Unable to simply say “no comment” or “I’ll defer to my ‘baseball people’”, Hank Steinbrenner again found the urge to flap his yap in an embarassing manner:
“For somebody of that stature, it would certainly behoove him to be a Yankee, which would probably be for the rest of his career,” Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ co-chairman, said during a telephone interview Friday with The Associated Press. “I think that would be a great move for him but, of course I’m prejudiced.”
Using the word “behoove” in than tone is so elitist, in such bad taste. It’s almost as bad as using the word “deserve“.
I just wish Hank would keep his mouth shut and leave the delicate stuff to the guys best equipped to handle such things. This is not the right time for the bull-in-the-china-shop routine. I get it: He’s the co-chairman and he can say anything he damn well pleases, but I just implore him to choose his words a bit more carefully.
* As a side note, the interview linked to above was conducted by Ron Blum, the same guy who interviewed me when I launched the V4M thing in the summer of 2009. Nice guy.
A telling quote from ESPN’s Buster Olney, (whose daily blog is worth the cost of ESPN insider all on its own, by the way):
In the end, the Red Sox crushed the Angels in the bidding for Carl Crawford. Sources say the Angels’ last fully guaranteed offer was six years and $108 million, far below Boston’s seven-year, $142 million deal.
This is not meant to stoke the “ESPN IS BIASED TOWARDS TEH RED SOX!!1!” flames–in fact, I’ll go on record saying that they tend to give the Yankees as much billing as the Sox on a regular basis. But it’s worth wondering what the line would have been, had the Yankees paid what Boston did. I imagine something like:
“The Yankees outbid the next closest suitor by a whopping $34 million, paying more than 30% above the next best offer. But then again, they’re the Yankees, and they can afford the opulence.”
Anyone else wonder if John Henry is pissed off about spending $33,000,000 more than he had to?
After last night’s panic attack, I had the night to reflect on Cliff Lee.
Cliff Lee is a fantastic pitcher and would fit in wonderfully at the front of any rotation in the universe. Every team would like to have him, but only a few have the resources to woo him. By all accounts, it’s down to the Yanks and the Rangers and both have laid their cards on the table. The Yanks have added a seventh year, something they reportedly would not do. At some point, Cashman and the Yankees just need to walk away. It only takes one GM to go a year or dollars further than they should rightfully be doing and I hope it’s not the Yanks making that mistake.
He’s just not that into you.
And this is OK. Yes, it will hurt, but at some point, everyone needs to know when to walk away from a deal. Whether it’s you and I when we’re buying a car or house, there’s a point where we say it’s not worth it. Eight years, should the Yanks panic and offer it, is beyond ridiculous. This team is already on the hook for some hefty-priced, aging players over the next half a decade; another we do not need. Even if he is as good as Cliff Lee.
(click “view full post” to read more)
I have bad news for Luke Skywalker: baseball has generated a second evil empire, headquartered just 220 miles northeast of the original. The new evil empire, a.k.a. the “less evil empire”, the “evil twin” or the “Boston Red Sox”, just took Jayson Stark’s award for best Winter Meeting performance by committing more than a quarter of a billion dollars to sign Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.
No bitterness here, not from this Yankees fan. The Red Sox have money to spend and they’re spending it. They’re trying to get better. They’re acting within the rules that apply to the richest of baseball teams. That’s the nature of the game.
It’s just that, only a few years ago, the Red Sox were known to criticize the Yankees for playing the game this way.
(click “view full post” to read more)
Courtesy of Chris Jaffe at HBT, the list of best living Yankees by position, ranked by WAR:
C: Yogi Berra- 1B: Don Mattingly
- 2B: Willie Randolph
- SS: Derek Jeter
- 3B: Alex Rodriguez
- RF: Rickey Henderson
- CF: Bernie Williams
- LF: Roy White
- DH: Jorge Posada
- SP: Whitey Ford
- SP: Ron Guidry
- SP: Andy Pettitte
- SP: Mel Stottlemyre
- SP: Mike Mussina
- CL: Mariano Rivera
- RP: Dave Righetti
- RP: Rich Gossage
- RP: Sparky Lyle
- Manager: Joe Torre
This fun list was a secondary mention as Jaffe’s post was intended to wish Whitey Ford a happy 30,000th day of birth.
Chuck Greenberg of the Texas Rangers held a surprise “print media only” conference call a few minutes ago. Turned the Twitterverse upsidefriggindown in a flash. I mean, everyone freaked the hell out, myself included. It was epic and glorious and twisted.
And then it was announced, via numerous tweets:
The Rangers have made an offer to Cliff Lee and he’s weighing his options.
That’s it. Big deal. Ha ha, made ya waste your time reading this just as he made us freak out for nothing.
That’s absolutely it. Greenberg’s little presser was roundly mocked, and justifiably so, if you ask me.
(click thru to see writer Anthony Andro’s twitter feed, as he was on the call)
Gimme your best caption for this picture above. Use the comments below. Winner gets pride, glory, fame.
My first entry, to kick it off:
- Roger Clemens enters Paramount Studios for Goodfellas II casting call
The obvious answer is BOTH, but here’s how the Yanks have reportedly left it with Cliff Lee:
The Yankee offers work on a scale in which the shorter the term offered the higher the annual average value. It is believed the bids work something like this: five years for $125 million, six years for $144 million and seven years for $161 million or $25 million a year, $24 million a year and $23 million a year.
So, he can match CC’s deal in terms of AAV and years, or go for shorter years and higher AAV.
What’s it gonna be, Cliffly? (And don’t say “Texas”)
Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News tweeted this:
Good question. Don’t have an answer. RT @mrvigs013 How come “buying a Championship” and “Payroll” only apply to when the Yanks sign someone?
This has been a big meme around the Yankosphere on Twitter today. The answer, as I see it, is a rather easy justification (via twitter):
When the Sox do it, it’s gritty. When the Yanks do it, it’s greedy.
How you defend the Yanks spending to the haters? Do you even try?
There’s no panic here. There’s an appreciation for what the Sox have done, but there’s no panic here. Not as far as you know, at least.
Let’s kick this off, from Jon Heyman (via Twitter):
#yankees have just gone to a 7th year for cliff lee. werth and crawford getting 7, its only right. lee is the best player on market
This is getting ridiculous. And only getting ridiculouser.
By the way, great quote from fellow Yankee fan Stefmara (via Twitter):
#RedSox signed Crawford for a bunch of money huh? So sox fans…what’s that you say about #Yankees trying to buy championships???
And then there’s this doozy from NYaT (via Twitter):
The scariest part of Crawford signing? Cervelli/Montero/Posada trying to throw him out. Praying one of them learns to throw out baserunners
More to come, fo’ sho’
Is this too farfetched (via Twitter):
The #Yankees select the Pittsburgh Pirates with their pick in the Rule 5 Draft.
I’m not so sure. Though, actual selections were made (via Twitter):
Yankees select LHP Robert Fish from Angels’ AAA roster.
And another (via Twitter), which does not represent “revenge”:
Yankees take RHP Daniel Turpen from Red Sox.
The mental images on this quote are wonderful:
“Hannibal Lecter in a straitjacket right now, waiting on this Cliff Lee thing. It’s kind of restricting my movements a little bit.’’
About sums it up, don’t it? I think we all feel this way.
The AL East is absolutely insane. Kudos to the RedSox for a well-played move and better-executed plan. First they deal for Adrian Gonzalez to boost their infield and now they have struck fast and furiously, adding stud Carl Crawford on a seven year, $142 million deal:
A team that has often complained about the spending habits of the New York Yankees, who two years ago swooped in and outbid Boston for Mark Teixeira, has abandoned fiscal restraint by making Crawford the first player in Red Sox history with a contract with an average annual value in excess of $20 million.
“Great move. Great player,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, for whom signing free-agent left-hander Cliff Lee now takes on even greater urgency. “Boston’s got the money and they had a need.”
Indeed. Though, putting a thoroughbred like Crawford in a short leftfield seems a bit, um, wasted. He can play virtually behind the shortstop with his speed. Regardless, adding two top notch players (and people) like Crawford and Gonzalez makes this team the class of the league, even if Brien thinks it was a panic move. Boston has improved offensively and defensively… expensively. Evil Empire II, for sure.
Your move, Cashman. Adding Cliff Lee to the Yanks, if it happens, won’t leap the Yanks ahead. Going to be a very entertaining 2011 and beyond.
Baltimore got Reynolds and the team is improving. Rays will still be competitive with their rotation. And no one here is counting out Toronto. The gauntlet, indeed.
