55,000 is a big number ... think about that.

"Inside the Yankee clubhouse, he left another legacy. That was his personality and his sense of humor and his humility. It's unlikely any Yankees player has ever tried hard to be a good teammate and to fit into the fabric of the clubhouse. As Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement, 'Hideki Matsui, in many ways, embodied what this organization stands for.'

Upon learning of Matsui's retirement, Jeter released a statement calling him one of his favorite teammates. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman added, 'People naturally gravitated towards him, and that's a direct reflection of his character.'

Matsui's humor and grace extended off the field, too. In those first years, he was covered by a contingent of Japanese reporters that sometimes numbered more than three dozen. Matsui worked hard to be accommodating to the reporters while also attempting not to be disruptive to his teammates as they went about the business of preparing themselves to play."

All that, and a porn collection rumored to consist of 55,000 videos.

Because the Yankees play in the majors.

Inbox with Felz:

"Why did the Yankees decide to sign Youkilis as opposed to giving the position to a Minor Leaguer until Alex Rodriguez is ready? They'd save quite a bit of cash and might discover a future star or trade bait at the same time.
-- Al S., Morocco"

The Yankees should play a theoretical minor league third baseman for half the season so they can either save quite a bit of cash (and spend it on a player like Youkilis) or so the minor leaguer will play well and acquire trade value (maybe for a player like Youkilis).

Or the Yankees can just sign Youkilis.

Thanks for writing,
Felz, America

Phil Hughes is going to be so good, the Yankees will not be able to afford him.

"In this quirky new baseball reality, the Yankees have lost out to the Cubs (Nate Schierholtz), White Sox (Jeff Keppinger), Pirates (Russell Martin), Diamondbacks (Eric Chavez) and Mariners (Raul Ibanez) because they were either outbid or simply decided not to bid at all. And they never even considered retaining Nick Swisher (Indians).

Next up could be Scott Hairston, and wouldn’t it be something if it were the Mets who outspent the Yanks this time?"

Joel Sherman's definition of "lose out" must be different than my definition of "lose out."


"The ramification is probably going to be fewer runs in 2013, especially when you factor in the uncertain statuses of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, as well."

Catcher; Teixeira; Cano; Youkilis; Nunez(?); Gardner; Granderson; Ichiro.

I don't know who's going to get injured, but I really don't see the problem.


"But to be among the best in the majors and provide greater protection against the fragility atop the rotation and the regression of the offense, the Yankees need this irony: Phil Hughes to pitch so well in 2013 that he prices himself off the team in 2014."

The idea here is that Hughes will demand a lot of money after a 17-win season and the Yankees will therefore lose him to free agency and this will ultimately help the Yankees. Actually, I'm not sure if Sherman is saying this will ultimately help the Yankees.

The logic evades me, but any plan that starts with "Phil Hughes pitches so well" is not a plan worth thinking about too hard.

The Yankees are so old. How old are they?

They're so old ... they're so old ... ummm ... I got nothing:

"Hiroki Kuroda turns 38 in February.

Andy Pettitte turns 41 in June, the same month Derek Jeter turns 39.

A-Rod’s 38th birthday is in July and Ichiro turns 40 next year and the great Mariano Rivera is already 43.

And you have to wonder if any baseball team with this many geezers on it has ever won a World Series."

You're the Pretend Journalist. Please do the Pretend Research and provide your readers with your Pretend Conclusion.


Too bad they didn’t bring back Raul Ibanez — he turns 41 next season — just so he could sit with the other old guys when they’re talking about the Beatles."

The Beatles?

That's your go-to Generation Gap reference point?

The Beatles are the band a 60-year-old imagines 40-year-olds talk about when 40-year-olds reminisce about music.

Blue Jays sudden favorites to win World Series.

I sure don't see it, but a lot of my predictions are way off:

"Bovada.lv has released its latest odds for 2013, with the Blue Jays leading the way with 15-2 odds. The Blue Jays were 12-1 at Bovada.lv before acquiring Dickey."

Wow.

I mean, they must think R.A. Dickey is really, really good.

Maybe he is. Maybe he unlocked the secret. Maybe he will be unhittable the playoffs.

Let's get carried away.

Nothing is impossible. Travis d'Arnaud could end up a lot like HOF catcher Gary Carter:

"You can see here, with his July 2011 acquisition of Zack Wheeler, one of the top-rated pitching prospects in the minors, from the Giants for Carlos Beltran, and now Syndergaard as the second player in the Dickey trade, Alderson is following Cashen’s formula of stockpiling power arms. But it was Cashen’s trade of Brooks and three others to the Montreal Expos for Carter in December 1984 that will always go down as the defining trade of his term as general manager because it instantly stamped the Mets as legitimate contenders."

So the R.A. Dickey trade nothing like the Gary Carter trade, at least not from the Mets' perspective.


"It remains to be seen if d’Arnaud will become the All-Star catcher the scouts all seem to think he’s capable of being. But from Alderson’s standpoint, on potential alone, with this deal he was able to maximize Dickey’s trade value. Mets fans can only hope now that history will eventually repeat itself and d’Arnaud turns out to be a cornerstone of a championship team, as Carter did. Then it will truly have been Alderson’s defining trade."

Yes, if d'Arnaud turns out be be a cornerstone of a championship team, as Carter did, then it will truly have been Alderson's defining trade.

Kevin Youkilis is not old.

"Little by little, the Yankees’ old-age home is filling to capacity, so much so that the word now is they are already in the process of filling the clubhouse with rocking chairs."

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Rocking chairs?!?!

Because old people sit in rocking chairs!

Get it?


No, on a more serious note ... though it's hard to get my train of thought back on track after that hilarious rocking chair joke ... the only Yankee who needs a rocking chair is a lazy slob like Robinson Cano.


"Until Tuesday, the Yankees’ only off-season business, other than passively watching the free agent defections of Russell Martin, Eric Chavez and likely Nick Swisher, was the re-signing of 37-year-old Hiroki Kuroda, 40-year-old Andy Pettitte and 43-year-old Mariano Rivera."

So they lost three old players and replaced them with three old players.

Swisher is 32, Chavez is 35, Martin is 29.

You conveniently ignored Andruw Jones (35) being replaced by Brett Gardner (29).


"The Youkilis signing is, of course, the most intriguing of all these Yankee comings and goings in that, for the better part of the last seven seasons, the bald, goateed, glowering 'Youk' has been about the most loathed opposing player to venture into Yankee Stadium as the gritty personification of the cowboy-upped arch-rival Red Sox."

It's not an intriguing signing at all and, frankly, I had no idea that "Youk" was loathed at Yankee Stadium.

It doesn't even matter. It's a one-year deal and no one-year deal is intriguing. All of these deals -- Youkilis, Ichiro, Pettitte, Rivera -- are one-year and therefore low-risk.

I don't really care if they're old, I just hope they're good.


"But for those Yankee fans making their travel plans for spring training in Tampa next month, don’t expect to be seeing any exciting rookie hopefuls vying for the right field or third base jobs. In Yankeeland, 'youth will be served' has been replaced by 'age is good.' "

Nunez will be a legit candidate for the third base job. He ought to be fielding fungoes as I write this.

Right field? Probably not anyone who's young. No one I can think of.

In a Spring Training game, the Yankee fan thirsting for youth will see Romine at catcher, Phelps/Nova/Hughes on the mound, Nunez at third, and Gardner in the outfield.

I'm not sure when Pineda is coming back.

It's quite possible all of these young players will be on the roster in the regular season.

Convenient online scalping.

"Although the Yankees cannot ban ticket buyers outright from using StubHub to resell tickets, they can make it far less convenient.

With the StubHub link removed from Yankees.com, buyers will no longer be able to print StubHub Yankees tickets from home. The seller will have to send the tickets or give them to the buyer in person, said one source."

It's illegal to scalp tickets in person outside Yankee Stadium.

But the Yankees can link to an online scalper with no qualms.

I don't see how the Yankees can limit StubHub's delivery mechanisms.


"Not everyone blames StubHub for falling attendance. Ticket reseller Joe De Laura says the Yanks are charging too much. He predicts resellers will buy fewer season tickets now that the Yanks are ditching StubHub.

'Taking out the free market will cripple their business. A ton of guys are going to pull out,' he said. 'StubHub is good for the Yankees, not bad, because it puts people in the seats for the less desireable games.' "

The New York Post spelled "desirable" wrong. The spellcheck on blogger caught it, but not the esteemed editors at the New York Post.

Other than that, I must agree with Joe De Laura and the general tone of the article. De-emphasizing StubHub won't "crippled their business," but the Yankees don't lose money when people resell their tickets on StubHub, for crying out loud.

It's a secondary market.

The Yankees even get their cash up front.


I don't complain too often about ticket prices or the Yankee management decisions, but this is some serious short-sighted, blameshifting nonsense.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I could swear that Mike Lupica is pro-Mets and anti-Yankees.

"Maybe some team will bowl over the Mets and give them some big prospect, maybe its best prospect, for R.A. Dickey.

And if that happens, how can they not think about it?

But I hope they work something out, and I hope he stays with the Mets beyond this year, because over the second half of last year, he and David Wright were all the Mets had, and sometimes all their fans wanted to watch.

As he went for 20 wins and made himself more and more of a legit Cy Young candidate, you waited for the day or night of his next start, and he was somebody who made you want to watch the Mets in another lost season.

It doesn’t mean the Mets are supposed to pay him whatever he wants, that’s not the way it works.

But R.A. deserves to get paid."

It will be totally fun to watch the Mets overpay for an aging, year-and-a-half wonder. This guy could be the second coming of Esteban Loaiza.



"The best part about the Yankees’ new payroll constraints is how offended members of the local media seem to be that Hal Steinbrenner won’t spend the way they want him to."

First of all, there is no good part of the new payroll constraints.  It's pointless and dumb on many levels.

But I'm wondering who on the local media is offended about it.  Are there so many members of the local media that you can't even name them?  Most of the local media I've read are completely buying into the idea that the Yankees are going to try go get under the payroll tax threshold.


"Right.

Hal needs to continue to give his guys unlimited resources because the money they’ve been spending is almost like an E-ZPass on the way to the Canyon of Heroes."

"The money they've been spending is almost like an E-ZPass on the way to the Canyon of Heroes."

I don't understand that analogy.

Did Damon Runyon rely on confusing metaphors? If so, this dude definitely deserves the Damon Runyon Award.


"And having said that?

How can anybody be surprised that you now hear this name — Josh Hamilton — with the Yankees, no matter what they’ve been saying about practically being on the verge of going over the fiscal cliff?"

No one I know is surprised. Just worried about the party atmosphere of the Big City.

But this guy can find a hotel bar in any city, so the real question with Hamilton is how much protection and opt-outs will be built into his contract.


"You know I started talking about Hamilton a month ago, just because he fit the Yankee profile — including the boatloads of money they might have to throw at him — in so many ways."

I started thinking about Hamilton in pinstripes 4 years ago.


"Plus, it would make everybody in our business so happy."

But not you. Because you don't buy into the pathetic Yankee party line. You're not a fanboy sellout punk for the Yankees.

You're just a fanboy sellout punk for the Red Sox and the Mets, but never for the Yankees.


"And if Hamilton-to-the-Yankees ever did happen, you know it will be treated like the single most brilliant purchase since the island of Manhattan."

The single most brilliant baseball-related idea since the Red Sox hired Bobby Valentine last season.

The only free agent who matters.

If the Yankees want to save money, I can do the background check on the cheap.

Yankees sign Pettitte, Rivera, unable to sign Keppinger to complete the Fab Five.

It's a lot like 1992: The players will go on strike in two years and the Yankees will win the World Series in four years:

"Suddenly it feels like 1992, when nobody wanted to play for the Yankees. Except this time it’s not Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux, and David Cone shunning the pinstripes, but Eric Chavez, Jeff Keppinger, and Marco Scutaro.

...

Mere role players are saying no thanks at a time when the Yankees have provided the surest path to the postseason for the last 17 years."

I see your point.

Because Eric Chavez, Jeff Keppinger, and Marco Scutaro are a lot like Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux, and David Cone.


" 'I just saw Cash,' said ex-Yankee Jim Leyritz, referring to GM Brian Cashman, 'and I told him if I got in shape I might be able to help him at third base.' "

You did not just see Brian Cashman.

That would violate your parole.

The dumbest journalist in the history of sports.

"This is what the Yankees hope and this is where they are, still owing Rodriguez $114 million because they were so sure five years ago that he was going to break the all-time home run record that they signed him to what will go down as the dumbest contract in all of sports history."

Since the main purpose of this blog is to vent, if Lupica is going to keep saying it, I'm going to keep disputing it.


The only way I can interpret the value of the contract is expense divided by production (and this ignores the real value of ARod over the years, which is selling tee-shirts).

Is Lupica seriously only looking at size of the contract?  I prefer to look at bang for the buck.

Even with an eye on opportunity cost ... which is largely mitigated for the Yankees due to their large payroll and enormous assets ... this is not the worst contract in the history of sports.


Since the post-2007 extension, ARod has already delivered a WS title and 129 HRs and 447 RBIs.

ARod has 5 years/$114 left and that still might be a better value over the next five years than Ryan Howard, Jose Reyes, Vernon Wells, Carl Crawford ... and who knows if (more popular players such as) Mark Teixeira or David Wright or Joey Votto foul a ball off their big toe and hit the skids.


Josh Beckett was paid $17 million by the Red Sox/Dodgers in 2012 to win 7 games. There are 3 years and (approximately) $50 million remaining on his contract.

Yinka Dare was a first round draft pick who average 2 points, 3 rebounds, and 0.1 assists for his career.

Allan Houston was so overpaid, the NBA changed its rules in the collective bargaining agreement.

Ryan Leaf was overpaid if he was paid twenty dollars.  A bad QB choice sets an NFL franchise back for several years.  That contract, whatever the dollar amount, was worse than ARod's.

Michael Vick.


In a way, I wish Lupica was right.  I wish ARod's contract was the worst in Yankee history.

If it was, maybe I could easily forget about Kevin Brown, A.J. Burnett, Steve Kemp, Jim Abbott, Jason Giambi, Kei Igawa, Nick Johnson, Carl Pavano, Mike Witt, Pascual Perez, Jose Contreras, and that one year where Roger Clemens got a prorated $30 million to win 6 games -- Goodness Gracious!

ARod will have 14 HRs by the end of July.

Irony doesn't work when you say a lot of stupid things:

"If there is a bright side, it is the virtual certainty that A-Rod will never collect on the $30 million in bonuses built into his new deal based on reaching home run milestones that now seem insurmountable. Anyone want to bet that he even gets the 14 home runs he needs to pass Willie Mays and pocket the first $6 million?"

Yes, I will take that bet.

I think Matthews is kidding, but it's difficult to tell. He is not a smart man in the first place and he destroys the meaning of words such as "catastrophe" and "disaster" -- words that don't apply to ARod's salary when ARod's salary is juxtaposed with current events regarding Javon Belcher and Hurricane Sandy.


Other than that, Matthews seems to be suggesting that injured players are not productive players. Which is indisputably true. So big ups to the ESPN columnist for his daring observations about professional athletes. This startling conclusion has made me rethink the game entirely.


MOTO Matthews also recently revealed that the Yankees have insurance on ARod's contract.

On every other contract they sign, too, down to the peanut vendors.

Joel Sherman is correct.

Anybody who watched ARod play in the last two months of the season knew it was possible he was still injured. I thought it must have been his wrist or his conditioning, but it's certainly plausible that he was unable to generate his typical power because of his hip:

"He became the punching bag for a team-wide offensive flameout and it might be, as opposed to say Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson or Nick Swisher, that he had a legitimate excuse. He told the Yankees his surgically repaired right hip wasn’t firing after being pinch-hit for in Game 2 of the AL Division Series, went for an MRI and nothing was found.

It sounds like a shamed man grasping for extenuating circumstances, except eventually a tear, a bone impingement and a cyst were found in his left hip and, well, how do you fake that? Rodriguez had a real issue, a real explanation for going from a decent player — albeit not the star of his prime — to pretty much an automatic out, an empty uniform.

'It’s a likely scenario that the struggles we saw in September and in October are more likely than not related to this issue,' general manager Brian Cashman said."

Right. Makes sense to me, and not just because I'm wishing.


"Thus, we have yet another last stand for A-Rod, another comeback attempt for his body and reputation. The odds are steep, complicated by injury, age and whatever self-doubt is floating around in Rodriguez’s congested brain.

He will not get the benefit of the doubt — but what if he did?"

He's 37, not 47. He could very well be a productive player if he can get healthy.


I disagree with Sherman about one point. ARod gets no bonus points for playing through the injury and failing to produce.

Red Sox lose payroll flexibility.

A 31-year-old pseudo-catcher who hit .227 last season.

$13 million per year.

Wow.

Maybe they'll end up trading him to the Dodgers for Carl Crawford.

Mets sign Wright. Felz is surprised. That is all.

Miller was also right about drug testing.

"Professional athletes draw our scorn because they make gobs of money to work a job we say we would do for free. Because some possess a sense of entitlement.

But even the luckiest, richest jerks in the world — the number of which, by the way, is grossly overestimated — deserve the right to choose their place of employment. They ought to receive their fair share of the pie they help create.

...

Don’t espouse the nonsense that players’ greed causes modern ticket prices to be so high. What, you think the owners would keep prices down out of the goodness of their hearts if not for the bloodthirsty players? Please. Pro sports are huge business, and it’s better today for the contributions of Miller, the union’s founding executive director."

Yeah, does anyone ever notice how expensive NBA games are, despite a salary cap?

All players from the steroid era are from the steroid era.

1) Craig Biggio may have taken steroids.

2) Even if he didn't use steroids, his stats benefited from the steroid users who surrounded him:

"All these players spent most of their careers in the era before testing, so we do not really know if they were cheating. But Biggio did not have bulging muscles, so most people assume he was clean. The same could be said of another first-timer, the former pitcher Curt Schilling, who was more stocky than sculptured and was also considered clean.

But assumptions, with varying degrees of evidence, are part of the problem for the hundreds of baseball writers who will cast ballots in this election. Bonds, Clemens, Piazza and Sosa were clearly Hall of Fame-caliber players, yet are widely assumed to have used performance-enhancing drugs. For many writers, even the whiff of such drug use means automatic disqualification."

I think it's a correct observation ... some players get benefit of the doubt, some players don't. But "lack of bulging muscles" is hardly a reasonable test.


"Here is a different question: what if a report surfaced tomorrow with hard evidence that an existing Hall of Famer used steroids? The fantasy of a pure Hall of Fame would be shattered, and the roster of inductees would look confusing with some stars still on the outside."

This will happen soon enough.


"There are no right answers. But it seems most logical to elect the best players and hope that future generations understand the sobering context of the time."

That's probably what I would do.

Now he'll get into the Hall of Fame.

"Still, though his contributions to baseball were compared to those of Babe Ruth, who made the home run an essential part of the game, and Branch Rickey, who broke the major leagues’ color barrier when he signed Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Mr. Miller has not been recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame.

'There’s been a concerted attempt to downplay the union,' Mr. Miller told The New York Times, referring to the Hall, when he narrowly missed out on election in December 2010, the fifth time he had been on the ballot. 'It’s been about trying to rewrite history rather than record it. They decided a long time ago that they would downgrade any impact the union has had. And part of that plan was to keep me out of it.' "

I would have loved to have heard his acceptance speech.

The steroid era is back.

I always find it amusing when it's a player such as Carlos Ruiz and no one cares.

The word that comes to mind is "ersatz."

Though award-winning columnist Mike Lupica probably doesn't know what that word means.

I'll believe it when I see it.

I don't doubt the Blue Jays can be a pretty good team next season, and I also agree that the Forever NY-Bos #1-#2 Punch broke up long ago (even if few noticed).

So the AL East is more competitive than it has been over the past decade and a half.

But I'm simply not impressed Toronto got a bunch of expensive busts from a last place team:

"BEST LINEUP: TORONTO BLUE JAYS

The additions of Jose Reyes and Emilio Bonifacio, who are part of the Jays' haul from Miami, inject speed into a power lineup. Toronto only had slugger Jose Bautista for 92 games last season because of injury, but they still managed to finish fifth in the AL with 198 home runs. Cabrera, who batted .346 last season in San Francisco before serving a 50-game suspension for failing a drug test, gives the Jays a decent on-base threat, assuming he can even approach the .390 OBP he had last year.

Reyes and Cabrera can hit at the top of the order and be followed by Bautista, Encarnacion, Colby Rasmus (23 HRs last year) and potential star Brett Lawrie can bat next and the Jays can expect production from a bottom third of Adam Lind, J.P. Arencibia and Bonifacio.


Reyes is overrated. Bonifacio isn't that good. Melky will be off steroids. Bautista will get hurt again.

After all of these moves, I think the Yankees will probably have the best lineup, best defense, and best bullpen in the AL East next season.

Besides, before you move Toronto into AL East contention, consider the importance of the following: Pitching.

2012 AL MVP

Baseball Writers' Association of America:

I think my friends did a superior job with the AL MVP voting.  Of course, the BBWAA gave one tenth-place vote to platoon player Raul Ibanez and his .240/19/62 season -- the anti-Triple Crown winner.

Name	Points
Miguel Cabrera	362
Mike Trout	281
Adrian Beltre	210
Robinson Cano	149
Josh Hamilton	127
Adam Jones	120
Derek Jeter	77
Justin Verlander	58
Prince Fielder	56
Yoenis Cespedes	41
Edwin Encarnacion	33
David Price	26
Fernando Rodney	24
Jim Johnson	22
Alex Rios	17
Josh Reddick	14
Albert Pujols	8
Ben Zobrist	7
Joe Mauer	6
Rafael Soriano	5
Matt Wieters	4
Felix Hernanez	2
Jered Weaver	2
Raul Ibanez	1

Felz and his Friends:

Name	Points
Miguel Cabrera	40
Mike Trout	27
Josh Hamilton	9
Derek Jeter	7
Adrian Beltre	3
Robinson Cano	3
Adam Jones	1

2012 NL MVP

Baseball Writers' Association of America:

Name	Points
Buster Posey	422
Ryan Braun	285
Andrew McCutchen	245
Yadier Molina	241
Chase Headley	127
David Wright	86
Adam LaRoche	86
Craig Kimbrel	73
Aramis Ramirez	47
Jay Bruce	46
Matt Holliday	34
Aroldis Chapman	20
Brandon Phillips	18
Joey Votto	16
R.A. Dickey	16
Clayton Kershaw	15
Ian Desmond	15
Michael Bourn	12
Allen Craig	10
Gio Gonzalez	8
Alfonso Soriano	8
Kris Medlen	8
Martin Prado	8
Ryan Zimmerman	7
Giancarlo Stanton	7
Carlos Beltran	6
Aaron Hill	6
Carlos Ruiz	4
Jason Heyward	4
Johnny Cueto	2
Bryce Harper	2
Chipper Jones	1
Miguel Montero	1
Angel Pagan	1
Hunter Pence	1

Felz and his Friends:

Name	Points
Buster Posey	35
Ryan Braun	31
Andrew McCutchen	15
David Wright	4
Chase Headley	2
Joey Votto	2
Matt Kemp	1

Shenanigans.

"Price won by just four points, 153 to 149, after being placed first on exactly half of the 28 ballots submitted by the writers. Verlander received 13 first-place votes, with the last going, courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Drew Davison, to Rays closer Fernando Rodney, who didn't rank higher than third on any other ballot. That vote alone didn't cost Verlander the award, however, as Davison had Verlander second on his ballot and the difference between first and second place was just three points. What's more, if Davison had ranked Rodney behind both Verlander and Price, it would have given an extra point to Price as well (one point separated second and third places), resulting in a mere two-point gain for Verlander.

The 28 ballots were submitted by two writers from each of the 14 American League markets and the two Angels writers, Michael Martinez of FoxSportsWest.com and Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, both put third-place finisher Jered Weaver second on their ballots and Verlander third. They did not cost Verlander the award either, as the difference between second and third place was just one point, so Verlander would only have had two more points if Martinez and Plunkett had flipped Weaver and Verlander on their ballots.

Rather, it took all three ballots to make the difference in the award, so one can't necessarily call shenanigans on the voters."

I call shenanigans because of the typical provincialism.

Like Mark Feinsand over in the NY Daily News pointlessly defending Cabrera over Trout. Not so much of a controversy.

How is Rafael Soriano 8th?

"8. Rafael Soriano, Yankees : Many thought the Yankees’ season was doomed when Mariano Rivera tore his ACL. Soriano had other thoughts."

"Many thought" something and a guy on the Yankees did better than "many thought" he would? That's it? You seriously can think of only 7 players in the entire AL who were more valuable than a replaceable relief pitcher?

2012 NL Cy Young

Baseball Writers' Association of America:

Name	Points
R.A. Dickey	209
Clayton Kershaw	96
Gio Gonzalez	93
Johnny Cueto	75
Craig Kimbrel	41
Matt Cain	22
Kyle Lohse	6
Aroldis Chapman	1
Cole Hamels	1

Felz and his Friends:

Name	Points
R.A. Dickey	45
Gio Gonzalez	24
Matt Cain	12
Johnny Cueto	9
Clayton Kershaw	7
Aroldis Chapman	5
Cole Hamels	4
Craig Kimbrel	4
Yovani Gallardo	1

2012 AL Cy Young

Almost every writer had Price and Verlander in the top two.  Only two writers put Weaver in the top two.  Both of these writers put Weaver second and Verlander third.  Both of these writers are from Los Angeles.


Baseball Writers' Association of America:

Name	Points
David Price	153
Justin Verlander	149
Jered Weaver	70
Felix Hernandez	41
Fernando Rodney	38
Chris Sale	17
Jim Johnson	5
Mariano Rivera	4
Matt Harrison	2
Yu Darvish	1

Felz and his Friends:

Name	Points
Justin Verlander	35
David Price	31
Jered Weaver	26
CC Sabathia	7
Phil Hughes	4
Felix Hernandez	3
Fernando Rodney	2
Chris Sale	2
Yu Darvish	1
Jim Johnson	1

Props to Robinson Cano.

Robinson Cano becomes a US citizen.

No votes for Bobby Valentine?

	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
Bob Melvin, Athletics	16	12		116
Buck Showalter, Orioles	12	16		108
Robin Ventura, White Sox			12	12
Joe Maddon, Rays			7	7
Joe Girardi, Yankees			5	5
Jim Leyland, Tigers			2	2
Ron Washington, Rangers			2	2

Red Sox lose payroll flexibility.

I won a gold glove at second base.

How did I win a gold glove?  I make easy plays look hard.

Football is not like baseball.

A football coach is not like the owner of a baseball team.

Rex Ryan is not like George Steinbrenner.


So this is the start of Mike Lupica's Sunday article:

"In so many ways, and not even in town four full seasons yet, Rex Ryan is as close as we have come to a new Boss. As in Steinbrenner."

If you can read that introductory sentence and masochistically continue with the rest of the article, then you're a stronger person than I am.

My blogging of this particular article must therefore abruptly end.

Felz Small Sample Size Stats of the Day.

• Madison Bumgarner is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in World Series games.
• Miguel Cabrera has a .172 batting average in World Series games.

Subway.

I have to admit, these greedy attempts to rip off the average fan have finally backfired:

"The highest payroll in baseball did not help the Yankees in their failed bid to make the World Series. Charging as much as $58 to park has not helped the company that runs the parking lots around Yankee Stadium, either.

Bronx Parking Development Company, the operator of the lots, has defaulted on nearly $240 million of its bonds because of overambitious forecasts and less expensive transportation alternatives for fans, like the subway and Metro-North Railroad."

This goes way back to the first day of economics class when you learn about the price sensitivity of the demand for sugar and high fructose corn syrup. It's why the label on the soda says sugar "or" high fructose corn syrup.

I actually agree that Yankee image has been tarnished.

This is why Jeter is worth his salary even if his on-field performance diminishes:

"This regime has tasted playoff failure before. Yet there’s a difference coming off the Yankees’ pathetic offensive performance against the Tigers. The Bombers were humiliated in the ALCS. The team was booed out of New York. Instead of taking it on the chin and walking away the players whined, showing just how fragile their egos are.

They were shocked the 'faithful' turned on them. Was this a delayed reaction from the fans? Or was the level of disgust building before the postseason even began?

The empty seats at the Stadium during the regular season and playoffs do not provide conclusive evidence. That’s partly a residue of an anemic economy. Many fans cannot afford spending food or rent money on a Yankees game, even if the tickets are deeply discounted on Stub Hub."

I agree that the brand has been somewhat tarnished. 

It was also weird scheduling, a spoiled fan base who isn't particularly impressed by the playoffs anymore, and the negative aftermath of Jeter's injury.

 The ALCS didn't help, because it's the only time of the year that people are actually watching baseball games.  

 

The corporate crowd at the New Stadium backfired, too.  It's Saturday night, Jeter is out of the lineup, we can't name three players on the Tigers, ARod is hitting on that other lady: Let's go to a martini bar instead.

 

"The Yankees’ TV ratings on the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network are a better indicator of fan dissatisfaction. The Bombers averaged a 3.92 rating, down 8.3% from 2011 and YES’ lowest Yankees household rating since 2003. The nine-year low came during a season in which the Yankees battled Baltimore down to the wire to win the AL East, which should have driven the ratings to an all-time high."

The AL East's down-to-the-wire wasn't really as intriguing as Raissman seems to think (sorry, Bud Selig).

 

 I think the fans really like winning.  But, after so much winning, they get spoiled. 

The rivalry with the Red Sox was mostly absent, the rivalry with the Mets was mostly absent, and the other rivalries -- even down to the wire with the Orioles -- are fabricated.

"At the time we first reported the ratings drop, the thought was that more fans take it for granted the Yankees will punch their October ticket, so why watch? Considering the fan backlash and the Yankees’ reaction to it, maybe a negative perception had already caused these fans to turn off YES.

All of those old-grinder Paul O’Neill teams are now completely in the rear view mirror, finally replaced by a different breed of player, some of whom are perceived as selfish whiners. Players who went through the motions when their backs were to the wall.

How will this play on YES during the 2013 season? If the Yankees continue to be viewed as aloof and unlikable, if they give off an uncaring vibe, like Robinson Cano, the brand will be further tarnished. Like it or not, the current face of that brand is Alex Rodriguez."

The face of the brand is definitely still Jeter.  

 

Jeter's absence from Game Two certainly added to the foul mood (and the Bleacher Creatures oddly blamed Jeter's injury on Swisher, because of the botched fly ball in RF which extended the 12th inning).

As for aloof and unlikable players, I'm not sure that's affecting the ratings so much.  Cano has been aloof and unlikable for seven years in a row and the fans love it as long as he hits.

 

ARod may be a jerk, but he draws crowds.  Raissman said it himself -- the ratings haven't been this low since 2003.  No coincidence that ARod showed up in 2004.

So the ratings were high for a long time with Cano and Rodriguez, but it's the presence of ... ummm ... let's see ... it's the presence of Cody Eppley in 2012 that was the last straw?  I don't think it's quite that simplistic.

 

The Yankees won zero titles in the 1980s, while George Steinbrenner was the owner.

In the early 1990s, George Steinbrenner bragged about the fact that the Yankees had a high regular season winning percentage in the 1980s.  He said that he wanted to win the World Series, but he had delivered a winning team in (something like) 10 out of 14 regular seasons. 

This explanation is known as spin.


Only when Steinbrenner was briefly exiled was a longterm winning strategy implemented. Supplemented, of course, by the emergence of Pettitte, Jeter, Posada, Williams, Rivera, and others.

Steinbrenner enjoyed winning the World Series, of course he did.  Winning the World Seriers undoubtedly boosted his considerable ego.

Mostly, though, winning the World Series made him a lot of money money money money money:

"Once the bottom line for Steinbrenner the Elder was winning it all, or else. For his heirs, it seems the bottom line is more about profit and loss, and that sure doesn’t mean the kind of loss the Yankees just suffered at the hands of the Tigers."

Don't you remember when the Yankees lost Game Seven of the World Series to Arizona? Steinbrenner said they were going to come back with a vengeance.

They didn't.

I don't know what Angry Steinbrenner could have accomplished this playoffs or this offseason.

It's like people are buying into Steinbrenner's own self-perpetuated myth.  The same people who were ridiculing him when he was ranting and raving.


"You better believe the Yankees are the most successful regular-season team of all time, even more successful than the Atlanta Braves were when they kept making the playoffs in the 1990s. And the Braves, by the way, didn’t just make the playoffs, they made it to four World Series in that decade, even if they only managed to win one."

The Yankees are also the best postseason team of all time.

It's not even really close, is it?

I mean, that has no impact on the 2012 ALCS, and why would it?


"This is 2012. Starting in 2002, the Yankees have made it to the World Series twice over the past decade, have won one. The people in charge still make it sound as if the Yankees not making the Series is some kind of aberration. Actually it’s become the norm. In that decade we’re talking about, the Yankees have lost in the first round five times."

Yep.

It's really amazing when fans, writers, analysts, announcers, players, coaches, managers, general managers, opponents, owners ... anybody ... talks about the present-day Yankees as if they're some sort of juggernaut.

This has been going on for about a decade and a half ... really starting in earnest in 1998.

I know a lot of this delusion is based on the relative payrolls of the teams, but it's still a lazy and hackneyed analysis.


Every time the Yankees start a playoff series against a superior opponent, their opponent is shoehorned into an underdog role.  It's silly after a while.

The Tigers had Verlander going twice and the Triple Crown Winner.

The Yankees counterbalanced these advantages with home field advantage, a superior bullpen, and (theoretical) advantages at ss and 2b (advantages which were quickly eliminated as the series progressed).

I did not identify a single game where the Yankees had a noticeable starting pitcher advantage.


So why were the Tigers considered underdogs in the first place?

Because people act as if wearing a pinstriped uniform fills a player with the spirit of Babe Ruth.  They believe the hype, and Lupica is a hypocrite because he holds the Yankees to this same silly standard.

It's like complaining that Carleton Sheets's No Money Down System didn't really help you make a fortune (with no money down!).

 
"We keep hearing that they’re going to get the payroll down to $189 million by 2014 to avoid serious luxury-tax penalties, but that is a bit of a hustle, too. The next year they can go right back to outspending everybody (well, maybe not the Dodgers going forward) if they choose to."

The smartest thing Lupica has ever said!

The Yankees are not going to try to get the payroll down to $189 million, and why should they?

But here's the part I don't get: If you know you're being hustled, then why are you acting all shocked and offended?


The 2012 Yankees were a good team, not a great team.  The Yankee Brand is cashing in on the reputation of Long Ago players who wore the same uniform.

It's a hustle, it's a con, it's a grift.  In other words, it's marketing.


I want the Yankees to win the World Series, of course I do.  In that regard, I agree with Yankee brass.

I don't think the 2012 regular season and ALDS were useless because I invested a lot of time and emotion into the 2012 regular season and ALDS.  In that regard, I disagree with Yankee brass.

But I'm not particular offended by the Yankees' spin because I know what it is. 

It's no different than a Mets fan at Spring Training 2013 when they hear promises of meaningful games in September.

It's a lesson I learned long ago when I purchased Sea Monkeys and discovered they were not quite as anthropomorphic as promised in the back of the comic book.

Let's get players who hit well in the playoffs. Duh! Brian Cashman is so stupid!

The Yankees fans, press, and players are all crazy right now.

Mark Teixeira said the Yankees live and die by the homerun.  Mark Teixeira actually said this.

Alex Rodriguez compared his 2007 MVP comeback season to his upcoming 2013 season.  Alex Rodriguez also said he had a good at-bat last night.  He hasn't hit a HR in a month and he hasn't had a hit off a righty in a long time.

So no matter how you analyze this ALCS collapse, the proposed fixes are bordering on the bizarre:


" 'We are still executing the Gene Michael playbook, which is predominantly left-handed hitters that take walks,' Cashman said the other day. 'They are selective. They’re typically big, hairy monsters, as I describe them, that hit the ball over the fence, hit doubles, singles, can hit home runs.

'What you are seeing right now is not a reflection of that. These guys are better than this. And you’ve seen it and we’ve seen it. We have a lot of guys that got cold at the wrong time and it looks bad, but this is not a reflection of who they are.'

Maybe you agree with that. Or maybe you think he’s delusional, because for more than six weeks now, the only thing we’ve seen is a lineup filled with 30-somethings who cannot hit situationally if their lives depended on it."

They're not taking walks, not hitting singles, not hitting doubles.

This has been going on all season, not just the past six weeks.


"The first three we’d choose: move A-Rod any way you can, and say sayonara to Swisher and Russell Martin. Our one concession to age is to give Ichiro Suzuki a reasonable deal — and we don’t care if he turns 39 on Monday, he had 73 hits in 67 games here and hit .322."

These moves may occur.


"It’s time to recognize Granderson for what he is: a No. 7 hitter who struck out 195 times and was erased from the lineup at the moment of truth. Guys who put up 84 homers and 225 RBI over two seasons don’t grow on trees, so some team should be willing to surrender a power-hitting third baseman and a young arm for him."

Wrong.  No team would be willing to surrender a power-hitting third baseman and a young arm.

Besides, how many teams have both a power-hitting third baseman and a young arm?

How many teams have a power-hitting third baseman?

Who is this power-hitting third baseman?

Texas is going to give the Yankees Adrian Beltre for Curtis Granderson?  Cool!


"It’s time to pursue guys who have October résumés — Torii Hunter, A.J. Pierzynski, David Ortiz — who can fill in your gaps in right field, behind the plate, and at DH. Yes, they don’t make the team any younger, but they’re all winning players who know situational hitting, which nobody but Jeter and Ichiro ever grasped on the present team."

Surrrrrrrre ... Torii Hunter, A.J. Pierzynski, and David Ortiz.  Get Ortiz some steroids a time machine to 2004 and we'll be all set.

The Yankees going to acquire all three and win the World Series next year.  Oh, and don't forget Adrian Beltre.  He'll also win the World Series with the Yankees next year.


Yay!  Mission accomplished.


Also, the analysis is all wrong.  Jeter and Ichiro are poor situational hitters. 

If you load the bases with one out, Jeter will k or GIDP. 

Ichiro abandoned small ball like every other Yankee.  Ichiro struck out, like, once in his first 50 Yankee at-bats.  Then, he hit two HRs in one game against the Red Sox.  After that, he was swinging like Alfonso Soriano.

Don't you remember how many times, in September, Ichiro failed to move a runner over or failed to get a runner home from third base?  I remember, because I lost a year off my life every time it happened.

Don't you remember Nix's leadoff double?  In the playoffs?  In a close game?  Followed by three ks in a row ... Jeter, Ichiro, and "Tex" the Gunslingin' Overweight Cowboy?

Just because a player avoids HRs does not mean that player is good at situational hitting.

Just because a player has a decent playoff batting average doesn't mean they can come to New York and pound Verlander in the ALCS. 


You know, it's weird.  These writers sound stupid when they're vague -- "get a power-hitting third baseman."  But then, when they're specific -- "get Ortiz, Hunter, and Pierzynski" -- they sound even stupider.  When they get specific, they sound like they're swapping baseball cards instead of trading actual real-life players.

Mess.

One of many over-the-top observations regarding the 2012 Yankees.  This by renowned Yankee-hater Peter Abraham:

"We are coming up on the two-month anniversary of the Red Sox trading Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Nick Punto to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Only now, thanks to the Yankees, can the true value of that trade be fully realized."

Because the Tigers swept the Yankees in the ALCS ... James Loney is suddenly a good baseball player?


"Derek Jeter will have surgery on his fractured left ankle on Saturday in North Carolina, then face 4-5 months of rehabilitation. The Yankees hope he will be back for Opening Day, but admit they have no idea to what degree the surgery will affect his ability to play shortstop.

Jeter, who turns 39 in June, worked hard in recent years to improve his range. Now he faces the hurdle of playing with a surgically repaired ankle. Jeter has $17 million on his contract for 2013 and an $8 million player option for 2014.

Then we have the latest drama surrounding 37-year-old Alex Rodriguez. He has looked helpless in the postseason and the Yankees aren't interested in giving him a chance to work it out. Rodriguez has been pinch hit for three times in the postseason and benched three times.

The most expensive player in baseball has become almost useless to them -- and he has five years and $114 million remaining on his contract. On Wednesday, before the postponed fourth game of the American League Championship Series, the Yankees talked about A-Rod like he was some scrub call-up from the minors."

When do you get to the part about the Red Sox?


"The Red Sox avoided this kind of mess when they unloaded Beckett, Crawford, and Gonzalez on the Dodgers."

The Red Sox are in a last-place mess.

Mess, therefore, not avoided.


"Instead of watching the 32-year-old Beckett throw 91-mph fastballs the next two seasons and become increasingly recalcitrant, they can go get somebody younger, better and more team oriented."

Imaginary Beckett Replacement will probably win the Cy Young Award in Unknown Year.


"Instead of counting how many surgeries Crawford has over the length of his seven-year deal, they can invest that money in a player entering his prime."

Imaginary Crawford Replacement who will be the First Player Ever to avoid injuries and also the First Player Ever to live up to his long-term free agent contract.  He will probably win the MVP in Unknown Year.


"And while Gonzalez was a hefty tariff to pay for unloading Beckett and Crawford, his diminishing power and problems hitting at Fenway Park are troubling signs.

Now, thanks to the Dodgers, the Red Sox have incredible roster and payroll flexibility.

Unless they pull off their own miracle trade, the Yankees are stuck with an aging and expensive roster."

Yeah, but ...

1) Roster flexibility does not necessarily equal a good roster.

2) The best players on the Yankees this postseason were all old.

3) The Yankees make so much money, they're not particularly hampered by these expenses.  So the Yankees have plenty of roster and payroll flexibility.

4) The Red Sox have 26 games to make up just to match the Yankees' record.



"The Red Sox were a wretched team and finished in last place, a whopping 26 games behind the first-place Yankees. But the Sox might actually have the advantage moving forward.

Seeing Jeter go down and watching the Yankees wrestle with Rodriguez only confirmed that idea."

"Might actually" is about as vague as it gets. 

"Might actually not."

Cover your ears! ARod just used a cuss word on live TV!

He unconvincingly said "I don't give a [brown word] about the gossip pages."

He also made it clear his relationship with Girardi is on the skids.


A week ago, I would have said this observation is crazy.  Now I agree:

"That said, not one of those clubs is likely to consider Rodriguez at the full retail price. But the Yankees have a history of unloading high-priced talent by continuing to pay part of the bill and estimates the team would have to fork over somewhere between 50 and 75 percent of his salary for the next five years aren't necessarily a deal-breaker. Not after this postseason.

Recently, Yankees President Randy Levine was asked whether he thought A-Rod would still be wearing pinstripes when his current deal ended in 2017. He told ESPN Radio in New York, "That's like one of those questions: Where's the stock market going to be in 2017, who's going to be president on Nov. 15?

'If I had crystal ball to predict all of that stuff, I'd be a lot smarter than I am,' he added. 'I'm not going to go there.'

Not yet, anyway, and not before this season comes to a merciful conclusion. But Rodriguez lost the fans long ago, and from the sound of things Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman might not be too far behind."

Balls.

I guess this is true:

"Slumping slugger Alex Rodriguez zeroed in on fan Kyna Treacy, a leggy 33-year-old, in the ninth inning of his team’s crucial playoff game against the Detroit Tigers, openly flirting with her and getting her phone number even as he was yanked from the lineup and the Bombers struggled to stay alive."

In the ninth inning of a playoff game?


Bob Klapisch may not be over-reacting:

"What happened next said everything about the mushrooming cold war between Joe Girardi and Alex Rodriguez. The manager decided to not pinch-hit for Ibanez against Coke, even though Ibanez batted only .197 against southpaws this year.

Why would the normally conventional-thinking Girardi allow himself to be caught in this trap? Because his reservoir of faith in Rodriguez has gone dry. Not only did Girardi bench A-Rod and Nick Swisher for Game 3, he specifically refused to use A-Rod for Ibanez because, '[the Tigers] were going to bring in [right-hander Joaquin] Benoit.'

A little background here: earlier on Tuesday, the New York Post reported that A-Rod was seen flipping baseballs in the directions of two female fans near the dugout during Game 1. The paper said the baseballs were inscribed not with Rodriguez’ autograph, but a request for the women’s numbers.
 
A-Rod and GM Brian Cashman refused to discuss the story, but the organization was deeply embarrassed by it, especially since the Yankees were in the midst of getting swept in the first two games at home. And Rodriguez himself was playing himself out of the starting lineup by going 0-for-18 with 12 strikeouts against right-handers.

So while Girardi insisted his decision to bench A-Rod was strictly a baseball-related move, his refusal to use the slugger in the ninth inning was unquestionably a smack-down for his behavior in New York. It’s anyone’s guess whether A-Rod will start tonight against Max Scherzer in what could be the Yankees’ final game. Regardless, whether they get swept or Sabathia can keep the series alive one more day, the relationship between Girardi and Rodriguez will never be the same. Good luck trying to figure out how the two will co-exist in 2013 and beyond."

I don't agree with today's benching ...

... but maybe Chavez will surprise me:

"The New York Post reported that Rodriguez was openly flirting with two blonde female fans sitting near the New York dugout during Game 1 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium last Saturday night.

Rodriguez had plenty of time on his hands Tuesday -- he was benched for Game 3 of the ALCS at Comerica Park as Eric Chavez started in his place at third base against reigning AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander.

The Post reported that he pulled one of the oldest tricks in the baseball handbook to picking up ladies by sending an autographed ball to them in the stands that included his phone numbers."

I guess this story could be true. It seems like a lot of people would have noticed.

If it's true ... if ARod acted petulantly and unprofessionally during a playoff game, well ... maybe it's time to eat $100 million and send him to Toronto for a few prospects.

A lot changes in one game, huh?

"Gone are mystique and aura, the two temptresses of the Bronx, who blessed old Yankee Stadium with kismet and joy and brilliant baseball. In their stead are apathy and malaise, a couple of hags from Yonkers. They embody the new Yankee Stadium, a sarcophagus if ever there was one: no matter how gorgeous and ornate the outside, it remains filled with lifelessness. 

No wonder Game 2 of the ALCS featured thousands of empty seats, like Game 1 before it, and like the do-or-die Game 5 of the ALDS, too. New Yorkers understand a fraud when they see it. They pay for expensive seats, drink overpriced beers, buy exorbitant merchandise and fund a $200 million joke, a team that for the second straight game couldn't score a measly run off the Detroit Tigers' Nos. 3 and 4 starting pitchers. These Yankees earned every last boo."

The Yankees are going to lose in the ALCS.

This $200 million joke won 95 games, won the AL East, and won the ALDS.

It's not satisfying for a fan base which expects a lot.

But I'd only take Passan seriously if had written this article in the top of the 10th inning on Saturday night.  Mystique and aura are gone from the new Stadium, except when Sabathia throws a complete game in Game Five and when Ibanez's two-out, ninth-inning HR clears the fence.

The gloves come off.

When I attend a Yankee game with my friends, we usually play some side games, one of which is to take gentlemen's bets on how far Robinson Cano will run on a ground ball before he starts breaking it down.

The choices are 30 feet, 45 feet, 60 feet, and 75 feet.

90 feet is not an option because I don't know what kind of odds that would require, even for a gentlemen's bet:

"Didn't his middle-of-the-infield mentor, Derek Jeter, teach this guy anything? In fact, Jeter has tried over the years to convince Cano that he needs to run out every last dribbler, dive, get his uniform dirty, play the game like Jeter does, like Pete Rose did."

Well, no.

Jeter has not taught Cano anything about hustle and smarts.


"The manager also swung and missed -- like his star-studded sluggers who managed a grand sum of four hits -- when asked about Cano's hustle, or lack thereof. Girardi claimed he had no problem with Cano's hustle, or lack thereof.

'Robbie plays fine for me,' Girardi said. 'And I am sure he is frustrated and I understand that. You work really hard to get to this point, and you want to be a part of the winning and contributing, and it is frustrating when you don't.' "

Girardi benched Cano once, years ago, when Cano turned a one-base error into a two-base by loping after a botched ground ball.

That was the beginning and the end of the disciplinary response to Cano's slack.


"In the sixth inning, after Ichiro Suzuki small-balled his way onto first with a slow hopper that Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez couldn't handle, Cano offered something closer to a swinging bunt.

Cano had just watched Suzuki race down the line as if his Hall of Fame candidacy depended on it, his foot speed and competitive will leaving the rushed Tigers to fumble and bumble their way into trouble. Cano had also watched Jeter for years force infielders into hurried and errant throws by honoring DiMaggio's dogma of playing every game as if someone in the crowd is observing for the first time.

So what happens here in the middle of a scoreless game with the Yanks already down in the series, and down a captain? What happens when one of the sport's most talented hitters -- a player who should be desperate to deliver something, anything, of substance -- sends this potentially tricky bouncer to Sanchez's left?

The pitcher feels so comfortable fielding the ball that he throws the kind of underhand lob that a father might toss to his 4-year-old child. The pitcher does this because he knows Cano is running, and because he knows Cano doesn't run Ichiro/Jeter hard to first.

It didn't matter that the underhand throw was Charmin-soft, and it didn't matter that Cano -- nobody's idea of an Olympic sprinter -- might not have beaten it out at full blast. It did matter that Sanchez and the Tigers felt unburdened on the play because they knew Cano would take a lunchtime stroll down the line."

This is hilarious to me, the sudden outrage at Cano's slack.

It's like a New York sportswriter woke up this morning and got angry because the subway doesn't take tokens anymore.

Don't ya know?

"The ball squirted up and out of Robinson Cano’s throwing hand in the seventh, sabotaging a potential inning-ending, double-play relay while Quintin Berry scooted home from third base for the first run in a 3-0 loss to Detroit.
Cano betrayed no emotion, because he never does.

'I didn’t get a grip on the ball, but I think he would be safe anyway,' he said."

Cano will win a Gold Glove, but it's fraudulent.  He botches plays in the field constantly ... often due to his laziness and lack of fundamentals ... and the accolades he receives are mostly due to his penchant for making easy plays look hard.


"Cano didn’t run hard to first on a soft, swinging bunt to the pitcher in the sixth."

Cano didn't even run hard to assist Jeter.  

Jeter must have been 90+ feet away.

"He didn’t protest much later, either, when Omar Infante was called safe at second base by ump Jeff Nelson on a clear tag-out, turning the eighth inning into a two-run fiasco.

Cano was cool as an October night, even as his manager was ejected for arguing the botched call, very nearly blaming the umps for losing both Games 1 and 2."

Cano argued with the umpire a little bit.

  "The stats are mind-numbing, archeologically significant. After grounding out harmlessly to first base in the eighth inning, Cano left the stadium 2-for-32 (.063) in the 2012 playoffs and on an 0-for-26 streak, the longest postseason slump in the team’s long history.

No Yankee has been this bad for this long in October, ever."

It's the longest single-season postseason hitless streak in MLB history.

He was robbed of a single on a bad umpire call, to be fair.  On the same play, however, he didn't run hard out of the batter's box.

"Cano is in the middle of everything, spurring nothing. He leaves runners on base. He is deceptively efficient in the field, yet his nonchalant style does not endear him to fans."

He is not deceptively efficient, he is lazy and fundamentally unsound.  

As for his nonchalant style, nobody complains because he hits .300.  Nobody besides me.

"Is it the pressure, the responsibility of being the club’s very best hitter?

'I don’t put that in my mind,' Cano said.

Maybe he should."

I don't think it's important for him to change his demeanor.

I just think he hit a weird slump at a bad time.

It is important, however, for him to hustle. Do it once, for me, so I can see it with my own eyes. Run 90 feet to first base one time in your career.

It was fun for a while.

"But the always gregarious Swisher couldn’t let it go, especially since he believes some fans made it personal with verbal attacks this weekend aimed at him and several inappropriate tweets about him to his wife, actress JoAnna Garcia.

'(Saturday) night was pretty big. A lot of people saying a lot of things that I’ve never heard before,” Swisher said. 'Prime example - I missed that ball in the lights and the next thing you know, I’m the reason that (Derek) Jeter got hurt. It’s kind of frustrating. They were saying it was my fault.'

Swisher, who may have played his final home game as a Yankee if the series doesn’t return to New York, normally does an emphatic military salute to the Bleacher Creatures during their customary first-inning roll call, but he admittedly took warm-up throws closer to the infield and noticeably toned down his interaction with those fans during Sunday’s 3-0 loss.

'That’s the last thing that I ever thought would be in this ballpark, that people would get on you that bad,' said Swisher, who is an unfathomable 1-for-34 with runners in scoring position in his postseason career. 'Especially your home, where your heart is, where you’ve been battling and grinding all year long. It’s just frustrating, man. You never want to be in that spot. It’s not like you’re trying to go out there and do bad on purpose. It’s just tough, man.' "

Quick review of NYY 2012 playoff stats.

Alex Rodriguez: 2-for-19 with 10 ks.
Robinson Cano: 2-for-28 with 4 ks (and 1 walk).
Nick Swisher: 3-for-23 with 6 ks.
Curtis Granderson: 3-for-23 with 11 ks.
Eric Chavez: 0-for-11 with 6 ks.

Fab Five: 10-for-104 with 37 ks.


I still say play Girardi may as well play ARod and challenge ARod to show some pride and guts.


By the way, teams are winning playoff games every day by hitting singles with RISP. 

Kevin Long tried to save this team in early September by imploring more attention to small ball.  Girardi dismissed the idea and the team didn't listen to Long.


Fast forward six weeks: What would this team do to go back and get a few well-timed RBI ground outs? 

If I am allowed to pick the critical at-bats ... and all I'm asking for is a sac fly or an RBI ground out ... a chopper to second base ... then, the Yankees have not lost a playoff game in 2012.

Yeah, yeah, I know it's a ridiculous exercise ... fallacy of pre-determined outcome ... one-sided perspective.

But it's a professional embarrassment to witness a team completely unwilling to play the game properly, even in the playoffs, even with the game on the line.

I have trouble believing that Alex Rodriguez lacks the ability to chop a grounder to 2b off of Doug Fister.  He's trying to hit a 3-run HR and, when he fails to hit a HR, he's got nothing.  That's the story of the 2012 Yankees.

Empty seats at Yankee Stadium.

"For the second consecutive playoff game, swaths of empty seats filled Yankee Stadium, entire rows without a single fan. And on Saturday night, instead of letting them sit embarrassingly open for Game 1 of the ALCS, ushers were told to fill them with fans from other sections."

Part of it is a problem with MLB's weird scheduling, but it's mostly an unenthusiastic response by a spoiled fan base.

  
"Indeed, the face-value ticket prices are exorbitant. Seats for Sunday's Game 2 against the Detroit Tigers are available on the Yankees' website for between $113 and $688. The Legends Seats – behind home plate and the surrounding areas – range from $860 to $1,715. A spokesman for Major League Baseball said the league offers a variety of potential ticket prices to each team, which then chooses its desired pricing for its LCS home games."

It's noticeable.

One-percenters showing up in the playoffs, talking on their cell phones, and acting entitled to a walk-off grand slam.

Last season, Granderson led the league in RBIs and runs scored.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't:

"It has now been three seasons since the big three-way trade among the Yankees, Tigers and Diamondbacks in which the Yankees sent rookie Austin Jackson and lefty reliever Phil Coke to Detroit and righthander Ian Kennedy to Arizona to land Granderson, a four-tool All-Star.

Two years later, all three teams maintained it was one of those rare deals where everyone came out a winner. Granderson had a breakout season last year for the Yankees with 41 homers and a league-leading 119 RBI. Kennedy led the National League in wins with 21 and, running away with the AL Central, the Tigers got a 15-9 season out of Max Scherzer, the pitcher they got from Arizona, while Jackson, despite a 44-point drop in average, provided superb center field defense.

But trades are ever-evolving in determining who got the best of them, and Jackson’s emergence as a .300 hitter this year after working to eliminate a hitch in his swing that had accounted for Granderson-like 170 and 189 strikeout totals his first two seasons, has prompted the thinking that, when it’s all said and done, he may prove to be the best player in this deal."

Madden writes another woulda-coulda-shoulda article the day after he says the Yankees shoulda traded for Miguel Cabrera. 

Yesterday, Madden chastised the Yankees for refusing to trade their prospects in an imaginary deal.  Today, he chastises the Yankees for trading their prospects in a real-life deal.

"So this ALDS will be the latest referendum on the big trade. Much as they loved those 43 homers and 106 RBI from Granderson, the Yankees winced at those 195 strikeouts which helped account for a .232 average and .319 on-base percentage (as opposed to Jackson’s .300/.377). They hold a $13 million option for next year, but with that $189 million luxury tax threshold hovering in 2014, it is doubtful they will sign him long-term. More likely, they will try to trade him this winter. If Granderson helps them win it all, they can consider themselves winners in the deal for the short term, even though most scouts will tell you that, already, Jackson is the better player."

1) This "ALDS" [sic] is a lot of things, but it's not a referendum on the big trade.  Nobody cares about the big trade.

2) After Swisher's inevitable exit, I'm curious what the Madden version of the Yankee 2013 outfield looks like.  Gardner, Ichiro, and the guy who's better than Granderson? 

3) $13 million sounds very inexpensive for a guy who hit 40 and drove in 100 for 2 years in a row.

Jackson is a different player than Granderson, but not a better player.  Granderson has some deficiencies, and so does Jackson.  I wouldn't be so dismissive of the guy who plays CF and leads your team in HRs and RBIs.

You guys! Yankees could have had a triple crown winner at third base ... well, at DH, because he can't field ... but, still.

What is the point of this observation?

Yankees could have had lots of players, in theory:

"A-Rod opted out of his already onerous $252 million contract on Oct. 29, 2007, much to GM Brian Cashman's great relief."

I think the Yankees were paying about $9 million of ARod's annual salary and got two MVPs out of it.

In 2007, well ... forget it ... I'm not getting into it.

ARod 2007 was the best offensive season I've ever seen up close, so, whatever. The Yankees' GM was relieved to put Mike Lamb at third.


"A little more than a month later, the Florida Marlins traded Miguel Cabrera and their one-time lefty pitching ace, Dontrelle Willis, to the Tigers for two top prospects, pitcher Andrew Miller and outfielder Cameron Maybin, and three other non-prospects."

So, in retrospect, this guy is saying the Yankees should have taken on Dontrelle Willis's contract and lost five prospects.

Maybe.

Because we have no idea if this deal was in the works in the first place.


"The Marlins had made it known that they were willing to trade Cabrera, with whom they had had some issues about his work ethic and who had a year to go before he was eligible for free agency, but on the condition that the other club take on Willis and the remaining four years and $35 million on his contract. After leading the National League with 22 wins as the toast of baseball in 2005, Willis had deteriorated to a 10-15 record and 5.17 ERA in 2007, and there were few clubs capable and/or willing to take on that financial risk. The Yankees were certainly capable, but whether they would have been willing, we’ll never know."

In Bill Madden's alternate universe, Miguel Cabrera is pounding the baseball for the 2012 Yankees. Which would be great.

But who's pitching for the Yankees in the imaginary ALCS?

Is Dontrelle Willis pitching Game Four?


"What happens now with A-Rod is anyone’s guess. Steinbrenner is long gone from the scene, reportedly making only token appearances at the Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field offices in Tampa, and A-Rod, already in marked decline, could find himself on the bench for much of the ALCS as the Tigers’ starting rotation is totally righthanded. Meanwhile, it is understandable if the Yankee high command probably doesn’t want to think about that missed opportunity to get one of the best hitters in the game to replace the opted-out A-Rod five years ago."

You still haven't explained how this was going to happen, or if Cabrera wanted to come to New York, or which prospects the Yankees would have traded, or if the Yankees would have won the World Series in 2009 without ARod.

Carlos Beltran gets three hits in a playoff game.

As Mike Francesa points out, New York fans booed this guy out of town. He is the greatest postseason batter in MLB history.

Swisher's last game as a Yankee?.

"So, obviously, this is far from all A-Rod’s fault. This is turning into the nightmare scenario that loomed as a possibility all season — the Yankees’ home run-or-bust offense coming up empty in the postseason for a second straight year."

It really is kind of funny to me how the 2012 Yankees are finally the team they've been accused of being since approximately 2002.


"Then again, the Orioles can’t hit, either, and the Yankees do have CC Sabathia on the mound on Friday, so you still have to think they have some type of advantage for Game 5.

It’s just hard to imagine Yankee fans are very confident at this point. How could they be after watching this team struggle so badly at the plate?"

I think the Tigers are going to the World Series.

It's not reverse psychology or faux cautiousness, but I haven't been confident in this team since around ... I guess since around September.


"No, it’s not just Rodriguez. With his single on Thursday night, he’s practically sizzling compared to Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson.

Cano, the hottest hitter in baseball when the season ended a week ago, is 2-for-18 in the series, but at least he’s hitting the ball, sometimes with hard luck.

Granderson is in such a fog that Joe Girardi really needs to bench him in Game 5, put Ichiro Suzuki in center and insert Raul Ibanez in left. The center fielder, who went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in Game 4, is 1-for-16 with a whopping nine K’s for the series.

And, of course, don’t forget Nick Swisher. After all his promises that October would be different for him this time, he is 2-for-15, bringing his postseason total as a Yankee to 18-for-115."

I guess you keep putting them in there and hope the pitcher throws the ball into their bat.

But it's embarrassing and unprofessional (and disheartening to witness as a fan) when the team refuses to play small ball to this extent. When there's a playoff game on the line.

Even worse, they keep talking like they're playing the game properly. "We've been in playoff mode since September." I don't see any proof of this.

It has been the same thing all year. They roll when they hit four HRs in an inning. They can't get a sac fly or a hit with RISP if their lives depended on it.

My prediction is that the Yankees get shut out tonight.