League-Wide Spring Training Stuff

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jennifery Steinbrenner Swindal. Woo her now.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Is her name really Jennifery?

That's so...

Jennifery.

[seawolf17]

If I woo her, would that put me in charge of the Yankees? That would be SWEET.

[metirish]

I'm guessing that thing next to her inspired the dress.....

[Frayed Knot]

- Kenny Rogers to start the seson on the DL. "Tired arm" is given as the reason (tired from making the Yankees look silly last October maybe?) although there are also rumors of a blood clot.

- Eric Gagne, now with Texas and coming off two almost complete DL seasons, will start this one on the DL too.

- Mark Prior to start the season in AAA. Shows you that even sure things aren't.

- Todd Pratt does NOT make the Yanx as their backup catcher. That could spell the end of the line for that 40 y/o

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Frayed Knot wrote: Todd Pratt does NOT make the Yanx as their backup catcher. That could spell the end of the line for that 40 y/o

Or maybe he goes to New Orleans if Sandy Alomar goes home?

[nymr83]

i'd be happy to sit him down somewhere in the system just for nostalgic reasons, if he spent a week of the season in NY and gave the TV stations an excuse to show his homer once or twice it would be worth it.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I happened to hear Todd "Drinkin' Buddy" Pratt on with Ed randall last weekend, who said he planned "to take a break" if he didn't catch on with the Yankees.

He was kind to the memory of the cheering fans at Shea, said starting in the 00 World Series was his biggest thrill, and recounted his Dominos Pizza experience.

The latter story was always expressed as "the poor guy was flipping pizzas for a living," but real deal is: He was cut by the Twins (?) and was working a baseball camp owned by a Florida Dominoes franchisee -- his deal was that he'd be in charge of the network after a short apprenticeship.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]The latter story was always expressed as "the poor guy was flipping pizzas for a living," ... .

I think he kind of fueled the story, though. He would bring up the sacrifice of hiis pizza purgatory whenever the issue of a scabbie came up.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Frayed Knot wrote: Whispered stories, on the other hand, hint at an older, sometimes confused man who has fallen and passed out in public several times; needs to lean on aides on times; forgets names and faces; and has been seen walking the wrong way out of his car and had to be steered back towards the stadium he's been to thousands of times.

Do you have a link to any whispered stories?

[nymr83]

i don't think they'd be whispered if they were in print.
i've heard stuff like this before, mostly from mike and the mad dog, who yesterday afternoon had a major steinbrenner ass-kissing festival going on after talking about Swindell.

[Frayed Knot]

]Do you have a link to any whispered stories?

Well several of the stories were very public. He passed out at the funeral of old NFLer Otto Grahm, and again at his college aged granddaughter's play.
Less direct have been various newspaper stories that have started popping up over the last year, usually mentioning declining health and/or sharpness in deep background terms (insiders say ...). Not one by itself is enough to serve as proof, but the accumulation of whispers is starting to get louder.
I've also just finished the recently published; ''The Pride and the Pressure', the New York Post's Michael Morrissey's account of the 2006 Yanks. In it he tells a handful of incidents - some witnessed directly, some relayed through others - about falls, forgetfulness, having to physically lean on employees, and what seems like confusion at times.

[Frayed Knot]

Meanwhile, Rogers problem IS a blood clot - will be out the first half of the season.

[nymr83]

]Eric Bruntlett cleared waivers before being optioned to Triple-A Round Rock on Saturday. Source: Rotoworld

i'm suprised nobody claimed him

[smg58]

Jorge Cantu was just demoted by Tampa Bay; B.J. Upton is officially their starting second baseman. Cantu would intrigue me if the Rays are willing to part with him cheaply. I'm not sure he'd have any short-term value, but the Mets could afford giving him a year at AAA to see if he regains his bearings (on both offense and defense).

[Guest OlerudOwned]

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/C/Jorge-Cantu.shtml

Jorge Cantu's minor league numbers, frankly, sucked. Two and a half bad years at AA, and for some reason, he gets promoted to AAA. I still can't figure that out. Then he plays one full year at AAA and suddenly has great power. Same for his first season in the majors. No changes in his awful K/BB rate, no spike in BABIP, nothing. Just raw power. And then it was gone again.