Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sour Grapes
From SI-
Boston Red Sox owner John Henry renewed his call for a salary cap on Wednesday after an offseason in which the New York Yankees added three free agents for $423.5 million.
Henry's call came exactly five years after he first proposed a salary cap in the wake of the Yankees' trade for Alex Rodriguez after the Red Sox failed in their attempt to obtain him from the Texas Rangers.
So let's see...Henry first called for a salary cap after the Red Sox were foiled by the Yanks in their efforts to land A-Rod. He now renews his call for a cap after an offseason during which the Yanks stole Mark Teixeira away from the Sox at the last moment.
He lost A-Rod and Teixeira for the same reason - he got cheap at the last moment. Henry was willing to go to $20+mm for Tex, but not $21mm; he was trying to force A-Rod to cut the value of his contract by $9mm over 7 years - and wouldn't budge.
These are 2 examples of Henry losing impact players over a petty amount of money.
Note to John Henry - Quit crying and trying to blame your incompetance on the Yanks. A salary cap won't cure idiocy!
Boston Red Sox owner John Henry renewed his call for a salary cap on Wednesday after an offseason in which the New York Yankees added three free agents for $423.5 million.
Henry's call came exactly five years after he first proposed a salary cap in the wake of the Yankees' trade for Alex Rodriguez after the Red Sox failed in their attempt to obtain him from the Texas Rangers.
So let's see...Henry first called for a salary cap after the Red Sox were foiled by the Yanks in their efforts to land A-Rod. He now renews his call for a cap after an offseason during which the Yanks stole Mark Teixeira away from the Sox at the last moment.
He lost A-Rod and Teixeira for the same reason - he got cheap at the last moment. Henry was willing to go to $20+mm for Tex, but not $21mm; he was trying to force A-Rod to cut the value of his contract by $9mm over 7 years - and wouldn't budge.
These are 2 examples of Henry losing impact players over a petty amount of money.
Note to John Henry - Quit crying and trying to blame your incompetance on the Yanks. A salary cap won't cure idiocy!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
My Take on Steroids, Arod and the Media
Sweeny was on the Fan earlier talking about the circus in Tampa awaiting the Arod news conference, and he said something to the effect that it's amazing how the Yanks made all of these great moves this offseason and all anyone wants to talk about is the Arod mess.
I think I speak for baseball fans everywhere when I say that we have no interest in continuing to discuss the Arod steroid controversy - the ONLY people that want to talk about is the media! If left to choose what the media was going to cover I guarantee that each and every true baseball fan would choose to be done with steroids, who did them, who supplied them, who tested positive and who didn't - and have the media instead focus on the game, our teams and the upcoming season. This is a prime example of the media trying to suck every dime out of a dead story by exploiting something that real fans have moved passed a long time ago.
I'm not saying that Arod didn't make a huge mistake by using; I am saying only that we know enough about it already and anything he says at this point is only to satisfy a media that will crucify him unless he plays their game.
One way that Arod could come out looking good in all of this would be to pay to have his blood tested once a week by an independent testing lab and have the results released to the public every week. That way we all know for sure that he is clean and anything he does here in is unaided.
As for the Hall of Fame and steroid users, I think that for the most part it is unfair to keep guys like Bonds and Clemens out. These guys were not only stand-outs within the steroid era, but were also hall of famers before their probable use of PEDs.
I do believe that there are circumstances, however where it should affect someone's election. A guy like Mark McGuire, for example, only garners HOF consideration because of the production he saw by using. McGuire 's '88-'92 season saw him hit 33, 32, 39,22, 42 (168 total) home runs; an average of 33 per year. After essentially missing the '93 and '94 seasons to injury, Mac came back to hit 284 home runs in the next 5 years, an average of almost 57 HR per year (with a high of 70 in '98). Without the 'roids Mac would have had a nice career; with them he put up numbers among the all-time greats.
As for Arod, I believe that he has enough playing time left to repair the damage done to his reputation and retire a sure-fire first ballot HOF'er. I think it would certainly help if he follows my advice to have himself tested weekly, but either way I think he should get in.
I think I speak for baseball fans everywhere when I say that we have no interest in continuing to discuss the Arod steroid controversy - the ONLY people that want to talk about is the media! If left to choose what the media was going to cover I guarantee that each and every true baseball fan would choose to be done with steroids, who did them, who supplied them, who tested positive and who didn't - and have the media instead focus on the game, our teams and the upcoming season. This is a prime example of the media trying to suck every dime out of a dead story by exploiting something that real fans have moved passed a long time ago.
I'm not saying that Arod didn't make a huge mistake by using; I am saying only that we know enough about it already and anything he says at this point is only to satisfy a media that will crucify him unless he plays their game.
One way that Arod could come out looking good in all of this would be to pay to have his blood tested once a week by an independent testing lab and have the results released to the public every week. That way we all know for sure that he is clean and anything he does here in is unaided.
As for the Hall of Fame and steroid users, I think that for the most part it is unfair to keep guys like Bonds and Clemens out. These guys were not only stand-outs within the steroid era, but were also hall of famers before their probable use of PEDs.
I do believe that there are circumstances, however where it should affect someone's election. A guy like Mark McGuire, for example, only garners HOF consideration because of the production he saw by using. McGuire 's '88-'92 season saw him hit 33, 32, 39,22, 42 (168 total) home runs; an average of 33 per year. After essentially missing the '93 and '94 seasons to injury, Mac came back to hit 284 home runs in the next 5 years, an average of almost 57 HR per year (with a high of 70 in '98). Without the 'roids Mac would have had a nice career; with them he put up numbers among the all-time greats.
As for Arod, I believe that he has enough playing time left to repair the damage done to his reputation and retire a sure-fire first ballot HOF'er. I think it would certainly help if he follows my advice to have himself tested weekly, but either way I think he should get in.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Arod
I don't care.
For the hard of hearing - I DON'T CARE!
Yeah, it sucks that the legacy of Arod is being draggen through the mud, but I really could care less.
It's not because he's a Yankee (though it doesn't hurt); it's because as more and more information comes out on the "Steroid Era" it has become obvious that pretty much everyone was doing it!
There are 103 unknown names on the 'tested positive' list, and countless others that were smart enough to get off before testing started.
Let's stop making each and every new name a news-worthy revelation and just concede that if the person played between 1998 and 2003 he was on the juice, ok?
I've been reading both the papers and the blogs and comments the past week or so and while it sure seems that most fans feel the same way as I do (a non-story at this point), the main-stream media keeps pushing and pushing the issue. The Super Bowl is over, spring training hasn't started yet, the Knicks won't be news-worthy 'till the King comes in 2010, and hockey...well hockey is just hockey - there's nothing else to write about!
I am sick and tired of steroid talk - we're 2 days from pitchers and catchers. Go Yanks!
For the hard of hearing - I DON'T CARE!
Yeah, it sucks that the legacy of Arod is being draggen through the mud, but I really could care less.
It's not because he's a Yankee (though it doesn't hurt); it's because as more and more information comes out on the "Steroid Era" it has become obvious that pretty much everyone was doing it!
There are 103 unknown names on the 'tested positive' list, and countless others that were smart enough to get off before testing started.
Let's stop making each and every new name a news-worthy revelation and just concede that if the person played between 1998 and 2003 he was on the juice, ok?
I've been reading both the papers and the blogs and comments the past week or so and while it sure seems that most fans feel the same way as I do (a non-story at this point), the main-stream media keeps pushing and pushing the issue. The Super Bowl is over, spring training hasn't started yet, the Knicks won't be news-worthy 'till the King comes in 2010, and hockey...well hockey is just hockey - there's nothing else to write about!
I am sick and tired of steroid talk - we're 2 days from pitchers and catchers. Go Yanks!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
What I want to know....
According to SI:
"at least 104 barreled ahead and peed into bottles when they knew there was a chance they would be dirty; reportedly, A-Rod was among those."
Where are the other 103 names? Leaking one person's name screams of someone having an agenda. Who leaked it and what is their agenda against A-rod?
I am not an A-Rod fan. His performance in the clutch and annoying insecurities make him almost impossible to root for. His steroid use is damaging to his legacy and the Yankees, but you have to wonder why his name was the only one leaked. Will the other 103 names be leaked? And why is A-Rod being targeted?
This is going to get ugly, but I hope the media swarm spends some of their 6 billion hours of coverage trying to get these questions answered. A-Rod's legacy is ruined but what I want to know who wanted to ruin it?
"at least 104 barreled ahead and peed into bottles when they knew there was a chance they would be dirty; reportedly, A-Rod was among those."
Where are the other 103 names? Leaking one person's name screams of someone having an agenda. Who leaked it and what is their agenda against A-rod?
I am not an A-Rod fan. His performance in the clutch and annoying insecurities make him almost impossible to root for. His steroid use is damaging to his legacy and the Yankees, but you have to wonder why his name was the only one leaked. Will the other 103 names be leaked? And why is A-Rod being targeted?
This is going to get ugly, but I hope the media swarm spends some of their 6 billion hours of coverage trying to get these questions answered. A-Rod's legacy is ruined but what I want to know who wanted to ruin it?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Can Jeet Start Acting Like The Captain?
“I’m just curious as to why people keep asking the same questions over and over. We’ve been down this road before. Alex is a teammate. I support him. Our whole team is behind him. We all support him. And we’re looking forward to a new season. To be quite honest with you, it’s old hearing the same questions. It’s something that’s been addressed before in the past. Everyone’s moved beyond it. And it doesn’t really need to be addressed again.”
Wow...could Jeter have been more tepid in his 'backing' of Arod? How hard would it be for him to remove the annoyed tenor and issue true support for his teammate? I get that he has a parental love for 'Mr. T", but Joe is gone and Arod is gonna be around for a long time.
Do your job as Captain, Derek, and support your teammate- even if you don't want to.
Wow...could Jeter have been more tepid in his 'backing' of Arod? How hard would it be for him to remove the annoyed tenor and issue true support for his teammate? I get that he has a parental love for 'Mr. T", but Joe is gone and Arod is gonna be around for a long time.
Do your job as Captain, Derek, and support your teammate- even if you don't want to.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)