Daily Archives: April 24, 2003

END OF THE LINE…

The Mets placed David Cone on the DL yesterday, and though nobody said it, his career could be over.

According to the New York Times:

Cone seemed surprised when asked if he would pitch again.

“I would hope so,” he said yesterday. “I’m not willing to give up at this point. I’m also very much a realist. I also understand physically I need to be able to go out there and give more than I’ve shown so far, be more reliable and show I can hold up every five days and pitch more than five innings.”

At the same time, Cone admitted:

“I’ve had a long, very good career,” Cone said. “At this point, it’d be in bad taste to complain about anything. I’ve had so much good fortune in my career. This was kind of an experiment at first. It turned into a pretty darned good story and now it’s questionable. I understand that.

“I knew that coming in that this would be tough, that there was going be a chance I couldn’t do this physically. I still haven’t conceded anything at this point.”

DEAR JOHN

Here is an e-mail I got this morning from an old friend of mine, John Burdick, one of my creative writing professors when I was in college, who also happens to be a long-time Yankee fan:

Alex,

From the AP:

“New York has outhomered opponents 43-5 — hitting the most in the major leagues and allowing the fewest. The Yankees have as many homers as Detroit has runs.”
Detroit is the new or posterboy for revenue sharing, now that KC is winning games and Montreal is not so bad at all.

In last night’s romp, the Yankees left 27 men on base!

Now, you know I have my reservations about all of this. My team, right or wrong, of course, but I just don’t enjoy it as much when they’re payroll is 30M higher than the next closest, and when the only acceptable outcome is a championship, and even that is more a cause for relief than jubilation. Honestly, I wish I were a Royals fan right now. That would be fun. So I take to following individuals more than the team. Soriano looks to be rectifying the problem that kept him from winning the MVP last year, which is to say he didn’t lead the league in *every* major offensive category. He looks a little bulkier to me this year, just a little.

Now, if you subtract the salaries of Jeter, Rivera, and Karsay, maybe their payroll looks more like the Mets’. Aw hell, subtract Giambi’s too, as he’s hardly been better than Rey Sanchez thus far. So no doubt, they are hot, *globally* hot, and it’s not just money. But be still. It’s a long season. Starters will slump and go down with injuries. The bullpen is suspect, but that doesn’t show when the starters are going late and the offense is simply blowing everyone away.

The luxury is that just about the time Ventura, Posada, Matsui, and Mondesi start to decline, Giambi will be himself again and Jeter will be back. Bernie and Sori are the only others who need to be themselves all year all the time.

And correct me if I’m wrong, Alex, but isn’t Bernie a traditionally slow starter, like a terribly slow starter? If so, damn, maybe this is HIS MVP year. Truthfully, I always thought he had an MVP in him, if he could stay healthy and play 145+ games.

BTW, I suppose you saw that my Orangemen won the national title? Nothing, no Yankee collapse or Laker triumph, can take the smile off my face this year. This was the most unlikely and most pleasant surprise of this fan’s life.

Here is another e-mail I received today; this one is from reader, Steve Bonner:

Alex, First of all thanks for the great site and keep up the good work. I think the below quote, attributed to Rick Reed in Jim Caple’s column this morning, sums up the Yankees perfectly:

“I’d like to give you my glove and and you go out there and try to pitch to that lineup,” Reed told reporters after the game. “I’m thanking God we’re in the Central and not the East. That’s unbelievable. Un-be-lieveable.”

Steve

I want to thank all the readers who have sent me comments on the Buster Olney interview, and I especially want to thank my fellow bloggers (and Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus) for all the plugs and kind words. All of your support is more than somewhat appreciated.

ESPN has several good pieces on the Yankees today. Darren Rovell writes about the marketing of Godzilla Matsui, and Bob Klapisch reports on the Bombers hot start.

Jason Giambi, one of the few Yankees who is not on fire these days, told Klap:

“I can’t even count how many times I’ve taken a walk with runners on first and second, just to load up the bases for Bernie,” Giambi said. “To me, being disciplined at the plate, getting on base, scoring a lot of runs, it’s the most important thing.”

…”As soon as some of the other guys get cold, I’m going to get hot. And then Jeter is going to be back,” Giambi said. “That’s what a machine does — it never stops. That’s us. This could go on all year.”

ROMPER STOMPER

“The Freak,” Alfonso Soriano has hit a home run to lead off a game three times this year—all in support of Roger Clemens, who earned his 297th career victory last night in the Yankees 9-2 win over the defending World Champs. Raul Mondesi added a homer of his own, and Bernie Williams had a couple of hits and a couple of RBI (he now leads the team with 22). At the rate lil’ Sori and the Yankees offense is going, how long will it be before the Yankees get in their first brawl? If they don’t slow down soon, it’s hard to believe that the rest of the league is going to sit back and watch them roll over everyone without getting a bit nasty with them.

Soriano’s brilliance is unsettling in this regard: just how long can he keep this up? Both John Sickels and Rob Neyer confirmed his status as a freak of nature last year. So the question remains: Is Soriano a great player, or the next Juan Samuel? The great Sandy Koufax spoke with Joe Torre before yesterday’s game and told the Yankee manager:

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody with quicker hands than Soriano.”

There is something about Soriano’s blinding talent that makes me question whether it will last over five, ten years. Still, it won’t stop me from appreciating every moment that little freak gives us in the meantime.

The Bombers dominating offense and sterling starting pitching has masked the team’s mediocre bullpen, which is starting to look like a M*A*S*H unit. Antonio Osuna joined Mariano Rivera and Steve Karsay on the DL yesterday with a strained groin. In his place, the Yankees have called up right-hander Al Reyes, who they picked up after the Pirates released him this spring. According to the Daily News:

Reyes, a 33-year-old righty, has eight years of experience in the major leagues. His career record is 15-8 with three saves and a 4.12 ERA. In eight relief appearances at Columbus, Reyes had one save and a 1.04 ERA. He struck out 10 in 8-2/3 innings.

The young Jason Anderson now moves into Osuna’s set-up role, and the Yankees better pray that their bats keep clicking with Seattle, Oakland, and Boston on the horizon.

Rivera, who was supposed to throw yesterday, pushed his outing back one day due to some general soreness and will pitch this afternoon instead. He will likely join the team next week in New York when the Yankees face Seattle and then Oakland.

Meanwhile, Billy Conners is busy working on fundamentals and mechanics with Jose Contreras in Tampa:

“This guy has very good stuff, but he’s a little messed up here,” said Connors, the club’s minor league instructor, motioning toward his head. “He has too much pressure to perform. What everyone is hoping is that we can get him to relax a little, get some success and self-confidence and quickly get him back with the team.”

Contreras is scheduled to pitch for Triple A Columbus next Tuesday.