Results tagged ‘ Yankee Stadium ’
MERRY TEX-MAS!!
Oh my god, what an offseason. I mean, wow. We’ve got Mark Teixeira!
Just amazing. The Yankees of old are back and wiser. Sure, we thought we were all set with Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, but this is CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Mark Teixeira (and almost surely another pitcher) we’re talking about! They have real track records. Well, Burnett not so much, but we seem to be convinced he’s healthy. Back to Teixeira. It’s an 8 year contract worth up to $180 million with a no-trade clause (something that he surely required after being traded out of both Texas and Atlanta). What a strange offseason it was for Teixeira. He started out asking for 10 years and a destination by Christmas. 10 years was not going to happen, and it started out with the Nationals, Orioles, and Angels in the running for him. Then the Red Sox jumped in, and were very close to a deal, then suddenly “not a factor”. Then the Angels drew out. Just yesterday, the Nationals seemed to be the frontrunners. Then the Yanks swooped in and grabbed him, culminating his offseason, and he got his wish, same as many many Yankee fans.
I’m now looking forward to a roster that looks something like this:
ROTATION
or 
or 
or 
in the 4-5 spots.
BULLPEN
LINEUP
LF 
SS 
1B 
3B 
RF 
C 
DH 
2B 
CF 
or 
or someone better…
BENCH
Something like that… Of course, A-Rod could hit third and Tex cleanup, but yeah. You get my point. One move has made our roster MUCH MUCH deeper. If we don’t make the playoffs now, I’m gonna be pissed…. But we shouldn’t have to worry about that, I think. It would seem that we’re going all out for Number 27 in ’09. We have now signed 2 of the 4 super free agents (Sabathia, K-Rod, Tex, Manny). We could still make it 3, even though now I don’t think it’s a requirement to sign Manny. It’d be a nice bonus, but it’s not vital. We do have another pitcher coming, though.
The Angels are reportedly out of the Manny race, leaving the Dodgers and Yankees as his only serious pursuers at this point. Without much competition, if the Yankees sign Manny and another pitcher, it could go down as the best offseason in history and give us a Murderer’s Row and, in the words of Vanessa, a Murderer’s Row-tation.
In the first two games in Yankee Stadium, exhibition contests versus the Cubs, bleacher seats will be sold at 25 cents, same as Opening Day 1923. Sadly, I will not be able to join in these festivities, but I would snatch up a couple of those tickets if I were you.
Thank you and goodnight.
Much News, But Nothing Really Big…
The biggest news may be the National League MVP, winning his second, Jose Alberto Pujols.
I think he deserved it, but he didn’t seem to get a ton of recognition for his godly season. He hit .357, boosting his career average to .334. He hit 37 homers, surpassing 300 on his 8 year career, and will pass 1,000 RBIs next year. He also scored 1 more run than last year, bouncing back from his first sub-100 run season, with 99 in ’07. Is he headed for the Hall Of Fame? Tell me your opinion.
Secondly, apparently there are ”nine or 10″ teams interested in Rafael Furcal.
As it said on mlb.com, the A’s and Giants are after the shortstop. So are the Dodgers (well, yeah) and Cardinals, but those are the only ones specified. So, after his fluky .366 average in 32 games before missing most of the season, do you think the four years and $10 million a year he’s asking is too much, or too big a risk.
Third, it was announced today that the Yankees would open the new Yankee Stadium versus the Cubs in a pair of exhibition games on the 3rd and 4th of April.
Since there is nothing really controversial about this (I think it’s cool), I don’t have a question for you about it.
Finally, I’ve seen murmurs of a weird trade going down.
Dontrelle Willis for Julio Lugo? Two bad contracts for each other? What do you think of this? It’s a terrifying thought the Red Sox are clearing up the shortstop position for Mike Lowell or Kevin Youkilis, so first base is open for M-M-Mark T-T-Te- No! Don’t jinx it! Tell me what you think.
I’m Back!
Hello readers (insert sarcasm), sorry I was gone for a while there. First on our agenda, we have my assessment (I think that’s spelled wrong) of the All Star Game. What a contest! Unusually good defense. Derek Jeter said it best when he simply stated, “The Stadium just didn’t want to let go.” One question: How many of the esteemed predictors, the “experts”, the senior advisors who make the smart predictions, or the average Joes who make brash, crazy predictions for shock value, would have seen in their crystal ball that J.D. Drew, in a Red Sox uniform, the one who was booed in his home park in his first season, would be cheered at Yankee Stadium in the All Star Game for game-tying two run homer late in the game? Out of all those categories, I bet the number of people who could have seen that coming is zero. Zip. Nada. Goose Egg. Nil. But it went and happened anyway. And that later, he would win the ASG MVP? 15 innings of close calls, surprise heroes (Aaron Cook, Drew, Miguel Tejada, George Sherrill, Evan Longoria) and surprise goats (mostly Dan Uggla, but some Ervin Santana). Ah, Uggla. Unless you are a baseball fan and you were trapped under a rock or in a coma until this moment, you probably know about his errors, so I won’t cover that. The use of all the players was interesting, but luckily it ended in time so we didn’t have to turn to Drew and David Wright to pitch. But you guys have all heard about the All Star Game, so let’s hear about me! Just kidding. That would be an immensely boring story involving, well, nothing of interest to you. Anyway, I ask you, MLBlog nation, to feel free to leave comments, and tell me, what do you make of the signing of Richie Sexson? I think it may work. Jason Giambi versus right handers plus Richie Sexson versus lefties adds up to this: a .285 average and 18 homers with 50 RBIs in 239 at bats, about half a full season. That projects to a .285-36 homer-100 RBI full season. If they platoon and produce at the same rate for a full year, it’s like signing Lance Berkman with a lower batting average. So I just convinced myself it was a good move. By the way, it’s 7-1 Yanks, so unless they collapse (don’t count that out), Moose will go to 12-6, further proving my point that he should have been an All Star.
Those are the photos I have for you so far. Hope I’ll be back at the end of the game.
Should Morneau have won?
So Justin Morneau won the Home Run Derby,
despite hitting 13 less than Josh Hamilton. Hamilton had 28
first round homers, and I must ask you and myself, should the
Twins’ first sacker have won? I don’t know. Some of you may
have heard about his dream, in which he won the Home Run
Derby in Yankee Stadium, and he would have had the old rules
been still in effect. Justin Morneau is someone who is a
great player, a great power hitter, and someone who I would
snatch up if the trade was offered to me in a minute, but he
likely won’t be remembered when folks think of the 2008 Home
Run Derby, just Josh Hamilton and those 28
shots.
Something about Robby
Check this out. I was just looking through some pictures of Robinson Cano, my favorite current Yankee (as I write this, I’m wearing a T-shirt of him that I got on my trip to Yankee Stadium), and I noticed this thing:
Those are pictures of him tripling and doubling, respectively, during the past week. What I’m noticing is that his form is almost exactly the same. The reason I felt the need to point this out is that he is typically a slow starter (not a well-kept secret, his first half career average is .283, versus .334 after the Midsummer Classic), and the reason most hitters go out of whack is because of their mechanics. So the case I’m making here is against the naysayers. The case I’m making is that this is just a slower start than usual. Bernie Williams (my favorite all time Yankee) was a slow starter, too, and thanks to George Steinbrenner’s suspension, he got time to work through early career struggles. I say we give Robby a chance. Just look at where Bernie is now in the hallowed halls of Yankee history.
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