Recently in New York Yankees Category

Playing Pepper 2010: New York Yankees

Last year before the season began, I posed five questions to a blogger for each team, so as to get to know the rest of baseball.  I focus so heavily on the Cardinals that sometimes the rest of MLB can pass me by.  That went very well, so much so that it spawned not only a postseason edition but was part of the impetus for the formation of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

So this year, I've brought Playing Pepper back, with a little bit of a twist.  Instead of five questions, I posed 10 questions, and this year every team got the same set.  Plus, tapping into those BBA connections, I sent them to every blogger representing that team in the BBA.

We'll try to do two a day in a general alphabetical order---ah, who are we kidding, we'll get them up when we get them up.

New York Yankees
2009 Finish: 103-59, first in AL East, won World Series  Continue Reading

Preparing The Ground

Are you ready to see Matt Holliday walk?

That seems to be the thrust of today's story at the Post-Dispatch.  Some of the verbal dancing we've come to expect from ownership makes a return, as they seem to start letting people down easy in regard to their Holliday wishes.

While it might not be the best way to go about it, it's not anything reasonable fans are surprised at.  Indeed, the more surprising thing was to think that they might really try to keep him around.  As I have said before, unless they planned to take payroll to the $125 million range, there would be too much money tied in all of this, with Albert Pujols, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Kyle Lohse already bringing in major portions of the payroll.

I have never honestly held my breath on a Holliday return, though I realize that it's still possible.  I just don't know that tying up that much long-term is in the best interest of the franchise.  Holliday's a great player, to be sure, but I don't think that'd help the stated goal of staying as competitive as possible as often as possible.

I do want to see them take that monney they might have spent on Holliday (or at least a substantial portion of it) and bolster the club for 2010.  There's a report that they were interested in Vicente Padilla.  That's not the direction I'd like to see, and thankfully Matthew Leach basically shot that down.  I still think I'd like to see a Ben Sheets/Rich Harden type gamble, because you are never going to get talent like that at a lower price.

It really will be interesting to see what ownership does this offseason, because there's not a lot of really attractive options.  It may be some one-year deals and look to do this again next off-season.

Changing gears, I want to mention a situation that came to my attention through the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  There is a blog called The Yankee Universe that covers, as you might imagine, the Yankees.  However, it's likely not to be called that much longer, since the Yankees and MLB have come after them with a cease and desist order.  The bloggers' response can be found here.

This seems like a tough situation.  On the one hand, it seems petty for the Yankees to come after a blog.  I mean, honestly, does anyone think that it's an "official" blog?  Are there any such things?  Anything that is official from a player or team is more of the press release/bland generalities genre, not actually a discussion blog.  While people like Matthew Leach blog for the official site, they aren't team blogs by any stretch of the imagination.  So if you are seeing analysis and discussion, you can't actually think that it's approved by a Steinbrenner, can you?

Add to that side the fact that it's your fan base, and in general you don't necessarily want to do irritating and picky stuff with your fans, because that's a darn good way to make them ex-fans.  They are promoting your brand and advertising your team, so you'd think you'd want to help them do that.

The flip side of that, though, is that the Yankees apparently have been using "Yankee Universe" in a charity fashion, which does lend to some confusion, and the simple fact that you have to defend trademarks, because if you don't, eventually you lose them.  (One of the few things I remember from college business law.)  If you don't stop people from using them without permission, there comes a point where you can't claim it as yours.  It sucks, but from a long-term perspective, it has to be done.

The BBA ran into this during our voting of post-season awards.  Since we were using MVP, Cy Young, etc. as our titles, which were registered to the Baseball Writers of America, we got an e-mail requesting we change our award titles, which we'll do next year (as soon as we figure out what we want to change them to).  Some of our membership questioned whether they can do that, as other organizations use similar terms, but when you are a small group, you don't argue with anything that could cause legal trouble unless you are 120% sure you can deal with it.

Which means that, no matter the rightness or wrongness of it, most likely The Yankee Universe will become known as something else in the coming days.  If someone in that organizaiton was more open to new media, though, you think they could have worked out some sort of compromise or agreement rather than using the considerable weight of the franchise to squash a fly, as it were.

A good weekend to you and yours and we'll get back together next week to talk about the winter meetings!

Twigs For The Stove

First off, congratulations to the Yankees.  I'm not a Yankee hater, due to their tradition mainly.  I'm not big on the fact that they spent so much and won, but when you look at how often they spent a ton and lost, you can see that's not completely the reasoning.  Besides, it's been nine years.  While that's not that long for a lot of teams, it does mean that there's been plenty of other winners this decade.  Interesting that both old Yankee Stadium and the new place were christened with championships.  Of course, only one other team has done that, and we remember it well.

There have been just a few small items that were Cardinal related in the news lately.  First, the Blue Jays claimed Jarrett Hoffpauir off waivers.  Hoffpauir continues the interesting "former Cardinal" theme the Jays have had recently.  (After they got Scott Rolen and David Eckstein, a friend of mine who has family there stated there were shirts proclaiming the "St. Toronto Blue Cardinals.")  Hoffpauir's window effectively closed when Skip Schumaker made an effective transition to second.  Factor in Julio Lugo being around all year and Hoffpauir wasn't going to sniff playing time.  He'd slipped in the prospect rankings anyway, but if he gets a chance in Toronto he might be a servicable backup.

The Pirates are interested in talking to Rick Ankiel.  We all know that Rick is going to go somewhere else after this season; it's almost guaranteed.  A situation like Pittsburgh would actually be a good place for him.  He could work on being a hitter, probably put up some solid numbers in that park, and not have to worry about carrying a team or being a piece toward a post-season puzzle.  With him, Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones in the outfield, Pittsburgh would have a pretty interesting offense.

Not unexpectedly, the Cardinals released Brad Thompson yesterday.  I've noted many times how Thompson's effectiveness had declined pretty much every year.  If he can't get the sinker over and get the ground balls, he gets lit up.  With the bullpen being pretty defined already, there wasn't much of a spot for him anyway, and since he was going to be eligible for arbitration, it's best to get it out of the way now.  Thompson did have highlights as a Cardinal and he'll always be remembered, but it was time to part ways.

Finally, Joe Strauss indicated that there have been discussions between the Cardinals and Scott Boras.  It sounds like it was more of a presentation of an initial offer rather than real in-depth negotiations for the rights to Matt Holliday, but it's a start.

With the World Series over, things should start heating up soon.  Mark McGwire will probably talk next week, if I was to guess.  I know that they'd held off making him available to the press until the Series was done.  Probably early next week, maybe the week after.  (The cynical would guess the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to minimize some of the talk, but I doubt that'll happen--or it'd work.)

15 days from now, the free agents have to file.  I think we'd all be shocked if the Cards were able to keep Holliday before that time, but it's something to keep an eye on.  I know they want to use this exclusive window as much as they possibly can.  The winter meetings will be held Dec. 7-10 in Indianapolis, so there will probably be a lot of talk leading up to that.

The offseason is here!  Let's see what the Cardinals do with it!

Playing Pepper Postseason: New York Yankees

If you were reading this blog before this season started, you may remember a series I did called "Playing Pepper", where I asked five questions of a blogger covering each major league team.  With the season coming to a close, I thought I'd tap into the talents of the newly formed Baseball Bloggers Alliance and ask five new questions of the bloggers covering the postseason teams.   Continue Reading

Book Review: Munson

Playing Pepper 2009: New York Yankees

As the players start getting themselves ready for another season, I thought it'd be a good idea to do the same.  I contacted a blogger for each major league team and posted them five questions.  This is the result.  You can find the tentative schedule of teams here and today's main post is right here.

It's pretty fashionable to hate the Yankees.  And they definitely give you reasons, especially when you look at the money they threw around this offseason. If fear leads to anger and anger leads to hate, you gotta figure envy comes into play somewhere in there as well.

When you think about the history of the Yankees, though, it's hard not to be in awe of the players that have worn the pinstripes and the success they've had.  On the whole, a strong (but not too strong) Yankee team is good for baseball.

I sent my five questions over to Brian, who writes at In Mo We Trust as well as being the creator and maintainer of the whole Blogs By Fans network, and he gave some insights on the offseason the Yanks had and the expectations of New York fans.
  Continue Reading

Holding Pattern

Yesterday was my ninth wedding anniversary, which explains why there was no blog post.  The total lack of Cardinal news didn't hurt either.  I was hoping that the day I was away from the internet, something would shake loose, but it was not to be.  As much as I want something to happen, I continue to expect little if any business will be done before the fifth of January.

There were a couple of things I found over at MLB Trade Rumors that could have indirect bearing on the Redbirds.  There is nothing specifically linking the stories to the Cardinals, but in light of some of the things that have been bandied about in the Cardinal blogosphere, they become interesting.

First, the Yankees probably aren't going after Ben Sheets.  Apparently only Texas and the Braves have been linked to him and neither one all that strongly.  I can't find where I read it now, but there was a story that indicated John Mozeliak would spend for a reliever or a starter.  If Brian Fuentes continues to drag his heels or winds up somewhere else, it could be that Sheets comes into play for the Cardinals.  We can hope, at least.

Second, it appears that the Mike Cameron to the Yanks deal is pretty much off the table.  Which may mean that Rick Ankiel becomes a Yankee target for outfield help.  There's been a lot of talk about Ankiel for Ian Kennedy, which would seem to work well for both teams, which is why it probably won't happen.

Posting will likely be light next week unless the Cardinals make a move.  There's a UCB project scheduled for the 31st, so be sure to look for that.  If you are traveling this weekend, stay safe! 

Winter Blahs

Being in Arkansas, it's fairly rare that I have to spend an hour trying to get my car drivable, but yesterday's sleet/freezing rain combo lasted well into the nighttime hours, so that was how I spent my morning.  How you Northerners do it all the time is beyond me.

Right now, coming up with blog posts is similar to that car de-icing.  You chip away, chip away and hopefully when you get some news, you are ready to go.  So consider this a chipping away entry as we wait to hear what the Cardinals are going to do next.

First off, if you liked yesterday's roundtable answers, check out all of the entries in one place.  There are some really amazing bloggers on the network that know their teams well.

Chet from 4thebirds has set up a new blog called Cardinal Nation Ticker.  Basically, it's a place to host some live blogs during the week.  I joined the crew last night as we talked about Brian Fuentes and whether he should sign, the bullpen in general, the outfield....you know, the topics that continued to get hashed about in our waiting period.  The next one is set for Thursday, so feel free to come over and join the discussion.  If you are needing some Cardinal talk before then, though, head over to CardsClubhouse and start talking!

Over at Bird Land, Derrick Goold has restarted the prospect voting.  Right now he's taking votes for number 19, so make your voice heard!

The news of the day seems to be Rafael Furcal going to the Braves.  Which is not nearly as interesting as what it means for Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson.  The Cardinals had talked about swapping an outfielder for one of those earlier in the winter, but with Khalil Greene in the fold and Adam Kennedy basically untradable, there may not be anything there.  Then again, those guys are cheap enough in salary to be able to have Kennedy as a bench/platoon guy, so maybe something will happen.

The Mike Cameron to the Yankees deal may not be happening (again).  If the Rick Ankiel for Ian Kennedy swap was anything more than internet rumor, it might flare up again.

You may have noticed that there's a player for the UCB Radio Show up on the right side of the blog.  You can listen there or, if you'd rather be mobile while listening, we now have it set up on iTunes.  Thanks to everyone that is working on that, from Tom at CardinalsGM who set it up to Chet who is doing a lot of hosting to Nick at Pitchers Hit Eighth who finally got it on iTunes.  Great work, guys!

Cardinals in Vegas, Day 2

No deals done on the first day of the winter meetings, but a lot of talk going on.  Lots of it, according to Joe Strauss's latest article.

First off, John Mozeliak shot down the Burnett idea, which isn't terribly surprising given since the team doesn't really want to deal out too many long-term contracts right now.  Especially with one that may have some injury issues.  I know the talk is that they don't want to limit their flexibility with Carp, Wainwright and Lohse all signed long-term, but you'd have to think that continuity is fine if everyone is healthy and good.  It worked for the Braves in the '90s, didn't it?

Moving an outfielder is still on the priority list, but it looks like it won't be Ryan Ludwick.  Which makes sense in a lot of ways, mostly because every other outfielder in the system, it seems like, is a left-handed batter.  Problem is, like BrewCards noted in yesterday's comment thread, there are just so many questions around everyone else that it'll be tough to get adequate talent back for them.  I don't believe they'll move Rasmus (unless completely overwhelmed), people have to decide if Schumaker is for real and they can live with the lack of power, Ankiel is a free agent after this season, and Chris Duncan is coming back from injury.

Apparently the braintrust is rethinking the closer position as well.  Either they aren't convinced Perez and Motte can handle it even with a year of seasoning or they want to keep their options open now that the closer market seems to be coming back to them.  Getting a FA closer on a two-year deal (if they could) might open trade possibilities next offseason.

Adam Kennedy looks to be the starter next season at second base.  When you look at his numbers, they really weren't as bad as everyone seems to have in their head.  While an Orlando Hudson would be an improvement, there really isn't any way to get him if Kennedy is still on the roster, and there doesn't seem to be any mechanism for getting him off of it that works for the Cardinals.  He'll be a free agent, so maybe we'll finally get to see what the Cardinals were looking for two years ago.

Strauss talks today at noon from Vegas, so I'm sure he'll elaborate even more on these points then.

Apparently the Cardinals have been looking at Scott Downs from the Blue Jays and have considered sending either Ankiel or Joe Mather to the Braves.  A quick glance at Downs looks interesting, especially his last two seasons.  He's been playing in a tough division as well, so moving to the NL Central might even help.  I'm a little surprised the Cards would move Ankiel, especially for someone like Mike Gonzalez, but they've got to clear a spot somehow.  Looks like he'll be a popular chip, with the Yanks, Rays and Giants all asking about him.  (Isn't he a little young to be a Giant?)

In fact, the rumor of Ankiel for Ian Kennedy is a little intriguing.  Kennedy, who was actually drafted by the Cardinals in 2003 but didn't sign, has been a top prospect for a while in the Yankee organization.  And, while we all know that Yankee prospects have a heck of a hype machine, his minor league numbers backed a lot of that up.  He struggled this year in the majors, but he will turn 24 next week and still has a long way to go before he hits his prime.  He'd be a long term committment, but a cheap one.  If that's an offer out there, I think (even though I'm a huge Ankiel fan and would hate to see him go) that Mo should take it.

A reminder that the special edition of the United Cardinal Bloggers Radio Hour will be coming to you tomorrow night at 10:00 Central time.  Yours truly is scheduled to be a guest in the first hour.

That Was Quick

And, again, an American League team celebrates on foreign soil.  You'd think they'd start losing the All-Star Game so they could party at home, don't you?

As for this whole "AL is dominant" stuff the major media keeps spewing....unfortunately, there may be something to that.  Since the strike year of '94, the AL is 43-26 in the World Series, including five sweeps.  The closest the NL has gotten to a sweep was the Cardinals' win in 5 games last year.  Right now, when coupled with their streak of winning All-Star games, it's pretty apparent the AL is the top league, even though it's painful to admit it.  These things are pretty cyclical, though.  A lot of the good young talent is in the NL, so they should be making some strides in the next few years.

Somewhere out there, a seven year old has seen two Red Sox championships and no Yankee titles.  Who'd have thought that'd ever happen?

A-Rod has already opted out of his deal.  However, I'm wondering if that might not come back to bite him.  The Yanks have been adamant that they aren't going to deal with him.  The Cubs are in ownership flux, so they probably can't go out and put together a record-setting package.  The Red Sox just won the title and they've said that they want to resign Lowell, so I'd be surprised if they made a major run at Rodriguez.  The Mets have been floated about, but they have Reyes at short and Wright at third.  Where would they put him?  It may just boil down to the Angels, and if they think they are the only ones in the race, there's no way they'll go $30 million per.  We'll see how it pans out, but I think with the Yankees uninvolved, Rodriguez doesn't get as much as he thinks he will.

Should be a busy week in baseball.  The Cardinals should announce their GM soon and the Yankees their manager.  The free agent market opens in two weeks.  While the season is great, the off-season has become a lot of fun in its own right!

Also on the Network: √ Doing It The Hard Way [C70 At The Bat] √ Bobby Jenks Saves Sox's Win Over Seattle [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Deadline moves [Feeling Dodger Blue] √ Manny's impact [Feeling Dodger Blue] √ Shea Stadium Plays Citi Field [Loge 13] √ Frustration Revisted [C70 At The Bat] √ Not So Fast, T-Mac [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Payroll breakdown [Feeling Dodger Blue]