Posted by tendiamonds on 2007-10-29 11:02:29 +0000
Wouldn't it be funny if he ended up getting less money? What a loser.
Best part about this is that the Yankees are 2 for 2 in moves this postseason (offseason for them, ha!) that make them worse. I'm betting they finish next year third in the AL, behind your wildcard Toronto Blue Jays.
Posted by tgl on 2007-10-29 11:32:08 +0000
If the first error is not getting Dusty Baker, then I agree.
Posted by tendiamonds on 2007-10-29 11:59:19 +0000
I'm not even talking about guys they didn't get, just guys they let go. If you want to talk about guys they didn't get, we can add Tony LaRussa.
Posted by tgl on 2007-10-29 12:03:45 +0000
I think they should of let Torre go. LaRussa? LaRussa? What a chump. What has he done?
The MFY are listless, they need a hot young manager. Not sure that's Tony Pena.
Posted by tendiamonds on 2007-10-29 12:19:15 +0000
Every one of the Yankees that is eligible for free-agency is leaving.
Posted by tgl on 2007-10-29 12:34:19 +0000
Don't get me wrong. Hank Steinbrenner is a big idiot.
Posted by mahatma chani on 2007-10-29 13:23:24 +0000
Torre in 12 seasons got his team to the post-season 12 times, but, hey, what has he done for them lately?
Posted by tgl on 2007-10-29 13:58:00 +0000
The Torre era is over. He's done nothing lately: The MFY have been kicked out of the playoffs in the Division series for three straight years.
Unlike the NFL, which is modeled after Socialism, this is baseball where the marketplace determines your fate. He's got some of the best players in the League, and he's failed to produce.
Sayonara.
Posted by Epoisses on 2007-10-29 14:49:21 +0000
The Yankees become a huge Ewing Theory candidate right away.
Posted by mahatma chani on 2007-10-29 15:55:07 +0000
But Steinbrenner's been "running" his team like it's a fantasy baseball team. Obviously a couple stars and whole slew of role players are the way to win the World Series. It wasn't until they brought in all the "firepower" that the Yankees started fucking up in the playoffs. Joe Torre had nothing to do with their failures as a team.
Posted by Epoisses on 2007-10-29 16:01:15 +0000
The whole "Yankees are becoming the Red Sox" media tangent has some truth to it -- those Yankees teams of the late 90's had a homegrown base augmented by stars.
Steinbrenner has been addled for years -- interested to see how things go now that his sons are officially assuming the reins.
Posted by tgl on 2007-10-29 16:12:26 +0000
Likewise, Torre had nothing to do with the successes of the late '90s. He wasn't in charge of player development, nor player acquisition. Sure, he kept the hired help happy. For that he needs another $8 million, no strings attached?
Posted by respectless on 2007-10-29 17:31:52 +0000
yankees definitely need change, even for change's sake. the fact is that they do spend like a billion dollars and they expect more, and i don't think torre was really gonna get them over the current "hump" in the playoffs. he can't inspire superstars (can anybody?) the yankess really looked like there was no fire in the bellies in the last few postseasons. and kept chalking it up to bad breaks and "the best team doesn't always win".
what they really need to do is let all of the big "firepower" contracts run out and not renew them and not go after the biggest guy on the market because he is the best available. go after guys who fit the culture of your team. build from within and take a couple chances with homegrown guys. Don't go after A-Rod, the guy is too much money and baggage for what you get. paying a guy 30 million won't get you 6X the production of a 5 million dollar guy. don't re-sign a 35 year old catcher to a 4 year deal. let the 40-something year old pitchers walk. the sox missed the playoffs last year because of their unwillingness to make big expensive mistakes (Pedro, Damon, Mueller). these were even highly unpopular moves at the time, but apparently it was the right way to do it.
but, hey, i'd just as soon see the yankees throw a spruce goose on the field every year.
Gammons:
In many ways, it's sad, because Alex Rodriguez is a great player and a good guy. On the field after the Red Sox clinched their second world championship in four seasons, I had two Rockies players beg me to rip A-Rod for his attention grab, one Red Sox player said he'd walk away if asked about Rodriguez and more than 10 other players reveled in laughing at the iconic $30 million-a-year player who doesn't know what it's like to be Jon Lester or Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Spilborghs or Bobby Kielty and play in a World Series.
Fine, Rodriguez is opting out of his contract. But anyone who respected baseball would not have tried to grab the stage from the World Series -- if winning were a priority. Want to know about winners? Pedroia gave up his scholarship at Arizona State to free up money to sign a much-needed pitcher, so when the Sun Devils reached the College World Series, coaches and players had "DP" on their caps in honor of their leader who never got to Omaha. The sabermetrics guys in their garages never understand these things.
Respect? Lester winning the final game of the World Series is a story that will reside with millions more people than A-Rod's gaudy statistics. Remember, this is a 23-year old who in January finished chemotherapy for lymphoma. Scott Radinsky and Jerry DiPoto, both former major league pitchers, survived the same disease and said it took them nearly a year and a half to regain their velocity, and Lester walked out on the game's biggest stage and pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings. As one doctor friend texted me, Lester brought tears and hopes to millions of kids and folks of all ages who are fighting for their lives to survive, much less win the World Series. And he did so without even a hint of a first-person pronoun. Yet, pitiably, Rodriguez did not find that as significant as his addiction to that first-person pronoun.
Maybe Tom Hicks will give Rodriguez whatever he wants, or Artie Moreno or Frank McCourt or someone else. Of course, none of them have what Lester, Pedroia and Kielty have. To some, it's all about the front page of the tabloids and the lead on SportsCenter, to others it's about giving back money so the team can better itself, or surviving cancer and winning the clinching game of the World Series.
Anyone who led with Alex Rodriguez should look in the mirror and go to celebrity rehab. Jon Lester is the greatest story of the 2007 baseball season, and he wouldn't trade what he symbolizes to his fellow man for all of Alex Rodriguez's millions.
Posted by cdubrocker on 2007-10-30 11:39:33 +0000
*slam dunk*
Posted by tgl on 2007-10-30 16:33:29 +0000
I probably should dial back my criticism of Torre. His skippered the MFY back from the brink into a race for the AL East this year, not something any manager could have done.
Posted by MF DU on 2007-11-03 17:18:13 +0000
Wow! What a bargain! I think I have $350 million USD in my wallet right now! asshole.
Posted by mahatma chani on 2007-11-03 20:42:20 +0000
Couple rehetorical questions: Who, praytell is going to pay that? How much of this is Rodriguez's doing, and how much of this is Boras's decision-making? Is this motherfucker going into the Hall of Fame, and can he get an asterisk next to his name to signify "gold digger?"
Posted by tommy on 2007-11-03 21:47:55 +0000
I think a team that commits this kind of money to one player will have real trouble filling out the rest of their roster with enough talent to be competitive. The only exceptions are probably the Red Sox and Yankees, and neither of them will touch A-Rod with a 10-foot pole at this point.
This contract, if it happens, may guarantee that Rodriguez never sees the playoffs again. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that's exactly what he's looking for.
Posted by Epoisses on 2007-11-04 03:10:27 +0000
Innocent until proven guilty, motherfucker!
Posted by tgl on 2007-11-04 11:05:23 +0000
LA Dodgers and SF Giants are possibilities.
Posted by tgl on 2007-11-04 11:06:59 +0000
I don't think The Olde Towne Teame has ruled out pursuing A-Rod at the moment.
...and I don't think it'll be a problem for the fan base. We embrace Ramirez. At least Rodriguez runs out hits (sometimes "slapping" the pitcher).
Posted by cdubrocker on 2007-11-04 11:28:20 +0000
But Ramirez had no crappy baggage upon his arrival. Fans can weather a Sox' ups and downs, but weathering a known asswipe, I doubt it. We don't need no stinking A-Rod, and I don't think Henry and Co. will go for him, they'd get too much shit for it.
Posted by ConorClockwise on 2007-11-04 11:28:20 +0000
Exactly, tommy.
A-Rod moves out to LA, plays for the Angels, switches over to 1st base in 6 years, plays in 5 or 6 more playoff games, hits his 800th home run 9 years from now, first ballot hall of famer, and his family never has to work for 11 generations. Done.
Posted by Epoisses on 2007-11-04 15:27:15 +0000
I can't imagine the Sox saddling themselves with an albatross of a contract at this point. Course, look no further than JD Drew to find one, I guess.