Piazza in Pinstripes?

[Guest Rotblatt]

Were Piazza to Sign with the Yankees I Would . . .

[seawolf17]

Boy, I'm somewhere between "refuse to speak of him" and "officially hate him, but". I was thinking about this on my drive to work this morning... in reality, the Yankees are just another team, so why should I care? And I guess I don't. He provided a lot of great moments for me, so I wish him the best. I can't let my hatred for that franchise taint that memory.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I'd have to go with hate, just for what it would take to explain the signing to MK.

[Elster88]

Hating Mike Piazza for playing for the Yankees is probably the most childish thing imaginable. I'm struggling to come up with something else that is more childish.

If there is a need to hate someone, hate Omar.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think we had this poll.

I wouldn't blame Mike Piazza too much.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Considering what I'm dealing with at the moment (planning a Bar Mitzvah and starting a new semester), I give myself license to be as chilish as I want.

Talk to me again in a month. In the meantime, I'll hate anyone who adds anything to my To Do list.

[Guest vtmet]

What difference does it make where he plays or how he does? It's like getting rid of a used car...you hope that you got your money's worth out of it, but once it's gone, it's no longer your problem...why hate him for playing on a team that you don't like?...Why regret letting him go?...We didn't win with him in the last 3 seasons while paying him $45 Mil to not produce at a superstar level, so why was it wrong to let him go?...time for him to move on...time for fans to let it go...

[Guest Rotblatt]

I went for officially hate but secretly root for, although I was borderline "unabashedly root for."

I mean, I'd probably give him a big old standing ovation every time he came up, but if someone were to ask me, point blank, he is, after all, a Yankee.

I almost added a "Hate Omar" option, Elster, but thought that might queer the pitch a bit. I wanted this to be more about Mike and less about the Mets organization.

[Guest sharpie]

I'd be a little sad but not much. MFYs always want our scraps.

[Guest Rotblatt]

vtmet wrote: What difference does it make where he plays or how he does? It's like getting rid of a used car...you hope that you got your money's worth out of it, but once it's gone, it's no longer your problem...why hate him for playing on a team that you don't like?...Why regret letting him go?...We didn't win with him in the last 3 seasons while paying him $45 Mil to not produce at a superstar level, so why was it wrong to let him go?...time for him to move on...time for fans to let it go...

Dude, that's cold, but if you were up for GM, I'd vote for you.

[metirish]

I wouldn't like to see him with the Yankees but I'd not hate Piazza either,anyway I don't see where he would fit on that team, they have a backup catcher and a DH, maybe even a few DH types.

[Elster88]

That's what I was thinking too, Irish. I think it would be purely some sort of grabbing-ex-Mets agenda from George. It wouldn't even do much towards a goal of causing grief to the Mets themselves, since the front office obviously doesn't give a crap.

[metirish]

]I think it would be purely some sort of grabbing-ex-Mets agenda from George

Yeah Steinbrenner would do that wouldn't he, this might test weather Cashman is running the team.

[duan]

I'd be a little deflated at seeing him in a skankee uniform.

I tell you what I wouldn't have minded paying $2-3 mill for occasional catching, ph'ing and dh'ing.

He'd be a heck of a weapon on the bench eh?

[Elster88]

Nah, much better to trade for relievers with a 5.86 ERA and sign a 47 year old man as a weapon off the bench.
__________________
This post had the designation 76) Dan Frisella

[metirish]

He'd be a better alternative to what they got last season from Flaherty as backup catcher and Ruben Sierra as DH.

[Guest vtmet]

metirish wrote: He'd be a better alternative to what they got last season from Flaherty as backup catcher and Ruben Sierra as DH.

Tell that to Randy Johnson...who at one point last season looked washed up as an ace...he was 5-5 having lost of his last 4 starts...then he switched to his "personal" catcher for the most part for the rest of the season (Posada still caught the Eunich occasionally, but Flaherty was his primary catcher)...RJ finished off the year 17-8, almost all of those losses were with Posada catching...

[Guest heep]

Piazza has got to do what he has got to do.

Wish him luck.

Yankees will not win again for a long time anyway. They suck.

[Willets Point]

Reruns again? This poll was much better when I posted it back in October.

[Frayed Knot]

First of all, the sources of this "story" sound a lot closer to writers wanting this to be true -- remember the axiom about writers wishing for things that make their jobs more interesting -- more than it sounds like something that's got a chance of actually doing so. Essentially, the fact that Cashman didn't scream out 'NO NEVER!!!!' was their license to run with it.


If it were to happen I'd root against him playing well because ... well because he'd be on the Yanx, but I'd have no personal animosity towards him. If you're him, why SHOULDN'T he take the job there if offered?

]...then [big Unit] switched to his "personal" catcher for the most part for the rest of the season

My recollection is that he pitched to Flaherty most of the season and that his "turnaround" wasn't caused by a sudden catching switch.
Now, of course, Flaherty's gone and Kelly Stinnett - who apparently has the RJ stamp of approval from their days in Arizona - is the new backup and presumably the every 5th day catcher.


Signing Piazza in the Bronx would be superfluous - although it's not like they never done that before. With Bernie already lined up as DH and their desire to get Giambi off 1st base as often as possible would leave very few "open" days as DH, and Stinnett leaves few open as backup catcher and who knows what RJ would have to say about it all.
I seriously doubt this is going to happen.


The interesting part of this whole thing is Posada's contract.
If Jorge starts somewhere around 80-90 games this season then his contract for '07 becomes guaranteed and 2008 becomes an option year with a large buyout. IOW, just as he'd likely be into serious decline they'd be on the hook for at least an additional $17mil above and beyond this year. If he misses that threshold they could release him at the end of '06 and be out from under that money.
Supposedly the Yanx discussed obtaining Molina with the idea of preventing Posada from reaching his mark but are reluctant to possibly unleash ill-will in the clubhouse over such a naked attempt at screwing him especially since Jorge is Jeter's best bud.

[Elster88]

]First of all, the sources of this "story" sound a lot closer to writers wanting this to be true -- remember the axiom about writers wishing for things that make their jobs more interesting -- more than it sounds like something that's got a chance of actually doing so. Essentially, the fact that Cashman didn't scream out 'NO NEVER!!!!' was their license to run with it.

No writer would EVER put his agenda over what he thought was the true story. To do so would risk losing his reputation, being fired, and being tarred-and-feathered.

[Guest Rotblatt]

]This poll was much better when I posted it back in October.

Woah, you're totally right. Well, imitation is the sincerest and all.

I really wish I had remembered that poll . . .

]If it were to happen I'd root against him playing well because ... well because he'd be on the Yanx, but I'd have no personal animosity towards him. If you're him, why SHOULDN'T he take the job there if offered?

Because the Yankees are evil incarnate?

[Frayed Knot]

To you and I they are, yes.
To Piazza they have another name: P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L E-M-P-L-O-Y-E-R




The irony of this whole thing, is that this looks like it's coming down Piazza winding up taking (wherever he takes it) the backup/part-time role for short money that he initially rejected to become a FA in the first place.

[nymr83]

]who apparently has the RJ stamp of approval

that line kills me. how many wins did Maddux cost the braves (not that it mattered) by refusing to pitch to a catcher who was their 2nd best hitter for a few years? i get tired of this "i dont want to pitch to him" act...

[seawolf17]

I guess in certain situations, the "personal catcher" works. If a guy who wins 15 games every single year wants to pitch to a certain guy, you let him. If your captain can't catch the knuckleballer who frustrates the hell out of your main rival, then you let the other guy catch him.

Only somewhat relevant... somewhere on the old board, I did a quick study of the Braves 2nd catchers through the last ten years, showing how they almost universally beat the living hell out of the Mets, as opposed to their numbers against the rest of the league. So maybe it didn't cost them so much after all.

[Zvon]

Id wish him well and thank him for what he was for my team, while he was on it.

Years from now if this in any way cost the Mets a hat in the HOF, then I may have something to say contrary to that. I may be furious.
But even then I wont blame Mike.

[Elster88]

Unless he goes back to the Dodgers or comes back here, I highly doubt the last years of his career will influence the hat that goes on his headstone.

[Frayed Knot]

The Maddox/anti-Lopez thing (was it professional or a personal feud? ... man I'd like to hear the details of that one some day) was particularly costly because the gap between what Javy was hitting and the usual backup (whoever it was at the time) was pretty large in those days. Plus, they extended it into the playoffs and Cox usually carried a 3rd catcher in October because of the whole arrangement which weakened their bench considerably.

The Posada vs Flaherty/Stinnett difference is big too but if you're going to sit an aging catcher like Posada approx every 5 days anyway there's some argument to be made that pairing the backup with the same guy each go 'round makes some sort of sense particularly if they seem to work well together. You do hate to have the prima donna pitcher dictate stuff like that though and the main guy should still be in there occasionally just so they're not strangers when they really do have to work together.


All of which reminds me of last season when Castro was catching Pedro more often than not in the early going, and how M&MD picked up on that almost immediately and (with a nod to long-ago supposed bad feelings between MP and Pedro's brother Ramon) declared by about the 3rd time around the rotation that "it's obvious Pedro has gone to mgmt and told them he wants no part of Piazza".
That declaration turned out to be ridiculously premature (and wrong) since the two were matched up plenty of times throughout the year.

[Elster88]

]how M&MD picked up on that almost immediately and (with a nod to long-ago supposed bad feelings between MP and Pedro's brother Ramon) declared by about the 3rd time around the rotation that "it's obvious Pedro has gone to mgmt and told them he wants no part of Piazza".

[M&MD apologist] This is not how I remember it. They didn't say it was obvious, they said it was what they thought was going on. It was more Russo than Francessa. Then, when Pedro pitched to Mike the next day (it was a game where Piazza went like 11 for 13), they spent the first ten minutes of their next show saying they screwed up and got it completely wrong.

And they said they thought it dated back to Mikey's spring training attack with that bitch on the Marlins and Pedro's comments following. I don't remember Ramon as part of the conversation.[/M&MD apologist]

[seawolf17]

]Sources: Phillies, Piazza have preliminary talks By Jayson Stark ESPN.com The Phillies have shown interest in free-agent catcher Mike Piazza over the last few days. Discussions between the team and Piazza's agents, the Beverly Hills Sports Council, have been "very preliminary," according to one source, and haven't specifically addressed money or Piazza's role. But Piazza could fit as a complement to Mike Lieberthal, who some of the club's decision-makers feel would be best off playing only about four days a week. The Phillies also need to settle on a right-handed bat to play first base and give Ryan Howard days off against left-handed pitching. Piazza once had the Phillies on his no-trade list, but he is said to be interested. Toronto, San Diego, Baltimore and Anaheim also are thought to have mild interest in Piazza. And his agents talked with the Yankees recently about a job as a backup catcher and part-time DH.