Daily Archives: February 20, 2004

Me, Myself and I

Baseball is a lonely game. But for Yankee pichter Jose Contreras, the loneliness he has experienced since leaving his family behind in Cuba has been nothing short of devastating. The Yankee starters lined-up for the first time in spring training, and there are several stories on the soporific Cuban in the local papers today. Contreras told Tyler Kepner in The Times:

“When you have a bad day and go home to your wife and, in my case, daughters, that helps you a lot and takes your mind off of it a little bit,” said Contreras, 32, who has been married almost 16 years. “But now, if I have a bad day, I go home and I’m by myself. I really have no choice but to think about it. There’s no one to distract me or take attention off of my work.”

The Yankees are interested in bringing another Cuban pitcher, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez to the Yankees, ostensibly to help ease Contreras’ mind as well as to serve as a spot-starter. But El Duque, who received political support in getting his family to the States, is remaining true to his obstinate form, and turned down the Yankees’ initial offer. Hernandez is being pursued by several teams, including–would you believe?–the Boston Red Sox.

Gary Sheffield has never been shy about talking to the media. (Expect him to grace the backpages of the New York tabloids on a regular basis this year.) A day after his name was once again linked to the Balco affair, Sheffield told reporters:

“The bottom line is that I did purchase vitamins from that company, being out there and working out with Barry Bonds,” Sheffield said. “Besides that, I don’t know what else can come with that. I’ve been an honorable guy. I’ve been outspoken about testing guys. And anybody that wants me to say I’ll take the challenge of taking a test, I’ll be the first guy up there.”

…”I’ve been guilty by association my whole life,” Sheffield said. “My uncle with his drug problem and I’ve been under investigation for that since I was 17 years old. And now I’ve been listening to the news and they’ve been trying to link Barry Bonds to things and everybody knows that I’ve been outspoken about training with the guy, so, obviously, they’re trying to put two and two together and say, `We got something.’ “

So long as he hits as well as he flaps his gums–which is highly likely–I think Yankee fans will tolerate whatever this future Hall of Famer has to say to the media.

Everbody Loves the Sunshine

Andrew Zimbalist has an article in The New York Sun (subscription required) today about the economics of the Rodriguez trade:

The Yankees’ financial clout had next to nothing to do with landing A-Rod. Over the past month, the Yanks have rid themselves of nearly $10 million in salary obligations to two of the organization’s former third basemen — Aaron Boone and Drew Henson — along with the $5.4 million they would have paid Alfonso Soriano in 2004.
Add it all up, and the team has saved roughly the $15 million they will need to pay A-Rod. There’s also a $1 million deferred payment, but the balance is being handled by Texas owner Tom Hicks, who will pick up $67 million of the remaining $179 million on the last seven years of A-Rod’s contract. The point being that any team could have afforded to trade for A-Rod under such financial circumstances.

Not only that, but Rodriguez is going to make the Yankees a good deal of money to boot:

A-Rod’s appeal for Mr. Steinbrenner is clear. It is impossible to know with any precision, but the above numbers suggest that Rodriguez’s arrival may boost the Yankees’ local revenues somewhere around $20 million, and perhaps more. That’s the good news for Mr. Steinbrenner. The bad news is that under MLB’s new revenue sharing system, he will have to give approximately $8 million of that back to MLB.
Overall, the Yanks probably will pay revenue sharing and payroll luxury taxes to MLB of between $70 and $75 million in 2004. Mr. Henry in Boston will likely make payments in excess of $40 million. No wonder he’d prefer a salary cap to the present system.

Tim Marchman also has his latest column in The Sun today. Marchman praises the Dodgers for hiring Paul DePodesta. And while he’s duly impressed with rational thinkers like DePodesta, Marchman points out that you might not necessarily want to hang out with them:

If I were in a bar and I overheard the fresh-faced, clean-cut De-Podesta talking about “implementing” anything, I’d grimace and edge my way to the other side of the room. It’s fashionable right now to decry the leathery old scout, and I’ve done it myself because I think that for a team to win in the modern game, it needs to value someone like DePodesta at least as much as that scout, and probably a great deal more.
But with whom would you rather have a drink? Who’s more engaged in the world, who’s more vivacious, and, to be honest, who is more interesting? The man who plays by his instincts and his experience and sizes up young athletes like a horsebuyer on the Kazakh plain? Or someone in a suit using words like “leverage”? There doesn’t seem to me to be much doubt. It looks like baseball is getting a good deal more efficient, and a great deal more boring.

In order to get the best of both worlds, the answer seems obvious enough. You’ve got to go down to Florida and have a beer with Earl Weaver.