XM MLB Chat

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Mr. Steinbrenner, you must be aware the YES NETWORK has been hijacked?

How does the average schmoe wanting you to despise the Yankees start every sentence? Talking about money. The perfumed, foofed up "Yankees Hot Stove" on the Yankee-hating YES Network is right in line, as always. How do the producers and zoned-out Bob Lorenz decide to start tonight's episode? Right! Bob's first words:
  • "26 million..."
Great, YES! Right in the dumper with all the biased, misleading crap out there. THEY DIDN'T SPEND THE $26 to begin with.
  • I'VE SPENT ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF TIME DOCUMENTING THIS PROBLEM, BUT TO NO AVAIL. NEXT STOP: YES NETWORK SPONSORS---
"Dear Sponsor: Are you aware you're promoting mis-information and Yankee hatred?..."
  • "See-ya."

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The Lucchino Connection to Japan

Can the NY Times start a baseball article without putting a Yankee reference in the first sentence, whether or not it's the best example of the thesis? Today, speaking about Japanese players, Richard Sandomir could've mentioned Hideo Nomo in his open, but chose Hideki Irabu, a forgettable former Yankee from Japan.
  • But, farther into the article, I'm finally amused by something. Sandomir ties the long-past Irabu debacle with the current story of Red Sox owner Larry Lucchino taking charge of the Matsuzaka negotiations.
"One link from Irabu to Matsuzaka is Larry Lucchino, who was the president of the Padres and now holds the same position in Boston." Lucchino was president of the Padres during the protracted Irabu mess which consisted of Irabu saying he didn't want to play for the Padres, only the Yankees. Ouch.
  • Reality: No one will ever know what kind of deal the Red Sox arranged to defray costs of the Matsuzaka posting. "Raised eyebrows" is the most I've heard as possible objection. It's taken for granted that cheating can and will go on, and Selig certainly can't be counted on to do anything about it.
Comments on 12/1/06 NY Times article by Richard Sandomir, "Merely Talking to Japan's Best is Big Business."
  • P.S. HOW'S THIS FOR THE WEAK, WIMPY MLB---"There had been speculation that the Red Sox would enlist Seibu's help in closing the deal but Major League Baseball shot that down Tuesday.
"There are no side deals in the situation," executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office Jimmie Lee Solomon said. "Everybody's been assured that's not allowed, and everybody's been made aware of the rules."
  • S0, everyone knows it's not allowed? You haven't said a word about how that will be enforced and what consequences would be. I'm totally reassured.

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TONY PENA RETURNS TO YANKEES AS 1B COACH IN 2007

SANTO DOMINGO - Tony Peña will return again as coach of first base of the New York Yankees next season with a 1-year contract.

The information was offered by Pena himself, during his appearance on the program the Sport Week, that takes place every Sunday, of 12:00 to 2:00 of afternoon, by Telecentro, channel 13, under the conduction of the journalists Héctor J. Cross, Tomas Troncoso, Bienvenido Rojas and Mario Emilio Guerrero.

  • The old receiver revealed that “I return in 2007 with the Yankees in equal terms as in the last campaign, with an agreement of a year and to be coach of the first base”.

Pena emphasized that he was interviewed for the position of leader by the Nationals of Washington, position that finally his compatriot Manny Acta will occupy.

  • “Manny and I were finalists for the position of manager of the Nationals and I congratulate his being chosen, because he is a very able person and a great connoisseur of the game”.

He added that “With Acta it unites one close friendship to me, from the days we worked together in the Houston Astros organization, when I was leader of the triple AAA branch and Manny was my coach of third base."

  • “I knew that Acta would someday be a mánager of Big Leagues and as much it is thus, that when I was named years ago leader of the Kansas City Royals, in an interview I indicated he'd be the next Dominican in piloting a team in the Big Leagues."

Defeat of the Yankees Being questioned on the Yankees failing again to arrive at the World Series, Pena said that “the pitching of the Tigers of Detroit was too much for our players”.

  • “The reason by which we were eliminated in the Series of Championship is simply that the throwers of Detroit made a great work and silenced our offensive."

In another tenor, Pena praised the work of Joe Torre.

“Torre had to compete with a team decimated by injuries and with only two outstanding pitchers, Mike Mussina and Wang." Adding, “in opposition to the image that shows, Torre is a communicative and comprehensive man, who is not created a genius that knows everything to it”.

“He makes consultations with his coaches all along and delegates functions, in addition to which he's a class of mánager that always is in contact with his players”, he expressed.

  • “I believe that in the last campaign, Torre made an extraordinary work, because with a club with great problems it managed to classify for the postseason".

Cabrera and Cano

Pena also emphasized the work of the Dominican players Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano, who enjoyed a good campaign in the 2006.

“For me, Cabrera is the player of more progress in the Great Leagues and at the moment of the injury of Hideki Matsui he assumed a great responsibility within the Yankees and unfolded a shining performance”, affirmed.

About Cano, he asserted that “he's a star in ascent and soon he will be a stellar one in the Big Leagues. I was surprised by his talent, because he's shown he is a formidable batter and owner of a great defense, with good hands, strong arm and a tremendous reach."

STORY BY MARIO EMILIO GUERRERO, LISTIN DIARIO, NOV. 30, 2006, google translation

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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

JP Ricciardi & Gil Meche attend Maple Leafs--Bruins game

J.P. Ricciardi and free-agent pitcher Gil Meche were at the Air Canada Centre Tuesday night for the Maple Leafs game against the Boston Bruins.
  • "We wouldn't bring him up here if we weren't serious about signing him," Ricciardi said of Meche, who was 11-8 (4.48) with the Seattle Mariners this past season and is part of a group of pitchers whose already-weighty value jumped tremendously when the Philadelphia Phillies signed Adam Eaton to a three-year, $24-million (U.S.) contract.

One year to the day that the Blue Jays signed BJ Ryan to be their closer, pitching - the commodity that everyone familiar with the team knows is its most pressing commodity - has moved into the forefront of the team's off-season plans.

Meche was shown on the videoboard during the game along with the words 'Future Blue Jay.' from Globe and Mail by Jeff Blair

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Manny is currently owed $78 million, not the $13 million Sheffield was owed, contrary to "go-to" ESPN guy

Murray Chass discusses simmering Manny talks, with the new team having to pick up "...the remaining two years in Rami­rez'’s contract at $38 million, plus pick up two option years at $20 million a season. Rami­rez would likely require that the option years be guaranteed for him to approve a trade, which he has to do.
  • He also would receive a $1 million payment if he is traded, but the Red Sox would presumably pay that.

The Dodgers, the Giants, the Padres, the Rangers, the Phillies and the Orioles have been mentioned as teams that could get Rami­rez, a 34-year-old slugger, but an executive of one of those clubs said it would be a long shot to get him. The executive said he couldn't be identified because he could be accused of tampering."

  • Is Murray Chass facilitating tampered information? Why would he take the chance of doing so? Why would an alleged "executive" cooperate in this way? Later in his article,
"Estimates among baseball executives, who could not be quoted by name for fear of incurring charges of tampering, ranged up to 250 as to the number of times Ortiz would be walked next season without Rami­rez batting behind him. Not only would the Red Sox lose Rami­rez'’s production, they would also lose much of Ortiz'’s."
  • Does Bud Selig only care about infractions when they're not in the RED SOX' favor?
From NY Times, 11/30/06, article by Murray Chass

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David Ortiz motivated to do work to help children

SANTO DOMINGO. - A good day in Boston, after finished the season, David Ortiz rose and as usual ignited the computer to read the digital edition of Dominican newspapers.
  • Within the compendium of the news there was one it called plus his attention and it gave account of which young Dominican they were dying of hidrocefalia by lack of a valve whose cost goes up to around the thousand dollars.

The “Big Papi” reflected and thought that it had to enter the scene and to do something to benefit of the Unit of Hidrocefalia of the infantile hospital Robert Reid Cabral and of the Infantile Maternal Welfare Center San Lorenzo of the Mine.

  • “I must do something”, Ortiz said itself and began to give form to the project to organize a beneficial game of softbol in which the main Dominican players of Great Leagues, excellent athletes of other sports participate and artists, mainly.

“We are going to create a game of softbol, so that many of us we donate something and we collect bottoms to see as we ended that, because the children are the future of the country and is laborious to see them die by so not much”, meant in visit made yesterday to this newspaper, where its presence caused commotion.

First contributions

  • By suddenly, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols already called to say to him that they wish to make a donation significant,

The party will be made the 30 of December in the Quisqueya stage, a date that it will disable that stellar players of the United States, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, with which it has good relations, can participate in this first edition of he himself.

“This year we are going it to organize with local people because I know that people are a date difficult to travel it. Idea was one that arose to me after the season”, clarified the popular designated batter of the Red Averages of Boston.

“If it had planned it before, at the outset or in the middle of the season, it had more time to make the things as it wanted”, it pointed Ortiz, who comes from a humble home and passed his childhood and adolescence between the Espaillat district and the locality of Haina.

It added: “of a day for another one it raised the idea to him to the cronista Leo Lopez, who very is excited with the welcome that has had the same one.

  • “If it is well, as one waits for, I plan another date that people can come, invite celebrities and every year try to make it greater in order collect more money for that childhood that as much needs it”, expressed. Article by Freddy Tapia from Listin Diario, 11/29/06, google translation

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Tuesday, November 28, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARIANO RIVERA

Most sources say Mariano was born November 29, 1969, and all say in Panama, making Mo 37 today.
  • HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIANO, AND MANY MORE. Thanks also to HERB RAYBOURN, the Yankee scout who discovered Mariano in Panama, where he was actually a shortstop. He fooled around with pitching, & Raybourn noticed his now unrivaled smooth delivery.
  • Mo's "signing bonus?" $2000.

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You too can have your Arena or Stadium named for a nuclear waste disposer---NY Times

And now, Energy Solutions, a benignly named company that disposes of nuclear waste, has replaced Delta Air Lines as the home of the Utah Jazz.

  • Nuclear waste. Yes, it is low-level stuff — not spent fuel or old bombs — that is now associated with the team with the best record in the N.B.A., rather than, perhaps, last season’s Knicks.

Radioactivity is quite new to naming rights, unless you count the brief time before Minute Maid replaced Enron as the name of the Houston Astros’ ballpark. But this is a niche that has reflected corporate America’s changing fortunes — whether by bankruptcy, merger or dot-com boom and bust — and its need to market itself.

  • There have been three names on the San Francisco Giants’ home (PacBell, SBC and AT&T) and a hat trick of titles on the Philadelphia 76ers’ and Flyers’ arena (First Union, CoreStates and Wachovia).
From NY Times column by Richard Sandomir, 11/29/06 (Times Sel. Req)

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Doping substances in Chinese food warn for 2008 Olympics

"Athletes who compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics face the danger of a positive drug test if they dine out and eat some of China's chemical-laden foods, a top Chinese doping expert has warned.
  • Chinese food is contaminated with banned drugs like anabolic steroids to such an extent that the possibility is real, said Yang Shumin, the former head of China's Olympic doping control centre and an expert on anabolic steroids.

In China, food safety is a major issue for the entire population, not just for the more than 10,000 athletes who will arrive here in August 2008 to take part in the Olympics.

  • Many of the hundreds of millions of China's farmers buy anabolic steroids for their livestock and antibiotics for their fowl from salesmen who promise better prices for bigger pigs and healthier ducks.

"Dangerous pesticides, fertilizers and chemical additives to make the produce more attractive also combine with heavy metals washed into the food chain through contaminated rivers and streams.

  • Add to that poor hygiene and food handling, and the recipe for regular outbreaks of mass food-poisoning is complete.

In one recent case that raised Olympic alarm bells, 336 people fell sick in Shanghai in September after eating pork contaminated with anabolic steroids.

Chinese officials were stunned to hear that athletes taking part in the World Junior Championships in Beijing in August went looking to eat raw meat on the streets."

  • This is supposed to be the responsibility of the same group in charge of the "World Baseball Classic?"

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National baseball writer, Tim Brown, leaves LA Times for Yahoo

"Departures from the increasingly Tribunized L.A. Times are beginning. Tim Brown, the national baseball writer since leaving the NBA beat, is jumping to Yahoo! Sports, where the former #2 at LAT sports, Dave Morgan, is now the #1. The staff email from Times sports editor Randy Harvey": Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 12:17 PM "Subject: staff message from Randy Harvey

Staff,

We received word this morning that Tim Brown is leaving the paper for Yahoo Sports.

While this is good news for our friend Dave Morgan, it is very bad news for us. Tim is a born baseball writer, one of the very best in the business, but the fact is that there isn't a writing job in our section that Tim couldn't do with equal style.

He certainly proved that with his exceptional coverage of the Shaq and Kobe Lakers. That was a high point for our department.

We will miss him personally and professionally. We wish him well.

Randy" from LA Observed via Romenesko

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Someone at the NY Times really screwed up

Baseball bats, a smiling Latino adult male, a bunch of young boys gathered together. Not so bad for the Times. But, this picture was taken in Watts, the desperate neighborhood of Los Angeles, with an article saying many Latinos are moving into the blighted, vacated neighborhoods. You have an adult male teaching young kids about life, baseball, and how to accept disappointment. And he's smiling.
  • This picture symbolizes hope in a poor urban area, with actions, with baseball, and God help the guy that let this slip through...THE MAN IS WEARING A YANKEE CAP! In Los Angeles.
Photo from NY Times, 11/28/06 by J. Emilio Flores; article by Randal Archibold

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Monday, November 27, 2006

New Indoor Baseball Facility Opens in San Antonio

It's not the retractable-roof stadium that the Florida Marlins were searching for when they flirted with San Antonio a year ago.

But the Alamo City now has a new indoor facility catering to baseball enthusiasts.

  • Sandlot Baseball and Fastpitch Academy has opened its doors on the Northeast Side near San Antonio International Airport. The new 10,000-square-foot climate-controlled training facility features a 6,000-square-foot infield area, five batting cages with pitching machines and two pitching tunnels.

The new facility, located on Starcrest near Blossom Athletic Center, will feature certified instructors. It also has a pro shop that markets baseball equipment, uniforms and other game apparel.

  • Sandlot officials say the purpose of the new facility is to "help create successful, dedicated, respectful, and disciplined athletes by reinforcing positive values in our unique setting."

Sandlot Academies was founded in 2005 and is based in Denver. Five new facilities are slated to open across the United States by the end of the year.

Story from San Antonio Business Journal, by W. Scott Bailey, 11/27/06

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David Ortiz is preparing for life without Manny

Santo Domingo, - "David Ortiz did not want that it happens, but is clear in that he and Manny Ramirez they are not Siamese and at some time the separation will arrive.

“That is not problem”, expressed the most opportune batter of the baseball and the history of the Red Averages (Sox) of Boston.

“Manny is a key card in the equipment, but… it knows, I have been developed single all my life and single it is necessary to battle. What there is is that to throw palante”, it emphasized David.

It has been listening to those rumors during the dead season since he arrived at the New England in the 2003.

Agreement of publicity “I have much I do not speak with him”, indicated the “Big Papi” when they asked to him on the individual after concluded a press conference celebrated in the assembly hall of the Manuel company Or. Matos, Tar & Associate, in which the agreement arrived with the stellar pelotero announced so that it heads a campaign of promotion of new products of insurance.

Manuel Matos and Junior Tar, president and executive vice-president, respectively, of the company, indicated that those products will leave to the market next as much to local level as international.

“For us it is from extreme pleasing that a figure of the popularity and international dimension as David Ortiz serves as image in the promotion who we will do of those new products of insurance”, declared.

Also, they declared that they will be tie in the party of softbol with celebrities that Ortiz will celebrate the 30 of December in the Quisqueya stage, to benefit of the children hospitalized with problems of hidrocefalia in the Robert Reid Cabral and the Maternity of the Mine.

The mentioned company will support a denominated aid “Home run in One” between the participant players by means of who it will donate a vehicle zero kilometer to which it connects bambinazo that makes contact with enemy with he himself.

David said that the organization of the event marches to the thousand wonders and thanked for the endorsement that is been receiving from its peloteros colleagues, artists and the enterprise sector."

Story by Freddy Tapia, Listin Diario, 11/25/06, translated by google

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Jay Mariotti--Writers should no longer vote for baseball awards

"No longer should a writer vote in official balloting of any sort, whether it's for an MVP award, a Hall of Fame berth, the Heisman Trophy, a Top 25 poll or a mascot battle between Benny the Bull and the Gorilla.

  • We are here to report the news and comment about the news. We are not here to participate in voting that puts us in position to make news, especially if it creates the appearance of a voter ingratiating himself to the team he covers or, perhaps, penalizing other teams. Just because we cover sports doesn't mean we should be part of their electoral mechanisms. We should be detached from the big machine, with editors advising leagues to find other methods of determining honors.These are not questions a writer in Chicago should be answering on an official ballot.

A Sox beat writer sees his team all season and the Yankees six times. He lives with Sox players and learns to appreciate their contributions out of habit. Yet in New York, they think the worst -- that a Sox beat writer might vote for his guys, tell them about it, then get favorable treatment.

  • This is why baseball -- and all sports -- should form panels of voters that don't involve newspaper writers. We are not part of the team or part of the sport; we are writing ABOUT the sport.

That said, I don't want to be in position to officially judge one's immortality. I am paid to write about sports people, not determine their places in history.

  • Many writers can separate personal feelings and vote fairly. Unfortunately, some can't.

The fact Cowley is a public enemy in New York tells me this has gone way too far. Why should he vote for MVP? Why should I vote for Cooperstown? Why should another writer who has attended two games all year vote for the Heisman? Now that newspapers are out of the college football/ BCS voting muck, we need to pull out of sports balloting altogether.

Sometimes a writer can't avoid making the news, such as when he's called an ''[expletive] fag'' by a manager. But we can avoid accusations of JEETING by not getting involved. In this case, not voting would be the American thing to do."

From Jay Mariotti's Chicago Sun-Times column, 11/24/06

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Danys Baez returns to the AL East to set-up for Baltimore

Baez signs with the Orioles for 3 years, $19 million. Danys will set up for Baltimore closer Chris Ray. Sought by several other teams, Baez and his agent are said to be resting comfortably (contingent on Baez' physical). Too bad the team didn't care that the AL MVP award failed to come up with 2 beat writers from their market covering the AL East. AP report. Follows Baltimore Sun report.

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Venezuela may prevent players from coming to the US

Venezuela may soon prevent its baseball players from coming to the United States. The premier of Venezuela is up for re-election next month and models himself after Fidel Castro. The Houston Astros were the first US club to start an academy there, and a number of others followed. (No Johan Santana, no Bobby Abreu, no Ozzie Guillen, no Ugie Urbina-- but he might still be there, sadly). This story from Times Online by Graham Dunbar in Caracas.

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Sunday, November 26, 2006

Taxpayers told to pay for stadiums to lure Arizona Spring Training

  • "Glendale (Arizona) has offered to lure the Chicago White Sox from Tucson Electric Park and the Los Angeles Dodgers from their spring training home in Florida.
The deal includes not just a brand-new taxpayer-financed stadium, but also no requirement to share revenue with the city--— not from baseball games, not from concessions, not from concerts and trade shows held in the off-season.
  • And when the city uses the stadium for its events, taxpayers will reimburse the teams for wear-and-tear on the fields.
The deal also includes a 10-year option for the teams' owners on 30 acres of city-owned land, including 18 acres near the proposed stadium site. The price will be locked in today, and the owners get 10 years to decide if they want it."
  • Pima County officials are eager for baseball, but don't believe they can match the deal Glendale offered the White Sox and Dodgers.
  • "Glendale's Offer:
*Teams keep all revenue from ticket sales
*Teams keep all revenue from concessions
*Teams keep all revenue from parking
*Teams keep all revenue from nonbaseball events like concerts and trade shows
*City pays the teams for wear and tear when it uses the stadium for city events
*Teams' owners get a 10-year option on two city-owned properties, with the price locked in today
  • Pima County's Offer
*Teams keep 80 percent of revenue from ticket sales, stadium district gets 20 percent plus a premium for suites
*Teams keep all revenue from hard concessions (souvenirs); stadium district keeps all revenue from soft concessions (food and drink)
*Teams keep 80 percent of revenue from parking, stadium district gets 20 percent
*County keeps all revenue from nonbaseball events
*County does not pay to use the stadium, but it does not schedule nonbaseball events before or during spring training."
  • The article has the usual lingo about how even though the taxpayers will be paying they really won't be paying, etc. from the Arizona Daily Star, 11/26/06

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IS BALTIMORE OUT OF BASEBALL? MINNESOTA RESIDENT MEL ANTONEN GOT TO BE 1 of BALTIMORE's 2 AL MVP VOTERS.

MEL ANTONEN RESIDES IN MINNESOTA, AND HAS FOR MANY YEARS. WHEN INTERVIEWED ON XM, IT'S "FROM HIS HOME IN MINNESOTA." ON SEPT. 20, 2006 IN ONE OF HIS CHATS BEFORE MVP VOTES WERE DUE (in another venue) HE THOUGHT MORNEAU SHOULD BE #1 FOR MVP.
  • SO WHY THE CHARADE OF SUSPENSE ABOUT WHO'D ULTIMATELY WIN? MORNEAU IS CANADIAN, SO BOTH TORONTO VOTERS HAD HIM #1.
  • MATT HURST WOULD NEVER PUT EITHER DEREK JETER OR MARIANO RIVERA #1, NOR WOULD LARRY STONE, NOR THE INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY FROM CHICAGO, NOR A FEW OTHERS. THE FIX WAS IN LONG AGO BY WHOMEVER PUT THE JURY TOGETHER. THE FAULT LIES WITH THOSE IN AUTHORITY ABOVE THE VOTERS.
OUT OF ALL THE GAMES THE YANKEES PLAYED AGAINST BALTIMORE, AND THIS YEAR AGAINST THE NATIONALS AS WELL, BUD SELIG, ESPN, JACK O'CONNELL, ETC. HATE THE YANKEES SO MUCH THEY APPOINTED A LONGTIME MINNESOTA RESIDENT, NOT COVERING EITHER THE ORIOLES OR OTHER TEAMS IN THE AL EAST.
  • A COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE VOTE AGAINST THE YANKEES IS WHAT THE FIX WAS. THE 2ND BALTIMORE AL MVP VOTE WENT TO MEL ANTONEN FROM MINNESOTA, NOT TO A BEAT WRITER. BEFORE THE VOTE, HE MADE HIS CHOICE OF MORNEAU CLEAR. BUT, AS DEMONSTRATED IN HIS XM INTERVIEW ON AUGUST 29, 2006, HE'S A CARBON COPY OF OTHER MINNESOTA VOTERS REFUSING TO PRAISE THE BEST PLAYER ON THE YANKEES SIMPLY BECAUSE THE TEAM "IS TOO WELL STOCKED."
  • ANTONEN IS AN INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY BECAUSE HE DID NOT VOTE FOR JETER--TYLER KEPNER QUOTES HIM FOR INTERNATIONAL RELEASE IN THE NY TIMES ON 11/22:
  • "“It wasn'’t so much about numbers," said Mel Antonen of USA Today, who voted for Morneau. "It was about all the things Morneau did as far as contributing to a winning team. The correlation between his taking off and the Twins'’ starting to win was too much to ignore."”
THIS ISN'T A DEBATE, IT'S NOT DISCUSSION, INTRIGUE, ETC. MANY OTHERS AVOID OR SOFT-PEDAL THIS ISSUE. WHY? MANY ARE LOOKING FOR MONEY MAKING OPPORTUNITIES IN SPORTS WRITING OR WORKING FOR A TEAM AND DON'T WANT TO 'ROCK THE BOAT.'
  • INTERVIEWED VIA PHONE "FROM HIS HOME IN MINNESOTA" ON XM ON 8/29, HE SHOWS HIS BIAS AND PREJUDICE IN FULL VIEW, BUT NO ONE IN AUTHORITY DID ANYTHING TO STOP HIM FROM BBWAA VOTING. HE USES EXACTLY THE SAME BIAS THAT THE REST OF MINNEAPOLIS VOTERS USE--CAN'T VOTE FOR JETER OR MARIANO BECAUSE THE REST OF THE TEAM IS TOO GOOD: (From this blog on 8/29/06:)
Mel stepped in it today on Charley Steiner's show saying:
  • "John Smoltz told me that 1 inning pitched in October is like 2 innings pitched in the regular season."
Charley agrees, & being the only 1 on the station who'd bring up the obvious, he does. Charley says:
  • "That brings up again the remarkable performances of Mariano Rivera."
Antonen is horror struck and tries to change the subject:
  • "Well, the Yankees have depth." AFTER HE SETS UP HIS OWN POINT WHICH IS COMMON SENSE ANYWAY, ABOUT SMOLTZ' REFERENCE TO PITCHING IN THE POST SEASON, HE DUMPS ON MARIANO.
  • Charley has started to catch on that every "writer" will dump on Mo, so he clarifies,
  • "But I mean you mentioned the post season pitching and that's what Rivera has done so much of."
Now, Antonen is desperate, so he throws out some lies:
  • "Well, Torre never uses him more than 60 or 70 innings so he's always well-rested. He's good and everything, but the Yankees have a lot of back-up for him. He IS RESTED." Emphasis his, with anger as well. And you think there's no bias? MEL, MARIANO LEADS THE MAJORS WITH 69.0 IP BY LATE INNING RELIEVERS. THE ONE WHO SHOULD GET A REST IS YOU.
  • Charley changes the subject. (Charley admits he avoids controversy). Why do you allow people like this to keep their jobs? Antonen has just said THE OPPOSITE of the truth. If anything, as anyone WHO'S NOT TOTALLY OBSESSED WITH THE YANKEES AND THEREFORE DETERMINED TO LIE ABOUT MARIANO knows, Rivera has typically been OVERUSED.
  • 2006 to date, with 69.0 IP, Rivera leads both leagues for late inning relievers (Mel, did you see Farnsworth the other day? Really great back-up).
  • 2005 regular season, Rivera had 78.1 IP.
  • 2004 regular season, 78.2 IP, 12.2 IP post season=91.1 IP total.
  • 2003 regular season, 70.2 IP.
  • 2002 -injured part of the year--only pitched 46.0 reg.--SEE 2001
  • 2001 96.2 IP, 80.2 regular season, 16.0 post season
  • 2000 regular season 75.2, post season 15.2= 91.1 IP
  • total
  • 1999 regular season 69.0, post season 12.1= 81.1 total
RESTED, MEL? This is how he rested in bringing his team from behind to win the pennant in 2005--YOUR UNPROFESSIONAL BIAS IGNORES:
  • In September 2005 HE SAVED OR WON 6 1-RUN GAMES IN A 2-WEEK SPAN IN A BRUTAL PENNANT RACE.
  • HE PITCHED 3 DAYS IN A ROW TWICE IN THIS 2 WEEK PERIOD, 6 OUT OF 8 DAYS, FORCED IN DESPERATE SITUATIONS TO MAKE UP FOR BLOWN LEADS BY THE OFFENSE OR BAD RELIEF IN THE BULLPEN.
LOOK IT UP, MEL, PRINT A FRONT PAGE APOLOGY AND RETRACTION. THE REASON YOU STILL HAVE A JOB AT ALL IS THAT BASEBALL FANS ARE TOO LAZY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT YOU. P.S. Enjoy your hallowed Baseball Writers awards voting--if it's not cancelled due to lack of ethics of people like you. posted by susan mullen at 8/29/2006 02:27:00 PM

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Friday, November 24, 2006

With this story, the "A-rod desperately wants to be liked" myth is OFFICIALLY DEAD:

  • A-rod ditches Yogi Berra Benefit:

From the NY Times article by Harvey Araton (11/23/06)--it's chilling about A-rod:

"Corny as it all may seem, scripted as Jeter can sound, he typically puts the best franchise face forward. At a memorial service last month in California several days after pitcher Cory Lidle'’s death in a Manhattan plane crash, there was Jeter, right alongside Torre.

  • Where was Rodriguez? He is not the manager, or the captain, as is Jeter, but what about his alleged standing as the team's reigning superstar, its most scrutinized player, A-lightning-Rod?

Too many times -- as with the Sports Illustrated confessional on the eve of the playoffs -- Rodriguez seems to miss the impact of his actions, or inaction.

  • Last Wednesday, after attending his own charity poker tournament in Manhattan, he canceled on a major fund-raiser the next night at the Yogi Berra Museum in Little Falls, N.J. According to a person in the Rodriguez camp who spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity, A-Rod'’s mother, Lourdes, had suddenly been hospitalized -- certainly a legitimate excuse and far better than the reason David Wright'’s people gave for him not showing. (Wright had been inadvertently double-booked that night.)
But Wright is a Met, A-Rod a Yankee,
  • and because he has a history around town of blowing off events (including one of Torre'’s last year), because the call to the museum to cancel was made not by Rodriguez but by one of his employees,
    • because there was an A-Rod sighting last Friday night at courtside of the Knicks-Heat game in Miami, the museum people and the Berra family and even the Yankees president, Randy Levine, were said to be in a snit, with the impression that A-Rod too often gives: he just doesn't get it."
  • IMPRESSION? I'D SAY THAT'S AN ACTUALITY. And "in a snit" is an insulting way to describe the shock and sadness that must've been felt by many involved.
"A personal call to Berra a day or two or even three after the event is all it would have taken to deliver an expression of sincerity, to let Berra and the Yankees know that A-Rod does respect the tradition, the legacy and, in this case, the patriarchal standing of Berra, 81, as the greatest living Yankee."
  • THIS IS UTTERLY REVOLTING. I'M JUST SORRY A-ROD HAS RECEIVED MARIANO'S SUPPORT UP TO THIS POINT. THE IDEA AROD WANTS TO BE LOVED IS OFFICIALLY IN THE TRASH CAN.

"Raw power may make you a most valuable player, but A-Rod, as talented and hard-working as he is, still hasn'’t mastered the subtleties of team interaction, the intangibles that postseason awards typically don'’t address."

  • ARATON'S CHILLING EPITAPH ON AROD: IT'S JETER WHO STILL STANDS.

"Without them, there is no way for A-Rod to reach the pedestal on which Jeter still stands."

from NY Times Article 11/23/06 by Harvey Araton (Times Select req.)

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My points being picked up by "main stream press:"

"Maybe this is Derek Jeter's destiny: to be the best baseball player of his generation to never win an MVP award.
  • The way it seems to be Mariano Rivera's peculiar lot in life to be the best reliever in the game's history but not have an official piece of hardware to ever prove it."
I've written specifically on this subject for over a year, and researched it much longer. Mike Vaccaro in the NY Post finally realized it for the first time a few days ago. Now, Michael Geffner makes the connection in the Times Herald-Record, by Michael Geffner on Recordline.com, The subject matter is enormous enough that several people could work full time documenting bias and fraud in the voting system. Solution? ALL NEWS ORGANIZATIONS MUST STOP THEIR EMPLOYEES FROM VOTING ON BASEBALL AWARDS IMMEDIATELY.
  • P.S. Who exactly chose MEL ANTONEN, a sure Minnesota vote, to be 1 of 2 voters for the Baltimore area for AL MVP?

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Thursday, November 23, 2006

MEET CELEBS, GET FAME & FORTUNE--JUST DON'T VOTE FOR THE YANKEE.

YOU WANT TO BE FAMOUS? EASY. JUST FAIL TO VOTE JETER #1--FAME & FORTUNE FOLLOW HERE: THIS WILL BE THE BIGGEST DAY IN SOME LESSER KNOWN BBWAA MEMBERS' LIVES. (There's precedent for this statement). Would John Harper have an excuse to publicize himself today in the NY Daily News were it not for this media created subject? No. It's a free flying excuse to tout HIMSELF AND SOME OTHER PHONY VOTERS WHO OFFER NO PROOF WHATSOEVER FOR THEIR STATEMENTS. You're just supposed to take their word for it.
  • Mr. Harper, the issue is news organizations that still permit employees to vote on baseball awards. It's an ethically unjustifiable practice, period, on many levels. You try to drum up publicity power for yourself and others who otherwise wouldn't have it. (That only works if fans are stupid). Their "opinions" ARE NOT THE ISSUE. THERE'S NO PROOF OF OVERSIGHT AND PLENTY OF PROOF OF INCOMPETENCE. SINCE THEY WON'T POLICE THEMSELVES, NEWS ORGANIZATIONS MUST DO SO IMMEDIATELY.
Harper's set-up and thesis just stoke prejudice. He titles his article "Writers Block," then proceeds to jumble and contradict himself throughout.
  • "The question, amidst all of the fallout over the American League MVP vote on Tuesday, is simple: Can anyone outside of New York ever fully appreciate what Derek Jeter means to the Yankees?

The simple answer is no. But that's the nature of baseball. Statistically-oriented as the sport may be, you often can't get a complete picture of a player's value, for better or worse, without seeing him play on an everyday basis over 162 games.

But that doesn't mean Justin Morneau wasn't a deserving MVP winner."

  • THAT'S NOT THE POINT HARPER.

"As a slugger on a team of punch-hitters, his impact in having a huge year for the AL-Central winning Twins was obvious.

Yet it's no secret that many people around baseball have some level of contempt for the Yankees, seeing their huge payroll as an unfair advantage toward making the playoffs for 12 straight seasons."

  • HARPER, HAVE YOU ASKED THEM HOW THEY LIKE THE $100 million IN REVENUE SHARING AND LUXURY TAX THE YANKEES GAVE THEM THIS YEAR? I didn't think so. OR ABOUT PLAYERS THAT REFUSE TO PLAY IN NY FOR ANY PRICE BECAUSE OF THE ADDED PRESSURE? No, I guess not.

"Since Jeter has become the symbol of the Yankees, you have to ask: are people around the country sick of hearing that it takes some sort of special training to appreciate the Yankee shortstop's nuances, and if so, is the MVP vote proof of a backlash to what they dismiss as New York hype?

In general, baseball writers deserve more credit than that."

  • HARPER, YOU PROCEED TO CONTRADICT YOUR OWN STATEMENT WITH THE EXAMPLE OF A BUFFOON WHO VOTED JETER #6, SHOWED HIS IGNORANCE TO A LARGE RADIO & TV AUDIENCE, BUT IS ECSTATIC BECAUSE HE'S NOW AN INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY, IN A VOTE THAT CANNOT BE CHANGED FOR ANY REASON. HE IS IN A SPECIAL WRITERS' HALL OF FAME. HOW CAN YOU DENY THAT?

"The vast majority does its homework and takes these votes very seriously. Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times proved to be an all-too visible exception when he went on the Mike & The Mad Dog radio show on Tuesday to explain voting Jeter 6th on his MVP ballot, and came off as badly uninformed on the merits of Jeter's season.

Joe Christenson, who covers the Twins for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and voted for winner Justin Morneau over Jeter, offers a more reasonable take on the subject."

  • SORRY, HARPER, YOU'RE ABOUT TO GO DOWN IN FLAMES FOR BRINGING THIS GUY UP AS SOME KIND OF PROOF FOR YOURSELF.

"He admits that talk of Jeter being overrated is practically a fact of life in the Midwest, yet says it's demeaning to think that baseball writers can't see past such talk.

"I'd be lying to say there's not an anti-Jeter sentiment in the Midwest," Christenson said yesterday. "It's there. But the fallacy here is that the writers would allow that type of feeling among fans get in the way of their voting for the MVP.""

  • JOHN HARPER, YOU DIDN'T DO YOUR HOMEWORK. JOE CHRISTENSEN WAS INTERVIEWED ON XM 175 ON SEPT. 19, 2006 ON THE SUBJECT OF THE MVP VOTE. I QUOTED HIS WORDS IN MY SUMMARY OF THAT INTERVIEW ON THIS BLOG:
  • 'Then Christensen explains to Charley why a player on the Twins deserves the MVP award. Obviously, the Twins have more than 1 player in contention for this. But, in conversation, Charley says to him, "Well, I offer you Derek Jeter," and gives a few reasons why. But, Christensen, A HALLOWED AWARDS VOTER ONLY BECAUSE YOU PEOPLE DON'T COMPLAIN, SAYS,
  • No to Jeter, because he's on a "team of rich guys getting it done." SO, HERE'S YOUR OBJECTIVE, UNBIASED VOTER--BUT, NOW, HIS GREATEST REASON NOT TO VOTE FOR JETER, HE SAYS TO CHARLEY,
"WELL, THEY HAVE MARIANO RIVERA, LIKE YOU SAID." (said Christensen to minimize Jeter's contribution. Right.)
  • Christensen, who a minute ago ignored Rivera, changed his mind and agreed with Charley about his worth, now uses the guy's presence on the team AS A REASON NOT TO VOTE FOR JETER.'
  • SO HARPER, YOU FAILED TO POINT OUT CHRISTENSEN'S OWN RECENT COMMENTS TO HIM. HE SAID IT WOULD BE A 'FALLACY' TO ASCRIBE CERTAIN BEHAVIORS TO HIM, BUT HE JUST PUBLICLY ADMITTED THEM.

"We're the ones who make a mockery of guys who don't play the game right. More than anybody, we appreciate a guy like Jeter, and the way he plays the game. But it's not like he got beat by some joke of MVP pick. Morneau was a legitimate pick.""

  • HARPER, THAT'S NOT THE POINT. YOU PROVE YOU'RE A TOOL. NO ONE SAID THE MINNEAPOLIS GUY WAS NO GOOD. YOU JUST DROPPED THE BALL.

"Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, who also voted Morneau and Jeter 1-2, expresses similar appreciation for Jeter's play but said he couldn't overlook Morneau's impact on a down-to-the-wire race for a playoff spot. Noting that Morneau hit .348 in September, Gonzales said he waited until after the final game to vote."

  • WOW! HE GIVES EXTRA CREDIT FOR DOWN TO THE WIRE PERFORMANCE? EXCUSE ME, WHICH WRITER GAVE 'IN THE STRETCH' OR DOWN TO THE WIRE CREDIT TO MARIANO RIVERA IN 2005, WHEN THE TEAM FINISHED DEAD EVEN WITH BOSTON? ZERO, AND IF YOU'D MENTIONED SUCH A CONCEPT, YOU WOULD'VE BEEN TOLD IT'S NOT ALLOWED TO BE USED.

"To me, Jeter is a special player," said Gonzales. "I just think Morneau sustained a higher level of production.""

  • HARPER, YOU'RE BIASED AND LAZY YOURSELF, YOU DROPPED THE BALL AGAIN. NO FOLLOW THROUGH ON THIS 'SUSTAINED' HIGH LEVEL.

What also hurts Jeter may not be a New York backlash as much as the perception the Yankees can't lose with their star-studded lineup. Indeed, while voters found Alex Rodriguez's huge numbers last year too much to ignore in voting him the MVP, Jeter's relatively low power numbers made it easier for voters to justify someone like Morneau."

  • SO HARPER'S NOW CHANGING HIS ARGUMENT SAYING JETER WAS OVERLOOKED.

"You know he's valuable," Christenson said of Jeter, "but even with the injuries the Yankees had, there was still a ton of talent on that team.""

  • RIGHT, JOE. SEE AGAIN YOUR WORDS ON YOUR 9/19/06 INTERVIEW ON XM. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT TO THIS CELEBRITY.

"Here, again, you come back to the question of needing to see players on a daily basis. In Jeter's case, he held the Yankees together when Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield and Robinson Cano were out with injuries and A-Rod was going weeks without a big hit.

And, no, I'm not flip-flopping here."

  • YES YOU ARE FLIP FLOPPING HARPER. YOU'RE USING THIS SPACE TO PUSH YOUR AGENDA, NOW YOU'RE ABOUT TO BRING UP AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SUBJECT, WHICH YOU NEVER MENTIONED WITH ANY OF THE OTHER GUYS YOU PUBLICIZE IN THIS ARTICLE FOR NOT HAVING VOTED JETER #1.

"As I wrote in a column after the Tigers series, I still believe Jeter's indifference toward A-Rod this season was unbecoming of a captain and created a negative energy around the Yankees that hurt them when they needed to rally around one another in October. But that doesn't change what he did on the field.

When the votes were due at the end of the regular season, I would have voted for Jeter."

  • OH, SURE, HARPER. FROM THIS ARTICLE ALONE, YOU SHOW NO EVIDENCE OF CLEAR THINKING OR THOROUGH, UNBIASED REPORTING. WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE YOU NOW?

"However, it's worth noting that only one of the two writers voting from the New York chapter voted Jeter over Morneau."

  • NO SURPRISE, HARPER. I WOULD'VE BET MONEY ANY VOTER FROM THE STAR LEDGER WOULD'VE CANNED JETER FROM #1. EVER HEAR A GUY NAMED DAN GRAZIANO SPILL HIS GUTS ABOUT JETER (WORKS FOR THE STAR LEDGER)? NO, I GUESS YOU HAVEN'T.

"So maybe there's no getting around the subjective nature of the voting."

  • OH, SO WHAT YOUR PAL CHRISTENSEN SAID WASN'T TRUE? THAT MAYBE HE REALLY ISN'T CAPABLE OF BEING UNBIASED AND YOU JUST WASTED ALL OUR TIME WITH A PUFF PIECE WITH NO THESIS.

"Some people think Jeter would be just another shortstop if he weren't a Yankee. Yet in Boston, of all places, many of the writers think Jeter is peerless."

  • HARPER, AGAIN YOU FALL APART. OF THE BOSTON VOTERS, ONLY 1 VOTED JETER #1.

"Of course, in a related story, they also hate A-Rod. But anyway ..."

  • PURE FILLER, HARPER. BASEBALL WRITERS ARE OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORTIVE OF A-ROD.

""To me Jeter is as close to a perfect ballplayer as you're going to get," said Tony Massarotti of the Boston Herald. "He can do anything you need to help win a game.

"But you have to remember, I've seen an awful lot of Jeter the last few years. If you don't get to see a player all the time, you have to focus on the numbers. If you do that, it's hard for Jeter to win the MVP."

This vote was proof: appreciation for Jeter only goes so far." Article from NY Daily News, 11/22/06

  • This article was proof: this voting system must end immediately. And you can forget Arod's vote. The voters chose him long before he went to the Yankees, and regularly use him as a lame excuse to prove they're not biased against Yankees. Weak and malleable people accept this and shut-up. They'll accept anything. This excuse is supposed to allow them to keep rejecting Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter. Period. NOT IF THE VOTE IS CANCELLED.

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

At Thanksgiving, Tribune Company Looks like a Turkey

'With its newspaper operations in distress and its corporate image in tatters, the company is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to shore up its baseball team, the Chicago Cubs.
  • Tribune owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, two venerable newspapers that are in disarray because the parent company can't seem to generate big enough profits to satisfy its investors on Wall Street. Life at the L.A. Times is so chaotic that the paper's editor and publisher both quit recently, rather than submit to Tribune Co.'s seemingly endless cost-cutting.
Then we have the woeful Cubbies. In parallel with the newspaper franchises, the Cubs also recently replaced their leader, Manager Dusty Baker. The team limped to a 66-96 record this year, finishing last in the National League.
  • Your newspaper operations are a mess and your baseball team is a disaster. So, what do you do? Why, invest heavily in the baseball team, of course.
As the late, great Cubs announcer Harry Caray might shout in disbelief: HOLY COW!' from Dow Jones Marketwatch, by Jon Friedman, 11/22/06

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'Bronx Bias Strikes Jeter,' VACCARO, NY Post

11/21/2006, "Bronx Bias strikes Jeter," Mike Vaccaro, NY Post: "If Derek Jeter had the season he had playing for the Minnesota Twins, and if Justin Morneau had the season he had playing for the Yankees, it would be Jeter who would be reserving space on his shelf for the MVP plaque.

But Jeter doesn't play for the Twins. He plays for the Yankees. He plays in New York City. He makes a lot of commercials, and he dates a lot of starlets, and he makes a lot of money, and if you think that doesn't count in the minds of the people who cast these votes, you're a greater believer in the purity of human nature than I am.

And here's the thing: This is only the warm-up.

  • Just wait another 15 years or so, when it's time for the same assemblage of writers to size up Jeter's credentials as a Hall of Famer. Just wait, especially, when the arbiters of immortality decide whether Jeter's career merits the honor of a first-ballot selection, or whether they'll force him to endure a few years of consolation phone calls first."

From Mike Vaccaro's column in the NY Post, 11/22/06 on the MVP voting, "Bronx bias strikes Jeter"

  • Another blog wrote about Vaccaro's article, but ridicules the idea of bias in baseball awards voting. "The Feed: The Rage of Vaccaro," 11/22/06. The blogger is proved wrong by Christensen's comments on XM radio in Sept. 2006.
----------------------------------------- Also for the record, Ian O'Connor also says Jeter was robbed and references the NY profile. I say 'for the record' because it was a fairly weak article. Either he doesn't feel strongly about the topic, or knows it's better for his own career not to betray what really goes on in baseball awards voting. NEW YORK - "Derek Jeter will get over it, this much we know. He still goes home to a Victoria's Secret catalog for a black book, to a piggy bank carrying the balance of his $189 million contract and to a treasure chest holding the four championship rings he won in a different Yankees life.

But just for the record, Jeter did get ripped off. As sure as a burglar lifting one of those rings in the dead of night, the MVP voters might have swiped the final chance Jeter had of adding that me-first award to his team-first legacy.

This was the captain's year. All those loud Yankees hitters collapsed around him - the victims of human frailty - leaving the baseball community to see, once and for all, that Jeter is far more than the beneficiary of George Steinbrenner's budget, far more than a myth created by the purveyors of New York hype.

No Sheffield, no Matsui and no Cano meant no problem for Jeter in 2006. The shortstop kept the Yankees being the Yankees through all the injuries and all the turbulent turns in Alex Rodriguez's drama-queen summer. For this, Mr. October was the most valuable regular-sea son player in the American League.

The voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America went for Justin Morneau instead. Mourneau is a a good story out of the small-market hinterlands, a kid slugger who made $385,000 this year, tip money for a Yankee whose face was made for billboards and magazine shoots. Jeter is something of an international celebrity. The Twin who beat him could plant himself on a Times Square corner and go unrecognized by 19 out of every 20 New Yorkers who crossed his path.

So this is an upset, if not one of the Lake Placid variety. Morneau was a worthy choice for MVP.

Jeter just happened to be the most worthy.

"You've heard me say it a thousand times," Jeter said in a gracious statement that made Morneau out to be the next Harmon Killebrew, "but winning the World Series for the New York Yankees continues to be my main focus. There is no individual award that can compare with a championship trophy. ... "

True, but Jeter hasn't claimed one of those championship trophies since 2000. He would have gladly accepted this MVP award as a consolation prize.

Jeter's human. He hurts when a Sports Illustrated poll of major-leaguers identifies him as the sport's most overrated star. He hurts when Alex Rodriguez mocks his skills for the record and when Steinbrenner rages about his late-night schedule and challenges his commitment to the cause.

Jeter hurts when a dedicated circle of writers decide Justin Morneau is more valuable to the Twins than he is to the Yankees.

He should hurt over this one, too, because Jeter was more deserving this year than A-Rod was last year. David Ortiz should have been the 2005 winner, and that cold, hard fact didn't help A-Rod's current teammate and former friend this time around.

Now Jeter will likely play out his career without a single MVP award to his name. He's never going to put up scoreboard-tilting power numbers. And he's not likely to see another season quite like 2006, where fellow Yankees stars drop like dominoes and leave Jeter all alone to refute the suspicions that he is a product of Steinbrenner's $200 million system and the overwhelming lineup protection it provides.

That's why, on truth serum, Jeter would tell you how much this one stings.

Morneau delivered the necessary homers (34) and RBI (130) for a playoff-bound team. But Jeter batted .343 to the first baseman's .321 and hit .381 with runners in scoring position to Morneau's .323.

Jeter's best case was made the night of Aug. 18, on the back end of a day-night doubleheader that would lead to a five-game sweep of the Red Sox.

With the bases loaded and two out in the seventh, Boston up 10-8, Jeter hit a three-run double off Mike Timlin.

Two nights later, with two outs in the ninth and Boston up by one, Jeter blooped home the tying run against Jonathan Papelbon, who had just struck out Bernie Williams and Johnny Damon to leave Fenway quaking around a small tremor of hope.

Jeter singlehandedly put the Red Sox to sleep, ultimately inspiring them to bid an absurd $51.1 million for the right to talk to Daisuke Matsuzaka and, of course, to scare the Yankees straight.

That's value. And losing a close MVP race despite that value?

Well, that's life.

Derek Jeter has an otherwise charmed one. He'll get over this, but not until he spends a few weeks feeling the very human pain of being robbed."

"Ian O'Connor writes for the Westchester Journal News."

  • ---------------------------------

11/22/2006, On the Jeter was robbed topic, Peter Abraham says:

  • "You can decide for yourself which columnists in New York have an agenda when it comes to the Yankees. Obviously there is a lot of opinion out there. But if one of the Mets - say David Wright - was in the same position, you'd hear the howls of protest. That much is certain."
-----------------------------------
  • Tim Marchman's NY Sun article (though the paper is called the NY Sun, I believe he lives in Chicago)
"The selection, announced yesterday, of Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau as the American League's Most Valuable Player is dumb and indefensible, good evidence of why no one takes baseball writers seriously. Morneau wasn't the best, or the second-best, or the third-best player among first basemen and designated hitters. He wasn't the best or second-best player on his own team. He wasn't even the best player with the initials "JM" on his own team. (You take the guy with 130 RBI and I'll take Joe Mauer, a Gold Glove-caliber catcher who led the league in batting average, and we'll see who wins more games.) He wasn't one of the five best players in the division. He wasn't one of the 10 best players in the league. There is, of course, nothing at all unusual about this. Ten years ago, for instance, Alex Rodriguez hit .358 BA/.414 OBA/.631 SLG with 36 home runs, 123 RBI, and 143 runs scored while playing an excellent shortstop. He lost the AL MVP award to Juan Gonzalez, who played in 10 fewer games, scored 54 fewer runs, reached base 60 fewer times, stroked nine fewer extra-base hits, and did all this while playing in a better hitter's park than Rodriguez. Gonzalez also played a quarter of his games as a designated hitter and the other three-quarters as an inept right fielder. Rodriguez was a better hitter for average, a better power hitter, a better clutch hitter, a better on-base threat, and a much better runner. He played more often, played a vastly more difficult position far more skillfully, was better looking, a better quote, and by all accounts he was a better presence in the clubhouse. Gonzalez led the league in RBI because he had three good on-base threats ahead of him, so he won the MVP.

The year before that, Albert Belle became the first player since 1948 to crack 100 extra-base hits; he did so for a team that won 100 games in a strike shortened season. He lost to Mo Vaughn, who tied him for the league lead in RBI despite a slugging average more than 100 points lower. Belle lost because his team won the division by 30 games while Vaughn's won its by seven, and because he was an insufferable jackass. The year after Gonzalez's illgotten award, Mike Piazza hit .362 with 40 home runs as a catcher while playing half his games in Dodger Stadium; right fielder Larry Walker hit .366 with 49 home runs while playing half his games in Coors Field. Unsurprisingly, Piazza did not win the MVP.

One could go on. The illegitimate triumph of Roger Peckinpaugh in the 1925 voting no doubt rankles Al Simmons partisans to this day. (Peckinpaugh hit .294 in 422 at-bats, Simmons .387 in 654 at-bats; closer scrutiny makes Peckinpaugh look much worse and Simmons much better.) The point is that MVP voters, individually the best of men, become fools when they cast their ballots. They were fools before the Great Depression, fools through World War II, fools during Vietnam, and they are fools today. One day, while we war as one planet against three-eyed Venutians, MVP voters will, insofar as it is humanly possible to do so, vote the player with the highest RBI total on a playoff team as the MVP.

No one need feel outraged on Derek Jeter's behalf, anymore than they need to feel retroactive anger on behalf of Al Simmons. He was the best player in the league, and deserved the award. Everyone knows this. Jeter will have to console himself with his hundreds of millions of dollars, World Series rings, and fond memories of Scarlett Johansson. Nor should anyone begrudge Justin Morneau his award. He had a great two months in which he hit 18 home runs and managed to keep his slugging average near .500 the rest of the time. That's not nothing. His award is a triumph for British Columbia and a triumph for a very well-run Minnesota club, and those are good things.

If there's any indignant outrage to be directed anywhere, it should be directed at those of us who legitimize this silly award with columns like this one. The MVP award, all agree, has no credibility; it's as relevant as a moss-covered, three-handled family credenza, or a tin of Boer War rations, slightly more meaningful than a Gold Glove. Why treat it with any seriousness at all?

To which I say that the award's very silliness is the point exactly. This marvelously preposterous award, and the pretext for bewilderment it will offer future generations, are wonderful additions to the game's ridiculous lore. Looking through the indices of past MVPs, there's little joy in seeing the names of Willie Mays, Ted Williams, and Mickey Mantle; there is, however, great joy in seeing the names of George Bell, Jim Konstanty, and Marty Marion. A name has been added to this pantheon. Between now and the time the Venutians invade, thousands and perhaps millions of drinks will be won on bets involving Justin Morneau's name. That's a joy no superfluous validation of Derek Jeter's already overvalidated greatness could bring. It's an occasion to be celebrated."
  • ---------------------------

Only one of NY's 2 writers in the 2006 MVP award voted for Jeter. The award is decided when the voters are chosen. It is impossible the person who selected the jury did not know how they would vote. These people know each other very, very well and over much time. Look at what Joe Christensen said in when speaking in an unguarded setting on radio, Sept. 19, 2006

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Tuesday, November 21, 2006

WHY DEREK JETER LOST

"Earning just $385,000 in just his third season as a regular, Morneau was a relative bargain. Philadelphia's Ryan Howard, voted NL MVP on Monday, made $355,000."
    • IT'S THE HATE, SCORN AND ENVY AGAIN. AND MAYBE SOMEONE WHO NEEDS A NATIONAL PLATFORM TO ENSURE AN INCOME, SAY MAYBE ESPN.COM OR THE LIKE. THIS IS HOW YOU ADVANCE YOUR CAREER IN THE BASEBALL PUBLICITY COMMUNITY (AND WITH BUD SELIG)--CONSTANTLY BEAT THE DRUM OF YANKEE PAYROLL ENVY--FORGET THE $100 million the Yankee fan gave to other teams in revenue sharing and luxury tax).
  • This from David Lennon's article in today's Newsday (he's listed as a staff reporter). HE'S SAYING WHAT THEY ALL SAY, "NOTICE ME PLEASE, NOTICE ME!"
But, then he realizes he has nothing to say, wants the approval of the national scene, so brings up the payroll.
  • THE RESULT WAS DECIDED BEFORE THE VOTES WERE CAST--BY ANOTHER VOTER YOU CAN'T KNOW ABOUT. WHO SELECTED THESE PARTICULAR VOTERS? ie. WHO "SELECTED" THE "JURY?" THE VOTERS ARE SUPPOSED TO ROTATE IN THEIR MARKETS, AND YOU'RE TELLING ME IN A MARKET AS BIG AS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THAT LITTLE MATT HURST GETS TO VOTE ON BACK TO BACK AL AWARDS? (Last year's Cy Young and this year's MVP). AND SEATTLE'S LARRY STONE IS A BITTER, BIASED INDIVIDUAL WHO WAS MONEY IN THE BANK FOR THE ANTI-YANKEE VOTE HE ULTIMATELY DID CAST.
As mentioned in a previous post, both Toronto Jury members went for the native Canadian (Morneau), so there go 2 of your 1st place votes automatically. You add Yankee haters Matt Hurst and Larry Stone, and the pre-arranged results start to add up. That's not even getting to some of the other laffers' ballots I saw. The fix was in, thanks to an apathetic Yankee fan base.

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Comment on Yankee fan site exemplifies the problem: weak, malleable Yankee fans

"Obviously, it was the anti-Yankee bias. Listening to ESPN Radio today, Keith Olbermann stated the same thing. Later, Dan Patrick corroborated when mentioning that Derek was 6th on someone's ballot.

  • Unfortunately, this is the way it will be until either some baseball team overtakes us in championships or the New York Yankees become the Boston Yankees."
This comment was on waswatching.com tonight, a defeated Yankee fan totally accepting the corrupt system without a fight, saying: "unfortunately,this is the way it will be," DOCUMENTING WHAT I'VE ILLUSTRATED HUNDREDS OF TIMES: THE OBVIOUS BIAS AGAINST YANKEES FOR BBWAA AWARDS WILL CONTINUE, BECAUSE WEAK, MALLEABLE FANS ALLOW IT TO. THEY HAVE NO BACKBONE.
  • Printed in a major daily a few years ago, a little-known Minneapolis voter became an international celebrity when it became known he did not vote for a particular Yankee who was up for a league award. It was the greatest moment of his life.
But, for days and decades, greater service and power will be given by weak fans who'll DISCUSS AND ANALYZE THESE RIDICULOUS AWARDS, TRYING TO SEE INTO THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE TERRIBLY INTELLIGENT VOTERS' MINDS.
  • YOU PEOPLE WHO GIVE THIS PROCESS CREDENCE ARE A BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM. DO YOU EVEN INSIST ON THE NAMES OF THE 28 VOTERS AND THEIR PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS? I HAVE. (I'VE JUST OBTAINED THE LIST OF 28 VOTERS AND THEIR VOTES. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE SEEN SUCH A LIST PUBLISHED, AFTER MANY EFFORTS TO DO SO). IF YOU ONLY SPEND A MINUTE OR 2 LOOKING AT MY BLOG, YOU'LL SEE WHY THE MOST DESERVING YANKEES WILL BE ESPECIALLY SINGLED OUT FOR DISHONOR.
  • LET'S SEE, JUSTIN MORNEAU IS CANADIAN, AND THE 2 VOTERS FROM TORONTO BOTH PUT HIM #1. BUT, OF COURSE THERE'S NO LOCAL BIAS, LET'S ANALYZE THE THIRD LAYER OF THEIR CEREBRAL CORTEX.
  • AND HEY, THERE'S MY GOOD BUDDY MATT HURST OUT IN RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, HE DIDN'T PUT THE YANKEE FIRST. BUT, NO SURPRISE, MATT HURST IS A VERY BUSY VOTER. AREN'T THERE ANY OTHER VOTERS IN CALIFORNIA? I MEAN, JUST A YEAR AGO HE GOT TO PUT HIS STAMP ON THE AL CY YOUNG AWARD...AND LEFT MARIANO RIVERA OFF THE BALLOT ENTIRELY.
WHAT'S MORE INTERESTING IS HOW WEAK AND ACCEPTING YOU ARE ABOUT THIS CORRUPTION. (AND I'M NOT EVEN GETTING INTO THE FINANCIAL ASPECTS INVOLVED). P.S. WHEN AN EVEN MORE DESERVING YANKEE WAS LEFT OFF A BUNCH OF BALLOTS RECENTLY, THE FOLLOWING WAS THE RESPONSE FROM THE PLAYER'S WEBSITE (A SITE NOT OFFICIALLY AFFILIATED WITH THE PLAYER, BUT USING HIS NAME, CLAIMING TO BE HUGE FANS, AND LISTING A BUNCH OF NEWSY ITEMS ABOUT THE PLAYER):
  • "OH, WELL."
That was the Yankee fan site's response. Talk about weak. Some fan.

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Reggie Jackson visits Yankee Academy in Dominican Republic

Reggie Jackson visited with coaches and players in the Yankees' Dominican Academy, and is asked about A-rod. From the article in Listin Diario:
  • 'Of their side, Jackson recommended to Alex Rodriguez who must trust himself more, not to let itself remove from squares, nor by the fanatics, far from it by the journalists.

"This what observed, when is crticado mortifica and it is distracted and this causes that it lowers its production, because hurries to contribute to the set and this him perjudica"”, it affirms Jackson, that in repeated occasions has talked with the antesalista.

"“He's a great player, but must be included/understood he himself, has the abilities and it has demonstrated it, it needs to have confidence, sometimes wants sobreactuar", it adds. This boy is a great pelotero and good person, always has her mentality in the game and knows the things that she has to make to help the Yankees, counts on magnificent philosophy for the game.'

Mentioning Robin Cano, who's starting tonight for the Licey Tigers,

'"He's been a blessing for the Yankees, is a player very appreciated in organizacion”," it maintains Jackson on the pelotero that this year it batted for 342 (482-165) with fifteen home runs and 78 towed.'

Report from Listin Diario, Santo Domingo, by Pedro G. Briceno. And the Spanish original, here ,

11/21/06. Photo from Listin Diario.

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Looking to make it to the NLCS again, but without Steve Bartman

Moises Alou, #18, NY Mets, at press conference in New York on Monday.

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Monday, November 20, 2006

HE WHO CONTROLS THE LANGUAGE CONTROLS THE CULTURE

I'm seeing the term "competitive balance tax" by the cognoscenti now, a new way to say "luxury tax." Latest is in this USA Today column about finances by of course Hal Bodley. A week or 2 ago it was used by an MLB, Inc. spokesguy to describe the monies used to settle some union disputes. "Revenue Sharing" and "Luxury Tax" are 2 different things, although many who follow baseball are unaware of this.
  • This ignorance is one reason the billionaires get richer. The people paying most of BOTH these taxes are YANKEE FANS not only in tickets, but cable tv, etc. The 2006 Yankee payroll of approximately $200 million automatically earned other MLB, Inc. owners $100 million from the Yankee fan in revenue sharing and luxury tax.
BUT IT'S A LIE TO CALL IT 'COMPETITIVE BALANCE TAX.' BODLEY ASKED SELIG IF HOW TEAMS SPEND ALL THE MONEY CONCERNS HIM.
  • SELIG "REFUSED TO COMMENT." (From the USA Today article). IF YOU PEOPLE NEEDED AN ADMISSION OF GUILT, YOU JUST GOT IT. (Using legal expertise gleaned from watching the OJ trial, you might say, "He took the 5th.")
If baseball is so successful, why are there so few good players to go around? With all this money, any ethical corporation would be recruiting young people into the game. But reports say drastically fewer young guys are choosing this sport.
  • ANSWER: BECAUSE MLB, INC., GENE ORZA & THEIR CRONIES MAKE EASIER MONEY JUST TAKING IT FROM THE WEAK, MALLEABLE YANKEE FAN.

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Moises Alou signs with Mets, 1 year, $8.5 million--AP...Mets also swap 2 young pitchers with Marlins

'Alou's deal includes a $7.5 million club option for 2008 with $1 million buyout. The six-time All-Star said he turned down two-year offers from other teams to join the Mets.
  • "The length of my contract doesn't really matter at this point in my career," Alou said. "I wanted to come here because this year -- I wanted to win this year."'
The Mets also traded 2 young pitchers to the Marlins, getting 2 back in return.
  • 'The Mets did add a pair of young pitchers Monday, acquiring left-handers Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick from Florida for hard-throwing prospects Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom. Vargas and Bostick are both 23. Owens and Lindstrom are both right-handers.' Report in Newsday by AP baseball writer Mike Fitzpatrick. (The Alou deal follows an 11/18 report in Listin Diario that he'd probably sign with the Mets for 1 year, $8M).

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CONNECTION BETWEEN SORIANO SIGNING & NEW CUBS' OWNERSHIP

NY Times' Murray Chass sees a connection between the sale of the Cubs and the Soriano signing:
  • "The timing of MacPhail'’s departure and Soriano'’s signing might be coincidental, but it's hard to believe that MacPhail would have authorized the amount of money or number of years. It seems that someone in the Cubs' hierarchy has given Hendry the green light to offer uncharacteristically large sums of money, knowing that the Tribune Company won'’t be paying the bills for much longer."
(I read MacPhail's ignominious performance with the Cubs has been rewarded-- he now works even more closely with Allen "Bud" Selig. Being paid, no doubt). sm
  • "News reports in recent weeks have indicated that the Tribune Company may sell its newspapers and its baseball team, and a deal the Cubs have concluded with a free agent lends credence to that likelihood. If Tribune were going to hold onto the Chicago Cubs, the Cubs would not be signing Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year contract for $136 million."
  • "Dusty Baker, Piniella'’s predecessor, may very well ask why the Cubs didn'’t spend that kind of money during his four years as their manager. But spending that kind of money has never been the Tribune Company'’s style, nor the style of Andy MacPhail, whose resignation as the Cubs' president and chief executive is effective today."
Items from NY Times article by Murray Chass, 11/20/06

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Saturday, November 18, 2006

No Yankees for Wes Helms at any price

Are the Baseball Thought Police wrong? All those BBWAA voters from Minneapolis who daily break down in sobs about the Yankees being able to buy anything they want (this keeps the focus away from their guy Carl Pohlad, net worth $2.6 billion). Their other big fear: How would we get our name in headlines without complaining about the Yankees?
  • Today's installment of "No Yankees for me at any price" features Wes Helms. According to the NY Times, the Yankees offered more money, but Helms told them to stuff it:
"The Yankees' only need in the lineup is a first baseman. They outbid the Phillies for the former Marlins infielder Wes Helms, but he chose Philadelphia for two years and $5.45 million.

Helms said he would not have liked the "older atmosphere" of Yankee Stadium, but acknowledged that the Yankees made a strong offer.

"The role was to play first base," Helms said in a conference call with reporters on Friday. "They were going to D.H. Giambi. On the guaranteed side, they were a little higher. But that's just me. I'm going to go where I'm happy.""

  • Boy, this guy is a diplomat, too.

Article, "Yankees Begin Retreat From Winning at All Costs", NY Times, by Tyler Kepner, 11/19/06

Addendum:

The Philadelphia Daily News gives background to Helms' decision, not mentioned by the Times:

"I definitely wanted to stay in the National League. I knew all the pitchers. I knew all the hitters. I know where to play them in the field. Everybody I know who has changed leagues, it's an adjustment period.

  • "It's a more comfortable place for me to come to. I think it's better for my family, also. I felt they'd be happier here than in New York." The soft-spoken Alabaman,
  • who almost became a Phillie this time last year, said he took less money from the Phillies."
Staying in the national league was paramount as well, and he'd almost signed with the Phillies last year. The Philadelphia Daily News gives a more complete portrayal.

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METS CLOSE TO SIGNING MOISES ALOU

SANTO DOMINGO. - The Mets of New York is next to sign to the Dominican Moisés Alou by an amount considered in eight million dollars for the season of the 2007, according to expressed a source close friend to the gardener.(outfielder). The agreement is almost safe that east weekend is concluded and the set will come to the confirmation and presentation of the veteran, who will become a Hispanic more than he happens to form rows of the metropolitans. Last night one inquired that the player was outside the Capital city, but people near him became echo of the movement. The virtual company/signature of Moisés with the Mets would turn the left gardener of that set, being united to Carlos Beltrán and Shawn Green. Cliff Floyd, who has carried out that position in the last three years, is a free agent and she does not hope that the club returns it to sign. Of concretizar the pact with Moisés, it would be united to Jose Reyes, Pedro Martinez, Julio Franco, Guillermo Speck, Duaner Sanchez and Anderson Hernandez, like the Dominican peloteros that act for the set that has like general manager to the Creole Omar Minaya. Alou would excessively fortify the house of being able of the Meters, that already count on Beltrán, the own Green, as well as Carlos Delgado and David Wright. This report from Listin Diario, by Pedro G. Briceno, translated by google, 11/18/06

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THE AUTONOMOUS NATION-STATE OF THE YES NETWORK

THERE'S A PROMO FOR 'YANKEES HOT STOVE' ON THE YES NETWORK (A SHOW DISCUSSING OFF SEASON ACTIVITIES FOR ALL TEAMS, WHICH SOUNDS GREAT). THE YES NETWORK CAN'T STAND THE YANKEES, SO WHY THE PROMO? TO PROMOTE THE FACE OF JACK CURRY, OF COURSE, AND TOM VERDUCCI, 2 CELEBRITY NATIONAL BASEBALL WRITERS. THIS SHOW IS FOR THE ESPN-TYPE OPERATION THE GUYS AT YES LOVE, NOT TO CLAIM THE SMALL AREA OF CIVILITY AND TRUTH YANKEE FANS NEED. NO YANKEE SHOULD EVER WATCH THIS NETWORK AGAIN. LIKE ESPN (OR CNN), THE YES NETWORK SETS A STRANGE AGENDA SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT A CONSTITUENCY, BUT NOT DOING SO. ANOTHER WEEK STUPIDLY LOOKING IN ON "YANKEES' HOT STOVE:"
  • LAST WEEK: TOM VERDUCCI AND JACK CURRY.
  • THIS WEEK: TOM VERDUCCI AND JACK CURRY.
  • IT'S NOT LIKELY YES NETWORK OFFICIALS ARE UNAWARE OF NUMEROUS AVAILABLE OPINIONS AND WRITINGS OF THESE 2. THEY'RE FINE IF YOU'RE ON DRUGS OR WATCHING ESPN. THEY'RE NOT WHAT A YANKEE FAN WANTS OR NEEDS TO SEE. WE'RE PAYING FOR THE NETWORK, AND SUPPOSEDLY VIEWING A PROGRAM ENTITLED "YANKEES' HOT STOVE."
  • THIS IS MERELY ANOTHER VEHICLE BY WHICH VERDUCCI AND CURRY CAN ENHANCE THEIR OWN CELEBRITY, AS THEY GAZE LOVINGLY INTO THE CAMERAS.
  • THE HOST, BOB LORENZ, SEEMS LIKE A PROFESSIONAL AND NICE GUY, BUT AS I'VE SAID BEFORE, HE HAS NO FEELING FOR THE YANKEES WHATSOEVER. IF THIS WEREN'T THE INTENTION OF YES NETWORK OFFICIALS, HE OBVIOUSLY WOULDN'T BE THERE.
  • I'M NOT A FAN OF ANY OTHER TEAM-AFFILIATED TV NETWORKS, BUT I DOUBT THEY'D FOIST 2 NATIONAL CELEBRITY 'HAIRDOS' ON THEIR FANS AND EXPECT THEM TO ACCEPT IT. (I UNDERSTAND BILL MADDEN IS SOMETIMES ON THE SHOW--THAT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING).
  • I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE SHOW'S NEWS ABOUT OTHER TEAMS, I'M TALKING ABOUT THE OFFICIALS WHO DECIDED THE DIRECTION OF THE SHOW, HIRED THE PEOPLE TO DO IT, AND THAT IT'S MORE IN A PILE OF EVIDENCE THE YES NETWORK IS COMPLETELY CONTROLLED BY ESPN FANS/SYMPATHIZERS, WHAT HAVE YOU. THE YANKEES ARE GIVING THEIR ONE SMALL CHANCE AT TRUTH AWAY. THIS SHOW ONLY ALLOWS THE POLITICAL VIEWS OF ESPN/MLB, INC., TO FURTHER STIFLE THE REALITY OF CERTAIN YANKEE PLAYERS' REAL VALUE AND PLACE IN THE GAME IN FAVOR OF ENTRENCHED, POLITICAL BASEBALL MEDIA AND POST SEASON AWARDS VOTERS.
AS I'VE DOCUMENTED ON THIS BLOG, BASEBALL WRITERS' CAREERS WILL NOT ADVANCE IN MONEY-MAKING, PUBLICITY, EXPOSURE, OR GETTING INTO THE WRITERS' WING OF THE BASEBALL HOF UNLESS THEY WITHHOLD OR MODULATE CERTAIN INFORMATION ABOUT AT LEAST ONE LONG-TIME, KEY YANKEE PLAYER.
  • MR. STEINBRENNER, IT MAY BE TOO LATE, BUT PLEASE NOTICE THIS. PLEASE PUT A STOP TO IT. REPLACE THE MANAGEMENT OF THE YES NETWORK IMMEDIATELY.
P.S. Yes, I've written 2 lengthy, very detailed letters to YES Network officials with copies to Mr. Steinbrenner. One of them is posted on another blog I have, BaseballWritersAreUnsupervised.blogspot.com.

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Friday, November 17, 2006

Matsuzaka posting fee could go toward salary? Boston Herald suggests...

From Michael Silverman column in the Boston Herald: "Boras sees the posting fee to the Lions as completely separate from the contract he needs to negotiate. " (Of course, we all knew that).
  • "It is unclear, however, if the Red Sox and Lions could agree to use some portion of the posting fee to defray what the Red Sox pony up in the long-term contract.
"Such an arrangement would have to be conducted with the approval of all parties, but without such a deal, it is difficult to comprehend how the Red Sox would be able to propose a long-term contract worthy of Matsuzaka'’s talent."
  • USING PART OF THE POSTING FEE AS SALARY? WAS THIS POSSIBILITY MADE CLEAR TO ALL POSTERS? I THOUGHT IT HAD SPECIFICALLY BEEN PROHIBITED. ANY CLASS ACTION LAWYERS OUT THERE? NO? That's what I thought.

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Thursday, November 16, 2006

Cashman 2nd to say, "Scott Proctor will probably" be converted to a starter

First posted on this blog yesterday in an article by Ed Price of the Staten Island Advance, the Yankees are considering changing Scott Proctor from a reliever to a starter, now Ken Davidoff offers from Naples:
  • 'With their starting rotation their greatest uncertainty, the Yankees likely will tell Scott Proctor -- a pleasant surprise as a reliever in 2006 -- to plan for next season as though he will be a starter.
"We'll probably have him proceed and prepare as a starter, because you can always go the other way, slide him down and reduce his workload. But it's hard to go the other way," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said yesterday as the general managers' meetings concluded. "But that's for another day."'
  • (The Staten Island Advance report was from a conversation with Joe Torre).
Aside from the fact that Sterling Hitchcock showed up at the meetings looking for work, Davidoff had news of an unpleasant person:
  • "The Red Sox have hired Gary Tuck as their bullpen coach. Tuck, a former Yankees catching instructor, served as Joe Girardi's bench coach in Florida this past season, and his well-known sour disposition contributed to some of the tension between Girardi and the Marlins' front office."
(Baseball recycles.) Items from Newsday Ken Davidoff article 11/16/06

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The NY Times shows it can't sell papers unless it knocks the Yanks

Murray Chass' latest evidence has the word "Yankees" in a negative context in the promo for his article on their sports section web page:
  • "The Yankees may come to regret trading Gary Sheffield because he was a big run producer in his first two years in the Bronx and had a rare ability to play through injuries."
(OK, Chass is still fuming that the Yankee principal owner wouldn't EASILY GIVE CHASS A MACHETE TO HELP SLICE THE TEAM TO RIBBONS THE OTHER DAY. Chass likes hob-nobbing in the back room with Selig & his other baseball politicos, and knows to stay their buddy he has to knock the Yanks). Then, WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? Chass wants to know why the Yanks couldn't keep Sheffield just as a DH? (For 3 years, Murray?) "The Tigers gave him the two-year extension he wanted, and he will be their designated hitter next season. Why couldn'’t he have been the Yankees' designated hitter?"
  • (It's really quite simple, Geez).

"Cashman said he didn'’t consider the idea "because I don't like Giambi at first base."

  • "He meant he wanted to leave the D.H. spot open for Giambi instead of having him play first base most of the time. "“I'’m looking for a right-hand-hitting first baseman," Cashman said.""
D'OH!!! Chass caught Cashman..I mean, everybody knows the deal about Giambi, how is that any big revelation? Finally,

"When Sheffield pummels those pitchers as the Tigers' designated hitter, the Yankees might see the error of their ways."

  • I agree with you, Sheffield will be pummeling whomever the Yankees wheel up to the pitcher's mound. But you must know there's more to it than that. Sheffield is a great hitter, but the DH position wasn't available, nor an outfield position, nor one for a 1B who's incapable of playing the position.
Quotes from article by Murray Chass, NY Times, 11/17/06

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Sorry folks, THE MELODY LINGERS ON--more media hatred against Yankees

The headline on 11/10/06 is "TIGERS STICK IT TO YANKS--FOR NOW." It's on the NBC sports website by "a Senior Baseball Editor of Rotoworld" and frequent contributor to NBC.com, Aaron Gleeman. Gleeman may have had nothing to do with the headline, in fact the article he wrote bore out almost nothing the headline promised. Aaron's a well known writer and Twins fan and his article is actually very informative and balanced.
  • There's a sentence at the end of the article guardedly predicting Sheffield might pay off a bit more in the short run, but the rest of it leans more in the opposite direction. The only crazy part being where Gleeman says the Yankees will now be in the free-agent market for a defensively challenged slugging outfielder. A striking statement, showing how even very smart people don't know everything. This is the last thing the Yankees want or need--you'd know that if you followed the team.
I'm happy if both the Tigers and Yankees did well for themselves, but whoever wrote this headline is totally ignorant of Sheffield's behavior in New York. Or, more likely, it's another example of TOTAL LACK OF ORIGINALITY IN BASEBALL MEDIA, REACHING FOR THE LOWEST HUMAN EMOTION.
  • NBC.com may just be desperate, or they want to help Gleeman's career. YOU WILL NOT ADVANCE AT ESPN, MLB, INC., etc., OR HAVE A CHANCE AT THE WRITERS' WING OF THE HOF UNLESS YOU KNOCK THE YANKEES.

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