93) Oy, that's harsh. How about the fact that he's one of the great players of his time? You must really dislike him not to appreciate his game at all. Two great years, yeah, but 04, 06 and 08 weren't horrible.

Okay, I'll stop. LOL.

[85] Ahhh..hexadecimaldammit! Thrown out at home..

[100] Jeez, I think it did get in. But nobody ever gets that call.

[101] I'm with you. He's one of the 10 best players of all time. Why blame a player for the contract ownership gave him?

[93] You are not thinking about history. Babe Ruth was overpaid too.

[104] Well, and furthermore: who exactly would the Yankees have at 3B right now otherwise? Eric Chavez? The only cost to the team is money, I think. And the Steins get to do that with their money if they want to -- it's no skin of my octothorpe back.

[103] Yeah, it's one of those "the ball beat you and it's to close to call so you're out" calls.

ARod could never live up to that stupid contract, but he campaigned for it. I blame the fools who gave it to him, but I certainly enjoyed his great seasons with the team, and I don't think he's had his last great moments. A bonafide resurgence is probably too much to expect, but he still has it in him to carry the team for weeks at a time. Who'd complain if he went on a tear some October, or two?
Me neither.

[106] Sure. And the Stein Bros can pay their octroi so the payroll doesn't worry me at all. A-Rod has always been a great teammate (despite the media created nonsense) and generally very productive.

Man, Yanks need to find a way to win this sucker.

[101][104] Arod has had a a ten (maybe 15} best all time career. I don't blame him (except for the juice, and we never suspected Arod), it was management. If you recall Boras was not even involved when the contract was done. Arod would have taken a five year deal, and no other team wanted him.

I feel badly for him now, and how the fan base will treat him for the next five years. And Arod finally is like-able.

Curses!!!

[109] Ummm. You got me on that one!

Ugh.

Well, I just hope there are runners on base for our next homer, that's all I can say.

[93] I would also suggest you check the attendance figures the 3 years before ARod, and the 3 years after.

Could the Yanks have had him for less? Yes.
Could they have saved 30 or 40 million? Yes.
But we are talking about a Brand worth well over a BILLION dollars.
And a modern day Yankee who will hopefully hit more HRs than Babe Ruth, as well as be a top 10 guy is just about every offensive category.

The Steinettes may not be brilliant, but they are not buttfuck stupid.
They knew what that were doing.
What's your beef?
Do they owe you some money?

111) ARod's been likable since he got here, and why millions of fans were reluctant to support him, and still are is beyond me.

114) it was a stupid contract.

[114] Yeah, that's true -- same point I would make about Jeter's contract. We actually don't know what the economics of Yankee contracts are. You can't tell if a guy's overpaid if you don't know how much money he's making for the team.

A-Rod is probably overpaid, I bet he is -- but I bet he isn't paid by nearly as much as it seems like he is.

[115] NY Post & Daily News.
[113] I know how to adumbrate. :)

[115] I also don't know if Robbie is the player he is without ARod's influence. The guy is simply the best example of hard work there is.

111) That's pure speculation that "no other team wanted him" or that he would have taken a ten-year deal. How do you know that?

And I suspected Alex of using PEDs as much as I suspected any other player. I never thought he was beyond suspicion. I suspected them all, ones that I loved--Bernie Williams--or disliked.

Oh, good, Chad Qualls.

[120] Not all. Not Him.

Just striving for absolute accuracy here.

119) That's a good point. I think Rodriguez had a different impact once guys like Randy Johnson and Sheff, and even to an extent Giambi and Moose were gone. The vets didn't seem to cotton to him but he's always gone out of his way to talk and mentor younger guys. And then the younger stars, like Tex and CC, never had beef with him, at least not publicly. Also, things changed post-Torre, who never figured a way to get on with him (and Torre had similar trouble with Matt Kemp in L.A.).

[114] The beef is that there is an arbitrary $189M salary cap the next two plus years. Robbie needs to be paid, and more. If management sticks to this monetary goal, then there will be an effect to the on field performance.

I know, who could have predicted the economy tanking, and the stupid price of unsold expensive seats in the new stadium. But did the Steins know what they were doing?

Perception is reality, and the fan base will get ugly with Arod on a widening scale for the next five years. I said I would stop, I promise to now.

Chad Qualls.

[123] Yep. More and more Torre's luster is fading..looking forward to Michael Kay sharing some juice on him!

[120] Except Mo. I could never suspect Mo.

How about a one pitch double play? Gosh, it'd be some kind of wunnerful if they get out of this without giving up a run...

124) Uglier than they've already been? Doubtful. They'll just beat the dead horse just like Mike Lupica tells them to do.

[124] Backload Robbie's contract, which we'll be cursing in a few years. Fewer dollars up front, more money and a Hall of Fame career in pinstripes.

Cripes.

We're giving them this game, really.

Just perfect. Can they get the hell out of this dome of horrors now?

Ugh.

Bad play by Martin, bad play by Cano.

[127] cf. [122].

Teix's error contributed to yesterday's loss and 3 erros today cap this one.

Hey, I have to go -- happy 4th to everyone, if I don't 'see' you tomorrow!

The Rays were fading, but the Yankees are giving them life for the rest of the season. It has to stop here.

[130] Taxes paid are calculated on AAV, so back/front loading contracts doesn't effect our taxable income.

Mo dammit!

What the hell happened to this game?

I see the wrong Rodriguez has a home run.

I was gonna complain about our Rodriguez, but see that topic's been beat to death already.

The Yankees have suddenly started beating themselves.

Where's Cory Wade when you need him?

[139] Thanks. Didn't remember that. Get some advertisers to give him sweetheart deals? Short contract with "promise" (yeah that'll fly) of more bucks later?

Things were going too well for the Yanks and us fans. We need some miserable angst to make the season interesting. The team will still wake up tomorrow with at least a 5 game lead, and a chance to turn around the trend.

I love Robbie, and he has got a number of prime years left. But 2nd basemen drop off cliffs, and guys who don't get BBs don't 'age' well. I want to keep Robbie, but I believe the contract he gets will be an eventual albatross.

[144] Sure, and Robbie deserves it. The one I can't name has had three huge career contracts. The thing is, the fans can tolerate 2 years of albatrossness maybe 3, but not 5 years. I'm sorry, I don't want to stir up shit, and I certainly want to be liked here. I will stifle.

[145] Don't stifle! It's an interesting debate (for some of us).

I love Robbie so much but yes, 2B don't age well..though he has zero injury history. 5 years, 100million?

Ugh...

[145] What's the banter if we stifle disagreements. A-Rod still has value defensively. Angels are going to rue the last couple years of Pujols' contract.

Three runs to tie. Not hopeful.

[144] That's some pretty shocking subtext. "I love him..."I want to keep him, but..."

[146] What are you guys suggesting? He's one of the 10 best players in the world. If he ends up anywhere but NY, the fans, me included, will revolt.

Throw the bank at him. He'll learn to take his walks by the time he becomes a DH.

BTW, happy Independence Day yous guys. Be glad you get to watch baseball in America.

Jazz and I are going to one of the nicest and oldest open air parks in Tokyo to watch the Yakult Swallows tonight. And don't you know it, they have fucking artificial turf....as does almost every stadium in Japan.

Mercy. We'll get them tomorrow.

That's nine straight loses for the Yanks in Tampa. And David Price pitches tomorrow.

Win tomorrow afternoon dammit. Friggin' Maddon! Friggin' Rays! Friggin' stupid tropicana bullshit piece of garbage so called stadium.

[152] That's tomorrow!

It's this place n Tampa. House of Horrors for the Yankees, the laundry bag of stadiums, it smells like one. On the bright side, a win tomorrow, and the team will leave with at least a 5 game lead going into Boston before the break.

[155] All week I've been forgetting what day it is. Working on Sunday will do that to you.