On Sunday night I was a guest on the WNYW Fox 5 Sports Extra with Duke Castiglione. It’s the second time this season I’ve done his show, and while the spot was brief (just over three minutes), I think the comfort level shows. On the other hand, the lighting was harsh; I had a lot of makeup on because I had arrived at the set rather damp, not surprising when you’re wearing a wool suit in August and sweating out Sunday night subway service limitations.
Most of our discussion concerned batting orders, a common topic on sports talk radio in the past couple of weeks with the Yankees adding Lance Berkman and experimenting with him in the number two spot but deciding instead to stick with Nick Swisher there, and the Mets… well, whatever the hell it is they’re doing, it ain’t working.
That last bit about Omar Minaya and the Mets is based upon some data that Duke asked me to pull regarding their spending during his tenure (2005-present). The Mets rank third in the majors and first in the NL in total payroll during that time, but just eighth in winning percentage:
Rk Team Payroll W% Rk 1 Yankees $1,277.6 .594 1 2 Red Sox $876.5 .575 2 3 Mets $731.6 .523 8 4 Cubs $698.4 .497 18 5 Dodgers $673.4 .518 9 6 Phillies $672.0 .553 4 7 Angels $650.8 .575 3 8 Tigers $616.7 .508 12 9 Mariners $583.4 .458 26 10 White Sox $581.3 .534 7 11 Astros $580.2 .491 21 12 Cardinals $579.2 .543 5 13 Giants $578.8 .483 22 14 Braves $548.2 .516 10 15 Orioles $509.0 .415 28 16 Blue Jays $455.1 .510 11 17 Twins $435.7 .537 6 18 Rangers $423.3 .504 14 19 Brewers $418.3 .501 15 20 Reds $401.5 .478 24 21 Athletics $399.7 .504 13 22 Diamondbacks $397.7 .475 25 23 Rockies $382.0 .496 20 24 Indians $374.8 .499 17 25 Royals $364.2 .406 29 26 Padres $356.1 .501 16 27 Nationals $348.0 .426 27 28 Rays $269.8 .480 23 29 Pirates $259.6 .402 30 30 Marlins $238.1 .497 19
Not pretty, particularly when you consider that they’ve only made the playoffs once during that timespan (back in 2006). Even the Cubs, who spent nearly as much and who have a sub-.500 record overall, did so twice, while the Dodgers and Phillies made it three times apiece.
Anyway, twice in the clip, Duke mentions some heretofore unannounced news about the whereabouts of my writing. I’ll have more on that after the official announcement.
OMG Jay! I bow down before the mighty pillar of awesome that is your awesome mustache! Please use its power only for good, not evil!
Good job–you didn’t look TOO pale:)
Wow, Jay….very impressive. I guess you really know your stuff. AND, you look like a movie star.
Jay! I’m so happy for you! Of course, since I only do basketball, I didn’t understand one whit of what you were talking about…but you were mighty impressive. Hope you get your own show. best, bett
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