2009-2010 Hot Stove Thread

[ghost of miles]

Eh? Joe Mauer's single-shoulda-been-a-double in the top of the 11th, game 2 of the ALDS? Well, as somebody else out there in Comments Land put it:

Really? The ump blew a call, and so that makes the Yankees cheaters? I suppose the Twins are cheaters, too, since there was a blown call in their one game playoff with the Tigers that cost the Tigers a run. And that blown call would 100% guaranteed have resulted in a run. Mauer got on base anyway, so this blown call cost him a base. With the leadoff runner on second and first base open, Girardi likely would have intentionally walked the next batter to set up the double play. The end result of which would have been exactly what we wound up with last night - Mauer on second, another Twin on first, and nobody out.

It's not the Yankees' fault the Twins could not score with the bases loaded and nobody out. It certainly doesn't make them cheaters that the ump blew a call. It happens in sports, get over it.

Geez, and here I was gonna be a nice guy and post the clip of Suzuki's walkoff HR against Rivera from last September for ya... Well, just to be a gracious sort, I'll do it anyway:

Suzuki's walkoff against Rivera

...but then I have to post one of my favorite memories of ALDS Game 2.

[Matthew]

Suzuki's walkoff against Rivera

This past week I watched replays of that game, and the one before, where Ichiro had a walk off single. I loved the little shuffle-dance-step he did right before touching home plate. Now I really know baseball is around the corner, as I just renewed by mlb.tv premium subscription.

[BERIGAN]

Ahh, spring is about to be sprung....

Cannot wait to see Jason Heyward in action! From the beat writer at the AJC, in a middle of his blog....

Wish I’d been able to file blog comment from field, because the Jason Heyward batting-practice session was pretty memorable. Really was outstanding, for any day not to mention the first day.

“He’s strong as an ox,” said Terry Pendleton, who was throwing BP when Heyward hit, and nearly had his head taken off by a liner that Heyward hit up the middle off the edge of the T-screen..

“Every ball was just scalded,” Bobby Cox said, smiling. Then Cox compared the sound of the ball coming off Heyward’s bat to the sound it made coming off — ready for it — Hank Aaron’s bat.

“I”m not putting him in that class” of player yet, Cox said, making sure he was clear. “But the sound is the same. It’s different.”

Folks, the kid hits balls harder than anyone I’ve ever seen except Cliff Floyd and Gary Sheffield, and he hits them as hard as either of those guys. So many screaming line drives to right field, and when he gets one up a little, it’s a blast that carries waaaay beyond the fence. He crushed one ball that nailed a Coca-Cola truck that was slowly rolling past the right-center fence.

Then two swings later, he smoked another ball that sailed completely over the same truck when it was parked in the lot beyond right field.

“Kid can hit,” Eric Hinske announced as the veteran uitlity man jumped in to hit after a couple more rockets that Heyward hit out to right-center. “Looks like he’s everything he’s been built up to be.”

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2010/02/22/coxs-first-day-speech-will-presumably-be-his-last/comment-page-4/

[Quincy]

“Kid can hit,” Eric Hinske announced

Okay, you saved yourself at the end with marginal Yankee content.

I love the "kid can hit" stories of spring.

[Dan Gould]

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Yeah, its only spring training but its still baseball and its still on TV, so this is a pretty good day in the grand scheme of things.

But let no Yankee fan complain about how MLB treats their team - MLB Network is showing four straight MFY games. I mean, WTF? Every day for four straight days, a Yankee spring training game is being shown. Four out of nine broadcasts include the Yankees.

On the other hand, I can see where certain other fans might just go right on hating both the Yanks and Red Sox, because those two are on the spring training broadcast schedule ahead of any other team, and its not even close.

[BERIGAN]

I'm sure you all want to hear more about the JHey kid!

I saw that single described below on baseball tonight, whizzed past the first baseman, then was being scooped up by the right fielder like a ball hit in front of him. First baseman are going to fear this guy!

“Everybody knows he belongs,” catcher Brian McCann said of Heyward, Baseball American’s 2009 minor league Player of the Year. “It’s just a matter of getting used to the big-league pitching, how quick the adjustments are made.

“But he’s the best 20-year-old I’ve ever seen.”

He didn’t hit any tape-measure homers like he has during car-denting batting-practice displays at Braves camp. But he scorched a single down the right-field line that drew a few oohs and ahhs.

Former Mets star and broadcaster Keith Hernandez called it a “Willy McCovey shot,” and Cox said it was “the hardest-hit single you’re ever going to see in your life.”

Edited March 3, 2010 by BERIGAN

[Brad]

Nice article about Justin Heyward in today's Times. See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/sports/baseball/03mets.html?ref=baseball.

Funny last line in the article: "His family is from Queens, he loves the Yankees and he hits long home runs for the Braves. Sounds like a bad combination for the Mets." Had me crackin' up.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Brad

[Matthew]

Yankees already kicking players & manager under the bus:

Hal Steinbrenner says the New York Yankees won't alter their policy against contract extensions and will deal with Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Joe Girardi after the season.

Think these three are gone after this season

[Dan Gould]

Girardi will be gone by the ASB.

In news from the real world, the Twins will be in trouble if Joe Nathan ends up requiring Tommy John surgery. Sounds like it will be two weeks before they make a decision but if the ligament is torn its far more likely he goes under the knife than not.

[BERIGAN]

Yankees already kicking players & manager under the bus:

Hal Steinbrenner says the New York Yankees won't alter their policy against contract extensions and will deal with Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Joe Girardi after the season.

Think these three are gone after this season

There's NO way the Yankees kick Jeter and Rivera(Unless he has a major injury) to the curb. This is just the way the Yankees have done contracts. Jeter is less than 2 seasons away from 3000 hits. All the money that team has, and Jeter gets to 3000 with some other team??? There would be hell to pay. No way, no how....

Giradi??? You never know with Yankee managers, but unless they end up in 4th place at the end of the season, I imagine he will be back as well.

[Quincy]

There's NO way the Yankees kick Jeter and Rivera(Unless he has a major injury) to the curb. This is just the way the Yankees have done contracts. Jeter is less than 2 seasons away from 3000 hits. All the money that team has, and Jeter gets to 3000 with some other team??? There would be hell to pay. No way, no how....

It's just smart baseball business to see how the economy goes and how another year of aging effects Jeter. A double dip recession means they likely don't have to spend as much, and if Jeter starts showing his age then you don't go beyond the 3000th hit for length of contract. But the latter event will surely keep him there, and it will be expensive. But given the championships & revenue he's helped the franchise generate it'll be well spent for past service if nothing else.

[Matthew]

There's NO way the Yankees kick Jeter and Rivera(Unless he has a major injury) to the curb. This is just the way the Yankees have done contracts. Jeter is less than 2 seasons away from 3000 hits. All the money that team has, and Jeter gets to 3000 with some other team??? There would be hell to pay. No way, no how....

It's just smart baseball business to see how the economy goes and how another year of aging effects Jeter. A double dip recession means they likely don't have to spend as much, and if Jeter starts showing his age then you don't go beyond the 3000th hit for length of contract. But the latter event will surely keep him there, and it will be expensive. But given the championships & revenue he's helped the franchise generate it'll be well spent for past service if nothing else.

I think that Hal Steinbrenner wants to build his own team, and to do that, he has to get rid of those core players who have been there the last fourteen years or so. Steinbrenner hubris is still alive and well in the Bronx.

Edited March 9, 2010 by Matthew

[Dan Gould]

Huh? 189 million dollars wasn't enough to cover his performance over the last ten years, he should get paid on old performance in his next contract?

The reality is that Jeter has an enormous ego and will insist on a contract that lasts as long as he wants, for as much as he wants, with no understanding, formal or informal, that he would ever be moved off of SS. And don't think that A-Rod's contract won't set the parameters.

And the Yankees will pay it.

[BERIGAN]

Saw highlights of Aroldis Chapman on Baseball tonight, yesterday...even with the less the ideal camera angle, you could tell he was real good. Apparently, from those that saw him in person, better than real good!

Can't wait to see some of these kids play!!!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/03/08/chapman.debut/

[Matthew]

Very sad to read about the death of Willie Davis today. I remember he was my favorite Dodger player growing up, in fact, the first mlb game I saw, Padres vs. Dodgers, he had a thirty game hitting streak stopped. He was an exciting player, and I also remember how amazed Jerry Doggett always was at Davis' deep, baritone voice. RIP 3-Dog

[Dave James]

End of an era.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-418569?hpt=T2

[Brad]

I don't know about Girardi but Jeter and Mariano aren't going anywhere. They will be Yankees for the rest of their careers and that's the way it should be.

[ghost of miles]

End of an era.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-418569?hpt=T2

Hard to tell from watching on TV this past season, but for me the new stadium doesn't quite have the mojo of the old one, in terms of how the loudness and the intensity of the crowd comes across.

Some vintage Yankee Stadium highlights from the Jeter era:

Brosius' game-tying HR in Game 5 of 2001 WS

Jeter becomes Mr. November

Yankees win 1996 WS (one of the most magical years in Yankee history)

...and pre-Jeter:

Chris Chambliss runs for his life after walkoff HR defeats the Royals for 1976 AL championship

Edited March 12, 2010 by ghost of miles

[papsrus]

Went to see Halladay and the Phillies last Monday with dad in Bradenton. Nice park.

Halladay looked like he was working on a few things, but whenever he wanted to, it was 1-2-3 you're out! Went 6 innings, I believe. Phillies looked good. Sharp. Pirates looked not so good -- a few base running blunders. Great day at the park.

[Matthew]

Oh, frick on a stick! Mariners, just get rid of Milton Bradley,I'm already tired of his act.

[papsrus]

Slightly off topic, but DTV called the other day and offered me the MLB extra innings package free in order to get me to switch from my current plan (which is several years old and no longer offered) to a comparable new plan, which is about $2 more a month than my old plan. I'll actually be gaining 20 channels in the new plan.

I grilled two people over the phone to make sure I would be getting the MLB package free and that what they were switching me to (if I agreed) would only cost me $2 a month more, and that there were no termination fees, yada yada, and received all necessary assurances, so ... I'm apparently getting MLB Extra Innings this summer, gratis!

I won't quite believe it until I actually get the bill, but ...

Any other DTV subscribers getting this offer?

[Quincy]

Oh, frick on a stick! Mariners, just get rid of Milton Bradley,I'm already tired of his act.

(Laughing to keep from crying.) Yeah, boy, the 5% of me that talked myself into thinking it could work evaporated last week.

[Dan Gould]

I take is that is Dish TV or Dish Network? A year or so ago we switched from DirecTV to Comcast cable because we were dropping BellSouth landline phone and the combination of Comcast Cable + Cable DSL was a great deal. Plus, I kind of liked the idea of getting away from the satellite tv thing because I found it really sensitive to rainfall.

So, first the Comcast promotion ends and then they unilaterally change the channels that are in the package we had and that was the final straw. We went back to DirecTV, which offered a $30 rebate each month for six months or something like that but there wasn't any mention of any possible Extra Innings package at all. I'd have happily taken that and not gotten the three months of Showtime + whatever.

_________________________________________

Matthew - what is it that Milton Bradley has done or said that has made you sick of him already? I figured there must be something on the wire or ESPN but I couldn't find anything.

[papsrus]

I take is that is Dish TV or Dish Network? A year or so ago we switched from DirecTV to Comcast cable because we were dropping BellSouth landline phone and the combination of Comcast Cable + Cable DSL was a great deal. Plus, I kind of liked the idea of getting away from the satellite tv thing because I found it really sensitive to rainfall.

So, first the Comcast promotion ends and then they unilaterally change the channels that are in the package we had and that was the final straw. We went back to DirecTV, which offered a $30 rebate each month for six months or something like that but there wasn't any mention of any possible Extra Innings package at all. I'd have happily taken that and not gotten the three months of Showtime + whatever.

_________________________________________

Matthew - what is it that Milton Bradley has done or said that has made you sick of him already? I figured there must be something on the wire or ESPN but I couldn't find anything.

I should have been more specific. I have Direct TV.

Both people I spoke to gave me the old line about rewarding a valued customer, blah, blah. I asked them both if this offer was essentially intended to get me off of an outdated plan and into a current comparable plan and they both said yes. So that's their incentive.

The way they structured the offer is this: they give me the first three months of my new service for free (plus some movie channels to try out) and I pay $58 and change for the MLB package during this three-month period. That's a decrease of about one dollar from what I pay now for my regular service.

After the three months is up, the MLB Extra Innings package is paid for and my new monthly rate of about $62 kicks in -- which is an increase of a couple of dollars from what I currently pay for all the channels I have now. I'll be getting all the channels I have now, plus about 20 more, plus the MLB package.

Couldn't find a reason to say no, and I did spend about 20 minutes on the phone repeatedly driving home the point that my new bill after the three months will only be about $2 more than my current bill, and that Extra Innings will be paid off, but like I said, I'll believe it when I see the bill.

For that last reason, I made sure there were no early termination fees.

-----

Comcast absolutely sucks, IMO. When I had them, they were constantly shifting channels around, changing plans, adding channels I didn't want and taking away ones that I did, etc.

I wish someone would offer an a la carte menu of channels -- $40 for any 25 channels you want, something like that. Out of the hundreds of channels I have, I only tune in to about a dozen.

[Matthew]

Bradley got kick out of two in a row this weekend. How dumb can a player be? Last thing any team is a headcase like Bradley on a team -- get rid of him.