Back 9: 4/23/09 (Giants draft, Red Sox, and other news)

Figured I'd have 9 more little things to end this week...

 

1) The NFL Draft is almost upon us. It's not often that I really have a big interest in the draft (the one big time being when the Giants got Eli Manning), but I always seem to watch all of Day 1 and dream big things of those guys that come off the board for Big Blue. I wish that they would have the same draft-day analysis and anticipation for baseball and hockey as they do for basketball and football, but I don't think I'll see that day. So while my weekend will be spent watching baseball and hockey, I will certainly keep my eye on the NFL draft.

2) I will watch the NFL draft especially close this year because I have no clue what the Giants will do. They have an obvious need (WR) and need to figure out how to fill that (via trade or draft). One person the Giants are interested in is Anquan Boldin and finally the Cardinals have dropped their demands for the WR.

3) An interesting post by the New York Times Freakonomics blog asks whether getting the first pick in the NFL draft is actually a penalty and whether teams should get to choose where they pick. I disagree with that assumption. What if you had an owner who really, really wanted to save as much money as possible before selling off the team a la Rachel Phelps from Major League? They may opt for the last pick in the first round because it's the cheapest. Is that really a situation the NFL wants to get into? I think not.

4) So who will the New York Football Giants pick with the 29th pick on Saturday? Ralph Vacchiano of the Daily News isn't sure (and he usually is). But barring a trade (which he doesn't see likely), he thinks the Giants #1 choice would be Darrius Heyward-Bey, though they may have to trade up for him. If not Heyward-Bey, another wide receiver would be Hakeem Nicks (though Jeremy Maclin would be ahead of him if he slipped that far). If they decide not to take a WR, he thinks they'll go for a linebacker: either Brian Cushing or Ray Maualuga (or maybe Clint Sintim which would shock a lot of people). The Giants LoHud blog thinks it'll be Hakeem Nicks and Mel Kiper has them drafting Clay Matthews in his mock draft. So who knows. But it'll be fun...

5) I'm heading up to Boston tonight to see the Yankees/Red Sox from Fenway Park tomorrow. One of the cool things going on will be the Red Sox giving some recognition to a former batboy of Babe Ruth's who is now 100. The New York Times has some details on the soon-to-be 100-year-old. Nice job by the BoSox

6) One not-nice-thing surrounding the Sawks so far this year has been Dustin Pedroia and his brother. Dustin Pedroia was quote in an article dissing his home town and then tried to back out saying he never said those things. But now he's shown by Deadspin to be a liar. Well at least he's not as bad as his older brother who pled guilty yesterday to having oral sex with a boy between 10-14. Pretty sick.

7) This Yahoo! Big League Stew piece looks into what would have happened had Alex Rodriguez become part of the Red Sox in 2004. I think it may not have ended so happily. But Gordon Edes does.

8) The Mets needs some help. The 'Ropolitans looks above for some help and Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog looks to some changes in the rotation and maybe some fired coaches to shake things up. Deadspin says they will call up a 12-year-old girl after she threw a no-hitter.

9) "Other" baseball links: Tim Marchman looks at bad ideas in baseball (H/T Rob Neyer), a Yankees minor league bat boy was ejected for something very foul, a Tampa teenager threw 4 consecutive no-hitters, Lenny Dykstra = borderline Bernie Madoff, the author of "Moneyball" is not well-endowed, and ESPN.com on the sponorship on Baseball-reference.com

 

Will be in Boston so I may be a little light on the posts this weekend so wanted to wish you all a great weekend!

Starting 9: 4/24/09 (On New Yankee Stadium)

1. We all know there's issues with New Yankee Stadium (NYS). But what a lot of people don't understand is that all ballparks are works in progress. When Comerica Park opened in Detroit, they realized the walls were too far back and moved it in. Coors Field in Colorado had too many homeruns and now you have the humidor. So to think that the problems with Yankee Stadium will haunt them forever is really overstating the problem. But there are some changes that need to be made. I like Peter Abraham's suggestions and I want to expand on them below.

2. Paul Katcher shows the biggest problem for me. There is a concrete wall separating the rich from the poor and, more importantly the full seats from the empty seats. Because of this, the stadium looks horrendous on camera as all those seats behind home and down the baselines seem empty.

3. The New York Times points out this isn't just in the new Yankee Stadium but Citi/Taxpayer Field as well (Speaking of C/T Field, this NY Post cover from their opening night was a classic). So it may not be about price. And if it is, well the Yankees say they are going to RAISE them next year according to this Mouthpiece post as well as this NBC article. Bud Selig says not so fast to the Yankees and Mets (though he also says he can't make them do anything).

4.The problem, though, may not be that the seats are not sold. It may be that people who have them are not going. As IIATMS quotes: A few weeks back, we went to a friends' house for an afternoon. While watching the Masters with my friend (a Wall Streeter), we were discussing this and he made an interesting point. He said to me: "Jason, even if I had those great seats that cost $2500 a ticket, I can't take a client there. It's not worth the risk." I asked him about what risk he was talking about and his answer surprised me as I hadn't thought of that: "If someone recognizes me sitting behind the dugout and it comes out that I used my Firm's resources for those seats, and we've taken TARP money from the government, I don't want that sort of publicity or getting calls from The Post." He's not a famous guy at all, but there's a fear that someone might see him and he'll get "outted" for using Firm money to attend a game. He also told me that he's not alone with this fear. Jason's article is worth reading all the way through multiple times, but that point is one I didn't think of until he mentioned it.

5. Shysterball quotes Jason's post but also says that the Yankees might do a do-over on pricing for some of those tickets. I have no clue how they'd do this. None. Especially if Jason's post is true and the tickets are sold but not used. But even if they're sold, how do you tell people who paid $2600 for the seats that you've just sold the ones next to them for a third of the price? Doesn't seem fair. Rob Neyer thinks they'll absolutely lower them.

6. I can't tell you how upset this New York Post article (and this subsequent Deadspin post) got me about Freddy not being allowed into NYS. Him and Yogi are going to turn 85 next year. The Yankees finally did a mea culpa a few years ago with Yogi and treated him correctly--they need to do the same with Freddy and have them both celebrate their time with the Yankees together. Part of the fan experience is hearing that pan and spoon every game.

7. The other problem is the homer-happy-ness of NYS. Brian Cashman says the Yankees are monitoring the home runs and Jayson Stark has some of the unbelievable numbers. Deadspin picks it up as well and quotes both Buster Olney's column and Hit Tracker's view of how shallow the walls of the new stadium really are to put "Coors Field East" in perspective. Though Greg Rybarczyk of Was Watching thinks it's because the balls are juiced.

8. Other Yankees news: Jerry Crasnick has a good look at two new New York outfielders (Brett Gardner and Daniel Murphy), Peter Abraham looks at Melky vs. Gardner, George King looks at some possible replacements if Xavier Nady has to have surgery (he mentions Jason Repko and Austin Kearns) and Ken Davidoff has a great blog post on the rollercoaster Yankee career of Jason Giambi.

9. Lastly, Fack Youk finds class division in NYS...in the men's bathroom stalls. Now this is really an exposé. Also, New Stadium Insider on the cookout that went on at the old, very sad looking, partially demolished old Yankee Stadium. Not for the faint of heart/nostalgic.

And Now For Some Non-Sports News...

The blog has been heavily sports lately with a few respites for deals and TV. Figured I'd get into some other good links I have:

 

-President Barack Obama is about to get a super Blackberry according to the Washington Times

-This is sort of sports-related, but Condi Rice may be joining HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, according to Deadspin. That should make for some interesting arguments.

-New York Times Freakonomics blog on Japan's very weird solution to the unemployment problem

-This is a crazy story from White Plains and my hometown of Scarsdale on what happens when a fed up mom finally acts on her threat to just kick the kids out of the car and drive off

-Even crazier story about this "Craigslist Killer". I feel like this is ripped straight from Law & Order. If not, it's handing them a storyline on a silver plate. Wow. 

-John McCain couldn't win the 2008 presidential election and wasn't guaranteed that he'd win the 2010 Senate election. But now Ben Smith from Politico reports that he may not even win his party's primary. Jeez...talk about a fall from grace. Though the guy that is running against him scares me a bit...

-New York Times columnist (and fellow Brandeis alum) Thomas Friedman has a column this week that talks about skinny dipping and then goes to talk about children so...(just kidding). It's actually an interesting article about how we've fallen behind on education in our country but there is hope with people moving into the teaching sector because of the bad economy.

-Also from the Times, an article from the Magazine looking into why our brains aren't thinking Green

-Lastly from the Times, how is Disney drawing more boy viewers to its network? Science

-Brandeis gets mentioned in this Wall Street Journal article but at least some other universities are getting some media slack (H/T Zack)

-I though it was a little rough when I read in this article that a New Jersey girl got charged with child pornography for sexting pictures of...herself. But after reading this Wall Street Journal article, I think this is getting out of hand on both sides. The only people who win in this situation? Teenage boys (oh to be a teenager again in the age of cell phones and MySpace...just kidding!)

-I actually had no clue that J. Peterman Company was a real company and I enjoyed reading about it and the color red over at my other blog for Astron Solutions in a post by Jennifer.

-I don't take I-95 in Connecticut because of traffic, but after this report from the Stamford Advocate, I'm not taking it for fear of being attacked by bikers (H/T Wendy)

-Some more articles interesting articles (H/T Wendy. All from Yahoo! News): Woman saved from gunshot by bra, "Dog the Bounty Hunter" shot at, and if you see someone with an old Nokia 1100, they could be part of a criminal underground

-How did the "Baby Shaker" iPhone app get past Apple?

-Jay-Z defends Michael Phelps

-Lastly, forgot to put this a few weeks back, but the guest list for President Obama's White House Seder from MSNBC's First Read

 

Starting 9: 4/23/09 (On the Rangers and Other News...)

1) The New York Rangers took a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven series against the Washington Capitals last night. The Rangers were a team that played without an identity for many years before the lockout. Since? They've been identified by two men: Henrik Lundqvist and, until this year, Jaromir Jagr. This year, only King Henrik is left and he is by far the best player on the Rangers. By far as in: if the Caps decided to field a team of 5 position players from these two teams, would there even be any Rangers on it? The answer is probably no (though the Broadway Blueshirts may sneak in a defenseman next to Mike Green). Henrik Lundqvist has carried this series (The Rangers LoHud blog points out--truthfully--that if you switched goalies, this would be an easy sweep for the Caps). Can he carry them another round? Another few rounds? To the finals? We'll get into that a little bit later.

2) Steve Zipay of Newsday and Andrew Gross of the Bergen Record openly ask whether Avery should play in Game 5? I say yes. But on a much tighter leash. Avery's antics at the end of the game could have cost the Rangers a game. And this was one of the first times we've seen him this unhinged in his Rangers career. Previously, Tom Renney had been able to keep him calm; but he just blew up under Tortorella. Bad sign?

3) I think Avery be moved down in the rotation with Freddy Sjostrom moving up. While Avery (like Jagr before him) should NEVER be in the last two minutes of a game where you have a one goal lead, Sjostrom should be in there as much as possible. He's their best penalty killer and probably best defensive player. He's an unheralded Callahan, a guy who plays with grit and speed and does all the little things to win, including drawing a big penalty

4) As a Yankees fan post-2004, I hate hearing this type of math from the LoHud Rangers blog: 229 teams have gone up 3-1 in a best-of-seven series in the Stanley Cup playoffs and only 20 teams have come back (8.7%). There is hope for Washington. As I've pointed out before, this is a Rangers team that gave up more goals than they scored in the regular season. But they've done the same so far in the postseason and have a 3-1 lead in the series. The Caps were down 3-1 last year to the Flyers and forced a Game 7 before bowing out. And there has been no momentum so far in these playoffs. The Caps lost two at home and then shut out the Rangers 4-0 in MSG, following it up with last night's loss. The Rangers just seem to have more players sacrificing whether on blocked shots on individual efforts. Chris Drury is one, as he's playing with what most people think is a broken wrist (and his fluttering goal last night may have proven so) and, as I said before, the Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist and Pierre LeBrun of ESPN likens him to a Patrick Roy in this comparison. This series is not over yet, but if King Henrik continues to play like this, the Caps are in serious trouble.

5) Last hockey comment: one of the reason for the Rangers success has to be their 67% success rate on faceoffs (as ESPN noted), including an insane 88% for Brandon Dubinsky. One of those Dubinsky faceoff wins led directly to Paul Mara's goal.

6) The NFL draft is coming up this weekend and the big question before for the Giants is whether they are going to acquire Braylon Edwards or Anquan Boldin or neither one. Gary Myers breaks down the two players for the Daily News. But it may not matter. Despite reports that the Giants were close to a deal with the Browns for Edwards in exchange for the two picks they got for Jeremy Shockey and a receiver, word is that the Browns are holding out for Mathias Kiwanuka and a first round pick! I agree with Ralph Vacchiano who thinks that's insanity. Luckily, ESPN's Sal Paolantonio is reporting the Giants think so also (H/T Paul).

7) I was a big fan of Darren Rovell when he was with ESPN but just recently got into his column, Sports Biz, for CNBC. Some New York-centric highlights from recent posts: A look at how close Bernie Madoff and the Mets owners were and a post on how advertising has moved on to include the tarp.

8) I was going to post this article a week ago, but I wanted to understand it before I did, but I still don't understand the "fourth-out rule" so I'm just going to post this article about it from MLB.com and let you figure it out for me.

9) Lastly, I'm heading up to Boston this weekend to catch the Yankees and Red Sox on Saturday afternoon from on top of the Green Monster. In Boston's honor I have Deadspin on Patriot's Day and a pretty freaking intense Boston sports tattoo.

You Know How I Know You Suck?

When you get traded for nothing at all. I was reading through MLBTradeRumors.com last night and came upon this gem about former Met, Jason Tyner:

 

According to Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers acquired Jason Tyner from the Brewers today. Tyner, 32, will report to the Tigers' AAA club in Toledo to fill the spot of Ryan Raburn, who was promoted to the big league club today.

Strangely, Morosi writes that there were no other players or cash involved in the deal; Tigers Director of Minor League Operations Dan Lunetta says the Brewers simply assigned his contract to the Tigers organization.

 

At that point, I think it's better to just retire with dignity. I would have actually done the same thing at the end of last season with Wilson Betemit (or just traded him for a bag of balls), but the Yankees somehow got Nick Swisher for him. Though I'm beginning to feel like maybe the feel like maybe the White Sox are mismanaged because, according to Jon Heyman, "[they] would have traded Swisher for a bag of balls". I'm beginning to think that maybe there was a third team involved in this deal who received said bag of balls to facilitate this transaction. Either way, that Tyner bit made me laugh. Not exactly Cy Young being traded for a suit (true story), but pretty funny.

 

Other funny baseball trades from the National Post:

 

5. On April 25, 1962, the Cleveland Indians sent catcher Harry Chiti to the New York Mets for cash and a player to be named later. That player arrived on June 15 — and it was Chiti.
4. In 1931, Chattanooga Lookouts owner Joe Engel traded shortstop Johnny Jones to Charlotte for a 25-pound turkey, which he reportedly had prepared for the local media, saying Charlotte “came out ahead on that deal — that turkey was tough.”
3. Pitcher Tim Fortugno joined the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization in 1989, when his minor-league team, the Reno Silver Sox, agreed to pull the trigger on a deal for US$2,500 — and 12 dozen baseballs.
2. Before they could pry pitcher Ken Krahenbuhl from the Pacific Suns in 1998, the Greenville Bluesmen had to agree to part with cash, a player and 10 pounds of Mississippi catfish.
1. In a move that alters the meaning of “fantasy baseball,” New York Yankees pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich announced, in 1973, that they had traded not only their wives, but their children and pets. “We may have to call off Family Day,” general manager Lee MacPhail said.

David Cone Played With Some Pretty Great Players

Baseball-reference.com is one of my favorite sites. I'm not sure if it's new, but I stumbled upon for the first time, a feature I hadn't seen before under Oracle of Baseball. It allows you to see connections and degrees of separation between players. One search I wanted to do was for a list of players one step away from David Cone. I knew Coney had played with some pretty great players over a pretty great career (borderline Hall of Fame). But I was amazed by the list I got. Listed below are the Hall of Fame, probably Hall of Fame, possible Hall of Fame, should-have-been Hall of Fame players, and other notable players that David Cone played with over his career. It's a pretty ridiculous list (and doesn't even include guys like Vince Coleman and Hideki Irabu who were more infamous than famous).

 

Hall of Fame:

Dave Winfield

Gary Carter

Wade Boggs

George Brett

Eddie Murray

Paul Molitor

 

Probable Hall of Fame (guys who I think are definitely in eventually):

Jeff Kent

Roger Clemens (minus that whole steroids thing)

Tom Glavine

Derek Jeter

Manny Ramirez

Mariano Rivera

Pedro Martinez

Mike Piazza

 

Possible Hall of Fame:

Jorge Posada (numbers for a catcher are tremendous)

Roberto Alomar (numbers for a 2nd baseman are tremendous)

Andy Pettitte (if he has a big season, he'll be awfully close)

Tim Raines (he should be in but the voters are stupid at times)

 

Should-have-been Hall of Fame:

Kevin Brown (if he hadn't totally sucked after getting huge contract)

Nomar Garciaparra (if he had been able to keep healthy)

Doc Gooden (if he hadn't done drugs)

Darryl Strawberry (if he also hadn't done drugs)

Jose Canseco (whole steroids thing probably did him in)

Willie Randolph (maybe if he played in a different era because his stats are really similar to Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese, Dave Bancroft, and Red Schoendienst)

Don Mattingly (if his back had held up)

 

Other Notable Players

Bernie Williams, Al Leiter, David Wells, Joe Carter, Jose Reyes, Jack McDowell, John Wetteland, Paul O'Neill, John Olerud, John Franco, Jimmy Key, Tom Gordon, Tino Martinez, Ruben Sierra, Bobby Bonilla, and Cecil Fielder

Don't Be So Quick To Move Jeter To The Outfield

Many people have told me it's time to move Derek Jeter off of short. I somewhat agree with that. He's bad defensively to the point where he hurts the team at times and he's not going to get better any time soon. And with Jeter's contract coming up at the end of 2010, it seems like the perfect time to move him off of shortstop while we still have good memories of his time there. With only Chien-Ming Wang a true groundball pitcher (and he hasn't been that this season...but that's another story), the Yankees can afford to lose a few runs on defense as long as Captain Jetes makes it up with his bat (that also is another story).

 

But some people want him moved off short. And they want him moved off NOW. And where do they want him to go? Leftfield or centerfield, mostly. Though some call for 3rd base (and A-Rod to be moved to short--ha ha) or 2nd base (and Cano to be moved to left--ha ha). But mostly, they want Jeter to move to the outfield. The claim is that he's good on pop ups and fast so he would be good at the outfield.

 

The problem? That's shitty reasoning (under the same reasoning, should we move Mariano Rivera to centerfield since he's good at catching BP flies out there?). The latest example? Daniel Murphy. After another costly error in left last night, some bloggers such as this post on the Mets Report are calling for the "Daniel Murphy Experiment" to end now (Matthew Cerrone over at MetsBlog is a little more lenient but does call for the end to the sloppy play). And if they feel this with Murphy in Flushing, imagine what they'll feel with Jeter in the Bronx. Imagine if he misplays a few fly balls to cost the Yankees games. The man has given so much to the Yankees organization, is it worth throwing him out there to try just because he's good at pop ups and then not worrying about the consequences and embarrassment if he can't field the position well? And who is going to replace Jeter at SS? Ramiro Pena is a nice utility player and has a great glove, but are we ready to have him play everyday? And, although I am usually against defining a players bat by his position, will Jeter's bat be able to justify him being a corner outfielder?

 

The thing is that the Yankees do have a position for Jeter: designated hitter. After this season, Xavier Nady, Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon are all free agents. My wish for Jeter next season is DH for 65% of the time and SS for 35%. This would allow for Jeter to get some time in the field and slowly transition off of SS. It would also allow for guys like Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez to get days off of the field to DH. This transition may have to wait until Jeter's contract is up, but I think it's the only safe way to go. The last thing you want is for Derek Jeter's last days in Pinstripes to be remembered for his bungling play in the outfield.

Amazing: Mike Francesa's Guide To Pronunciation

Just watch (H/T Ian)...



Some others to add:
Joba = Jober
Hughes = Use
Jeter = Jetar

Any other Francesaisms?

A Look At Citi Field

At Brandeis I was part of the student radio station, WBRS. My senior year I became sports director of the radio station and I've made sure to listen in and keep in touch since I left. So it was really cool seeing these videos of some WBRS sports members on the field at Citi/Taxpayer Field and interviewing Brandeis alum, Nelson Figueroa, on the WBRS website. Since then Figueroa has been designated for assignment in favor of Casey Fossum and his wife wrote about how upset he is on the family's blog...but we still have some Brandeis pride there. Now to the videos:

Thhhheeee Yankees Win!

Pic of the crowd leaving (chanting "Let's Go Rangers!"). Good win by the Yankees and a great crowd minus the empty rich seats. Weird lighting/fog over the stadium by the end.

4 games attended, 4 Yankee wins. Hopefully that continues as I stand atop the Green Monster on Saturday!

-Andrew