JewsForJeter

Proposed Yankee Offseason

2004-11-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

1. Sign Carlos Beltran
The main problem with this yankee team is the amount of money and years it has tied up in rapidly detiorating older players. Jason Giambi, Kevin Brown, Kenny Lofton, and Bernie Williams are all examples of this disconcerting fact of yankee life. This is the main problem most yankee fans and some officials have with signing Carlos Beltran to a big money, big year contract. Their wrong. Beltran is different than every one of those players besides maybe Bernie Williams in his prime and wont even turn 27 until the season start. Beltran's agent, Scott Boras (who also represents Alex Rodriguez and Bernie Williams), is asking for a 10 year contract that would pay somewhere between 12-15 million dollars a season once you factor in deferred money and incentive payments. Even if the yankees somehow fall for this obvious play to their big spending ways, it would still be a good signing with very little negatives. First, The yankees desperatly need a new, young, and defensive center feilder to roam the huge centerfeild at yankee stadium, and Beltran is argueably a top 5 centerfeilder in baseball. Second, he's a switch hitter with tons of power and is argueably the greatest base stealer in the past 50 years. Beltran stole 39 bases last season and was not caught once in the regular season or the postseason. Third, Beltran proved himself in front of a national audience as he and roger clemens almost singlehandedly muscled their team into the World Series. Sign Beltran, dont ask about the price.

2. Trade Kevin Brown
Get him out of New York. One of the worst meltdowns in baseball history, From Wallgate to his 1 plus inning performance in game 7 of the ALCS. Trade him for some Baseball cards, Fleer even, a pack of stale gum, and pick up all of his salary for next season (the last on his contract).

3. Pitching, Pitching, Pitching.
This is the hard part. There is not one pitcher on the market who doesnt have serious questions surronding him. Pedro Martinez is obviously the cream of the crop, but his history with the yankees players and fans combined with his steadily decreasing velocity and reliance on his breaking stuff makes him both a hard sell to fans and the team as well as a risk for anything more than a 2 year contract with a team option for a third year. The second best f.a. pitcher, Carl Pavano, also comes with some questions. He just had the best year of his career, although he tailed off slightly toward the end, and many are unsure if he can duplicate it again, especially if he moves to A.L. and doesn't get to face the pitchers spot 3-4 tiems a game. Personally, i think he's worth the risk and would be a much better signing that Pedro. So do the yankees do with their two, possibly three, rotation spots? If they concentrate on acquiring pitching through the free agent market they are going to have to take some gambles.
1. Sign Pavano
2. Sign Al Leiter/Eric Milton
3. Sign Brad Radke
4. Trade for Randy Johnson?
Could this actually happen? If it did, the yankees pitching problems would vanish, but that is a big if. First, the yankees farm system over the past five has been one of the worst in baseball and only recently has a large level of talent been built up in the lower levels of the system. While the future of the Yankee's minor league system is bright, that is about two to three years away. Not only can other teams significantly out do the yankees prospects in proposed trades, but they can also offer major league talent that the yankees cannot. Almost all of the yankees position players have huge, untradeable contracts or have the luxery of a no-trade clause. The only real major league players the yankees could offer in a trade for johnson would be Jorge Posada, The heart and soul of the team as well as a switch-hitting catcher (with a very large contract the D-backs would most likely not want a part of ) and Kenny Lofton, a 40 year malcontent who has lost almost all of his speed and feilding ability. So, even with all this conspiring against the yankees acquiring Randy Johnson before he becomes a F.A. at the end of the 2005 season, is their any possible way that the yankees could get him? Johnson has a no trade clause in the contract he signed with the d-backs, meaning that if he wants to be traded, which he desperatly does, he alone can choose which team he prefers to go to, and according to reports leaked during the build up to the trading deadline, the only team he really wants to go to is the yankees. So, if the D-backs give in and decide to trade him and he decides that the only team he wants to go to is the yankees, the D-backs will be pushed up against the wall and might have to accept some of the raw talent the yankees have at AAA columbus as well as some of the more promising lower level prospects. I'll say this, if R.J. is a yankee anytime next season, my names Jorge VanWallendorf III
5. LEFTY RELIEVER!!!
If the yankees had had a lefty relief specialist during the ALCS, they would have swept. David Ortiz would never have hit his 8th inning home run in game 4 and mariano rivera never would have given up the sac fly that tied the game. Yankees win. Solution: Sign Steve Kline.

Thats about it. The yankees core group of players is set with the signing of Beltran, giving them the young holy trinity of Beltran, A-rod and Jeter, they get younger in their starting rotation, and i can finally sleep at night without being haunted by Kevin Millars idiot rambleing.

Well...This is Awkward...

2004-11-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

Hell has offically frozen over and made this easily the worst year of my life. Lets run through it again, highlighting it through the failure of almost every mjor thing i backed in chronological order:

1. Patriots win the Super Bowl
Now this one isn't that big but it still was annoying because anytime a sports team in new england suceeds something inside of me whiters and dies. Plus, my fantasy football teams flopped at the end of the year and i had a bunch of money on Green Bay going all the way. Strike One.

2. Lakers Self-Destruct
One of the most frustrating seasons in recent memory. Any number of story lines completly defines this Laker season. Kobe's disastorious rape trial that single handely revitalized court-tv and spawned douche bag headed news programs like the Abrams Report on MSNBC. Karl Malone going on the disabled list for the first time in his illustrious career with a blown out knee and playing in only a handful of games, not to mention looking like he wanted to kick his own ass for becoming one of the biggest sell-outs in sports history. Gary Payton desperatly trying to make people think he is still a good basketball player even though he's 50 years old. The Lakers GM for thinking that 'Hey, the only thing this team needs after winning 3 out of 4 championships is 2 overpaid, over the hill, injury prone and selfish former all-stars to really bring us over the top and into that next level of contenders'. I could probably think of about 10 more without even mentioning Kobe and Shaq's bickering war. Well the team got what it deserved and after underacheiving the entire season grinded through the postseason playing selfish baseketball only to be humiliated by an actual team in the detroit pistons.

3. Summer
Nothing better than going home for the summer and working 40-45 hours a week for 7.25 cents an hour until you realize that your doing exactly that in a state 3,000 miles away from your old home. The saving grace of summer? Getting to go to a whole bunch of yankee games and watching almost every game on tv for the entire summer. So its almost a wash when your as big a fan as i am.

4. 2004 ALCS Yankee's vs. Red Sox (The Choke)...
This has increasingly become the 'moment you do not speak of' within my family. It didnt get much worse than this. Up three games to zero against the Red Sox the yankees proceeded to lose four straight games, something we only did once during the 162 game regular season as far as i can tell, and were eliminated from the playoffs. The biggest choke in baseball and one of the main reasons why i could turn into a full blown alcoholic at the age of 20. Easily one of the most depressing, disapointing moments of my entire life as evidenced by the amount of physical destruction done to my room over those four games.

5. Four more Years...
This one was almost as hard to swallow as the yankees choke fest, and even more damaging because i have to wait for more years to see one of the worst people in american politics ousted from office. I can just imagine listening to my kids look at me weird over my generations relelection of this ridiculous president and his distorting of the american mindset. I can barely even write about my feelings over this now, so i will get back to it when im calmer about the situation.

Speaking of which...

2004-10-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Kevin Millar...You Suck.

Start Spreading the News (Sinatra Style...)

2004-10-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

Is there anybody better than Mariano Rivera in the game? Is there anybody better than Rivera ever? He's truly amazing. After two close relatives of his died tragically at his home in Panama he flew to Panama, attended the funeral (weeping during most of the procession), boarded a plane and arrived at the Stadium in the second inning of game one, and shut the door on the a huge, out of nowhere Red Sox rally throwing his trademark disgustingly good cut fastball. Rivera pitched for the final out of the 8th after Tom Gordon got into a little trouble then pitched an great ninth. Bellhorn led off and grounded out to Olerud. Then Manny grinded out a tough at bat before he doubled into the left-center gap. Then David Ortiz, who absolutely owns Mariano Rivera (Hitting .538 with 0 homers and only 1 k) struck out swinging at a 95 mile per hour cutter that was absolutely unhittable. After the hulking, test tube grown monstrosity struck out, it was time for the dirtiest man alive to try and 'cowboy up' and inspire people with the most disgusting beard the world has ever seen. I mean, you all saw the pictures of Saddam after he got captured? This is ten times worse than that. Put the two next to each other and you'll have hard time eating for a few days afterwards. I don't think he even showers regularly. "Hey I'm Kevin Millar, the Boston Media's darling, come write down this totally outrageous, off the cuff quote I'm about to drop! Look at my beard! Aren't I likeable and fun?!" The beard is even different colors like he highlighted it or something. What the hell is that? It's like a horrible car accident or a high speed/high risk police chase you pass on the freeway or see on TV or some really stupid reality TV show like 'Wife Swap' or 'The Littlest Groom'. You just cant help starring and hoping you might see some carnage. Well the carnage is there all right, blonde highlighted carnage. Anyway, Rivera struck Millar down like a policemen beating a hobo with his night stick, except nightstick is a metaphor for a 96 mile per hour fastball and hobo is a metaphor for Dirts McGee Kevin Millar. That's it, game over, turn on the Sinatra version of New York, New York (they play a different recording whenever the Yanks lose, I forget who it is though), and take the lead 2-0 back to Boston. Jeter had a great quote after the game, saying to Peter Gammons of ESPN, "Everybody forgot to tell Mussina and Leiber they were sideshows." Through the first 6 innings of each game the Red Sox's are 0/18 and 1/19 respectively. That's an amazing stat for such a good offensive team against a team with apparently 'suspect' pitching. Meanwhile, early CNN polls have Kerry winning the third debate about 55% to 39% but ill save that whole argument for after I see the debate rerun tomorrow and read some more in depth critiques. The Cardinals beat the Astros 10-7 and send the 'ace' of their staff (who's struggled lately) against a guy named Peter Munro (Who nobody except maybe 5% of the people watching the game will know). Series over there. Anyways, Kevin Millar and Curt Schilling, I don't like either of you. End.

Who's Your Daddy? Apparently John Olerud.

2004-10-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

Three run shot from John Olerud pulls the Yanks ahead 3-0. How old is this guy, like 50? Hanging fastball from pedro and Olerud hit a laser into the right field stands, I mean this thing was gone in about a second and a half. I've been to Yankee stadium many times and the only time I've heard the crowd louder than they we're during the 'Who's your Daddy?' chant was during the 2001 World Series (Actually four instances for this one: Tino's Game tieing homer in the bottom of the ninth, Jeter's Game winning shot later in that game, Brosius's homer the next day, and the Paul O'Neill chant) and the Aaron 'Bleeping' Boone series clinching home run during last years ALCS. Normally you can barely make out the chants during the game if your watching on TV but these are very clear and really loud even with low volume. Leiber is still pitching an absolute gem, where did this guy come from? Yeah he had a twenty win season with the Cubs, but he still had a 4.00 plus era AND he had Tommy john surgery just over a year and a half ago. Normally it takes 2 years to completely regain form after Tommy john surgery, but he's done it a lot sooner than that. Amazing. Meanwhile, the Astros have gotten sloppy and gave up their lead and are down 6-4, the presidential debate is running out of steam faster than Joan rivers at the Oscar's (BAM), and john Lieber gets out of the 7th with a double play. If I was gay I would give this guy a whole lotta Man-Love. Yeah thats right, Man-Love. Hot.Steamy. Dirty. Man-Love.

President Bush, John Leiber, and Smirking

2004-10-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

WOW. Bush just interruptted Kerry in the middle of his rebuttal and basically restated his tired statement of how liberal/flip-floping/Wrong he is. The man did everything but call Mr. Kerry a Gay, Black Arab who supports terrorism and burning the constitution. On top that he ran out of steam about 10 seconds into his bashing and had to switch gears into one of his prefabricated 'Ted Kennedy is your best friend you pansy liberal bastard' lines. On top of THAT he said wooo-e about three times and has a rather large speck of spit on the right side of his face. I dont understand how anybody can take Bush seriously, Kerry gives the facts of the situation in numbers and records and Bush, who has no strength on domestic issues and he knows it, brings out the same old arguements that we've seen time and time again in every single Bush/Cheney campaign ad. The sickest thing about it all? It's going to work. Say what you will about Bush and the people he employs, but they are viciously smart. Meanwhile, Leiber and Pedro are locked in a pitching duel with the yanks still up 1-0 heading into the fifth inning and Houston has just taken the lead against St. Louis and leads 4-2. It's too bad the games and the debate are all on at the same time.

Thrid Presidential Debate

2004-10-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Crazy night for TV, Yanks-Red Sox, cardinals-Astros, and the third Presidential debate. This Blog is going to heavily revolve around two of my major interests, Baseball and Politics, but Baseball takes precedence over all things, especially Yanks-Sox. I'll catch the replay of the debate tonight or tomorrow and post on that later. I'll try and catch some of each and post on all three.

ALCS Running Game 2 Blog (Who's your Daddy?)

2004-10-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

Two innings into the game 2 and the yanks are up 1-0. Pedro started off throwing uncharecteristicly (at least for the past four years) hard, around 95-97 miles and hour according to the FOX radar gun, but couldn't locate and threw six straight balls to Jeter and Arod before giving up a laser to Sheffeild that scored Jeter. After that he cooled down a little and found the zone he struke out Hideki Matsui and Bernie Williams on nasty breaking balls then got Jorge Posada to ground out weakly to second base. Leiber cruised through his first two innings, getting Manny to swing at a slider about 4 feet off the plate outside in the first. Second inning right now and after Olerud flyed out Cairo drew a walk and Kenny Lofton singled to center and Jeter flyed out deep to center. Arod's up as i am writing this and Pedro is taking a real long time getting set, 3-2 count now, and Pedro throws a nasty breaking ball on the inside corner that freezes Arod. Really, really nice pitch in the situation.

Two most hated subsets in the world

2004-10-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Thats right.