Kitty Kaat in Limbo George Steinbrenner’s decision to start a regional sports network which would broadcast Yankees, Nets and Devils games means the end of their relationship with the Madison Square Garden (MSG) Network. The YankeeNets recently paid MSG a $30 million buyout to end their current working relationship after the season. The crew which …
Archive of entries posted by Jay Jaffe
This Could Get Ugly I made the mistake of checking the headlines before bed, and the news for the Yankees does not look good. The NY Times and other outlets are reporting that the Yanks are seriously considering trading Chuck Knoblauch to the Seattle Mariners for Al Martin and Brett Tomko, and signing former Yankee …
Site Admin Notes This past weekend I sent out an email marking the official launch of this site. I’ve been building it for two and a half months and updating this web log almost daily for about 3 weeks, but I resisted the temptation to tell EVERYBODY about it until certain issues were solved. Unfortunately, …
Stolen from the Book of Earl Pittsburgh Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon, who may have the worst job in baseball, got in an argument last night over a close play at first base. Routine enough, but after McClendon blew a gasket, he then pulled the first base bag out of the ground and stormed off the …
Living and Dye-ing with the Boss Bob Klapisch reports here that the Yankees turned down a deal for Kansas City outfielder Jermaine Dye. Desperate for a bat to prop up the Yanks sagging offense, GM Brian Cashman nevertheless deemed the price–second baseman Alfonso Soriano and AAA first baseman Nick Johnson–too steep. The Yankees have won …
Do Managers Ever Learn? Sometimes it appears that managers have taken the information revealed by the sabermetric revolution to heart. Falling pitch counts are one area, the increased emphasis in On Base Percentage is another. But there’s one area in particular where the statistical evidence points towards exactly the opposite of what most managers seem …
And Ye Shall Know Them by the Numbers on Their Backs USA Today writer Steve Gardner chooses the best player ever to wear uniform numbers 1-50. One could quibble with his choices (mine starts with the lack of a 56 to award Jim Bouton), but it’s a fun little list. So long as Gardner filled …
The Hint of Greatness Ray Ratto’s columns for ESPN have made him one of my favorite writers. His satire tends to be wittier and less ham-fisted than many of the other ESPN writers (Jim Caple, I’m looking in your direction). This piece on Jose Canseco isn’t satire, though. Canseco’s ups and downs since his salad …
Bite Me! This is a good one. It wasn’t enough for two Cincinnati Reds coaches, Ron Oester and Tim Foli (both scrappers in their playing days), to go at it after a loss. They took their fighting back to the schoolyard. Oester “had Foli in a headlock and Foli bit Oester on the leg,” according …
Barry Bonds: Best Season Ever?
Salon’s Allen Barra weighs in with an interesting piece on Barry Bonds. As we all know, Barry is well ahead of Mark McGwire’s 1998 home run pace, having tallied 37 home runs (unless he’s hit another since I had my morning coffee) in 70 games. But Barra proposes that Bonds may be on his way …