Blog Archives

According to the Associated Press, Matt Lawton was suspended by Major League Baseball today for violating the league’s steroids policy. Lawton, who has always struck me as an aimable man, had a forgettable run for the Yankees this past summer.

“Something in my gut reacted at the moment. Something about what? The unfairness of it? The injustice of it? I don’t know.”
Pee Wee Reese

A statue of Pee Wee Reese with his arm around Jackie Robinson was unveiled yesterday in Brooklyn commemmorating one of baseball’s most touching moments. Reese was a mensch in the truest sense of the word. Veteran baseball scribes Vic Ziegel and Ira Berkow report.

As Yankee executives meet today again to discuss the team’s Hot Stove agenda, Theo Epstein is scheduled to address the media and detail why he’s decided to leave the Red Sox. Be sure and check out Bill Simmons’ take, as well as Christina Kahrl’s piece too (subscription required). As noted in our comments section yesterday, Steven Goldman hit the nail on the head in the latest edition of The Pinstriped Bible:

Before casting aspersions on anyone else’s evil empire, make sure your own house is in order. This is the lesson to be drawn from the departure of Theo Epstein from the Boston Red Sox. As they have so many times, the Red Sox have handed the Yankees an unearned victory.

…The Boston contretemps makes for a pointed contrast to the way that George Steinbrenner was able to focus these last few weeks and understand that his management structure had become unstructured, his general manager unmanned, his manager isolated, tired, and nervous. Rather than bringing in his baleful broom (1978 Lou Piniella model), he reshuffled the deck and put things into a rational order. Whether things stay that way is anyone’s guess — given history, probably not — but as long as the order is maintained through the winter, when all the important decisions are made, it won’t matter as much if things become disordered in May. The important thing was, whatever his disagreements with Joe Torre and Brian Cashman, whatever the Tampa Grumblers were whispering in his ear, the owner was able to put those things aside and weigh whether Cashman and Torre were employees worth retaining. Deciding in the affirmative, Steinbrenner committed himself to making it work.

And this from Joel Sherman’s column today in the Post:

“The Red Sox are in utter chaos right now, a GM said in what felt like a summation. “The Red Sox have chased the Yankees for so long, and now they have caught them, they are as chaotic as the Yankees.”

…”We had the appearance of complete chaos aft the 1995 season, when Buck [Showalter] left, and Stick [Gene Michael] was re-assigned, and we made a bunch of unpopular moves,” [Brian] Cashman said. “And from those ashes something else rose in 1996 (a world championship). So we need to be very cautious. Boston lost a great executive in Theo, but that ownership group already has shown what it is capable of by hiring Theo. For the Yankees to take advantage, we better soley concentrate on our problems.”

Heating Up

The Yankee coaching staff just got a bit hotter as the team officially announced Larry Bowa as its new third base coach. Tony Pena is expected to replace Luis Sojo at first, and Ron Guidry is the front-runner to become the new pitching coach (with Joe Kerrigan operating out of the bullpen). It is anticipated that Lee Maz will be Joe Torre’s bench coach as well.

As reported yesterday, Derek Jeter has won his second consecutive Gold Glove. He is the only Yankee to win nab one this year.

Alex Rodriguez may not be the Michael Jordan of baseball but evidentally he just might share MJ’s fondness for gambling, at least poker.

Trick

When the season ended part of me secretly wished that Joe Torre would tell George Steinbrenner to go to hell, and walk away from the Yankee job on his own terms. It didn’t happen and I’m happy that Torre is still around. He knows what he’s in for and he’s a big boy. But apparently the prospect of working for Larry Lucchino for another three years was more than Theo Epstein was ready to endure. In a suprising turn of events Epstein turned down the Red Sox three-year offer to remain as the general manager of the ballclub. In effect, Epstein is saying that he isn’t willing to put-up with his mentor Lucchino anymore (This article by Dan Shaughnessy has been cited as the straw that broke the camel’s back for Epstein.) Good for him. He walks away from Boston with the world as his oyster. He’ll forever be a hero in New England and now has his pick of job opportunities. I’m sure the Sox will find a decent GM, but for the moment there is no buffer between Sox fans and Boston’s version of the Boss, Larry Lucchino.

Treat

In a move that is bound to infuriate as many as it pleases, the New York Post reports that Derek Jeter will be awarded the Gold Glove for the second consecutive year later today. While I don’t think that Alex Rodriguez is the best fielding third baseman in the league yet, Jeter can give Rodriguez an assist for his new piece of hardware. It’s not a coincidence that Jeter’s fielding improved once Rodriguez arrived at the hot corner, allowing Jeter to cheat more up-the-middle. I don’t put too much stock in the Gold Gloves–heck, Bernie won four of them, and Yankee fans are well aware of Raffey’s 28-game winner in 1999–but I’m amused at how upset some fans will get over Jeter’s selection. Good for you, Jetes: keep giving ’em something to riff about. But as Cliff mentioned in the previous post, Jeter’s fielding has indeed improved. He might have won the award based on reputation but he wasn’t an awful choice either.

The Yankees’ organizational meetings commence today here in New York where it is unseasonably warm and gorgeous (whatta day to take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge or hang out in Central Park). The first order of business for the Bombers will be to re-sign Godzilla Matsui. They’ve got two weeks to get it done. Something tells me that they will.

As expected Theo Epstein will remain in Boston as the general manager of the Red Sox. Not much in the way of Yankee news today, but the Daily News reports that Luis Sojo may accept the managerial position down in Single A Tampa club, and Tony Pena might be offered the first base coaching gig with the big league club. The article suggests that Pena would be helpful both with the Latin players on the team as well as with the catchers.

In a column today about Billy Wanger, Murray Chass lists some of the big name free agent relievers who will be on the market this winter: Trevor Hoffman, B. J. Ryan, Bob Wickman, Todd Jones, Octavio Dotel, Kyle Farnsworth, Tom Gordon, Roberto Hernandez, Mike Timlin, Tim Worrell, Ugueth Urbina, Matt Mantei and LaTroy Hawkins. Timlin is reportedly close to re-signing with the Red Sox. It’s likely that Boston and New York will engage in a bidding war for B.J. Ryan, or Wagner or maybe even Everyday Eddie Guardado. Anyone else on that list get you all hot and bothered?

Hey, in true glutton fashion–this is a Yankee site after all–how about throwing caution to the wind and signing both Ryan and Billy Wagner? Never happen I know, and maybe it wouldn’t even be money well spent (Wagner is getting on in years for one, and there’d be whole lot of ego out there in the pen), but a boy can have his Christmas List can’t he? If the Yankees can manage to assemble something close to what they had in 1996, or what the Angels and White Sox had this year, that would be tremendous. They can probably do it cheaper than inking Wagner and Ryan, but it seems inevitable that at least one high (over?)-priced reliever will be wearing pinstripes next year.

According to Tyler Kepner and Sam Borden the Yankees will not keep Neil Allen as their bullpen coach next year. Maybe this creates a job for Guidry before he moves into the high-profile position of pitching coach. It makes sense to me that Joe Kerrigan will eventually get that gig. But who knows, maybe Gator gets it and Kerrigan slides into the pen.

Movin On

Josh Byrnes, one of the more celebrated assistant general managers in baseball is leaving Boston to become the GM of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, Theo Epstein is close to signing a new contract in Boston. (The Sox are dealing with their first Manny Ramirez rumblings of the winter as well.) Out West, it appears as if the Dodgers have given up on Paul DePodesta. Jon Weisman has the lowdown over at Dodger Thoughts.

Here in New York, the Yankees will hold their organizational meetings early next week. In addition to filling out the coaching staff, the team is expected to focus on landing a center fielder and relief pitching.

Around Town

If I could go back in time one of the things I would do first is see the original Broadway production of “The Odd Couple” with Walter Matheau and Art Carney. Of course, I grew up watching Tony Randall and Jack Klugman do the roles of Felix and Oscar and have seen the movie version with Matheau and Jack Lemmon many times. Watching Lemmon, I can’t help but imagine what Carney would have been like opposite Matheau. From what I hear from those who saw them it was comic nirvana.

I never did see Mathew Broderick and Nathan Lane in “The Producers” but when I heard the two were going to star in a revival of Neil Simon’s famous play I thought, ‘Aren’t they gilding the lily?’ And with Lane playing Oscar and Broderick playing Felix, surely they’ve go the casting mixed up. Looking at the still photographs in today’s papers, Lane looks all wrong for Oscar. Remember in the movie version of “La Cage Aux Folles” when Robin Williams tries to get Lane walk like a manly straight man and Lane can’t help but look like a Queen? The joke is that he’s incorrigibly effeminate. Seeing Lane dressed up Oscar seems like an unintentional extension of that joke.

In an excellent review today, New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley notes:

As this set-to-a-metronome production, directed by Joe Mantello, demonstrates with such clarity, the comic languages of “The Producers” and “The Odd Couple” are not the same. The humor of “The Odd Couple” is rooted in watching ordinary guys, equipped with an extraordinary arsenal of zingers, turn each other into irreconcilable caricatures of themselves, the way people do in bad marriages. The characters in “The Producers” are stylishly drawn cartoons, shaped by the performers’ delighted awareness of belonging to the intoxicating, heightened reality of musical comedy.

A similar self-consciousness informs Mr. Lane’s and Mr. Broderick’s attitudes in “The Odd Couple,” which automatically creates a distance between them and the men they are playing. Their performances are framed in quotation marks. Mr. Lane is “doing” macho and slovenly; Mr. Broderick is “doing” repressed and anal-retentive. That’s different from being slovenly or anal-retentive. And the gap between doing and being fatally exposes the cogs and gears of Mr. Simon’s impeccably assembled comic clockwork.

Brantley’s write up is worth checking out; the production sounds like it’s worth missing.

“If you have to hang in there beyond your time for the applause, if your happiness is in the hands of others, you’re in trouble. After you quit, though, there’s a long time between Monday and Friday.”

Johnny Bench speaking about Pete Rose to Canadian novelist/sports writer Mordecai Richler, March 1985.

I ran across the quote and couldn’t help but think of the situation Bernie’s in–almost at the end of the road. Will he come back next year as a part-timer, or go someplace else and be a part-timer? Hello Walt Frazier on the Cavs? Will he call it quits? Bench retired when he was 35. Remember Brosius hanging it up pretty early a couple of years ago? Never know when a guy is ready to walk away do you?

I could see Bernie moving on from the game pretty easily. But you never know, maybe it’ll be tough for him as well. I’m sure it’s not that simple either way. He’s only been playing baseball his entire adult life.

No matter what Bernabee decides to do I wish him the best of luck. Bernie has had an excellent career and I like him as much as I’ve ever liked any Yankee. I’d love to see him back in Ruben Sierra’s role next year but I’m also fine if he’s gone too. It’ll be down to Mariano and Jeter and Jorge. Time marches on, what are you gunna do?

To see Bernie’s career numbers check out the nifty new “Yankees in Flux” link section that Cliff hooked up to your right. Proper.

“I’m the general manager, and everybody within the baseball operations department reports to me,” he said. “That’s not how it has operated recently.”

With reports from the Times, the Daily News (plus Lupica), Newsday, and the Bergan Record (Klap).

Meanwhile, ESPN reports that Larry Bowa will be the Yankees’ new third base coach. Good way to fire up the ol’ Hot Stove season, huh?

A year after the Boston Red Sox ended their long championship drought, the Chicago White Sox, their cousins in futility followed suit and won the World Serious for the first time since WWI. The White Sox defeated the Astros last night 1-0 to complete a four-game sweep of Houston. Chicago became the first team since the 1999 Yankees to go 11-1 in the postseason.

It was fitting that the Red Sox had to beat their arch rivals last year to get to the Serious (and the way in which they toppled the Yanks likely helped sooth a few old sores too!), but superstitions aside I don’t think anyone could have been truly shocked that Boston won it all last year. They had an excellent team were one of the favorites all season. It is also fitting that the White Sox, whose legacy apart from the infamous Black Sox scandal is that they are a losing team without a legacy (or curse if you’d like) won it all this year. They were a solid team and they played very well this year but I doubt that many fans would have predicted that this was their year at the begining of the season. (Not surprisingly, this Serious didn’t draw in viwers like the 2004 Serious did–the White Sox ain’t the Red Sox and the Astros aren’t the Cardinals.) Eric Neel and David Schoenfield debated the relative merits of the Serious over at ESPN. I like Neel’s take:

I see this Series as worthy of some credit because the White Sox just got off an 88-year schneid, trumping their whining North Side brothers and providing a welcome antidote to all the Red Sox logorrhea we’ve been subject to these last 11 months, and doing it with a bunch of pretty likable and unlikely heroes. I further give this series, regardless of the level of play, some credit because it’s got heartache at it’s heart. What’s happened to the Astros here — the return to form of their offense after a brief period of productivity, the injury to Clemens, the struggles of Brad Lidge, their one “sure bet,” the repeated closeup shots of those terrible Chuck Norris beards — added up to another chapter in the star-crossed history of the franchise. The week began so promisingly, and it’s ending so familiarly. It’s sad. And there’s a kind of pathetic greatness in that. This club that’s waited 40-plus years for a shot is shooting nothing but blanks. I know that’s not entertaining, but it is strangely gripping, I think.

Plus, this series has that catch Uribe made in the bottom of the ninth, and that’s a bit of greatness right there.

Finally, it is also somehow fitting that the Cubs should be the last team standing here as well. (Now the Indians and Giants have replaced Boston and Chicago in the two and three slots, but 1948 and 1954 feel a lot different from 1908.) I have a feeling they’ll hold onto that dubious distinction for a little while longer but who knows? What if they go for the trifecta next year? Wouldn’t that be something?

Anyhow, congrats to the White Sox and their fans.

Meanwhile, on the home front, it appears that Brian Cashman and the Yankees have settled on a three-year deal worth just less than $6 million that will keep Cashman in New York. There has been no official announcement yet but that is because Bud Selig didn’t want anything to distract from the Serious. I figure Cashman and the Yanks will make a statement later today or tomorrow. Good news. I’m glad to have Cashman back.

My girlfriend is rooting for the White Sox to win the World Serious but more than anything she’d like the Astros to win a couple of games just to extend the season some. She isn’t ready for it to end. I can relate. I was exhausted after the 2003 and 2004 Yankee-Red Sox wars and welcomed the winter rest, but spring training can start tomorrow as far as I’m concerned. Em and I snuggled up on the couch last night and as we talked about the game, I realized how fortunate I am to have a partner who not only tolerates baseball but thoroughly enjoys it as well. Ms Shorty, all foot foot and three-quarters of her, announced to me that she was going to name every team in the American League. Which she did, slowly but surely, followed by every team in the National League. She nailed that too, and clapped her hands excitedly at the accomplishment and then insisted that I mention her feat in this space today (and just who am I to say no). Boy, was she ever proud of herself. Like I said, I’m mad lucky.

We actually turned in before the game went to extra innings and I kept waking up in the night wondering what had happened. I even dreamt about the outcome–which had the Astros winning 6-5. Much to my surprise–and I won’t lie, delight–the White Sox pulled it out in 14 innings. It was the longest game in Serious history: goodness. While most of America is tuning this Serious out, there at least are some diehards that got precious little sleep last night.

Speaking of sleepless, the perputually sleep-deprived Brian Cashman–baseball’s answer to Jeff Van Gundy–is expected to sign a new contract to remain the general manager of the New York Yankees. Again, nothing concrete went down on Tuesday, but Joel Sherman reports that there are two possible deals on the table: one for four years at $8.8 million, and another for three years at $5.6 million. (Meanwhile, Theo Epstein, whose contract is also due to expire next week, is negotiating with the Red Sox.) The season isn’t over and yet the beat goes on for the Yanks and Sox.

Yesterday came and went and still no definitive word about Yankee GM Brian Cashman. However, Tyler Kepner reports in today’s New York Times:

Brian Cashman may announce his intention to return as the Yankees’ general manager as early as Tuesday. Cashman’s contract expires next Monday, but he has interviewed coaching candidates for the Yankees in recent weeks and has given no internal signals that he intends to leave.

A person who works for a major league team and spoke with Cashman recently said that he would be shocked if Cashman decided to leave. The person requested anonymity because he did not want to betray Cashman’s confidence and because Cashman has not announced his intentions.

We all know Boss George has deep pockets. According to Jon Heyman in Newsday, the Yankees have offered Cashman a three-year, $5 million deal. The Yankees also plan to make Larry Bowa their new third base coach and Lee Mazzilli Joe Torre’s bench coach. Luis Sojo will be offered the position of first base coach but it is still uncertain whether he’ll accept the job or not. Ron Guidry is thought to be one of the leading candidates to replace Mel Stottlemyre as the Bombers’ pitching coach.

Watching Bobby Jenks and Brad Lidge both get smacked around last night simply made me appreciate what we Yankee fans have in Mariano Rivera even more than I already do. Sure, Mo’s got two famous blown saves to his credit (’97 and ’01), but hey, you wouldn’t be human as a reliever if you didn’t have a few big losses in there, right? And in Rivera’s case those two blips hardly overwhelm his great success.

I first-guessed Chicago’s choice of bringing Jenks in the game in the first place. With a rested bullpen, it just didn’t seem necessary. Just as they broke for commercial, Fox introduced Jenks like they were making the next rock star closer: cool name, throws gas. But Jenks’ location was awful and he allowed two runs to score tying the game at six. The night before he sent Jeff Bagwell down swining at hard stuff up in the zone. Last night, with the count 2-2, he throws a fastball down, and Bagwell was able to reach out and poke a single to center. Jenks made virtually the same pitch, low and away to Jose Vizcaino, who slapped the game-tying single into left (that hit must have brought back some fond memories for Yankee fans, as it was the same kind of single that won Game 1 of the Subway Serious back in 2000). King Kong one night, mediocre in two-thirds of an inning the next night.

Then Lidge served up a belt-high heater to Scott Podsednick of all people, who lined a home run to win the game for Chicago. Lidge is tremendous but has now blown two consecutive games. Pujols, you can understandable, but Podsednick is tough to swallow.

(more…)

…That the Yankees have contacted Larry Bowa about coming on to coach third base? Well, believe it. According to reports, the thinking is for Bowa to coach third, Lee Mazz to be Torre’s bench coach, and Luis Sojo to move over to first, leaving Roy White out of a job. Ron Guidry is also being seriously considered to replace Mel Stottlemyre. Guidry was one of my favorite players when I was growing up and he’s always seemed like an professional, competent guy. What qualifications he has for becoming a professional pitching coach, I wouldn’t know. Hmmm.

With Joe Torre’s situation now resolved, the Yankees next order of business is how they want to handle GM Brian Cashman, whose contract is due to expire at the end of the month. Meanwhile, Joe Girardi will leave New York to take over as the new manager of the Florida Marlins. While I’m pleased for Girardi, who has always been a favorite, I couldn’t help but think about Willie Randolph yesterday. For the longest time I refused to buy the race card when it came to Randolph repeatedly being passed over for managerial positions. He had never managed before, I reasoned. If he was willing to go down to the minors for a year or two and then still couldn’t get a big league job that would be different. But here comes Girardi, also with no prior experience as a manager, and just one season as a coach, and not one, but two teams were aggresively persuing him. Again, I’m excited for Giardi, something feels fishy about the whole thing.

The Yankees also lost out on landing the services of pitching coach Leo Mazzone. It appears as if the Braves pitching guru is headed for Baltimore where he’ll join longtime friend, manager Sam Perlozzo. (That’s a whole lot of zzzz’s, bro.) According to The Baltimore Sun, a deal could be announced later today. This is a bummer for the Yanks, of course. Fortunately, the Orioles pitching staff have already had a terrific pitching coach in Ray Miller for the past season and a half, so maybe Mazzone won’t make them that much better. (One can always hope, right?) The good news is that Girardi isn’t managing in the AL so he’ll be easy to pull for; the bad news is that Mazzone is now in the AL East.

(more…)

“Joe and I had a great meeting yesterday,” [Yankee owner, George] Steinbrenner said in a statement. “We both look forward to bringing a championship back to New York and our great fans.”

Joe Torre spoke to the media earlier today and declared that he will return as the manager of the Yankees in 2006. Torre said that he had some doubts about what he wanted to do, but after talking it over with his family and then meeting with George Steinbrenner in Florida yesterday, he is looking forward to coming back. According to the Associated Press:

“I realize I still want to do this thing. I still want to manage,” he said. “There’s only one place to manage in my estimation. It’s been the best time I’ve ever had, these 10 years.”

…”I just wanted to pretty much clear the air on everything that was part of my unhappiness or anger or whatever you want to call it, frustration. I guess you can put all those things under the same heading,” Torre said.

Torre wanted to make sure Steinbrenner wanted him back.

“I had to not only hear it, but hear the tone in which it was said,” he said.

I love that last line. Say what you want about Torre as a tactician but I’ve never questioned his sincerity, or underestimated his ability to deal with both Steinbrenner and the New York media. I know I’ll be happy having him around for another season. Now, let’s see what George has in store for Cashman…or vice versa.

According to Tyler Kepner in The New York Times, the Yankees have asked and received permission to speak with Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone. It might be pie-in-the-sky day-dreaming but it sure would be exciting to see Mazzone, who along with Johnny Sain is probably the most famous pitching coach in baseball history, working (and rocking) alongside Joe Torre in the Bronx.

And speaking of Joe, the Yankee manager is expected to address the media soon, possibly as early as this afternoon. At the same time, Brian Cashman is working behind-the-scenes with the Yankees about possibly returning as the team’s GM next year. Fortunately, Cashman’s current deal expires at the end of the month, which means that things will pan out soon enough.