Remaking the Yankees, Part IV: Third Base Scott Brosius surprised the baseball world by announcing his retirement last week. Thirty-five years old and facing free agency, but with four straight trips to the World Series to show for his time in the Bronx, Brosius concluded he’d done it all and decided to hang ‘em up. …
Archive of entries posted by Jay Jaffe
Remaking the Yankees, Part III: Corner Outfielders Corner outfielders, along with first basemen and designated hitters, are supposed to be the staples of a team’s offense–the big hitters, the guys who put runs on the board. One of the Yanks’ biggest problems last year was the poor production from their left- and rightfielders and designated …
Remaking the Yankees, Part II: The Leadoff Spot In my last post, Part I of this series, I examined the Yankees’ first base situation. Since then, they have continued to play footsie with Jason Giambi, but nothing more. The Yanks reportedly are waiting to see if the A’s will revise their 6-year, $91 million offer …
Remaking the Yankees, Part I: Introduction and First Base Smokescreens and noxious fumes continue to emanate from the Hot Stove, thanks to Bud Selig’s contraction gambit. But the team least concerned with revenue problems (theirs or anybody else’s) is itching to begin the rebuilding process, still smarting from a ninth-inning rebuke of their quest for …
Farewell, Cal My Bill James review threatens to grow as long as the book itself and remains incomplete, but I’ve written up my report of attending Cal Ripken Jr.’s final game on October 6.
The Persistence of Memory and the Wonders of Data One of my favorite things about the Internet when it comes to baseball is the ability to track down box scores and writeups of ballgames I remember seeing or hearing several years ago. Several months ago, I tracked down a page of past baseball action which …
Giving Thanks Apologies to my loyal readers for the sporadic nature of my postings since the baseball season ended. Chalk it up to a combination of factors, including the need to take a breather after the hectic postseason, the lack of baseball news except for the really big stuff about contraction, and my desire to …
Requiem for a Warrior On the subject of retirements, the Yankees had one of their own who departed with typical understatement. With the end of the World Series, Paul O’Neill removed the pinstripes for the final time. O’Neill, unlike the more famous departures of recent weeks, won’t gain admission to Cooperstown without a ticket. But …
Big Mac Ain’t Comin’ Back ‘Tis the season for departures. With Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken having already given up the baseball ghost in weeks past, Mark McGwire did the same, announcing his retirement on Sunday night. McGwire had struggled with injuries in each of the past two years, combining to play in only 186 …
Bad Rug Bud and the Contraction Faction Amid the most exciting (and most watched) World Series in a decade, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig spent most of his time undermining his product’s signature event. Selig announced that baseball’s owners had come up with a plan to eliminate two of its least financially viable teams, …