Mariners ‘tickled pink’ with Griffey 1-year deal

Mariners ‘tickled pink’ with Griffey 1-year deal

You can’t complain about this deal. Griffey although not the hitter he once was still has some pop in his bat with 19 HR last year. Although not as fast and fleet of foot in the outfield he is serviceable.  But for 3 mil the leadership and role model he brings is second to none. Griffey is a 1st ballet hall of famer and its good to see him finish his career where he started. I’m guessing at nearly 40 this will be his last year and then he will retire. Griffey and Seattle go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly

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Tearing up Rob the ney sayer

ESPN analyst(overpaid blogger) Rob Neyer wrote this dandy of a piece where he disagrees with the selections for  the gold gloves in the American league. Lets take a look at the picks vs who he thinks should have won the award and why I think he is an idiot.  Joe Mauer took the award for catcher. I don’t have a problem with this pick at all Mauer is awesome behind the plate and undoubtedly the best offensive catcher in baseball. Rob thought it should have gone to Gerald Laird. Laird is good but he cant do the things Mauer can do. At first base Mark Teixeira gets the nod, Rob thinks Kevin Youkilis should have. (big surprise someone from ESPN favoring a Red Sox)I have never seen a better fielder than Mark Teixeira. Certainly not Kevin Youkilis. At Short Stop Derek Jeter got the award. Now this is the one that I agree with the Ney man. He thinks that Elvis Andrus should have won it and I couldn’t agree more. Andrus was unbelievable in the field while Jeter was better than his average but not anywhere’s close to Andrus. He goes on to make ignorant statements like Tori Hunter and Ichiro only won them because they won them in the past. Almost suggesting that the voters were just to lazy to check. But again I did agree with him on preferring Franklin Gutierrez over Adam Jones. Jones is good but I agree Gutierrez made some catches that were just not humanly possible. I also have no problem with Even Longoria winning the award. There really isn’t anyone else in the running. As far as Buehrle goes, its so tough to pick a pitcher do to the fact that they don’t often have to field.  I guess he is as good as anyone so I have no argument there. Now Second base I don’t agree with Rob or the selection committee. The award went to Placido Polanco. Rob says Dustin Pedroia ( again ESPN liking the Red Sox) I personally would have gone with Robinson Cano. Now I may be a little bias being a Yankees fan and all. But Cano was my pick. Now I know you all think I’m crazy, and if it weren’t for the 12 errors he made he may have stood a chance. He makes plays that neither Pedroia or Polanco would ever even touch. But Polancos 2 errors all year long for a guy that is 34 years old is just subhuman so I guess the committee was right. As for Pedroia, that’s just the ranting of a crazy man.

Rob was right with a couple of his picks but as for the rest you can tell that he is a Red Sox ESPN employee.

Phillies pick up Lee’s $9 million option for 2010

Phillies pick up Lee’s $9 million option for 2010

DUH!  Of course they did. If anyone is surprised with this then they just don’t watch baseball. Lee was a steal at the trading deadline and will most certainly get a long term contract of the six year 90 million dollar variety. If the Phils do not work out a deal with him then they don’t deserve to ever win another championship. EVER! But they will, its just a matter of how much for how long. I’m sure they will lock him up early before he gets to see what other ridiculous contracts will be given up this off season.

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Mets decline $9.1 million option on reliever Putz

Mets decline $9.1 million option on reliever Putz

Putz was a dominate reliever back in 06-07 but age and injury make him just another run of the mill journeyman. The option that the Mets held on him was part of the contract they got from Seattle, which he signed back when he had value. That being said he still may have some life left in him with his newly repaired arm. Someone will give him a chance but not for 9mil. Probably more like a one year 1 million dollar deal will be more realistic for a 32 year old semi washed up flamethrower.

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Angels re-sign Abreu for two years, $19 million

Angels re-sign Abreu for two years, $19 million

The Angels picked up Bobby  Abreu off the nobody wants me pile after he was dumped by the Yankees and boy did he respond. n only a one year 5 million dollar deal Abreu proved that he was truly a superstar hitting .293 with 15 HR and 103 RBI’s. His power numbers were a bit down from his career numbers  but he hit for average and his strong arm in the field was worth a new contract. Abreu gets 9.5 million over the next two years and seems to be a great fit for the Angels.

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Best Pitcher in Baseball caught with Mary Jane

Tim Licecum the 2008 and probable 2009 Cy young award winner was caught with 3.3 grams of pot during a traffic stop for driving 74 in a 65. The officer noticed the smell of pot as he approached the vehicle and Tim immediately handed over the drugs and paraphernalia at the officers request. The amount Tim was caught with was far below the 40grams needed to be considered with intent to sell or distribute and is a misdemeanor that he will face a fine and a slap on the wrist for. The more punitive punishment will likely come from the MLB. Licecum will most likely be suspended for 50 games for violation of the MLB drug policies and will face a fine that will be far greater than the one he will face from the city of Seattle. Tim pleaded guilty and hopefully will learn a valuable lesson from this lack of good judgment.

Post World Series questions will soon need some answers

I know the World Series has just ended and they haven’t been world champs for even 24 hours yet but its time to start thinking about who will stay and who will go before next season . There are a number of players that are either free agents, have options or were just rentals to begin with.Some of these players we will say goodbye to, some will be offered a contract. Perhaps we should start to look at a couple of the big question marks. The two biggest are Matsui and Damon.  Now I personally believe that Matsui may have just hit himself into another contract. But when I say that we have to look at it realistically. Matsui is 35 years old and made 13 million last season and had had surgery on both knees. Do to these bad knees he did not play in the field in 2009. At times he looked like he was 90 years old running the bases but looked better running the bases towards the end of the season.  Now Im not going to sit here and tell you that he is ready to play in the field again only the Drs, trainers,coaches and Matsui himself can make that determination. What I can tell you is that even if he cant it would be a benefit to the Yankees to sign him for one more year. Granted we cannot pay him the 13 million that he made in 2009 that would be foolish. However if he likes NY and wants to stay I think an eight million dollar deal with incentives would not be horrible. Perhaps with a team option for a second year for an additional 5 million. If Matsui goes out tests the free agency waters he will certainly find interest. Seattle comes to mind as a team that he would fit in with well. He can probably even get a muti year deal elsewhere, however there aren’t many of these teams that can offer him contention at the 2010 WS.

As for Johnny Damon it appears that both sides have interest in him returning and I am confident that a deal will be reached.Damon is 36 and had a career season. Unlike Matsui Damon had good knees and can still steal a bag. His weakness is that he has a below average throwing arm. However he is still an asset to the lineup and a very productive hitter. I would give him a 2 year 14 million dollar deal that would be worth up to 20 million with incentives.

There are some other players that we have to wonder what will do with such as Hinske,Guzman,Nady,Hairston and a few other players namely pitchers that we will take closer looks at over the coming weeks. My guess is that Hairston will be given some kind of deal to to his versatility and Hinske will be invited to spring training on a minor league deal with a chance to compete for a 25 man roster spot and Guzman will probably be designated for assignment. Nady could be a wild card he is very popular with the other players and he is still quite young.

Also what will become of Chin Ming Wang ? There was speculation that the Yankees may non-tender him but I don’t see it. I think they will wait it out and see how it goes. Wang is only 29 years old and lets not forget he was a 19 game winner two years in a row and had the most wins of any pitcher over that period of time.

The Yankees have a lot of questions to be answered and now its time to slowly start thinking about them. But first lets enjoy the parade.

World Series Champs

 

The New York Yankees are World Series Champions. I was there for the action and it is single handedly the greatest live sports moment of my life.

 

Yankees are World Champions

The New York Yankees have clinched their 27th world championship and they did it in style. They took an early 2-0 lead and never looked back as they had control of this game from the Get go. Hideki Matsui surfaced as Pedros Daddy with a HR and 4 RBI’s off him. The Bull pen took over for the Phillies in the fifth but it was to little to late as the Yankees came away with a 7-3 victory.

They game ended as any Yankees classic should end with Mariano Rivera closing it out . The Yankees can finally put all the critics to bed. The Fact is that the Yankees are the Best team in baseball and the 2009 World Series Champions. Beating down last years World Champions to become the World Champion seems fitting. This was Alex Rodriguez first world series victory and probably one of many to come. This Yankees team is built to win and I would imagine that most of the pieces will remain intact next season as well. We will talk in the coming weeks about who will and wont be back next season but now is not the time. As Joe Girardi stood there with the Trophy he hinted that he might change to number 28 now that they have won 27.

In the Pre game I predicted that Matsui would be huge. This turned out to be an understatement as he was the world series MVP and had an incredible world series. Matsui was the first DH to ever win the MVP.Andy Pettite ended up 4-0 in the post season. No win was bigger than today. On short rest Pettitte took the ball and pitched his heart out.

Tomorrow we will take a look at each players world series performance and their likelihood of return. Before we all go to bed I just wanted to state that the Fox announcers were the worst I have ever heard in my life. They seconded guessed the managers throughout the entire series and you could tell that they were Anti Yankee from the start. Back tomorrow with sooooooooooooooo much more. But tonight we all go to bed fans of the WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!

Game six

Game six is the Yankees second opportunity to clinch their 27th world championship which would be the ultimate cherry on top of this tremendous season for the Yankees. Its funny how Brian Cashman is crucified when the Yankees fail and he is held to god like standards when they succeed. Fact of the matter is they have only missed the playoffs once in the last decade or so, so I think you gotta be happy with his performance. The Wheels in my brain are already turning as to who will be back next year and who the Yankees might pick up. Tonight though its all world series baby. Here are your starting lineups.

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Johnny Damon LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Hideki Matsui DH
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner CF

Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (3-0, 3.24 ERA in postseason)

PHILLIES
Jimmy Rollins SS
Shane Victorino CF
Chase Utley 2B
Ryan Howard 1B
Jayson Werth RF
Raul Ibanez DH
Pedro Feliz 3B
Ben Francisco LF
Carlos Ruiz C

Pitching: RHP Pedro Martinez (0-1, 2.08 ERA in postseason)

 

Im just going to leave you a couple of pre game notes and then we will be back afterwords for a complete wrap-up and hopefully a celebration.

1. Its really cold in NY right now low 40’s and it would not suprise me if you see a snow shower before its over.

2. Mo will probably go three innings tonight if the situation calls for it. Like I said before Yankees will be “All In”

3. Mark Texeria is soooooooooooo due and I have the feeling he and Arod will play a big roll in tonight’s game

4. Look for the Yankees to run on Pedro hes doesn’t have a great move like Andy

5. My advice to Joe Girardi: Stop pitching to Chase Utley. This man needs to be walked at every opportunity.

6. Matsui will be huge tonight mark my words

enjoy the game folks.