Hey A-Rod … George Hamilton saw you on ESPN, and called to say he wants his suntan back!
Today’s news …
- Torre on A-Rod’s admission:
“I had never really heard anything in connection to him. When you watch his work ethic, the time he puts in at batting practice and in the weight room, I had no reason to question him. He has the most ability of any player I’ve seen,” Torre said through Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch. “It’s going to be tough for him but I’m happy that he came out, faced the music and took responsibility for it.”
- Will A-Rod be going to see (Rep. Elijah) Cummings? Newsday reports that Rodriguez would get an invite to talk to the same folks who grilled McGwire, Palmeiro, et. al, if Rep. Cummings had his way.
- However, SI.com is reporting the head of that Congressional committee doesn’t foresee a need to have Alex in for a chat.
- The Post quotes Joe Girardi saying the Yanks will rally around Alex:
“I think we will rally around him. I think teammates have already started to rally around him,” Girardi said on WFAN this afternoon.
“I kind of look at it as a relationship you kind of have with your kids. Sometimes kids do things you wish they didn’t do, but you don’t stop loving them, you don’t stop caring for them, you don’t stop being their friend or their teammate. And that’s the thing.”
[My take: Every season … the Yanks get to rally around someone who decided to stick a needle in themselves …. Giambi, Pettitte, now A-Rod. That’s at least one more rally than they had during the 2008 regular season (ba-dum-bum). And Joe … A-Rod is not a kid … he’s an adult … he absolutely knew what he was doing … the consequences and risks involved … and now the rest of the team has to “suffer the fool” for another nine years. That’s a heavy burden to carry … I wouldn’t be surprised if some Bombers have already grown resentful of the continuing adventures of A-Rod.]
- PeteAbe of LoHud reports that Chien-Ming Wang feels good and is ready for the season:
Wang said his foot has totally healed and he is ready to go. I asked him about the Yankees adding CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.
“Great for us,” he said. “We have a good rotation. I was glad.”
Wang has long resisted the idea of being considered the ace of the staff. Part of it is his personality, part of it is cultural. He defers to older players and always has. The guy is a competitor on the mound but quiet off it. Look for him to have a big year as he tries to make up for missing so much time. He also was relieved not to face another arbitration hearing.
- From Newsday, news that Jorge Posada is also making strides:
Posada completed what he called “a big day” on his road to recovery from shoulder surgery, throwing about 140 times from increasing distances. Starting near the rightfield line, he backpedaled at predetermined intervals until he was nearly in center.
“I feel good,” he said about an hour after completing the exercise and taking batting practice with fellow early campers Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner. “I’m coming along. Every time I throw, I feel good. I’m improving every time I throw, so that’s always good.”
- Here’s an update from the Yanks Triple-A club.
- BP.com projects the Yanks for 838 runs scored, 674 runs allowed and 97 wins in ’09 (one game behind the BoSox for the division and five ahead of the Rays for the wild card).
- Marc Normandin of BP.com ranks Teixeira as the 3rd-best 1B (behind Pujols and Berkman) from a fantasy perspective for ’09.
- Christina Kahrl of BP.com gives us the rundown on the newly-acquired Eric Fryer:
After getting picked out of Ohio State in the 10th round of the 2007 draft, he shined bopping against Low-A competition in the Sally League last season, hitting .335/.407/.507. Given that it was his age-22 season, he wasn’t especially young, and he’s also not considered much of a catcher (he played left while better prospect Jonathan Lucroy was on the team), but the Yankees already have a solid set of catching prospects, so they can afford to move Fryer to an outfield corner and see whether his bat makes a case for an accelerated promotion timetable beyond this year’s initial assignment to Tampa in the Florida State League.
[poll id=”8″]
- Scott Pose (87 forgettable at-bats in ’97) turns 42 today.
- On this date in 1977, Bobby Murcer gets traded from the Giants to the Cubs … one step closer to coming home.
2 days to pitchers and catchers. Must hold on.
Any word if the Yankees have told the third base coach that CMW only goes base to base?
i bet cmw has been told to stand at the plate the way manny did against mo last year and not even take the bat off his shoulder.
baseball prospectus has the projected 2009 records out.
here's the al east (sorry i can't get this formatted here and i am still an html idiot)
East W L RS RA
Boston Red Sox 98 64 863 685
New York Yankees 97 65 838 674
Tampa Bay Rays 92 70 838 715
Toronto Blue Jays 81 81 730 693
Baltimore Orioles 75 87 858 898
the runs against sure looks nice.
would personally like to see a bit more in the runs scored column - but we'll see how that plays out.
[1] Do they still even have the Country Music Western channel?
"What kind of music do you play here?"
"Oh we have both kinds, country AND western!"
http://www.acronymfinder.com/CMW.html
Wang is "Compton's Most Wanted" (hee!)
Chien-Ming Wang a Menace II Society? Nawww...
Chien-Ming Wang a Menace II RSN? Yeahhhh...
Cappin' Many Worms.
With Miguel Tejada about to plead guilty in the epic Congressional investigation into whether or not Adam Piatt really did take steroids, a conspiracy theory comes to mind.
You're the government...you are watching years of work go up in flames as the Barry Bonds case unravels. You are also trying to combat growing reports of misconduct in investigating the matter. What would be the best way to do that? Maybe reignite the steroid furor...raise the profile of the issue with some big stories? So, one day, you leak the name of the games biggest stars, and then the next day you bully another All Star into accepting a plea deal.
Everyone keeps throwing around the word disappointing, but what really bothers me is the conduct of the government in how it has dealt with this issue. It really make you wonder how frequently similar abuses are employed to investigate relatively minor concerns.
william!!! be careful - you are sounding like a lefty. :}
well, both of these situations tie back to bonds pretty directly.
having all those federal agents raid greg anderson's mother in law's house a few weeks ago was beyond ridiculous.
to me, novitzky has shown that he will go to extreme lengths with bonds.
[8] You should read Jay Jaffe's post on that very subject. A whole lot of interesting points from several different places, very good read...
would personally like to see a bit more in the runs scored column - but we’ll see how that plays out.
I wonder what projection system they used? The offense last year for all intents and purposes was 3-4 players short (SS-2B-C-CF), I wonder how much that plays into the runs scored calculation projection.
I got the Torre book Monday and I'm about a quarter of the way through. I've yet to be appalled or shocked or whatever I'm supposed to be by anything yet, but they've only briefly mentioned Rodriguez so far.
It's a pretty easy to read book. I've always liked Verducci's writing, so I figured I'd like this one.
[9] Soon we'll have to start calling him "Skippy"! >;)
[9] Righties can throw curve balls too. Besides, I like to think all ends of the spectrum practice a healthy skepticism about government.
[13] I prefer Jif.
[12] The last 150 pages or so are the most interesting part, to me. Tell me what you think of the portrayal of Farnsworth, Mattpat.
I'm starting to think Torre's motivation here was not money, but rather to "set the record straight" on how he exited the Bronx. The focus on that last year or two is laser-like in its intensity, and much broader than any other time period.
[10] Thanks for the link, Chyll - that was an excellent piece by Jay.
[11] yeah, i know there are proprietary concerns, but i would like to see what projection system they used and how they accounted for the up the middle of the field decline (though jeter's end of year numbers ended up fairly respectable).
i would also like to know how they are divying up plate appearnces for the outfield.
[14] just so long as your curveball isn't a spitball - that's cheating!! :}
OT; for fellow Jets fans, Brett Favre's retirin'...
Fine by me...
[14] Choosy moms choose Jif... just watch out for the salmonella.
[17] Deja vu all over again...
[10] Thanks for the link. Jay makes some great points.
I'll believe Favre's retired after the first 2-3 weeks of the 2009 NFL season.
[17] I guess that wipes off Arod off ESPN...Favre is the World Wide Leader's Patron Saint (too bad he used pain killers!).
[18] I for one would tell Brett to KMA if he tried that stunt again.
Funny story about peanut butter, my Mom once chided me and my niece about getting into a new jar of peanut butter as soon as she brought the groceries home one time, saying "Ya'll didn't waste any time getting into the peanut butter, I see."
So the next time she went shopping, she bought a pail of peanut butter (there was this brand, I forget the name, that sold peanut butter by the pail, which you could use to make sand castles or fill up with stuff; pretty neat) and remembering the cutting remark she made last time, I opened the top of the pail...
My niece later came up to me and said, "Oh no, what did you do now?" She explained that she was about to make herself a sandwich, and when she opened the top of the pail, she saw an inscription in the peanut butter:
"No Time Wasted"
>;)
" and now the rest of the team has to "suffer the fool " for another nine years"
Uh, Diane, getting in a good kick on ARod while he's down like the rest of the pundit lynch mob out there? Whatever.
{8} George W. Bush was the force behind this steroid investigation. A big baseball fan, owned the Rangers at one time, wanted to be commisioner of baseball before he was elected president, Bush saw steroids as a bad thing associated with the game he loved and told the justice department to go after those responsible, get the dirty players, and clean this mess up, period.
The problem was Bush didn't know the scope of steroid use and had no idea the ugly can of worms he was opening up. And let's face it, when it comes to going after someone, leaking names (Valerie Plame), and basically saying to hell with the Constitution and the rule of law, we'll do whatever we want, the Bush Administration was guilty of that numerous times during their eight years in power.
[23] Yeah, good thing we dodged that bullet, huh? >;)
[23] I've heard Bush blamed for everything, but that's a new one. I think he may have actually sold the pills to Arod and given Roberto Alomar AIDS as well.
[25] He owned a portion of the company that produced the liniment that Steve Donahue always used...
[25] Easy there, William. A little bit of exaggeration goes a long way.
I read about Bush's desire to rid baseball of steroids several times a few years back. And I'm not "blaming" Bush. I think he had good intentions. But the way it's all been handled, the Mitchell Report, the scapegoating, etc, stinks.
[25] The Alomar AIDS story is just bizarre.
[28] yeah raf - that is a crazy story.
[22]
OK ... maybe I was a bit harsh ... but really ... would the Yankee brass rally around him as much if he were, let's say a late-30s utility infielder with no future?
A-Rod (with and without Boras' help) has brought this on himself .... the fame ... the money ... the attention. I do feel for him to a degree, but he HAS made numerous choices that have put himself into the spotlight in a negative way. I understand (even before reading the Torre book) that he needs to feel needed, but I almost get a sense he is TRYING to get noticed .... for better or worse.
The more I think about it, the more I pin a lot of this on Boras .... I think (as Doug Glanville suggested) that Alex was "Alex" in his early career, then came the big contract and he had to become "A-Rod" (playing in NY only made that more problematic).
I find it astonishing that Bobby Abreu, Andy Pettitte, and Jason Giambi are making similar salaries to Chien-Ming Wang! Apparently, the going rates for outfield wall fear, a lefty starter who put up a .500 record a year ago, not being able to catch up to fastballs, and a chronic inability to run the bases without damaging your foot is roughly $5M per in MLB these days! I thought for sure that Wang's $5M per must have been a typo! You know, perhaps they left out a "1" in front maybe?
I hope somebody teaches Wang how to run properly and soon! Then maybe he will become eligible for "Two Tool" type money! Is it me, or does there seem to be some new kind of pay scale going on here or something?
I'm just sayin'...
;)
[30] Yunnow, I've always had a problem with the name, "A-Rod"... phony baby hipster poo if you ask me. But since it's as catchy as those awful-awful songs with the hooks that fake hip-hop and R&B use to ensure platinum sales, it's stuck in my head. Oh well, I'm over it >;)
[31] Also consider which side of the career slope these guys are on; the first three way past their sell by date, the last one approaching (if not at). Hey, where do Uncle Woodrow and I sign up; who needs a stimulus plan?
[33] At least I can circle the bases without enduring a season ending injury and I'm even known in certain circles as an "old fart"! Every time I see that video of Wang hurting himself, I keep thinking of this going on in his mind, "Running around the bases? Nobody said there would be running around the bases!" Maybe I can be the one to teach Wang how to run properly! I can be in Tampa in a matter of hours! And I'll go cheap on them in these tough economic times, too! Only $1.5M... if they act now...
;)