After the roughest couple of work weeks I’ve had in a long, long time, I’ve escaped from New York to the relative solitude of my parents house in Salt Lake City. I haven’t had much time to write lately, so I’ll be trying to catch up on several hot stove-related matters in the next few …
The Yankees, like everybody else, spent the better part of this past weekend’s winter meetings in Nashville playing Let’s Make a Deal with Montreal Expos GM Omar Minaya. Charged by the commissioner’s office with decreasing the Expos payroll by about $15 million, Minaya figures to unload at least one of his talented studs such as …
I’ve filed my position paper on the potential reinstatement of Pete Rose. It’s only the integrity of the game that we’re talking, and I’m completely, stultifyingly, drooling-in-my-beer bored by the whole “controversy”. I will say the news that Bud Selig actually met with Rose makes it the most proactive thing Bad Rug Bud has done …
Continue reading ‘A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell Like…’ »
The 2-year/$4.6 million contract which the Yankees offered Mike Stanton as a 15-minute-long ultimatum last weekend was also offered to two other free-agent lefty relievers. Stanton was so insulted by the Yanks’ manner that he didn’t even bother to reject it. But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Chris Hammond, a soon-to-be 37-year-old lefty …
Continue reading ‘Remaking the Yankees for 2003, Part VI: Rebuilding the Bullpen’ »
Had to put off finishing my bullpen piece last night because I was too busy deciding whether or not I would bring my letter of resignation to work today. No joke. The bullpen piece should be done tonight, and yes, for the moment I’m still employed. The above link is to the MLB Trade Rumors …
Anyone doubting the Yankees’ sincerity about cutting salaries this offseason need look no further than Saturday’s grim tally for proof. Faced with the deadline to offer arbitration to their free agents, the Yanks dropped the axe on two long-standing members of their bullpen, parting ways with Mike Stanton and Ramiro Mendoza. The bullpen has been …
Continue reading ‘Remaking the Yankees for 2003, Part V: Gutting the Bullpen’ »
If you’re a fan of televised sports — hell, if you own a TV set — you owe it to yourself to note the passing of TV executive Roone Arledge, who died on Thursday. Arledge was a visionary who revolutionized the televising of sports, most notably by bringing it into weekday prime time, ushering in …
Continue reading ‘The Revolution Was Televised by Roone Arledge’ »
I’ve been focusing on pitching and money thus far in this series. But for this article, I thought I’d jump ahead to third base, since the reports are that the Yankees are close to a deal, and I wanted to get my two cents in first. Last winter, the Yankees acquired Robin Ventura from the …
Continue reading ‘Remaking the Yankees for 2003, Part IV: Third Base’ »
I didn’t get a chance to work this into my piece on Bartolo Colón, but it’s worth a note now that I’ve done my homework. Of all the ballgames I’ve attended, Colón came the closest to throwing a no-hitter. On September 18, 2000, he pitched 7 1/3 hitless innings against the Yanks for Cleveland, allowing …
If you’re a baseball stat freak like me, your world just became a little more complete this weekend: baseball-reference.com, the online encyclopedia of baseball statistics, has added stats for 2002 to its database. Wo-hoo! Player stats, team stats, league stats, postseasons, award winners, league leaders, career leaders, similarity scores, birthday finders and a million other …