Daily Archives: December 29, 2004

It has been another memorable year for us Yankee fans. Am I right? So maybe it wasn’t memorable in the way we’d like, but it had more than its fair share of good parts. I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank all of the professional baseball writers out there, particularly those here in New York. As you know, I link to their stuff often. I really admire the job they do. I know this site would be a while lot different if I couldn’t excerpt and refer to their work. I’m also thankful for all of the great baseball writing there is to be found on the Internet, most of it done by amateurs like myself. Sometimes the sheer volume of writing is overwhelming, but I just try and share what makes an impression on me with the rest of youse.

Having said that, here are some links’n’things to keep you busy for a minute:

1. Rich Lederer’s three latest Bert Blyleven articles (one, two and three) are a must for anyone interested in the Hall of Fame election process.

2. The final 2004 edition of “Rivals in Exile,” from Ben Jacobs and Larry Mahnken.

3. Our pal Sully’s look at the contracts of seven Red Sox players, including their newly minted captain, Jason Varitek:

This one is gonna hurt. His offense is solid but his defense continues to slip. Varitek right now is the very worst catcher in the American League with respect to throwing out runners. I am willing to accept that he adds something in the clubhouse and that his handling of a pitching staff may even shave a little off of the team ERA. But all of the magical, intangible pixie dust in the world doesnít change the fact that catchers decline quickly and that even in his current form, Varitek is a very good and not great player. His .882 home OPS since 2002 is remarkable but it also appears that a lot of the credit for his success belongs to the cozy dimensions of Fenway Park. His road OPS over the same stretch of .760 isnít quite as impressive and may be more indicative of his true value. By 2007, I think Varitekís contract will be an enormous drain on the team and the $6 or $7 million dollar player we all know and love right now will probably be worth about $2 or $3 million by then while being paid $10 million.

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By Brian Gunn

When Alex asked me to guest host a segment of Bronx Banter, it seemed only natural that I should write about movies. See, I may have grown up a Cardinals fan in the suburbs of St. Louis, and Alex may have grown up a Yanks fan in New York, but when it comes to movies we’re from the same neighborhood. We’re both nuts about Bob Altman, Pauline Kael, and Robert Towne, and we’ve both seen Hollywood from the inside out, each of us working in the film business at various times (just like another All-Baseball scribe, Jon Weisman).

I originally wanted to use this space to talk about some of my favorite baseball movies (Bull Durham, Bad News Bears, even that almost-masterpiece Cobb), as well as some of my least favorite baseball movies – like, say, Field of Dreams. But I didn’t feel right talking about Field of Dreams because I hadn’t seen it since it came out 15 years ago. It’s possible, I thought, that it had improved over time. After all, the film was made for guys like me – yuppies in their mid-30s, about to have families of their own, maybe feeling guilty about their relationship with their dads. If I was going to write about it I needed to see it again, hopefully with an older and wiser perspective. So I rented it on DVD, thinking maybe I’ll actually like it after all these years

The Yankees and Diamondbacks spoke on Monday, several times yesterday and may be close to a deal that would send Randy Johnson to New York and Javier Vazquez, prospects and cash to Arizona. Joel Sherman reports that a trade–there are two possible variations on the table–could be completed as early as today, while according to the Daily News, Johnson has already told a few of his teammates that he’s headed for the Bronx. Stay tuned…