Monthly Archives: December 2009

Right on time for Friday night, one of my favorite cuts of ’em all:

And here’s the Sister Nancy sample:

Topps issued this card, its final regular card for Mickey Mantle, during the spring of 1969. The listed position of “first base” doesn’t seem quite right for an all-time great outfielder, but “The Mick” looks good here, still handsome and his weight under control. Yet, he didn’t play that season. After reporting to spring training, Mantle decided that his aching knees, along with the rest of his diminishing skills, simply mandated that he call it quits. I wish that Mantle had played a little bit longer, if only to allow me to have remembered seeing him play.

Even thought I have no first-hand recollections of Mantle, that doesn’t mean that I never saw him take the field. Quite the contrary. My family occasionally delights in telling me how I used to walk up to our black-and-white television set as a small child, and then begin jumping and screaming when I saw Mantle step up to the plate. This would have been in 1967 or ’68, when I was either two or three years old. So you can see how I wouldn’t remember these episodes. But my family assures me that they actually did happen.

What can a three-year-old know about baseball? I suppose I could have recognized a home run when it was hit, but my knowledge of secondary leads, the roles of middle relievers, and the intricacies of the infield fly rule must have fallen a bit short of diehard standards. I’m not even sure how I knew Mantle was the man on those Yankees. After all, he was at the end of his career, struggling to play a new position at first base, and merely a shell of the five-tool ballplayer who had helped center field become the position of glamour in New York City during the 1950s. Perhaps my father clued me into Mantle’s importance. I can just hear him whispering to me, “One day, this guy will be in the Hall of Fame.”

In spite of my early obsession with Mr. Mantle, I somehow lost touch with his legacy. During the 1970s, I had little interest in Yankee history; I was far more concerned with Bobby Murcer (and then Bobby Bonds), along with Thurman Munson and Mel Stottlemyre, followed by the wave of winning that came to town in the form of Jim “Catfish” Hunter, Ron Guidry, and Reggie Jackson. By then, the Yankees of the 1960s had become forgotten. I had no memories of those teams; if anything, I was tired of hearing that the Yankees’ last period of glory had come to an end in 1964.

(more…)

Ken Rosenthal says enough already, the Yanks and Johnny Damon/Scott Boras all need to recognize: they need each other.

Mere days after Hideki Matsui agreed to join the Angels on a one-year contract worth $6 million, the Yankees have come to terms with Nick Johnson on a one-year deal worth a reported $5.75 million plus incentives to replace Matsui as their designated hitter. The decision to sign Johnson, so it seems to me, was less one the Yankees had made entering the offseason and more one that was made as a result of other decisions made by and about departing free agents Matsui and Johnny Damon.

Though many believe Matsui signed with the Angels because Halos manager Mike Scioscia promised him the opportunity to play left field once or twice a week (though, actually, Scioscia only promised him an opportunity in Spring Training to prove he could still play the field, which he likely can’t), and The Daily News‘ Mark Fiensand reported late last night that the Yankees opted not to resign Matsui primarily because of the state of his knees, I have another theory.

Based on a piece by Matsui’s agent Arn Tellem that appeared on the Huffington Post on Wednesday, I believe Matsui took the Angels’ offer without giving the Yankees a chance to match or beat it because he was afraid the Yankees, who had been focusing on negotiating with Johnny Damon, might either not make an offer (true if you believe Fiensand’s unnamed source), or might take enough time doing so that the Angels would rescind their offer. Here are the key passages from Tellem:

Hideki’s overriding concerns have always been winning and playing for a quality organization. Over his 17 seasons in pro ball, his only two teams have been the Yankees and the Yomiuri Giants. Each is the premier franchise in its respective league. Beyond the Yanks, his preferences were the Angels and the Boston Red Sox, two dominating franchises with superb players, coaches and management. But with David Ortiz entrenched as Boston’s everyday designated hitter, the Red Sox were never a real option.

[snip]

Hideki chose to accept Angel’s offer rather than wait for Yankees to decide whether they wanted to bring him back. Failure to act quickly might have caused L.A. to withdraw its offer and forced Hideki to sign with a weaker team, thus forfeiting a shot at another World Series. Conflicted, Hideki stayed up all Sunday night mulling his final move in this limited game of musical free-agent chairs. He didn’t want to be left standing.

Now, I realize that almost everything an agent says in public is spin, but I see no reason for Tellem to basically admit to being the first to blink in a game of contract chicken other than having actually done so.

The catch here is that, while the Yankees might have preferred to bring back Johnny Damon as their designated hitter (he’s clearly no longer qualified to play the field, either), Damon has been firm in his desire for a contract that comfortably exceeds Bobby Abreu’s two-year, $19 million re-up with the Angels in both years and annual salary. The Yankees have wisely balked at Damon’s demands, which suddenly left them searching for option C.

Enter Nick Johnson, the once and future Yankee. As an underpowered on-base machine, Johnson is a good fit as a replacement for Damon in the number-two hole in the Yankee lineup, and as an oft-injured, defensively challenged first baseman who hit just eight homers last year in 574 plate appearances, he was willing to take a one-year deal with a base salary even lower than Matsui’s.

That’s all well and good, but there are a lot of reasons to be underwhelmed if not outright dissatisfied with the Johnson signing. First and foremost among them is his fragility. Yes, Johnson’s on-base percentage of .426 was surpassed only by MVPs Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols among qualifying batters in 2009, but it’s getting into the batters’ box in the first place that has been the challenge for Johnson. The 133 games he played in this past season were the second most of his major league career and he played just 38 games over the previous two seasons combined.

Here’s a quick look at Johnson’s injury history:

• 1998: separated shoulder (out six weeks)
• 2000: unknown left hand/wrist injury (missed entire season)
• 2002: bone bruse in left wrist (missed three weeks)
• 2003: fractured right hand (missed two months)
• 2004: back (missed first two months); broken cheekbone (missed last six weeks)
• 2005: bone bruse in right heel (missed a month)
• 2006-7: broken right femur (suffered late September ’06, it wiped out his entire ’07 season)
• 2008: torn ligaments and tendons in wrist (ended season in mid-May)
• 2009: strained right hamstring (missed two weeks)

Johnson has had his share of fluke injuries, chief among them the foul ball that bounced back up and broke his cheekbone in 2004 and the broken leg he suffered in a collision with right fielder Austin Kearns in 2006, but the frequency and severity of his injuries is no fluke. Johnson is truly fragile and when he breaks he takes longer to heal than most players (to cite two recent examples, he was expected to return from his soft-tissue injury in 2008, but didn’t, and that broken leg, which kept him out of action for more than a calendar year, also took far longer to heal properly than was anticipated).

So, yes, Johnson’s on-base skills (.402 career OBP) would look mighty fine in the two hole, helping to set the table for Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, but there’s a good chance the Yankees will need someone else to fill that spot for a significant portion of the coming season, and if that person is Curtis Granderson (who would otherwise likely hit fifth behind Rodriguez), they’ll need someone else to take Granderson’s spot lower in the order.

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Who didn’t like Nick Johnson? He was a good kid, a pleasant, chubby-cheekedguy with a sweet swing and a good glove. Larry Bowa’s nephew. The one who never could stay healthy. A nice Yankee that fell away. 

Well, according to Ken Davidoff, he’s back, to the tune of one-year and five-and-a-half million. Why Johnson and not Godzilla Matsui? I can’t call it. Davidoff goes on to say that this surely spells the end of Johnny Damon in pinstripes. So no Matsui, no Damon, but Nick Johnson?

All I can think of is that noise that Scooby Doo used to make when he was confused, “BBBOORRPP?”

It’s not that I’m unhappy to see Johnson back–I’ve always liked his game and he’ll make an ideal number 2 hitter behind Derek Jeter–but I wonder if he can stay healthy and more to the point, I wonder what else the Yanks have up their sleeve. Johnson alone is not enough. Or am I missing something?

Hmmmm.

They say I’m ugly but it just don’t faze me.

This one was suggested by Diane. I always smile when I hear this record, just never tire of it (from back when Tupac was one of the Underground’s back-up singers).

And dig this, a fun mash-up that a friend of mine did, mixing Lovely Rita with the Humpty Beat.

Powzers.

HumptyRita

Was Tim Raines a greater player than Roberto Clemente? Yes, according to Joe Posnanski who makes a case for Raines as a Hall of Famer.

M’eh, could be.

George King has the details.

The 1965 Juan Marichal-John Roseboro fight is the jumping point for a new one-man show by Roger Guenveur Smith, who received acclaim for his performance as Huey Newton several years ago. The play is reviewed today in the New York Times:

Mr. Smith does a kind of standup theater. (The show has no formal script.) It’s a high-wire act that frequently feels too free associative.

Mr. Smith can be a charming raconteur, smiling and chatting with the audience about the 1965 Dodgers team that included Maury Wills and Sandy Koufax. He can also have a full-tilt actorly intensity (so many tears!) that sometimes overwhelms the material, especially the personal reminiscences.

The bigger problem, though, is that Mr. Smith, who also directed, hasn’t been a ruthless enough editor. He mixes the resonant and the germane (Watts, his father’s business, being black in the ’60s) with bits that don’t quite fit (his recent personal history), and can overreach when trying to connect things. (The projections, by Marc Anthony Thompson, at times suffer from the same problem.)

But when Mr. Smith returns to Roseboro and Marichal, “Juan and John” picks up. Easily inhabiting each man, Mr. Smith shows what a good actor he can be and reminds us what a good story he has to tell. The two eventually patched things up, and when Marichal, who had been kept out of the Hall of Fame because of the incident, calls Roseboro to tell him that he’s finally made it in, Mr. Smith’s tears hit home.

The concept is interesting enough, but this sounds just like the kind of theater experience that reminds me why I generally don’t cotton to one-man performances–just too much self-indulgence for me. I could be wrong, who knows? If anyone sees the show, drop me an e-mail and let me know what you think.

Today’s update is powered by a classic holiday novelty song:

• Johnny Damon is still seeking his big payday, even if it isn’t with the Yanks.
• The Times offers a slideshow remembrance of Hideki Matsui’s time in NY.
• How will Matsui’s departure impact the Japanese fan base in NY?
• So who was Jerry Crasnick’s Pitcher of the Decade?  Go Mo!
• The Sporting News has an honor for Mo.
• Speaking of Mo, just how good is his cutter?

This isn’t a lifetime achievement award; Rivera’s cutter is about as consistently good and destructive as any pitch anyone has seen. Somehow, the pitch has showed zero signs of age. The 92-to-94 mph cutter still treats lefties’ bats like dry twigs with right-to-left movement suitable for a slider and velocity more appropriate for a fastball. It’s not “see ball, hit ball” as much as it is “see ball, pretend ball exists four inches away, swing at air, hopefully hit ball.” Simply put, the human brain cannot react quickly enough to adjust for the lateral movement. The pitch’s most dominant stretch of the Pitch f/x era came in July of this past season, when Rivera threw the patented cutter 141 times and didn’t give up a single hit, with only two balls leaving the infield.

• Curtis Pride (12 PAs with 2003 squad) turns 41 today.

See you Monday!

The Yankees Top Ten Prospects according to Baseball America.

From A.O. Scott’s review of the new Jeff Bridges movie:

“Crazy Heart,” written and directed by Scott Cooper, is a small movie perfectly scaled to the big performance at its center. It offers some picturesque views of out-of-the-way parts of the American West, but the dominant feature of its landscape is Bad Blake, a wayward, aging country singer played by Jeff Bridges.

Those last four words should be sufficient recommendation. Some of Mr. Bridges’s peers may have burned more intensely in their prime, but very few American actors over the past 35 years have flickered and smoldered with such craft and resilience. Neither blandly likable nor operatically emotional, this actor has a sly kind of charisma and a casual intelligence. You suspect that he may be smarter than some of the characters he plays — the lounge musician in “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” the deadbeat bowler in “The Big Lebowski,” the egotistical author in “The Door in the Floor,” to take just a few examples — but also that he knows every corner and shadow of each one’s mind.

Well said. This one looks worth checking out.

Marty Appel hipped me to this boss collection of Italian-American baseball cards.

Yogi

Bye Bye Balboni

The Barber

Don Mossi

Dig it.

Johnny Damon wants more than the Yanks are willing to offer…

News at eleven.

Meanwhile, dig this Hideki Matsui appreciation from Sweeny “Eisenhower” Murti:

Matsui’s English was limited. He used a translator (the very able Rogelio “Roger” Kahlon) for all seven of his years as a Yankee. Still, Matsui was comfortable enough to have brief, cordial conversations (“Hi, Hideki…how are you? Fine, Sweeny…how are you?) That’s more than I get from some players who speak perfect English.

And even though it wasn’t always easy to break through the language barrier, Matsui had as fine a sense of humor as anyone. I recall the day in 2004 when I asked his opinion of the rookie-hazing costumes. At that moment, Ruben Sierra walked by both of us wearing one of his typically loud suits complete with fedora, which prompted Matsui to turn to me and ask, “Is he rookie?” As I started to howl with laughter Matsui followed up with, “Every day he’s rookie!”

As far as we know the Yanks are waiting it out with Johnny Damon. But could they be sitting on the dock of a Bay too? Or waiting for a boffo Holliday gift?

One never knows…do one?

I said How’d you like the show? She said, I was very amused.

Over at SI.com, Cliff takes a look at the Lackey signing:

The Red Sox rotation behind Jon Lester and Josh Beckett struggled mightily in 2009. In the 98 games not started by Lester or Beckett this past season, Red Sox starters went 36-36 with a 5.40 ERA, and 1.57 WHIP. With Clay Buchholz having emerged as a legitimate mid-rotation starter in August and Daisuke Matsuzaka having made a strong comeback in mid-September, the Red Sox already had hope for improvement in their rotation heading into 2010, but the addition of Lackey, easily the best starting pitcher in a weak free agent market, ramps that improvement up from modest to drastic. That Lackey might be only the third-best starter in the Red Sox’s rotation is a testament to the depth and strength his signing gives Boston’s staff. Indeed, the Red Sox’s rotation suddenly looks like the best in baseball’s best division, at least for the moment.

Having posted a good-but-not great 3.79 ERA (118 ERA+) in just 339 2/3 innings over the past two seasons, the latter figure due to his starting both seasons on the disabled list with arm aches, including elbow inflammation this past spring, Lackey is more of a No. 2 starter than a proper ace, but that makes him particularly well cast as the No. 3 in Boston. Concerns about those DL stays linger, but Lackey returned in mid-May in both 2008 and 2009 and pitched into the playoffs without reoccurrence of his discomfort both years, throwing a cumulative 196 innings in 30 starts between the regular and postseasons in ’09. In the five seasons prior to 2008, he averaged 210 2/3 innings a year in the regular season alone, establishing a reputation as a horse that his early-season aches have yet to fully undermine. He also arrives in Boston as a strong postseason performer, having famously pitched and won Game 7 of the World Series as a rookie in 2002 and having bettered his career regular season ERA in his 12 postseason starts.

If I were writing copy for the Yankees, I would probably be contractually obligated to refer to the “Yankee legacy” of Chien-Ming Wang and Hideki Matsui, and even Brian Bruney. But I’m not, so instead, like Alex earlier, I’ll just wonder aloud about if, how, and for how long the various exiting Yanks will be remembered.

Wang and Matsui obviously won’t be forgotten anytime soon – both made huge contributions to the Bombers, and had fascinating cultural implications as well (I think each, in their way, helped affirm every New Yorker’s belief that the world does in fact revolve around us). It seems that technically Matsui didn’t quite earn his salary – but in a metaphoric sense, he definitely did. And Alex already touched on the fabled porn collection and the excellent at-bat music, but I also think of the time Matsui broke his wrist on a freakish sliding-catch-gone-wrong, back in 2006. He managed to throw the ball in before collapsing in pain with his wrist held at a gruesome angle, but no sooner was he back from the hospital than he apologized, profusely, to his teammates, the Yankees, and his fans. For having a broken wrist. Try to imagine any American player ever doing that. Hell, try to imagine Ichiro doing that. Yes, I will miss Matsui… and to a slightly lesser extent I will miss his translator, Roger Kahlon, who (now it can be said) is one good-looking dude.

I’m not sure how much to eulogize Chien-Ming Wang’s New York career – because, who knows? He may yet be back, if not next season then somewhere down the road. He’s still young enough that if his shoulder actually heals properly, he could pitch for years and years. That’s the optimistic view of course, but even if he’s never again a top-flight starter, Wang’s isn’t a truly sad story: he threw two-plus excellent Major League seasons, which is a lot more than most people get to do, and became a truly massive and beloved celebrity in his home country, which ditto. But still.

Anyway, it seems pretty clear to me that in ten, twenty, or thirty years Yankee blogs (or whatever has replaced them) will still mention Matsui and Wang from time to time, but I wonder about another suddenly ex-Yank, Brian Bruney. I wrote enough game summaries featuring the guy that I’m certain I’ll remember the name, barring any degenerative brain diseases, plus I spoke to him a few times during my brief tenure in the clubhouse. How often will I think about him, though, as the years go by? And what about the average fan? The Yankees were able to snatch Bruney from the Diamondbacks because Arizona felt he had some attitude problems, was the word on the street back in ’06, and whether or not he ever really overcame those I couldn’t say; he had a bit of a meathead look about him, but a sensitive streak too.

Bruney had good games and bad, but it’s hard for me to think of any really iconic moments – there’s not really a Bruney equivalent of Chien-Ming Wang’s virtuoso performance against the Mets at the Stadium, or Matsui’s playoff heroics and walk-off homers. Such is the nature of middle relief, I suppose. I can’t pretend to have any strong feelings about the guy, but I spent so many cumulative hours watching him pitch that maybe I should. Is there anything bittersweet about the fact that he will likely be greeted among baseball fans, upon reemerging from the swamps of memory, mostly with indifference?

What do you guys think – in 2039 or so, will there be any spring days when your fancy lightly turns to thoughts of Brian Bruney?

The New York Times reports that Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui has agreed to a one-year deal with the Angels. It was clear that Matsui was not in the plans for the Yankees moving forward and I understand the logic behind their thinking. Still, I will miss him. Which is why I’m pleased that I’m a fan and not an executive. I can appreciate them not re-signing him as a baseball move and still feel sad that “one of ours” has left town. (Matsui joins two other former Yanks, Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera in the Angels line-up.)

Matsui wasn’t a great Yankee but he was better than good (a new age ‘Ol Reliable) who enjoyed some terrific big-game moments, none bigger than Game 6 of the Serious last month. The Red Sox surely won’t be sorry to see him go. I will miss his calm demeanor (has he ever argued with an umpire since he’s been in States?) and his slashing line-drives. Who’ll soon forget his batting stance? Matsui stood erect and still, his shoulders twitching slightly like a horse swatting away flies with its tail. He was not a physical giant like Alex Rodriguez, but he was a massive guy, the widest player, across the chest, I’ve ever seen.

I’ll even miss his failures, when he rolled over pitches and hit weak dribblers to second, prompting the nickname Groundzilla. I’ll miss his giant head and enormous ears, his sketchy wife and talk of his extensive porn collection. I’ll miss his smile, his joking with teammates, and the feeling that he has a sly sense of humor, not to mention his taste in warm-up songs–from Day Tripper to The Immigrant Song.

Matsui is an icon in Japan (just like Chien-Ming Wang is a national hero in Taiwan) who will be fondly remembered in New York where he became a hero. He’s not as big as Jeter or Rivera or Rodriguez, but a hero all the same–and he’s a far bigger star back home than any baseball player is here. Perhaps he’ll be even more appreciated in New York once he’s gone.

But most of us appreciated him just fine while he was here. In the coming days, I’m sure we’ll read the usual cliches about Matsui being a “classy, professional Yankee.” You know, the kind with “dignity” and “grit.” They might be cliches but if the shoe fits…

Here’s wishing him good luck and success in California.

Sniff.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, John Lackey took a physical in Boston today. Looks like Sox are about to announce their first big deal of the off-season.

Beckett, Lester, Lackey, oh my. That’s an onions top three. Never mind Wake, Clay and Dice K.

Update: Plus, a boffo Roy Halladay rumor.

And ESPN has Hideki Matsui in serious talks with the Angels.

Update: Never mind the Bollocks, Halladay may be a Phillie, according to Jon Heyman. But they lose Lee in the process.

Suddenly, things just got a lot more interesting…