Today’s news is powered by Grand Funk Railroad, circa 1971:
- Hal Steinbrenner . . . foresees greatness:
“I think we’ve got a championship-caliber team,” he said. “I absolutely believe that we have the team that can win the championship.”
Making his first extensive public comments about the New York Yankees since Opening Day, the new controlling owner praised his players, manager Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman. And, already, he’s looking ahead to Aug. 6-9, when the Boston Red Sox come to Yankee Stadium.
“That four-game series is going to be a big one,” he said. “But the guys believe they can beat anybody, and that has not changed, and that’s an important thing.”
. . . “We expect to win every year. We’ve said that. We always say that,” he said. “Our job is to field a championship-caliber team every year, and that’s what we strive to do. So, Joe knows who he’s working for.”
“I’m seeing some looseness this year in the players, I’m seeing some, you know, some emotion, and that’s a great thing,” Steinbrenner said. “We’ve managed to limit the injuries — we’re doing a little bit better than last year in that area. And I just think there’s a lot of motivation. I think these guys are pumped, and I think they’re showing it. We’re firing on all cylinders at times and struggling a little bit at other times in certain areas. But overall, pretty happy.”
- Mike Mussina is staying retired.
- Wang banged up again:
(Chien Ming) Wang’s biceps felt tender when he played catch before Monday night’s game against Baltimore and won’t attempt to throw again until Friday.
“It’s not exactly the news that I wanted,” Joe Girardi said. “It’s not what you want to hear because we were hoping that two weeks’ rest is enough for him to get on a throwing program.”
. . . “We’re going to give him a few more days and some more strengthening before he goes back out,” Girardi said. “I think anything you’re dealing with cuff issues or shoulder tendinitis or whatever you want to describe it as, I mean, there’s concern. And whatever he’s able to do, we would love to have. But I think any time someone is injured and you’re not sure when they’re exactly going to be back, you can’t really count on them in a sense.”
- The Yanks have the 5th-toughest strength of schedule for the remainder of the season, according to Baseball Prospectus:
The Yankees, meanwhile, have 11 games remaining against Toronto (five home, six road), all after the deadline. The Red Sox have just nine games left against Toronto (six home, three road), but after being beaten by him on Sunday, they’re probably rooting the hardest for a trade.
The Yankees have the toughest remaining schedule of any AL contender, a function of the fact that they’ve got 10 games apiece against the Sox and Rays, both of whom outrank them on the Hit List. Seven of their 10 against the Sox are at home, where they’re only 0-2 against their foes this year, as compared to 0-6 at Fenway.
- Yankee Stadium will host a college football game in 2010.
- Monument Cave Park isn’t being moved.
The Times’ Ken Belson asked Lonn Trost, the Yankees’ chief operating officer, if the team has any plans to move Monument Park from its current position behind the center field wall, where it is out of view from most fans. Trost explained that the monuments are made of stone to project permanence, which also means they’re staying put. Moving them, he said, would end up creating problems for the players on the field. “It’s a sightline issue,” he said. “It would get in their way.”
[My take: Hey Lonn . . . isn’t the Mohegan Sun restaurant in CF a sightline issue for the fans?]
- Happy 29th birthday to CC Sabathia. The last time Sabathia pitched on his birthday, it didn’t go too well.
- Mike Hegan turns 67 today. Hegan started his career with a couple cups of coffee as a 1B with the Yanks in the mid-60s. He amassed nearly 2,500 PAs in his 12 year career, but only twice did he garner more than 300 PAs in a season.
- On this date in 1988, Seattle sends DH Ken Phelps to the Yankees for OF Jay Buhner.
- On this date in 1993, Jay Buhner collects five hits in Seattle’s 10-3 win over the Yankees, who had traded him to Seattle exactly five years prior.
My take, courtesy of “Seinfeld”
Frank: What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?! He had 30 home runs and over 100 RBIs last year. He’s got a rocket for an arm. You don’t know what the hell you’re doin’!
Steinbrenner: Well, Buhner was a good prospect, no question about it. But my baseball people loved Ken Phelps’ bat. They kept saying “Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps.”
Lonn Trost is an enormous piece of shit, and yet amazingly, every time he speaks to justify some or other decision, he manages to look worse.
Trost is indeed a POS, and being a tool clearly runs in the Sreinbrenner family. No news there, I guess.
Poor CMW. I could tell he was doomed this year.
Because we are weighing in on Trost, I'll go on record saying that not only do I not think he is a POS, but I also think he has done a very good job on the business side. From Hal to Trost to Levine, I think the Yankees are good in hands from a business perspective.
Nice, Diane! No idea why, but I still LOVE Grand Funk. The 'Red Album' is the bomb! Cleanses the palate nicely after a post-bop listening binge, that's for sure.
And as reviled by the media as Grand Funk was in their day, they were probably more popular than Lonn.
[4]
I often wonder why Grand Funk Railroad isn't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Perhaps, like some ballplayers, they are destined for the "Hall of Very Good".
The Yankees are as well-positioned as almost any corporation in the country to ride out the recession as a consequence of the way George cultivated the Yankee brand, and their ability under MLB rules to vastly outspend their competition, but in terms of the decisions involved in the construction of the NYS, I think Levine and Trost did a very poor job.
I think GFR's music lacked originality.
[6] Clearly, some choices haven't been great, but there must have been thousands of decisions that went into building YSIII. From my perspective, I think Trost nailed most of them. While it would be nice if MP was more visible, I don't think it detracts from the beauty and comfort of the ballpark as a whole.
[8] I'm bothered by the fact that he seems to, well, lie all the time. Stories of "architectural shadows" and "same dimensions" and the like change like the wind, and as more is revealed the details tend to be more unpleasant. And when asked directly about such issues, he gives oily and often at-best-barely-truthful answers.
Yes, he has done a magnificent job from a business perspective. He is also a lying SOS.
[6] I think the Yankees are definitely trying to make going to the Stadium more of an event -- like going to a Broadway show. You don't go to Broadway shows very often so you don't mind splurging when you do. But baseball wasn't like that in the past. Baseball was supposed to be affordable and accessible. There were $5 days last year as the attendance shot past 4 million! Now the Yankees will happily take 3.5 million with the average ticket price around $70.
But now the games are a show -- you sit in your seat, ushers watch/guide you in every aisle. There are a million blinking TVs to keep you distracted and busy. But if going to the games become infrequent, then I wonder what that does for fan loyalty? Maybe there will be enough casual fans to fill the seats if the Yanks are winners perennially even if the die-hard base disappears. How long before Yankee fans become like the Knick fans -- dwindling number of diehards watch from home while the rich and powerful watch from up close?
"So far this decade, the average price of an MLB ticket has risen another 60 percent, or more than double the Consumer Price Index. If baseball’s prices had instead increased at the same rate as the CPI over the past 20 years, ticket prices on average would be half of what they are today."
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/04/yankee_stadium_and_the_power_o.html
[9] For the most part, the new place does have the same dimensions as the old Yankee Stadium. I am not sure I would classify that description as a lie under anything but the most literal standards. His responses to some issues might not always be the most tactful, but I think he has done a great job on the whole. Maybe I am in the minority, but I absolutely love the new place and think Trost deserves a good share of the credit for getting it built.
[8] I would have preferred a more innovative design and less a replica of the old one. I'm also disappointed by the dimension/wind issues that mp mentioned, and finally, I would have preferred that the seating had been less stratified by economic considerations.
[10] There are/were several $5 dollar days this season. I bought 6 tickets to one such game for $30.
As for the increase in ticket prices compared to the CPI, I wonder what that growth rate was before the 1990s. I could be wrong, but based on memory, baseball tickets were always very cheap and seldom fluctuated. Perhaps they were "too cheap". Also, I'd have to think the demand for baseball has increased alot more than for most products.
I miss Mussina already.
Particularly since I'm going to a game where Sergio Mitre is pitching.
I think Trost can be intentionally misleading when pressed, the "architectural shadow" thing comes specifically to mind. Like, really dude? That's what we're calling it now?But I think he generally is what he is, he has a job to do and he does it pretty well.
Levine on the other hand I really have no use for, his main function was clearing the political hurdles that could have stood in the way of NYS being built. For better or worse he did that; his problem is that he feels that somehow qualifies him to comment on on-the-field issues, which is completely laughable.
If one of them had to go, I wouldn't hesitate to show Levine the door. I could see him actually doing harm to the way the baseball operations side of the team is run, Trost is more the marketing/PR/stuff that really has nothing to do with wins and losses.
[12] To each his own I guess. The thing I like best about the new place is it resembles YSI from the outside, YSII from the inside and has a ton of modern amenities and added space.
I am not sure there is a wind issue, but I would like them to knock out the auxiliary scoreboard and move the walls back about 5-10 feet. In the meantime, however, I don’t think the extra HRs are such a bad thing, especially as run production in total hasn’t really increased.
Finally, I would also love it if the best seats were cheaper, but that just isn’t going to happen. Instead, I am pleased that there are so many good, affordable seats. After all, even if the best seats were only $400 like in the old place, they still likely were going to wind up in the hands of the wealthy and the corporations.
I think the Yankees are definitely trying to make going to the Stadium more of an event — like going to a Broadway show.
Most, if not all of the new stadiums are like that (going back to SkyDome), so I'm not surprised that the NYS has all kinds of bells and whistles to come with it.
[15] I would agree with that assessment. Levine is an attack dog. Without something to attack, he needs to be kept firmly on a leash. I haven’t really noticed Levine getting too involved with the baseball decisions, but if he did, I would also not be sad to see him go. In the meantime, there are still some political issues remaining, so it would be wise to keep him around a little longer.
I'd like to have more info about the actual game situation available on those "strips" around each of the levels of the stadium, rather than even MORE advertising.
About Buhner, anyone else remember that long HR he hit @ YS that near hit the ambulance deep in LF? I forget whether it was Wade Taylor or Jeff Johnson, but that was one of the longest shots I've ever seen there.
[20] I was at that game-- I go to only one or two games a year, but I was there. Upper deck, first baseline; my brother got up to get a beer and missed the half inning and so missed the HR. I tried to explain to him where it landed and he didn't believe.
Longest HR I ever saw.
i personally really liked the new stadium the one time i went- it's comfortable and pretty. but i still think they either should have renovated the old one or else built something completely different.
the crazy thing is that they keep repeating the lie that the dimensions are the same. it's not just literally false, it's been a huge factor in offense this season. 10 feet or so in right make a difference, as does the 10 feet or so behind home plate.
the "architectural shadow" is insane, but it seems to me that the designers (HOK?) are more responsible for it. maybe that's the point in calling it architectural. i guess trost should have figured it, but the architects should know what they're doing.
[22] it seems to me that the designers (HOK?) are more responsible for it. maybe that’s the point in calling it architectural. i guess trost should have figured it, but the architects should know what they’re doing.
So, you don't think that the Yankees brass knew all along that monument park and bleacher views would be sacrificed for a cash-cow restaurant? I have a hard time believing that myself.
Can someone please explain what the 'architectural shadow' is.
[24] the blocked views from the bleachers and the cavelike monument park because of the mohegan sun bar.
[23] it could have been designed so that there weren't obstructed views. i doubt the yankee people even thought about it that much. they should have done something about it when they found out (if possible), but i still think the designers could have done a better job.
[24]
Wasn't that a show on CBS back in the 80s .... this white guy goes to teach/coach CAD in this mainly Black community?
(grin)
[15] Trost is more the marketing/PR/stuff that really has nothing to do with wins and losses.
Oh, you mean like that crap underneath the refrigerator? >;)
[26] Comment of the Day! Way to knock it out the park, D!
[26] Nice!