Thoughts from the weekend

Here is what I learned this weekend -

I was able to confirm that Cameron Indoor Stadium is absolutely one of, if not THE, best live sporting event experience you can have.  (I know, I know, that’s not really shocking news, just want to brag that I was there)

Gene FN Chizik

Apparently, Chris Webber is awesome!

Retro Recap David Cone’s Perfecto

Back with yet another retro recap of a past historical sporting event. This one is David Cone pitching a perfect game on July 18, 1999 against the Montreal Expos. This is the ESPNClassic “Drive Thru” version of the game, meaning its edited down to one hour (actually 42 minutes + American Gladiators and Bosley Hair Restorations commercials).

Retro Recap “Favre’s First Comeback”

In a new feature here at the blogolumn, I will be doing one of those fancy running diaries. However, it won’t be for a current sports event or draft; it will be for an NFL regular season game from September 20, 1992. It features the Cincinnati Bengals hosted by the Green Bay Packers. It is notable (SPOILER ALERT!) for being Brett Favre’s first comeback victory. In light of recent events, it feels quite appropriate to look back at the start of the Favre-era in Green Bay. On a side note, I didn’t see this game when it first aired despite already being a fan of the Packers, since I was out of market. All I saw where the updates of Majkowski getting injured and the TD to end the game.

Long time, no blog

The first new blogolumn in months and months, due to a combination of being busyness and laziness. This will cover a hodgepodge of topics that are connected in no way other than being thoughts that are bouncing around in my head.

Firstly, my list of the Top 10 movies of 2007:

More Yankees junk

So, now that the impossible has happened and ARod has decided to return to the Yanks. With Posada and Rivera also resigned, and the team basically waiting on a decision from Pettitte. My whole offseason plan thing is moot. I doubt any of my suggestions for Johan Santana trades will happen, as the Twins have let it be know they would want young hitters for him. The Yanks can only offer Robinson Cano, who they probably wouldnt part with. Not to mention, the Twins are shopping another pitcher Matt Garza, so they might be trying to make one last run with Santana and will probably keep trying to resign him.

Anyways, I am now one of the bloggers at a new Yankees site – MadeIn1903.com, Here is a link to my Yankees blogolumn there http://madein1903.com/?author=11

Hence, this will probably be my last baseball centeric post here.

As always, comments encouraged.

ANOTHER new plan for the Yanks offseason

As new rumors pop up, I once again had to adjust my “If I was Brian Cashman, here is what I would do with the Yankees this offseason” plan:

Resigning Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada is still the priority, which it sounds like they will be working on this week.

They already offered arbitration to ARod, so they will be getting a couple of draft picks for him, and he will be getting $35M per season from some team who doesnt care about postseason performance (I’m looking at you, SF Giants).

My new plan for 3B is to acquire one of these three players: Miguel Tejada, Scott Rolen, or Joe Crede. Tejada is already involved in a trade to the Yankees rumor. He has 2 years $26M remaining on his contract and the O’s really want to move him. Rolen has 3 years $36M remaining, and can no longer get along with the Cardinals manager. The White Sox want to start Josh Fields at 3B and its rumored they may nontender Joe Crede, making him a free agent. All of this means, the Yankees should be able to acquire one of them for almost nothing of value (aka B level type prospects that are similar to the nothing prospects that they gave up to get Bobby Abreu from the Phillies two years ago).

Since it has been announced by new manager Joe Girardi that the top of his lineup will be Damon playing LF, Jeter at SS, and Abreu in RF, many other questions have been answered. If Damon is in LF and Abreu is in RF, then Matsui will be primarily a DH next year, which means Giambi will be playing some 1B next season and probably splitting time with someone. They usually carry 4 players on the bench, not including whoever is considered the DH. One of those 4 will be a backup catcher, hopefully Molina is resigned for that. My preference would be that the other three are – Wilson Betemit, Shelley Duncan, and Alexei Ramirez (the Cuban defector). All three play multiple positions.

I’d continue to explore a trade for Johan Santana, but if the Twins insist on Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, or Robinson Cano be in the deal, then walk away from the deal and hope Santana makes it to free agency next offseason when there would be a 99% chance the Yankees win a bidding war for him.

I would avoid trading for Miguel Cabrera. The Marlins asking price is rumored to be insanely high and although he is only 24 years old, he will soon be a 26 year old DH due to his horrible lack of physical conditioning. Since there are too many players with the last name Cabrera (see: Cabrera, Melky; Cabrera, Orlando), I have dubbed Miguel – “Fat Cabrera”.

Everything else reamins the same from previous plans – a bullpen made up of youngsters from the farm, Mariano Rivera, and “Contract Year” Kyle Farnsworth (in normal years he is shaky at best, but I have a good feeling about him in a contract year putting up solid numbers to fleece another team on another big three year contract), although there are a couple Japanese relievers out there that might be worth at look at in hopes of catching ligthning in a bottle ala the Sox with Okijima; the rotation is looking like Wang, Hughes, Kennedy, Mussina, and a random guy until June when Joba gets called up, if Pettitte decides to return or they trade for Santana then becomes Mussina that random guy, if not then Jeff Karstens or Darrell Rasner might be that random guy; I still highly recommend trading Kei Igawa whilst he has value (not a lot of young lefty starters with high K/9 ratios who are locked into 4 year contracts at $4M per year are out on this market, especially when you consider Kyle Lohse, a not so young righty starter is asking for 4 years at $10M per year).

Plan B or What to do when your 3B opts out and walks away from $231M

Being the diehard armchair Yankee fan that I am, I had early devised a solid plan of how to deal with this offseason. However, that plan was centered around the assumption that they would reach a contract extension with Alex Rodriguez. Again he was due $81M over the next three year, but he was able to opt out of his contract within 10 days of the end of the world series this year. Its been rumored the Yanks were going to offer him a 5 year $150M extension, meaning he would basically have had an 8 year $231M contract. That’s by far the largest in baseball, the next closest would be Alfonso Soriano’s 8 year $136M he signed with the Cubs before last year. Instead it is rumored his agent was demanding they start talks at an extension of 10 years $350M, and since they wouldnt agree to start with that insane figure, ARod and his agent wouldnt even sit down and meet with the team. He opted out of his contract becoming a free agent, and some of the management have sworn they will never sign him to any amount of money. He is gone. In the words of Seth Meyers from last week’s SNL Weekend Update, “Alex Rodriguez opted out of his contract, which is perfect for teams with lots of cash to spend who dont like winning”. Before moving onto my NEW plan for the offseason, I must sum up the four years known as the ARod Era: 04 – Biggest collapse in sports history, 05 – lost in first round due mostly to ARod’s 1-12 including hitting into a doubleplay in the 9th inning of game 5, 06 – lost in the first round and ARod again with a 1-12 performance, 07 – lost in first round and ARod busted out of his postseason struggles with a 3-12 performance. In the 4 years before ARod arrived they went to the World Series 3 times and won one of those.

My NEW plan for the offseason:

-Trade Johnny Damon and cash to the White Sox for 3B Joe Crede, Crede fills the void at 3B with his superb defense, the White Sox need an OFer and Damon is a much cheaper option than signing the soon to be waayyy overpaid Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter, this deal was already rumored to be in the works by multiple sports websites.

-Trade Melky Cabrera, Wilson Betemit, Shelley Duncan, and Ian Kennedy to the Twins for Johan Santana, the Yankees need an ace right now and could lock up Santana to a longterm extension that the Twins cant; meanwhile the Twins need a young cheap CFer to replace Torii Hunter (Melky), a young cheap 3B to replace the horrible Nick Punto (Betemit), anyone who could DH and give them 25 HRs as they were DHing their backup catcher last season (Shelley), and Kennedy could immediately be placed into their rotation. This deal was thought of already in an article on hardballtimes website but I upped the offer slighty by inserting a better pitcher into the trade to make it more realistic.

-Continue to go with the Andy Phillips/Jason Giambi platoon at 1B, because rather than make a move for a 1B this offseason they should just wait til next offseason when Giambi and his $22M salary is finally off the books and they can sign Mark Teixeria.

-Resign Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and whichever Molina brother they had last year.

-Don’t trade Kyle Farnsworth, despite how awful he has been in his two years with the team, he is in a contract year, so might as well keep him and watch him pitch out of his mind so he can rope another team into wasting a lot of money on him next offseason.

-Turn the rest of the openings in the bullpen over to the youngsters, as signing relievers is one of the biggest crapshoots in all of sports, so you might as well go with young players that can be sent to the minors if they struggle; if you sign or trade for a reliever and he struggles you are stuck with him for at least a couple years and have to keep running him out there because he is occupying a spot on the roster.

-Hope Andy Pettitte decides to pitch for one more year rather than retire, which would (possibly) lead to this rotation – Santana, Pettitte, Wang, Hughes, and Mussina, with Joba taking over for Mussina a couple months into the season just to keep Joba fresh for August and September.

-Sign Fukodome, he’s the free agent Japanese CFer that will be a lot cheaper and not sign as longterm of a contract as Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter or Aaron Rowand; he would replace Melky in CF.

-Sign the OFer that just defected from Cuba, I think his name is Alexei Ramirez or maybe I am just making up a name that sounds Cuban to me, anyways the guy who defected – sign him. He would split time in LF with Matsui, as Matsui needs to DH part time this year (he’s had his knee scoped twice in the last two months and wasnt exactly mobile before these knee problems) and this Cuban fellow would be the 4th OFer but probably end up starting a majority of games in LF.

If somehow all these moves were made, I would personally guarantee at least 100 wins. However, these probably wont all be made. The Twins could ask for more for Santana, the Yanks interest in the Japanese and Cuban OFers might not be as high as mine, and they might very well panic about losing ARod and go overpay Andruw Jones, even though he is a horrible fit for this lineup with his low on base percentage and high strikeout rate.

Live in ‘95

I just watched an NBA playoff game from the 1995 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals on ESPN Classic. It was the Orlando Magic at the Chicago Bulls, with Orlando having a 3-2 lead in the best of 7 series. This might be best known as the year Jordan returned in the middle of the season from baseball. Bulls lead by 9 late in the 4th quarter and ended up falling apart, including Jordan who had an airball and turnover in the last minute of play. Oh, and Luc Longley, the 7′2″ Australian center of the Bulls, basically airballed a dunk which would have given them the lead with less than 30 seconds to go. I didnt see this game when it originally aired back then, due to either not having cable yet (it was on TBS), or possibly was watching the Suns/Rockets game that was on at the same time on TNT (the kept showing score updates for that game, and I seem to somewhat remember that game).

Anyways, there were quite a few hilarious things occuring in and around this contest and here are some of them: Washington Bullets’ rookie Juwan Howard was in the crowd, wearing a cosby sweater; the commentators talked about how the league was in good shape for whenever the post-Jordan era would start with Grant Hill, Jason Kidd, and Juwan Howard, I guess they were kind of right about Kidd; Penny Hardaway played in the game, and was fully healthy, seriously; Shaq was sporting a fade haircut and weighed about 100 pounds less than he currently does; Horace Grant, who was a Bull during their titles years had defected to the Magic, was wearing perhaps the largest goggles in sports history, and that is in no way hyperbole; Shaq chased a ball into the stands and almost killed a fan who he ran into at full speed; this graphic – baseball next Rockies vs Braves, which would feature the Braves team that actually won the world series later that year, and the only Rockies team that made the playoffs until this year’s team; Chicago Bear’s coach Dave Wannstedt was in the crowd, that worked out well for the Bears, right?; Magic coach Brian Hill’s wife being shown in the crowd, sporting an even better Cosby sweater than Juwon Howard, featuring the following colors – red, purple, and grey pupon gold; the now late film critic Gene Siskel was in the crowd and was really into the game, I mean really into the game; and of course, Luc Longley, who I will always remember as the guy from NBA Live ‘95 for Sega Genesis that despite his 7′2″ uncoordinated whiteness was able to nail 3 pointer after 3 pointer, which caused me to lose numerous games against my brother despite the fact that I outplayed him with Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson and the Milwaukee Bucks but still lost because he could just chuck up 3’s with Longley and he would nail them, with a guy in his face.

As always, comments encouraged

He was what we thought he was, Annual October Swoon Edition

I cant say I’m shocked by the Yankees replicating last year’s first round failure. I am slightly upset about the bug infestation incident that may or maynot have cost them game 2 in Cleveland. (Seriously, is that stadium built on an old landfill?!?)  However, ALL the Yanks critical flaws were exposed – starting pitching that ranges from slightly effective to very very shaky, a bullpen with only two reliable pitchers (Rivera and Joba), an offense that runs either extremely hot or extremely cold, a manager who is afraid to send runners early in a game, and a lineup that can struggle against any left handed pitcher. They didnt deserve to win the series, and I am slightly relieved to avoid going to ALCS-war with the Sox for the third time in five years. Also, I took some of my frustrations out by shouting such things at the TV during game 4 as, “Paul o’Neill’s not walking thru that door! Scott Brouis is not walking thru that door!” and in reference to Cleveland’s shaky closer who would have blown the series if only he had been given a chance to blow the series as demonstrated by the monster homerun he gave up to Abreu and nearly gave up to Posada, “He was what we thought he was! He was what we thought he was, and we left him off the hook!” That said, I will not stand for the Red Sox or Indians winning the World Series, and am really not a fan of the Dbacks either, so lets go Rockies. They should have no problem taking the series, especially if that Holliday guy is allowed to continue not having to touch bases to be called safe.

Moving on to the offseason, here is what I would do if I was Brian Cashman, assuming he is not fired by an old, grumpy and enraged Steinbrenner.

1) Reach a contract extension with ARod. Currently Arod’s contract has 3 years at $27M per season left, but it has an opt out clause which can be exercized within 10 days of the end of the world series AND if he were to not opt out this season, it contains another opt out clause for after next season if his annual salary is not bumped up by $5M. Texas is still paying $27M of the remaining $81M on his current contract, which disappears if ARod opts out, but remains if he instead reachs a deal on an extension. Basically, they will have to agree to bump his salary by $5M over the last three years, to avoid the opt out, and tack on a sizeable extension. I would throw out an offer to bump the current salary by the required $5M and tack another 4 years at $32M per season to the end of the deal. It makes it a 7 year $224M contract, by far the biggest in baseball, and tied for the longest with Soriano’s deal which has 7 years left after this season. Texas is still covering $27M, so the Yanks are still getting a discount. If Scott Boras, ARod’s agent, believes he can get a better deal on the open market, with the Yankees not involved in the bidding (they have said all along that if ARod opts out, they are not getting in a bidding war because they lose the Texas money and have been offering to agree on an extension most of the season, which is something they never do), then opt out and say goodbye. I believe an extension can and will be reached, even if it means throwing another year on the deal or a couple million on per season.

2) Offer arbitration to Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, before arbitration takes place reach a deal for new three year contracts for each of them. If the last year can be a club option year, then great; if not, that’s not a deal breaker on my end.

3) Pick up the option on Bobby Abreu. It’s either give him $2M and tell him to leave, or give him $16M and get him for one more season while avoiding the necessity to sign Andruw Jones/Torii Hunter/Fukodome/Mike Cameron/Aaron Rowand to an all new bad contract that will be killing the team in 2 or 3 years. Its not the dollar amount that destroys the Yanks on these contracts, its the length. Eventually you end up with an overpriced player, who is a poor defender, and is unmoveable due to his contract (see: Giambi, Jason).

4) Convince Pettitte to accept his player option for next season.

5) Shop Kyle Farnsworth and Johnny Damon, if anything of value can be had for them and you dont have to pickup a large portion of their salary then make the trade, if not they remain on the team.

6) Offer arbitration to Luis Vizcaino, if he accepts then you get a solid veteran who should contribute to the bullpen assuming Torre isnt around to use him every day for three months straight. If he declines and signs elsewhere, you get a draft pick out of the deal.

7) Move Joba back to the rotation. He can either be a potential ace, who pitchs upwards of 200 innings, or you can leave him as a setup man for three seasons where he would contribute 75 innings or so. I think I’ll take the potential 200 innings of #1 starter. This assumes Rivera is back as the closer next season, if Rivera is somehow not resigned then you can make the case for Joba as the closer, but if his role in the bullpen is just setup man, then he has to be a starter.

8 ) Resign Jose Molina. He brings quality defense and there are no real catching prospects near the majors in the farm system.

9) Turn all open bullpen spots over to youngsters from the farm system. Basically, this is the bullpen headed into next season: Rivera (assuming he is resigned), Farnsworth (if he isnt traded), Vizcaino (if he is brought back), and that’s it. So, there are between 4 and 6 spots open in the pen. I propose a spring training battle between any pitcher on the roster who has pitched in the majors, is ready for the majors, or is near ready for the majors.

10) Hope for this rotation – Wang, Pettitte, Hughes, Mussina, Kennedy, Joba. You need 6 planned starters because Hughes has yet to pitch a full major league season, Joba and Kennedy will probably have innings limits placed upon them, and as we saw this season Mussina cant start for a full season any more, he can be effective over a few starts but not over the course of the entire season. Also, Alan Horne is ready in AAA should another starter be needed at some point in the season. You’d probably have to start Joba in the minors at the beginning of the season due to lack of roster spots, but that would work out fine as he would need to get back into the routine of starting and its better he work on that in the minors.

11) Fire Torre and bring in Joe Girardi, with the following stipulations – Bowa remains as 3B coach, Pena remains as 1B coach, Long remains as hitting coach, and AAA coach Eiland becomes the new pitching coach. Girardi is allowed to pick his bench coach and his bullpen coach. I think he’d jump at that chance as he turned down the Orioles job this season in hopes at a chance at the Yankees job this offseason.

12) Have a spring training battle for 1B between Andy Phillips and Juan Miranda. They really only need to find a 1B for one more season, then Mark Teixeira is a free agent after next season and with Giambi’s large contract (along with the contracts of Pavano, Farnsworth, Mussina, Pettitte) off the books, there is no reason they wont win a bidding war for a switching hitter 1B with power and gold glove caliber defense.

13) Construct the following bench – Molina as backup catcher, Betemit as utility player, Duncan as righty power/backup 1B/5th OFer. Only 3 “bench” players because Giambi is locked in as a permanent DH and there are 4 starting OFer who will split time in the OF and pick up some at bats at DH when Giambi inevitably makes his annual trip to the disabled list (Matsui, Damon, Melky, Abreu).

All of this hinges on retaining ARod. If he opts out, rather than go into panic mode and overpay Hunter or Jones, I would see what it would take to get Sexson from the Mariners. He has one year left on his contract, which works out perfectly with the plans to sign Teixeira next offseason. Sexson replaces some of the right handed power lost by losing ARod, and solidifies 1B for next season. I’d hand 3B over to Betemit and give Alberto Gonzalez (one of the players acquired in the Randy Johnson trade, not the disgraced former attorney general) a chance at the utility role.

In conclusion, let’s fight the urge of signing other team’s players to large contracts right as they enter the downside of their career’s, I’m looking at you Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones, and LET’S GO ROCKIES!