Time to Come Clean

[Guest Edgy DC]

My relationship with Derek Jeter has cooled.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

OMG - You're no longer BFF's!!!!

[Guest KC]

What's a BFF, or maybe I should just go google it.

I stopped hanging with Derek long ago, he was like chick repellent
when we would prowl the clubs.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

BFF = Best Friends Forever

You know, like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were. So sad....

[Guest KC]

I was pretty far off ...

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Dare I ask?

[Guest OlerudOwned]

http://dugout.progressiveboink.com/archive/jon101.html

]pr0ff3ss0r_f4rnsw0rth: alex rodriguez is a dude derek jeter is a dude pr0ff3ss0r_f4rnsw0rth: /holds out wrist to consult calculator watch pr0ff3ss0r_f4rnsw0rth: ok ok ok ...1 man plus 1 man... ...carry the fuck... pr0ff3ss0r_f4rnsw0rth: wait they're they're homos i've given them countless high fives pr0ff3ss0r_f4rnsw0rth: ohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeez ohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeez ohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeez ohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeez pr0ff3ss0r_f4rnsw0rth: /synapses overload /psyche resets

Carry the fuck.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Scarlett - "Dare I ask?"

Probably best not to since this is a family friendly forum.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

]My relationship with Derek Jeter has cooled.

No comment. (turns back on reporters)

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Just don't turn your back on Jeter. As ARod has learned, you just may get a knife stuck in it.

[Guest iramets]

Is zis some kind of AP Yankees snark thread?

Because I've had something I wanted to talk about for a week or more, and the only place that was discussing it was Mike and Mad Dog, which I can't go on any more.

Well, I could, but if I wanted to get interrupted, patronized, misunderstood and generally abused, I'd just get married again, so I'm going to discuss it here, if you don't mind.

Why the hell don't they offer Bernie Williams a contract? He's the fifth outfielder on a roster that has room for only 4 OFers--but do the Yankees recall way back when--like last season?--when most of their OFers crippled themsevels pretty good all season long and they needed a fourth and fifth and twelfth OFer pretty desperately? I'll bet one of their All-Star-MVP-Greatest OFers EVAH hurts his spleen or ruptures his retina before ST is three days old, which would put Bernie on the roster without doing a goddamned thing. Is a few million going to bust their payroll or something? They'll probably have to pay that just to pick up some zhlub like Ricky Ledee when an MVP OFer goes down with a lacerated anus. WTF is going on here?

[Guest Edgy DC]

I thought you meant, "Why don't the Mets sign him?"

I can only guess what's going Williams. He had a crap year two years ago, and --- forced to prove he could still hack it last year --- he did. If they were going to quit on him, 2006 was the year, not 2007.

The reasons I can come up with are

(1) He has the same fatal flaw as Johnny Damon --- a crap arm --- and they'd like to back Damon up with somebody with compelementary skills.

(2) He's being a pain in the ass about demanding guaranteed money when they may or may not need him on opening day.

(3) They have the same attitude that killed Patrick Ewing's and Mike Piazza's tenure, a refusal to re-consider a faded star as a useful reserve.

(4) They won't reconsider him as such because they can only cut his salary by X%. (I have no idea what he makes or how this rule applies to him now or after May 1.)

But I'm just specumalating. Here's hoping Melky plays like Timo.

[seawolf17]

I used to look forward to what the ESPN.com guys would say about issues in the baseball world... now I don't care what they say (partially because every fricking column is Insider-only these days), but instead I run immediately to The Dugout. Those guys make me laugh out loud almost every day.

[metirish]

I'm loving how the media now seems to be putting the onus on Cappy to grow up and make nice with his former sleep over buddy.

[Frayed Knot]

I actually think this is as much Bernie's fault as the team's. He painted himself into a corner by essentially saying that he didn't want to play anywhere except the Bronx giving the Yanx no incentive to guarantee him anything, but yet he feels insulted by the non-roster invite and would rather stay home than compete for a job.

They'd turn to him if, like you said, one of their reg OFers (or Melky) gets injured. Problem is, what you'd like in a 5th OFer:
- a glove that can play all 3 OF positions;
- a reliable PH-er/PR-er
isn't really Bernie anymore

What he'd be best at these days is a RH swinging DH (he doesn't swing LH very well anymore) but they see Giambi as a full-time DH and I don't think they want to even contemplate the thought of Bernie w/a 1st baseman's glove.

[Guest Edgy DC]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: BFF = Best Friends Forever You know, like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were. So sad....

I'm still tight with Brit.

[seawolf17]

Edgy DC wrote: ="ScarletKnight41"]BFF = Best Friends Forever You know, like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were. So sad.... I'm still tight with Brit.

Oh, that's not what she told me last night.

[Guest iramets]

Edgy DC wrote: (1) He has the same fatal flaw as Johnny Damon --- a crap arm --- and they'd like to back Damon up with somebody with compelementary skills. (2) He's being a pain in the ass about demanding guaranteed money when they may or may not need him on opening day. (3) They have the same attitude that killed Patrick Ewing's and Mike Piazza's tenure, a refusal to re-consider a faded star as a useful reserve. (4) They won't reconsider him as such because they can only cut his salary by X%. (I have no idea what he makes or how this rule applies to him now or after May 1.) But I'm just specumalating. Here's hoping Melky plays like Timo.

\

1) What diff if his flaws are the same or different? He's not as good as Damon, but he's got a little ability to fill in in an emercency. He's no long-term solution in CF if Damon goes down for a month, but neither is Melky

2) and 4) his guaranteed money is like 2 or 3 mill, which (as Leo Durocher put it) "I tip more in the piss house than that." (I have no idea what a piss house is, I just like the arrogance.)

3) As I say, they're idiots to even let this become an issue. Worst case scenario, they'll pay Bernie 3 million to sit around unused on the DL, on the AAA roster, on the coaching lines all season. Like they've never pissed 3 million away before. Best case, they get another 2006 out of a fan favorite.

[MFS62]

seawolf17 wrote: ="Edgy DC"] ="ScarletKnight41"]BFF = Best Friends Forever You know, like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were. So sad.... I'm still tight with Brit. Oh, that's not what she told me last night.

But, was she tight? (We will accept a reply using either meaning)

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, a worse case is that they break camp with no room for him on the roster, he refuses to go to AAA --- which I presume would be his right, assuming a three million dollar deal has to be a big-league one (I'm feeling really ill-informed here) --- they release him and eat the money for nothing.

What's dazzling is that this is happening because of Doug Freakin' Mientkiewicz.

[Frayed Knot]

The Bernie situation has nothing to do with money. They didn't pay him much last year and would probably pay him even less this season.
The Yanx just don't view him as the ideal off-the-bench player and would rather break in a younger/faster/newer guy who they could dump quickly and cleanly if he doesn't work out over trying to keep the aging one-time star happy and productive - particularly since dumping him in mid-stream if he sucked would be a monumental pr undertaking.

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: What's dazzling is that this is happening because of Doug Freakin' Mientkiewicz.

I heard on one of the sports talk radio shows yesterday that Doug was a high school teammate of A-Rod, and there are whispers that he was added to the team so A-Rod will have someone to hang around with.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

So it's a 23 and 2 situation?

I doubt that the Yankees are signing low-talent jerks so that they can befriend their highly paid superstar.

But if that's how they want to make roster decisions, I'm okay with it.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Isn't three million to the Yankees six million, because they're over the luxury tax threshold? That would be for someone they'd be poised to release if somebody doesn't get hurt in spring training.

[metirish]

I'd be shocked if A-Rod doesn't invoke his out clause after the season and end up with the Cubs with a nice new fat contract and back at SS.

[Frayed Knot]

"Isn't three million to the Yankees six million, because they're over the luxury tax threshold? "

The lux tax (at the rate the Yanx are paying it anyway) is more like 40% so $3mil becomes akin to about $4.2.
Plus, they only paid Bernie $1.5 last year and could probably get away with even less this season.



"I'd be shocked if A-Rod doesn't invoke his out clause after the season and end up with the Cubs with a nice new fat contract and back at SS"

Most of the news hounds seem to think that A-Rod opting out is almost a certainty but I'm not so sure.
What he would get is the the ability to nail down a longer deal that takes care of him into his mid/late 30's and to do it at a time when he's still semi-young and when money is running hot. Plus he gets to wave the spectre of hitting his 800th HR in front of some greedy owner's eyes.
On the other hand the remaining 3 years he'd be giving up are at the highest level (about $27/yr) and there's no way he'd get anywhere near that rate in a new deal and it's not like Boras to leave guaranteed money on the table. I also don't buy the idea that he's so spooked by NYC that he's ready to turn tail and run.

[Guest Edgy DC]

And.... Bobby Abreu strains his oblique during batting practice and the Yankees are suddenly an outfielder short before spring training games have even begun.

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: And.... Bobby Abreu strains his oblique during batting practice and the Yankees are suddenly an outfielder short before spring training games have even begun.

And before the medical tests were finished, Brian Cashman was in front of the press saying this does not open the door for Bernie.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Which at least partly explains why I don't think Cashman ever really wanted Bernie in camp to begin with: every February hangnail would lead to a media frenzy both around Bernie's locker and Torre's office.

[Guest silverdsl]

MFS62 wrote: ="Edgy DC"]And.... Bobby Abreu strains his oblique during batting practice and the Yankees are suddenly an outfielder short before spring training games have even begun. And before the medical tests were finished, Brian Cashman was in front of the press saying this does not open the door for Bernie. Later

Thankfully. Bernie wasn't awful at the plate last season, but he's gotten scary in the outfield. With that in mind, there's really no spot for him on the team. The Yankees showed Bernie some respect by offering him an opportunity in spring training, but I think it was mostly so he could retire as a Yankee if he wanted to since it was unlikely that he would make the team. I understand that Bernie was disappointed by not being offered a guaranteed contract, but I'm not a fan of how Bernie handled things from there by not returning anyone's phone calls, and just not showing up to camp instead of saying that he wasn't interested in what the Yankees were offering.