A's restocking, again

I get that Billy Beane is smarter than the average bear, GM, MIT aerospace engineering grad student, and me. He's got a knack for selling pitchers at their peak and getting excellent value in return. He has survived the free agent departures of Giambi and Tejada. And he hasn't missed Koch, Dotel and Foulke (he loves dumping those overvalued clsoers!). He gambled on Chavez though that hasn't worked so well. He didn't trade Zito but let him go, too. He picked up Piazza and Frank Thomas on the cheap, maxed out their value and dumped them. He then picked Thomas up again this year on someone else's dime.

Within the last two weeks, he dealt 40% of his starting rotation (Harden and Blanton) while still in contention. And he dealt all-star Dan Haren before the season.

I get it that he's getting some good prospects who might be good some day. I get that he's keeping costs down. I get that he's smart enough to keep the team in contention, barely, despite all the machinations.

What I don't get is why. Why, if he had those three pitchers under contract thru at least next season (I think Blanton is only signed thru 2008) did he choose to sell? Why, after making the smart moves that put his team in contention, did he decide that contention this year wasn't enough? At some point, don't you have to let the players jell and grow up together as a team? Constantly proving your brilliance is nice but don't you have to let these guys give it a run?

He traded Mulder, Hudson, Koch, etc., for prospects, some of which actually became quite good (Dan Haren, for example). But rather than let those prospects mature, he dealt them for more prospects. Which only means that as soon as the guys he got for Haren, Harden and Blanton begin to show promise, they will be dealt for other younger guys. It's just a trend, isn't it?

I'm a bit baseball'd out right now after the week that was, so maybe my baseball mind is a bit mushy today. I just don't get this round of maneuvers.

One more ASG thought: Francona's class

I have neglected a key part of the game. Not intentional, just ran out of bandwidth to put some thoughts together. Thankfully, the loyal tadthebad asked me about it and well, it got me to thinking more about it.

Terry Francona has a boatload of class.

This is the manager of the (hated) RedSox, skippering the AL all-stars in Yankee Stadium, the belly of the beast. He had been boo'd mercilessly during the parade, during introductions, every chance the fans could. [I think he'd be disappointed if he wasn't boo'd. It's standard operating procedure. The Yanks players were boo'd when the all-star game was in Fenway. As they should be. It's part of the fun of being life-long enemies.]

Yet, Francona deftfully diffused the Papelbon situation (as did Papelbon, though the horses had long left the barn). His handling of his Yankee players was nothing short of brilliant and clearly showed that this guy not only grasps history but relishes the big moment as well as anyone.

Rather than make switches in between innings, he pulled ARod and Jeter both mid-inning, to give them a chance to hear the cheers again as they ran off the field. Each player was able to tip their caps in appreciation. That was a GREAT show of respect from a manager who clearly "gets it", despite his location and the name on the front of his jersey. Pure class move, Tito.

As the 9th inning was about to begin, we assumed we'd here "Enter Sandman" and Mo would stroll thru the bullpen doors. But in came KRod. The group around us was surprised but we were discussing that Mo would probably come in with 2 outs, just in case the AL won it in the bottom of the inning. Otherwise, if the AL scored, Mo would not have gotten in the game. KRod put a man on and had one out. Cue "Enter Sandman". Oh yeah, if there was a double play, inning over and a chance that Mo would not enter the game. Tito and his staff were clearly thinking this through. So well-executed. Of course, Mo got the double play and although the game didn't end in the bottom of the 9th or 10th, he was in line for the win in both instances. Had the AL scored in that bases loaded/none out, Mo would have gotten the W and quite possibly the AL MVP. The stars were aligned thanks to Francona's grasp on history and the present.

Yanks fans and Sox fans will never see eye-to-eye. But I have had an enormous amount of respect for their organization, even if I root for them to lose daily. I know I will have a greater respect for Francona for his class moves during the ASG, too.

Well done, Tito. BOOOOOO!!!!!!

WARNING: Rumors abound

I think it's B.S., but who knows: Source: Bonds-Yankees Deal Imminent

The incentive-laden deal, being hammered out between Bonds' agent Jeff Borris and general manager Brian Cashman, will well exceed the major league $200,000 minimum but has a number of protective clauses to isolate the Yankees' exposure to the possibility of Bonds missing time due to legal distractions or recurring injury, the source said.

Adding Bonds to the Yanks would be like the USA having a massive bonfire made up of unused grains, gas, cash and coal and broadcasting it to the 3rd World Nations with a picture of Ted Kennedy and The Steinbrenner Trio mooning everyone.

"See, we're big, we're bad, and we don't give a crap what you think since you hate us anyways."

My head hurts.

Now, I spoke (via email) with the esteemed Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com and he hadn't heard of this source and questioned the dollar amount as that's not a league minimum (I asked if that could be a pro-rated portion). We're waiting to see if the MSM picks up on this.

I can hear Murray Chass grinding his teeth right now about those irresponsible bloggers!


UPDATE (3:30pm): With the Yanks signing Richie Sexson, this makes the Bonds rumors a load of hooey.

Voice of God goes eternal

I can picture it right now. I’m sitting in the stands at Yankee Stadium thirty years from now and I hear this. “Now Batting…Number 22…Derek Jeter Jr….Number 22.”

I've discussed Bob Sheppard many, many times here as he's struggled to return to the mic at the Stadium. His replacement, Jim Hall, has a wonderful voice, strikingly similar to Mr. Sheppard's, but like any sequel, it's never as good as the original. Mr. Hall had a rough night on Tuesday, but I think this is an amazing idea.

But due to the state of text-to-speech technology, Sheppard’s voice could be the voice of the starting lineups for the next 50 years, if the Yankees choose to go that route.

Patrick Dexter, director of business development for Cepstral a leader in text-to-speech technology, told CNBC that it would be possible for the company to create a program that would enable the Yankees to have every player – the Yankees and their opponents – be announced by Sheppard’s voice forever.

“Doing names and numbers is easier than creating what they call a full domain voice, which is voicing full sentences,” Dexter said. “But if we had some time and money – and the Yankees certainly might have that bankroll -- we could do this.”

I think this would be great.

Final All Star Game thoughts

I wrote about the All-Star game mess a week and a half ago. One of the things I'd change if I were given a chance would be to modify the roster rules for the All Star Game.

• Eliminate mandatory representation by every club. It was one thing when there just twenty-something teams, but with 32, too many inferior players are being named at the expense of more qualified players.

or:

• Expand the roster sizes to accomodate the expansion in the number of teams. If you do this, you can keep mandatory representation. Open the rosters to 35 and eliminate the handwringing.

It's pretty simple. Boost the roster sizes to 35 and add three more pitchers. I'd rather do that than eliminate mandatory representation but if baseball is married to a 32 person roster, that rule has to be eliminated.

The only other thing to do to eliminate the All Star mess would be to just keep it an exhibition and give the WSHFA to the team who, you know, actually earned it.

Sights of the Game, part 2

For the entire library, click here

First, the pre-game event that I was able to attend. In order: Jim Bouton (former player and author of "Ball Four"), Gaylord Perry, Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams, Fergie Jenkins.

And then there was the scene outside of the Stadium (Pig-man, black cat from outer space dude and the Mariah wanna-be's):

And for those of you who haven't been to Yankee Stadium, here's a bit of the rest of the surrounding area:

For the entire library, click here

Sights of the Game, part 1

Here are just a few samples of some of the many pix I took at the All Star Game Tuesday night. For the entire library, you can click here.

Oh, what a night!

It was more than the night, it was an incredible day. I'm working on the pictures to post later today so you'll have to hang on a little bit for the proof.

My agenda:

• 6am-ish: wake-up, still groggy from the Bon Jovi concert the night before
• 12:30pm: leave the office, head to the Bronx
• 1:20pm: pay my $30 to park at the Stadium
• 1:30pm: tip the parking guy $10 to get a prime parking spot for a quick getaway
• 1:45pm: Get on 4 train back to NYC. Train was clean, air-conditioned and nothing like you have read/heard about. My brother was at the parade, getting a few pics.
• 2:30pm: Meet my brother at his company's hospitality gathering. Tasty beef-on-a-stick. Got to meet Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins, George Foster, Mitch Williams and Jim Bouton. All autographed an all-star game ball, which looks great.
• 4:30pm: Get on 4 train to head back to the Bronx. Same experience, everyone was friendly, happy to be on the "Iron Horse". A/C was working, which was nice, too.
• 5:00-6:30pm: Walking around the outside of the Stadium, oogling the new Stadium. The freaks were out, too. As well as many Baby Ruth reps, handing out many Baby Ruth samples. And they were refridgerated, which was a nice touch.
• 6:30-8:00pm: Got shut out (by about 3 minutes) for a Monument Park tour. Bummer. Took our seats, enjoyed dinner as the shadows settled in over us. Watched BP. Hung out.
• 8:00pm: Pre-game ceremonies. You saw it better than we did, but it was still chilling. The ARod and Jeter chants were great. The Mariano chants were even more impressive. You could tell that the fans wanted to stick it to Papelbon. [Side note: Shysterball noted that he expected the fans to be more savvy than what the media wants to shove in our face. I think everyone knows that but sometimes, it's just too much fun to pick a villian and beat it to a pulp. Papelbon was the perfect villian for the night, the yang to Mo's yin.]
• 8:50pm-ish: AL takes the field. Bleachers call roll-call for Jeter and ARod, as is tradition. For those not aware, the Bleachers call roll-call for every position player during the bottom of the first. They will keep chanting until the player turns and waves. A fun little tradition. After roll-call, they called roll for Bobby Murcer. Awesome. Simply awesome. Of course, as soon as that stopped, the "Boston Sucks" chants began. And loud.
• Every time a Boston player came up, the "Boston Sucks" rained down. Every time Corey Hart came up, they played the intro to "Sunglasses at Night". Lame.
• Jim Hall, Bob Sheppard's replacement, had a very rough night. Too many mistakes. So many, in fact, that there was a Bob Sheppard chant after another "Correction..."
• The singing of "God Bless America" should have been done by Ronan Tynan, not whomever was being promoted by some record label. It sounded like an over-done auction tape. Blech.
• The dragged out the Village People to help the grounds crew do their usual YMCA while grooming the field. Except there was a new Village Person, a soldier? Since when?
• Papelbon enters. The place erupts. Yes, everyone knew that the hubbub about him thinking he should close over Mo was totally overblown, but no one cared one iota. It's too much fun to boo sometimes. When he let in a run, the "Boston Sucks" chants were deafening.
• Mo enters. Pandemonium. From our vantage point, it looks like Tito handed him the ball and said "go get 'em" and that's about it. The strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out to end the inning was incredible. The inning ending double play the next inning was also great. We just KNEW the AL would score in the bottom of the 10th to get Mo the win and possible the MVP (sentimental win).
• Poor Uggla, a horrible inning/game. Hurdle intentionally loaded the bases. Took a minute to see that he was playing for the force at home. A master stroke. We still KNEW the AL would win. We knew it. Everyone knew it. Mo would get the win. Ground ball force out at home. Ditto. Ground ball 6-3 out. Stunned silence. You felt the air, adrenaline, energy leave the stadium.
• 12:45am-ish: Leave the ballpark. Yes, it lasted another 45 minutes but damn, it's late, I'm keeling over. That $10 spent for primo parking; useless.

Let me just thank my brother for not only flying cross-country to spend a fun-filled 2 days with me, but for landing the tickets. Truly wonderful. He lives 3,000 miles from me and we don't get to see each other or spend enough time with one another as we'd like. But it's times like the last two nights when I'm thankful that we do get to hang out every so often. Just wish it was more often.

Pictures to come, later. I'm buried at work, folks.


UPDATE: First batch of pictures, unedited, can be viewed here. I will post some directly on the site later/tonite, once I can edit and touch them up.

Hamilton revisited

I've written a bunch about Hamilton (and his former agent Matt Sosnick) recently. In light of Hamilton's otherworldly performance, here are some of those links.

Also, I was at a concert last night and didn't see a swing of the whole thing, so I can't add much to what's already been written. If you want a good POV on the whole thing, check out Shysterball.


Hamilton-related links:

• The difference a few years makes
• Quick! To the Matt phone
• An Interview with Matt Sosnick

Virtual tour of Yankee Stadium

Quite a nice little virtual tour of Yankee Stadium, minus the smells, of course.

I'll do my best to give my on-hand report and pictures on Wednesday (I'll probably get home too late to post anything after the game Tuesday).

Sad state of ticket costs

Amen, Phil Munchnick, amen. I've griped about this for a while but it's great to see such great coverage by a major outlet.

It's new ballpark gentrification: Throw out or move the moderately wealthy and replace them with the indiscriminate stinking rich and corporate buys. So long, folks, and thanks for all you've done for us all these years, you suckers. Arrive home safely and don't come back.

The staggering price of tickets the Yanks and Mets will charge next year is the kind of story that's not easily ignored, unless you try very hard - or simply don't care because it's not your misfortune.

This is the real cost of the new ballparks in Queens and the Bronx. The regular Joes and Janes won't be able to take a family of four there for under a few hundred dollars, unless they get lucky enough to get them from work or a very wealthy friend. And if you want good seats, fuhgeddaboutit. You gotta know a guy who knows a guy, ya know.

I'll tell ya, I'm not looking to buy tickets for next year. If I get them from a Wall Street friend, great. Otherwise, we'll just watch them on the big flat screen I invested in rather than hand over that cash to Lonn Trost & Co.

Images of FanFest 2008

Here are some pictures from our day at FanFest 2008. My apologies about some of the graininess; the lighting wasn't great so the flash had no impact on any picture taken from any real distance.

Me and the Queen of ESPN/the Blogosphere (PS: she couldn't have been any nicer)


My boys and Erin (they'll thank me later. Also, that's a 2003 National League All Star jersey, #5 Pujols)

A few jerseys from the Hall Of Fame exhibit:

World Series trophy 2008

From the Thurman Munson auction:

My boys at one of the clinics (the guy in the light blue polo is Fred Lynn)

Artist Charles Fazzino's ceremonial bases that will be on the field during the HR Derby Monday night:

And some other shots from the day (2nd picture is Whitey Ford):

UPDATE: We met reporter Willie Bans from MLB.com while we were having our own baseball cards made up (my name on the card: Pudge McBadknees, catcher #15) and he was kind enough to include us in his article:

Meanwhile, Jake, 8, and Zach, 5, posed in Yankees jerseys for photos to be placed on their own baseball cards.

"Mine's going on my desk," Jake said.

Their father, Jason, also had a baseball card made for himself, and was also impressed by the amount of memorabilia at FanFest.

"I don't think they're quite as into the historical stuff," Jason said. "But there's something for everybody, really."

R.I.P. Bobby

I can't think of much to say here other than I am heartbroken over the news that Bobby Murcer has passed away. Way too soon, way too young.

RIP, Bobby.

For those not as familar with Bobby or his history and what he meant to the Yanks, read about the Munson Game here.