signed with the Yankees in December ’04 after a season in which he’d gone 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA in 222 1/3 innings — figures that were all career bests, but representing just the second time the pitcher had been healthy and effective over a full season. Pavano made just 19 starts in his four years in the Bronx, and his litany of injuries reached such an absurd level that his initials came to stand for “Can’t Pitch.” Wright was coming off his first healthy and effective season since 1998; he managed just 43 starts over the next three years (the last one in Baltimore) and was rarely effective. Suffice it to say that the Yankees’ recent record of banking on pitchers with sketchy track records isn’t a good one.

To be fair, Burnett is a good pitcher when healthy. Though he had never won more than 12 games prior to last season — a function of his lack of availability and the occasionally meager offensive support he had received — his ERAs have been 13 percent better than the park-adjusted league average over the past four years, which ranks 16th among pitchers with at least 700 innings in that span. His 4.07 ERA this past year was inflated by about half a run thanks to his .318 Batting Average on Balls In Play, 18 points above league average.

Burnett’s strikeout rate over those four years, 8.89 per nine innings, is even better, ranking third among that group behind Cy Young winners Jake Peavy and Johan Santana. As noted in discussing Sabathia, strikeout rate is the key indicator of a pitcher’s future success because it provides the window into his ability to fool hitters with his offerings. A pitcher’s strikeout rate generally declines as he ages, but a high strikeout rate gives him more headroom before he does so. To the extent that the Yankees must look five years into the future on Burnett’s deal, his strikeout rate offers some assurance of future effectiveness — if not availability.

Steven Goldman thinks that buying AJ is about as safe as bet as buying GM.

Anyhow, while we roll this all over, here’s a couple of You Tube delights to give you a smile.

Hey, what do you think of the AJ contract, Babs?

What about you, Joe?

C’mon now, let’s just dance it off:

There are so many things to dislike about A.J. Burnett and his new Yankee contract that I don’t know where to start. I suppose I’ll start with in the cheapest, easiest place, with a comparison of Burnett and Carl Pavano at the moments at which they signed their big Yankee contracts:

There’s no question that A.J. Burnett has better stuff that Carl Pavano. There’s also no question that Carl Pavano’s contract was a smarter, better investment at the time it was signed than Burnett’s is today. None. Pavano arrived in New York off not one, but two consecutive 200-inning seasons (Burnett managed just 165 2/3 innings in 2007), was three years younger, signed for one year less (making him a whopping four years younger in the final year of his deal), and the average annual salary of Pavano’s deal was 40 percent lower than that of Burnett’s.

Oh, and here’s another little nugget, the two pitchers’ career K/BB rates entering their Yankee contracts:

Pavano: 2.28
Burnett: 2.25

One could argue that the comparison between these two pitchers isn’t entirely fair. Pavano’s performance (or lack thereof) during the length of his contract was an extreme case that is extremely unlikely to be repeated, even by a pitcher with Burnett’s sketchy history. At the same time, the Pavano contract was widely panned upon it’s signing, long before anyone knew just how badly things would go, and I think it’s clear that this Burnett contract is an even worse move. It may not be entirely fair, but it is extremely informative, if for no other reason than it’s illustration of the fact that Brian Cashman, a general manager I have long defended in this space, did not learn from one of the biggest mistakes of his career.

ESPN is reporting that the Yankees have signed A.J. Burnett to a five-year deal worth $82.5 million dollars. I cannot help but react emotionally to this signing. It is an inexplicably awful, irresponsible, wrong-headed move. I hate hate hate it. It makes me physically sick. Combined with the New Stadium, it is enough for me to question my allegiance to this team. I cannot be consoled. I assume many of you feel the same way. Consider the comments of this post group therapy . . .