Daily Archives: December 4, 2003

My man Christian Ruzich has a cinematic take on the Yankee-Expos deal. It’s “lol” as they say in cyberspace.

I’m sure that as festive as the off-season has been thus far for us in the northeast, fans around the country aren’t necessarily moved by the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry (not to mention the moves the Phillies have been making). Good thing that we are generally too self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing to care what the rest of the country thinks. On that note, David Pinto and Edward Cossette discuss a good article by Howard Bryant of The Boston Herald which accuses the Red Sox of being the evil twin of the New York Yanks.

David also has an interesting comparison between Flash Gordon and Paul Quantrill that you should check out. And Jay Jaffe has a tremendous piece of work on how the Yankees should build their starting rotation (one that will evidently need updating as of this afternoon).

According to Lee Sinins, the Expos have called a 2:00 press conference to announce a major move. ESPN is reporting that the Expos have traded Javier Vasquez to the Yankees in exchange for Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera, and a third player, believed to be southpaw reliever Randy Choate.

Is there any surprise that MLB is trying to make news on the day that Barry Bonds is due to tesitfy in court? I don’t know, is there any surprise that the Yankees made the deal on the day that the Red Sox introduced their new manager? You do the math.

And what about Sheff? Gary is talking the talk (like the straw that stirs the drink) in an interview with USA Today. This should end all speculation about whether or not he’ll be in New York next year:

“We’re not going to lose, you can be assured of that,” Sheffield said. “(Yankees owner) George (Steinbrenner) didn’t even bring up the Red Sox during our talks. I don’t think they’re even a concern to him.

“He just kept talking about how bad he wants to win more World Series championships. The Red Sox can say what they want, but look at us. Who’s going to beat us? Nobody.

“I know I speak my mind, but I don’t just talk the talk, I walk the walk. And if we don’t win the World Series, everybody can come and see me first, because I’ll take the blame.”

…”I really thought the final chapter of my story in baseball would end wearing a Braves’ cap, but I think there would have been a little piece missing, not knowing what it’s like playing in New York, and with George and the Yankees.

“I know there’ll be more criticism. I know the expectations will be great. But there’ll be no more pressure in New York that I don’t already put on myself.”

Sheffield has not been introduced as a Yankee yet, and he’s already talking like Reggie Jackson. This is not Paulie O’s Yanks anymore, in case you hadn’t noticed. Red Sox fans must be licking their chops; with Clemens gone, at least there will be one easy target for them hate in New York (as if they needed an excuse).

More later…

According to a report in The New York Times, Gary Sheffield will be wearing Yankee pinstripes next year, but the Bombers could wait until as late as next week to announce the deal. They have yet to officially introduced Tom Gordon or Paul Quantrill as the newest members of the Yankee bullpen, but they did announce that they had signed left-handed specialist Felix Heredia to a two-year deal (John Flaherty has also been resigned to a one-year deal to be Jorge Posada’s backup, a move that will continue to vex those who think the Bombers make horrible choices with utility players).

Steve Karsay, who is in Tampa working-out said that Sheffield was around the Yankees complex yesterday. Jeff Weaver, who had been working with pitching guru and Friend-of-George Billy Conners this fall before Conners had heart surgery last week, has made some adjustments to his delivery. According to the Times:

Weaver said in a telephone interview that Connors altered his arm angle, telling him he had been throwing sidearm too often and swinging his leg too far behind him in his delivery. Weaver was relieved to find a mechanical cause for his struggles.

“It’s like if you practice a bad golf swing over and over, you’re not going to really notice what you’re doing after a while,” he said. “I was throwing sidearm for so long, I didn’t even realize I was down so low and really dropping my head.”

Somewhere in Florida, Pat Jordan must be thinking, “Well, it’s about time.” Late this summer Jordan told me:

Iíd raise [Weaver’s] arm level about 45% and have him thrown 3/4 overhand, instead of that side arm shit that he throws. If he got his arm up, and was throwing 93, 94 miles an hour