Bunch Of Stiffs

The New York Yankees are in unfamiliar territory. Their own home field. Mystique and Aura no longer appearing nightly. Usually played at 161st and River the World Series will surely not be held in the Bronx this year. The Yankees just plain suck. From top to bottom they are a disaster of a team with less identity then the New York Jets. Now that is hard to do.

Nick Swisher has become a folk hero overnight. He is more of a “true yankee” than Giambi Mussina and A-Rod combined and he has been in the Bronx for 3 days. And he is doing it while the team is struggling to even get out of its own way.

Joe Girardi is not managing this team like the guy who won manager of the year in 2006. Where is the Billy Martin in him that we all heard about? You can see in his press conferences and hear it in his voice. He is not himself. You cannot manage like that and win at the major league level. PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN JOE! Step on some toes and get the zoo going man. Tell Hal and Hank to go build some ships and leave the team decisions to you. MANAGE HOW YOU WANNA MANAGE!

Joba: Give it up, you are not a starter. You have the make up of a closer. A big guy with a mean attitude that can crank it up for an inning or two and be untouchable 3 or 4 times a week. Take your place behind Mo while he keeps the seat warm for you. The transition will be seamless… like your fastball after the 3rd inning.

Derek Jeter: Just admit you do not belong in the leadoff spot and you should probably be batting closer to the bottom if not last itself. Joe DiMaggio walked away at your age instead of holding on or taking a lesser role. And those were just whispers. What you are hearing is a LOUD ROAR! You have a caddie now? WOW! That in itself speaks volumes.

Jorge Posada: Give it up man. Molina is a great defensive catcher. You have nothing to prove. You could not throw guys out before you got hurt. Not one person expects you to throw anyone out now or cares if you do. just except the role of DH and back up firstbaseman/catcher and we can move on.

Johnny Damon: Feelin the love now Johnny?

Brett Gardner: Can you have a bigger hole that lefty loop? Shorten up the bat, choke up and be a hitter and get on base. Come on man didn’t you see Major League?

Melky Cabrera: You had to know last year you were competing for your job. You are not a centerfielder. But an outfielder nonetheless. They went out and got Nady and Swisher gave your job to Gardner and offered you in at least two trades. You think you could lose a pound?

A-Rod: take your time

I could go on but it’s not worth it. If you grew up in the late 70’s and suffered through the 80’s like I did watching this team you know that this team is far from greatness. World Series? Yeah right. They wont even make the playoffs. Yes it’s April and I said it.

Prove me wrong!

4,257: Can Derek Jeter Save Baseball?

So far Derek Jeter has everything Alex Rodriguez ever wanted. So why not take what MLB wanted, needed and hoped for him to do; save baseball. Jeter currently sits at 2,535. 1,721 hits shy of the all time hit leader Pete Rose. Jeter would have to sustain his average of 195 hits per season for nine more seasons to pass Rose. That would make him 44 years old and put him in his 22nd season as a Major Leaguer. It is highly unlikely that Jeter, a SS, would even last that long let alone continue to rack up close to 200 hits per year for nine more seasons. It would certainly be a great feat and surely would help baseball rise up out from the doldrums of the sports world.

In the wake of the Mitchell Report having been released, Jeter admitted he had put on too much weight in his decade long effort to bulk up in hopes to add more power to his swing. Yet his power numbers remained low last season as the rest of his offensive numbers dropped significantly. Perhaps last season was an indicator of things to come. As well, we all know that Jeter is no longer the premier position player he once was. He has certainly lost as step and judging by his perfomance in the WBC, though be it “pre season” he is far from where he was as an All-Star and World Series MVP.

Even passing Ty Cobb would be almost as improbable. At this point, baseball has not much to look forward to in wake of the recent economic collapse. As well, the current Administration having already backed off unrealistic promises and yet to overcome its love affair with itself is yet to even return from the campaign trail. Futher pushing an already long overdue economic recovery back until the Honeymoon is over. Which may not be until 2016 given its Carpenter like status.

So perhpas we will just have to wait until the next Babe Ruth comes along. Funny how what saved baseball the first time around is what ultimately killed it in the end. I just hope the next Babe Ruth is a sober, non-smoking, drug and disease free, athiest celibite with the heart of Secreteriat the charisma of Shaquille O’Neal, and my overwhelmingly charming yet devestaingly hadsome good looks. Who is born smack dab in the middle of the 39th and 40th parallels. West of the Mississippi and East of the Rocky Mountains under an Earth sign on a snow day in Spring.

Greener Pastures For Jeter?

Derek Jeter has been the main man at SS ever since he arrived on the scene in New York. Yet, without a title to show for it in the past eight seasons Jeter is feeling the heat. He spent the first eight years of his carrer taking a beating from fans and media. The topic of conversation almost nightly on New York talk radio would always spawn the debate of who was the best shortstop in baseball. Through all the frenzy though give Jeter credit, he outlasted them all. Silencing most if not all of his critics. Looking back, any one of those guys would give it all back for Jeter’s resume.

Now, those who were silenced have a new focus which stirs their whispering. Jeter’s demise as a shortstop. In fact the whispering is turning into quite a low roar. It was hard to see at first but if you were baseball savvy you saw the writing on the wall. A revolving door on aging veteran outfielders trying to not so gingerly replace Bernie Williams. A huge albatross in Jason Giambi at first base which ulitmately cost Bernie Williams the chance to write his own ending to his Yankee legacy. Tension, angst and ego’s clashing between Jeter and A-Rod blanketed most of the problems. Compounded by the colossal loss in the 2004 ALCS to the Boston Red Sox.

Although I would not have expected Jeter to step aside at shortstop it would have been a tremendous gesture both as a teammate and as a Yankee. He would not be the first Yankees great to move from the infield to the outfield nor would he be the first Hall Of Fame shortstop to do so. Nevertheless it is a no brainer right now. Jeter plays shortstop like a free safety who is not afraid to tackle a fire hydrant. Perhaps not the most talented, he is clearly the most versatile athlete on the field. The Yankees have themselves a gift that could solve all their outfield problems. Robin Yount a true power hitting shortstop made the move because of a shoulder problem and still took in another MVP in center for the Brewers. Jeter does not have to win the MVP or hit home runs in center or left to prove he is a winner but surely he would play like one.

Make the move Derek! If you want to win another World Series you have to do it like you have done it in the past. Take it on your shoulders. Prove to be worthy of the “C”. Put your ego away and put this team on your back and take them and your career, home!

Step Up!

The truth will set you free. How many times have we heard this cliche? Enough is enough already. Getting caught cheating, lying, stealing or any other form of ill repute is not “admitting” to the crime itself. YOU GOT CAUGHT! HOLA? Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte, A-Rod and any other drug user on the ever growing list of athletes who got caught should not be credited with “admitting” to anything. That is not an admission it is more like a confession of guilt after the fact. So I ask you Sportsroiders will anyone out there really “step up” and come forward under their own volition and speak the truth without ratting out their friends or cousins and just plain admitting to having broken the law and cheated by taking steroids or HGH without having formerly been caught or charged with allegations?

Come on Derek Jeter. Just Do It!

Furthermore for the Curt Schilling Jamie Moyer crowd of athletes who are suddenly outraged by all the cheating I ask you this: Where were you guys for the last 26 years? How come you did not step up and demand testing for illegal substances, specifically steroids, if you are so horrified by all this. Do not tell me you did not see it going on. Do not even think of trying to tell me that the union would not allow it. Squeaky wheel gets the oil my friends and absolutely no one in baseball that is allegedly “clean” has ever come forward before now and been outspoken about this issue. As far as I am concerned you are all guilty. GUILTY! You helped make the bed you now lie in.

Someone please STEP UP!

Shame Shame Shame

Alex Rodriguez has tested positive for steroids. Shocked? I mean really now. Does anyone even care? I never thought that MLB would be the biggest joke in professional sports. Certainly now if it was not already MLB has no credibility. There is only one way to fix our national sport. First MLB needs a new commissioner, one with a backbone and no allegiance to either players or owners. I suggest me. Second the MLBPA needs to be busted. Clearly, the union, like any other union is to provide a safe working environment for its members as well as insuring fair practice. They have failed. Third the owners must all be forced to sell. An arbitrator should hold bids for each franchise and settle fair market value for all. Lastly all players and coaches at the major league level should be sent packing. They can all receive full contract value from revenue collected when the teams are sold. Baseball could continue with the stars of tomorrow: today! In less than five years no one will remember or care about A-Rod, Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez or any other aging cheating superstars.

The New York Met’s “Tres Grande”

Tres Grande

by The Boinger

Lately, I have heard a lot of talk about breaking up the “Big 3″ or as one local sports icon calls them the “troika”. Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran are hardly “big” these days. However, I am not going to get on them for the Mets woes this year. The Mets lost their sub par 13 million dollar closer and have been piecing together a run at the division with nothing short of smoke and mirrors since. This team was much better than they played before Willie Randolph was fired and proved that they had quit on him since then.
“Breaking up the big 3″ I must say it is an interesting proposition. Yet, this is not Milwaukee. The likelihood of that happening is close to nil if not less. There is no foreseeable fire sale ala Florida Marlins. Oh and there is no way Omar Menaya is going to ever give in to letting anyone think anything he did was not “genius”. Let’s think about this though. All the talk about “breaking them up” suggests that only one of them must go. That somehow some way all that is wrong with the NY Mets falls squarely on the shoulders of one of if not all three of these young men. Almost to suggest that they are somehow in it together, conspiring to fail. That just is not the case.

David Wright goes out every night, parks his lunch pail at third base and gives you everything he has got. Then, win or lose, goes back in the clubhouse and takes it on the chin in front of the cameras and the dingo dog NY media. In the midst of all this “pressure” he quietly and without ceremony puts up MVP like numbers and delivers his share of game winning hits. Trade Wright? No way! This guy is the face of the franchise. This is the guy that Yankees fans wish they had at 3rd base most nights. Heck the Jets wish he could play QB. Bottom line this guy could get you back big dividends but its hard to replace the guy that leads the team in rbi’s every year in hopes of fixing what’s wrong with everyone and everything else. He is not going to be your three hitter or clean up hitter. Leave that to Omar’s next high priced prima donna. Any team would welcome a guy they could roll out there every single day in the 5th spot and not have to think twice about it.
Carlos Beltran goes out every night and gets as close to Citi field as he can. Either he is really excited to play there next year or he is intent on scaling the wall and escaping into the hat with the big apple. Perhaps he will pull another rabbit out of is ass and start hitting again like he did when he “earned” himself his current contract. Now he just may be able to do that if the Mets can get over the hump and into the playoffs. Are you willing to wait for that? Can you find someone to eat his contract? Maybe you can work out a deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Gary Matthews Jr. When the Mets are down to their last strike and need a base hit who do you want up in that spot? Carlos: “SWING THE BAT MARY”

Jose Reyes. Jose Reyes. Jose Reyes. Jose Reyes goes out there every day and I just don’t know what he’s doing. People say “he’s exciting”. Why because he’s fast? Those are the same people that love to hate the Yankees and kill Derek Jeter any chance they get. The same ones who used to say “the Yankees are boring”. Well if losing is exciting I would rather be bored to death! If throwing a tantrum on the field, acting like a baby and laughing at your teammate when he makes an error in your stead are “exciting” then I surely would rather have died from boredom then to have had witnessed that from a Major Leaguer. I know what you are thinking. That I want the Mets to trade Jose Reyes. Not the case. Could they? Yes. Could they get anything back for him? Yes. In fact they could get a lot. Though I do not think this is the right move. Trading Reyes must yield a star in return. A guy that can lead off, set the table, steal bases, score runs etc. Nate Mclouth?