Playing along with the schtick

Do I think Randy Levine, Lonn Trost and the Steinbrenner progeny really believe that the buried jersey in the cement would bring about a "Sox pox" (my creation, feel free to send me the residuals)? Of course not. But I thought it was good fun that they played along with it. Calling the press to make it an event was a bit much, but I thought it was fun that they actually went and dug this sucker up.

Randy Levine, the Yankees’ president, and Lonn Trost, the team’s chief operating officer, presided over what Levine called an “excavation ceremony.” The New York Post had reported Friday that a Red Sox-rooting construction worker hoping to curse the Yankees’ new stadium had buried a Red Sox jersey at the site last week.

The Sox/Yanks thing has been built up for generations. The fans genuinely hate each other. As someone who had to spend time in Boston every week for a year, I felt how much they hated the Yanks. It allowed me the perspective to see the passion up close. Up through mid-October 2004, the Yanks fans didn't hate the Sox quite as much as the Sox fans hated the Yanks and the reason was obvious: The Sox never won.

It was like wrestling with your little brother. Your little brother wants to beat you more than you want to beat him. You only need to beat him and that was generally a given. You're bigger, stronger, faster. You had an insurmountable psychological advantage. Except one day, you're on cruise control, or your brother gets bigger, faster, smarter and suddenly, like in that fateful day in October 2004, the roles reverse. Suddenly the little brother has learned the ways, studied and practiced harder than you and next thing you know, the little brother has got you pinned. [My personal moment with my little brother came once I realized that he was bigger than me and maybe it's time to stop wrestling him. I can still take him, in Tiger Woods golf on the Wii, though. Except he's got me by 25 or so pounds so I don't rub it in anymore.]

That brings me back to the Sox/Yanks, the buried jersey, any hexes, etc. Keeping the idea that there are supernatural forces in play just makes this battle that much more fun. So long as no one really takes it that serious, it's all good and fun and I think it's great for the rivalry.

That they are doing this only goes to prove my point:

Levine said the extracted jersey would be cleaned up, put in a display case along with a Yankees Universe T-shirt and sent to Boston. There, the Ortiz jersey and Yankee T-shirt will be auctioned to benefit the Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox’ primary charity, which is affiliated with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

That's awesome. The two fan bases could learn a thing or two from this: It's just a game and no matter how seriously we take it at times, let's have some more fun with it. We can still root like mad but let's maintain perspective now that both heavyweights have won recently.

Good job, guys. Now, go fix Phil Hughes.

Don't Tase Me, Bro!

Unreal. (emphasis mine)

Tampa Police arrested Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Al Reyes early this morning, saying the reliever was drunk and disruptive after falling down, picking a fight and spitting blood at the patrons...
.....
Witnesses told police the incident started around 2:30 a.m. at the Hyde Park Cafe, 1806 W Platt St., when Reyes fell against a ceramic pot inside the bar. Thinking someone had pushed him, police said Reyes began exchanging words with patron Eduardo Mora.

Mora then punched Reyes in the face, getting the attention of the Hyde Park Cafe's bouncers. Meanwhile, police said in a news release, Reyes "began to spit blood on the people in the area and began to swing his arms about."

The bouncers tried to control Reyes, but the 6 foot 1, 230-pound right-hander kept pushing them away. A Tampa Police officer working extra duty at the bar tried to calm the fracas, but Reyes "continued spitting blood and thrashing about," Tampa Police Lt. William Ferguson wrote in the release.

Moments later, the officer Tased Reyes, knocking him to the bar floor. Ignoring police commands to stay down, authorities said Reyes got up and was Tased a second time.

Happy birthday, Al. Way to celebrate.

I can't wait to see the DL report: Reyes, Al (taser burns)

Throwing out the baby with the bathwater

Strangely, I was waiting to see if the IOC was going to do this, and they did: they are stripping the medals from Marion Jones' teammates due to her use of PEDs during the 2000 Olympics. I call this bullcrap. It flat out stinks. There's no way to know if these other three women were PED-free or not, but to strip them of the golds is just cruel.

My way of bringing it to a baseball analogy: Can you imagine if Selig stripped the Yanks (or any other team, for that matter) of their WS title(s) for the teams which had any player that was proven (let's say the Mitchell Report qualifies as "proof") to have taken PEDs? Can you imagine the outcry? The chest beating?

Jones' teammates had previously refused to give up their medals, saying it would be wrong to punish them for her violations. They have hired a U.S. lawyer to defend their case, which could wind up in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
.....
"The decision was based on the fact that they were part of a team, that Marion Jones was disqualified from the Sydney Games due to her own admission that she was doping during those games," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. "She was part of a team and she competed with them in the finals."

Now, I readily recognize that one woman (Jones) represented 25% of the winning team and no team sport can have one player account for that much, but I just don't think it's fair to penalize the team. Especially since we have no idea if the silver medal winning team was 100% clean, either. We have to presume they were, of course, but to try to take the golds back is not right. If you, the IOC, want to award golds to the silver medalists, silvers to the bronze, etc., that's fine. Create a few more medals and charge it to the USOC. Better yet, charge it to Jones. Just let the women keep the golds.

You don't even need to test positive anymore

Not sure if many of you caught this, but it surprised me. Not that a highly thought of prospect got nailed with a 50 game suspension for HGH. That's not surprising. What is surprising is that he didn't TEST POSITIVE. He got dinged due to circumstancial evidence only. MLB is calling this a "non-analytical positive", a new term in my book, and quite fascinating.

This is the first player to get nabbed by MLB's new gestapo, the Department of Investigations, a direct recommendation by The Mitchell Report.

Two sources said Wednesday that Jordan, regarded as Atlanta's future center fielder, received the growth hormone from someone close to him but outside the organization, and that a player who had previously violated MLB's anti-doping policy informed baseball officials that Schafer was using the all-but-undetectable drug.
......
Schafer's suspension was the result of a "non-analytical positive," meaning MLB was able to establish that he obtained or used HGH through other means.

This is a very interesting precedent. Suspicion of PED usage can release the MLB hounds and if they find any semblance of a link to known PED sources, you might be sitting.

Also interesting is that there seems to be an active player working as a mole. The guess here is that if the mole is ever unearthed, he'd be ostracized rather than applauded by the Union. Is it hypocritical to cheer a player, already a violator of the drug policy, for turning in a fellow player and possible PED user?

Deconstructing Hughes

On the heels of a truly lousy outing yesterday (yes, it was damp and cool, but no 'scuses here), the excellent scouting minds at saberscouting.com deconstructed Hughes' mechanics, trying to find the source of decreased velocity. Supposedly it's down a few MPH. Is it due to a change in mechanics or is he compensating as a result of his torn hammy last year? Here's some of their analysis, which is pretty darn good:

In ‘06, Hughes throwing right over that front leg. It was firming up beautifully and his rear leg was lifting straight up. I’ve been trying to think of the best way to describe this, but the only thing that keeps coming into my mind is that it looks like his right shoulder is pulling or leading the rest of his body here in ‘08. In ‘06 it was leg drive making his follow through work. Also take note that his head seems to get turned or snapped at the end of his arm action in ‘08. This was not the case in ‘06. His head in ‘06 was still upright and turned toward the plate. In ‘08, his head is being pulled down by his aggressive front shoulder pulling downward.

His conclusion speaks to his possibly favoring that front leg, the one which he hurt last year, which is what I alluded to earlier:

The change I did touch on however, I do think could be a direct cause of his lessened velocity since over the past year. Is it because of the hamstring injury? I can’t say for sure either way, but considering much of my focus in this article has been on that front leg in question, it is certainly possible.

Let's hope Hughes gains some comfort in that front leg, if indeed it is the issue.

Moment #25

The Post is taking the Top 25 moments at Yankee Stadium, one a week, to count down the last season before the Yanks move across the street into TNYS. The Post is also doing the same for the Mets but, well, you know...

Moment #25: Oct. 10, 1926: Game 7 of the World Series

Grover Cleveland Alexander already had pitched two complete-game victories for the Cardinals in the Series when manager Rogers Hornsby called for him to come in from the bullpen in the seventh inning of this one. The legend is that Alexander was sleeping in the bullpen when Hornsby wanted him, recovering from the celebration of the victory the night before.
.....
[Alexander] wound up walking [Babe Ruth] anyway, bringing up Bob Meusel, a .315 hitter who had doubled and tripled off Alexander the night before. On the first pitch to Meusel, Ruth took off for second base and was caught stealing by catcher Bob O'Farrell to end the game and the World Series. It remains the only time a World Series ended on a stolen base attempt. {see picture on right, Ruth, before using numbered jerseys}

Unbelievable. I wonder if Ruth was crucified like he'd be today. Then again, if he makes it and ends up winning the game, he only adds to his legend and gives Dave Roberts a run for the "best SB in playoff history".

Boras, Prices and Rigging the Draft

An interesting article today at SaberScouting.com which discusses how superagent Scott Boras seeks to control his draft-eligible players and their eventual location. Seems that some think Boras wants to set artificially high prices to his players to determine where they will play, namely the richer teams drafting later.

We've seen the issues, loopholes and drawbacks in the draft pay off well for teams like Detroit, who have thumbed their nose at MLB's suggested draft slotting prices. Detroit sent highly regarded (and paid over-slot) Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller, plus others, to the Marlins to get Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. They would not have been able to make this trade if they stuck to MLB's suggested slotting prices. The Yanks and RedSox are also guilty/successful at getting players that otherwise should not have been available to them late in the first round due to these players' contractual demands (aka signability).

The bloom is off the Boras rose this Spring after a Winter of discontent via ARod and other clients bailing. Still, Boras remains the alpha dog of the agent world.

Some industry insiders suggest Boras derives these numbers from blindfolding himself and throwing darts with the names of his top talents on them at a dartboard of numbers $5 million and greater, then uses that number (and other randomly-generated numbers, depending on the situation) to teams to figure out who will pay the most. He then does whatever he has to, to steer his players to that team or teams, including throwing out an even higher number to ensure his player slips, usually to the rich teams later in the draft.

This sounds like a good strategy, if not an incredibly irritating one for everyone involved. The reason Boras doesn’t get every amateur player to go with him is three-fold: 1) he hasn’t gotten the best deal every time lately (the A-Rod press hurt him) 2) he doesn’t talk to the player/family at all between hiring him and signing the contract and 3) similar to #2, he has an enormous ego.

The Tigers were able to nab uber-prospect Rick Porcello late in last year's draft by paying him like he was the #1 pick. So long as there is no mandatory slotting system (Union would NEVER agree to this) and no penalty for ignoring the "guidelines" suggested by MLB, the wealthier teams will continue to make a mockery of the draft. I think this is a great strategy for these teams.

The truth is, any team can do this, but few do. The cost to overpay for talent before it really blossoms is much less than trying to pay for it once it does. Also true is the fact that "can't miss" prospects do miss sometimes. But for teams like Pittsburgh and Kansas City and Florida and Tampa Bay, it might make fiscal sense to spend a bit more early than choose a lesser player to save some money. Given the amount of money these smaller market teams are receiving from Revenue Sharing and Luxury Tax payments, this seems an area to be investing those payments.

__________________________

EDIT: For those directed here from Shysterball, welcome. Feel free to look around the place and make yourself at home. Craig's been a wonderful help to me as I was starting this blog a few months back. This is a mostly baseball blog with a Yankees bent, but not a blindly homerific view (so I think). As usual, comments, criticisms, praise, mockery are all welcome.

Interesting Rivera tidbit

Over lunch today, I happened upon Buster's blog from yesterday, comparing another pitcher to Mo Rivera. What made me say "really?" was this (emphasis mine):

Rivera was a mediocre starting prospect in the mid-'90s for the Yankees, needed major arm surgery, and after he returned, the Yankees were thinking about trading him to the Detroit Tigers -- until, quite suddenly, Rivera's velocity jumped from the high 80s to the mid-90s, quite literally in the span of a couple of weeks, and little more than a year later, Rivera was serving as an imperturbable set-up man for John Wetteland.

I can't remember the rumor mill from 15 or so years back and certainly that was mostly pre-Internet days (no MLBtraderumors.com yet), but I found that really wild. Imagine the Yanks without Mo. I can't. Talk about one of the best trades never made, eh?

Also interesting in that one little paragraph is how Rivera's velocity jumped "from the high 80s to the mid-90s" in a few weeks. Just sayin'...how cynical have I become that my first thought was to wonder if anything was taken/given to Mo to give him that boost.

Suffice it to say that Mo is probably the main reason why the Yanks had that incredible mid-/late-90's run (along with Jeter; don't get upset Jeter-philes). Imagine if he wasn't human and hadn't blown the save in '97 to get them to the W.S. and the Game 7 save in 2001....coulda been six straight. Oh well, four in five years was still transcendent!

Jake Peavy channels Kenny Rogers

Lest we be reminded about Kenny Rogers "muddy clump" in the playoffs, the guys/readers at Bugs and Cranks bring us this one, featuring Jake Peavy's super start this past weekend:

The video of Peavy's last pitch and a view of his hand as shown in the still to the right is clear.

Monday programming note

Just a quick note that I'm officially in the heart of one of my quarterly busy seasons. End of month + end of quarter makes for a very busy time. As such, the postings will generally be fewer than otherwise. I'll try to keep it up as much as possible.

Thanks,
Jason

Canseco cornered in men's room at book signing

Some things you just can't make up. Frankly, it's too funny that it's true. (emphasis mine)

In New York for a signing for his new book "Vindicated," Canseco was ushered into a bathroom for an impromptu meeting with baseball officials.

That's PRICELESS! Isn't that how Canseco and his steroid use got started in the first place? (emphasis mine)

Canseco contends in his book, "Juiced," that he injected McGwire with steroids in the bathroom stalls of the A's clubhouse.

How "circle of life"-ish.

Of course, it also gives me a chance to run some, um, toilet humor pictures. Because, you know, I'm still juvenille and a chucklehead.

With a bonus, the Urinal Rules:

1. Never, ever turn your head: Look forward, eyes straight. Ideally there will be a newspaper or TV placed above the urinals to keep eyes from wandering. If somebody taps you on the back, don't fall for it.
2. Always leave a gap when possible: Never, ever stand next to a man at a urinal if you don't have to.
3. Don't touch the bathroom wall: Yes, I know, some people like to take one hand and slap it on the bathroom wall while taking a piss. It's not cool, and it's not "urinal acceptable."
4. Only talk to people you know at a urinal: There is no point in making useless conversation with a random dude at the urinal. Exception: if you're drunk.
5. If a situation looks too much to handle, it's OK to abort: Pretend you came into the bathroom to wash your hands or blow your nose. Anything, just get out!
6. Don't use the midget urinal unless rule number 2 applies: There's nothing wrong with the midget urinal, it just implies something.
7. Angle: Choose the urinal near the wall and angle towards it. You'll thank me for this later.
8. Use extreme caution when standing next to a man in a pair of urinals: Really, I think the only thing worse than being in the middle of a 3 urinal set is being part of a urinal pair. No explanation needed.

Is it worth a debate: Monument or Plaque?

I guess it's becomming a discussion point in the media, whether Jeter will be celebrated with a plaque or a monument once he hangs 'em up.

Jeter's a first ballot HOF'er, the Captain, owner of at least four Championship Rings, the face of the Organization and among the most well-respected players in a generation or three.

Fact is, he is the one who will carry the torch on behalf of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson. And that brings us back to the question of where Jeter eventually will wind up in the relocated Monument Park.

They will give him an even bigger ovation that day, as the club retires his No. 2 - and rewards him with either a plaque, like the ones Berra, Whitey Ford, Jackson, Phil Rizzuto and others have; or a monument, like Ruth, Gehrig, Miller Huggins, DiMaggio and Mantle have.

Is there any doubt he should be memorialized in both granite and bronze once he retires? I don't think so.

Where do you stand?

Lego Ballparks

For my son Jake, who is a full fledged Legomaniac, courtesy of Home Run Derby:

Grammar, schmammar

I got yer appostrophe right hea-ah

But what seemed to be lost in all the pomp and circumstance during Banks’ presser was somewhat of a glaring typo: the south side of the statue is missing an apostrophe on “let’s,” as you can see in the above photo I snapped last night.

UPDATE: They fixed the grammar goof

Hank to be patient?

Rather than trying to summarize every game every day (I don't have that kinda time and can't imagine there's a need for another summary), I think I'll keep a view of the game from a more macro level.

As such, this jumped out at me from the NY Post (with a big ole hat tip to my boys at NJ.com's "Pride Of The Yankees" blog):

"They have to be brought along a certain way," Steinbrenner said. "The trash is littered with 20-(something) pitchers all throughout baseball history. Their arms fell off. It's something we're not going to allow to happen.

"When it comes to the postseason hopefully they'll really be ready. Joba will be, of course, a starter by then and hopefully he can be our 22-year-old [Josh] Beckett when he was with the Marlins."

You can file this one away for later in the year, if any of those guys are struggling and the Sox have pulled ahead of the Yanks in a big way, or if the Yanks are trailing in the Wild Card. Let's hope that doesn't happen, but put me down for not believing in Hank's suddenly patient nature.

It's amazing what an Opening Day win can do for the psyche.

ARod To Earn More Than Entire Marlins Team

In what can only happen in baseball, Alex Rodriquez will make more in 2008 than the entire Marlins team.

Boosted by his new deal with the New York Yankees, A-Rod tops the major league baseball salary list at $28 million, according to a study of contract terms by The Associated Press. The 33 players on the Marlins'
opening-day roster and disabled list total $21.8 million.
......
The Yankees, not surprisingly, topped the payroll list at $209.1 million, and A-Rod was No. 1 in the majors for the eighth straight year. Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi was second at $23.4 million, followed by Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter ($21.6 million) and Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez ($18.9 million).

Boosted by the acquisition of Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, the Detroit Tigers shot up to second in the major leagues at $138.7 million. The Tigers' payroll at the end of last season was 12th at $98.5 million.

The New York Mets were third at $138.3 million, up from $121 million at the end of 2007, and the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox were fourth at $133.4 million.

Only in America, friends.

More writing for me

As if I don't spend enough pre-/post-work hours with my head in all things baseball, I was selected to do some "behind the scenes" writing for a great site: Fantasybaseball.com. You won't see me on the site, but I'm doing some of the player updates and other stuff early in the AM, late in the PM, whenever possible. I guess I'm not happy unless I am booked to the gills with stuff to do.

If you into this sorta thing, check it out. If not, well, I'll refund your last 30 seconds in your next billing cycle.

Satisfying your inner geek

You're just going to have to read this one yourself if you have any interest in satisfying your inner geek and baseball fetish. Suffice it to say, these math guys are a wacky bunch.

The mathematician, Steve C. Wang, applied a method called Chernoff faces, in which data points in many dimensions are presented in a form that people react to more intuitively: the human face.

While reams of categorical data can be imposing and hard to parse, translating the differences among them into facial characteristics can communicate distinctions with striking clarity. By turning rates of bunting, stealing and pinch-hitting into hair sizes, nose shapes and smile widths, Dr. Wang used a kind of statistical Mr. Potato Head to portray the spectrum of managerial characteristics in a way that intrigued even the skippers themselves.

Written by Alan Schwarz, an excellent author and all-around nice guy.

Making history come alive

The Yanks embrace their history as well as anyone. Seems that some of the other ancient clubs are also reaching back to their glory days. The Sox did it when they won in 2004 and had that incredible ring ceremony with seemingly every player to don a Sox cap. I love that stuff. I love seeing the old guard honored and cheered. I could only imagine what it must feel like for guys, decades past their last home town cheer, to hear that again. Beyond cool.

Then, thanks to a link in Buster Olney's blog, I read about this taking place in LA, not normally the place to eat up nostalgia. Heck, I got the chills and I'm not a Dodger fan. Said Bill Plaschke: "During a surprising pregame ceremony, the field breathed Dodgers history, exhaling the sweetness of old stars, the smoothness of recent heroes, the shout that was Fernando, the whisper that was Sandy."

Some highlights:

He appeared from behind a blue outfield wall, walked carefully across the deep green grass, startled huge cheers from a stunned Dodger Stadium crowd.

Then, halfway to second base, he stopped, and so did our hearts.

Duke Snider had returned to center field.
.....
From left field marched Don Newcombe, the Dodgers' last remaining living link to Jackie Robinson.
.....
From left field walked Maury Wills, the Dodgers' inventor of the stolen base.
.....
Then, finally, it was the closing stretch of royalty, beginning with Fernando Valenzuela stepping from the dugout, one of the only two players who did not wear a uniform, of course not, he would never wear anything old, right?

His cheers rattled the building, echoing into the entrance of another man from the left-field bullpen, Tom Lasorda, and you knew he was wearing a uniform because he never takes it off.

By now, everyone was standing, folks hooting and stomping and struggling to keep their composure.

"And here came Sandy," said Manager Joe Torre.

Indeed, here came the cleanup pitcher, the final memory, Sandy Koufax, the only other player not wearing a uniform, as if anyone cared.

Koufax has been on this field maybe once in the last 25 years, he's so private, yet he came today because the owners asked, and he understood.

Maybe it's just me, but I swear, it looks as if Koufax could still pitch today (of course, if his shoulder would hold up!).

Nice work, McCourts. Keep it up!

Bonus stuff:
Here's a link to the Opening Day pictures from LA

An interview to read: Keith Law

Keith Law is a popular baseball writer on ESPN and frankly, if you're here, you know of Keith. KLaw "sat" for an interview with The Big Lead. Keith's a different breed than most, it seems, with far-reaching passions outside baseball, include food and non-fiction books. Quite the intereseting guy. Some things that I found most interesting (from my rooting interests; emphasis mine of course):

Q: We want a few sleepers from you: A team that will reach the postseason that won fewer than 80 games last year, a Cy Young candidate in each league who won fewer than 10 games last year, and a budding star who nobody’s really paying attention to right now, but could be a household name come September.

A: Cy Young candidates from [less than] 10 wins: The Cy is all about win totals, so I’ll take two guys on teams that will provide plenty of run support: Yovani Gallardo (expected back by mid-April) and Philip Hughes. If you let me cheat, though, here are two 12-win guys who’ll contend for the award: Chad Billingsley and Dustin McGowan.

Of course, I protected Hughes and drafted Gallardo in my baseball league, but you don't want to hear about that...even though I am pretty happy with his thoughts.

Now, a bit in my sweetspot:

Q: Let’s say the Yankees miss the playoffs this season What would the fallout be? Chalk it up to a new coach and Hank taking over? Or would there be genuine panic?

A: Cashman’s doing a great job of messaging through the media that this is a new strategy of building from within, and that there might be some small bumps in the road. Messaging is a huge part of the GM’s job, and it’s why I think strong communications skills are critical for a successful GM. Look at Billy Beane - he is the king of messaging among GMs in baseball, perhaps in all of US sport. Cashman has gotten enough of the local and national media on board with his message, and I think many, many Yankee fans are on board as well. Maybe enough of them remember Steve Trout and Ed Whitson and Bob Sykes and, by extension, Doug Drabek and Willie McGee, and are happy to see the Yankees throwing their money around to acquire young talent and not blowing it in dumb trades.

For more from Keith and his non-ESPN blog, check here.