Centerfield

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ditto on the announcers and Team Baseball-Frankenstein. Ted Berg of SNY's website said something like that himself a few days ago: Sabean has compiled � and somehow derived solid performances from � such a random collection of journeymen that I feel like it�ll make for great conversation about 20 years from now. Maybe you don�t have conversations like this: �Hey, remember Juan Uribe?� �Juan Uribe� yeah! Kinda chubby guy, had a big year for the White Sox when they won it.� �Nah (looking it up on future information device), he kinda sucked that year. But yeah, that�s the guy. Didn�t he sh�� �Oh! Wasn�t he on that Giants team that randomly won in 2010!?� �Yeah he totally was! Hit a big home run for them in Game 1. Hilarious, bro!� And then someone will be like, �Who else was on that team?� And we will remember Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, Edgar Renteria, Pat Burrell, Cody Ross, a whole slew of deserving but unspectacular Major Leagues we do not normally associate with the Giants. And we will have a good chuckle. Seriously. Every time I turn on these games I can't help but notice how sucky these lineups are and wondering how they hell these guys made it past the likes of the MFY's and Phillies. You can throw Tampa in the mix too. It gives me hope that maybe the Mets aren't as far away as we think.

I'd be hard-pressed to go beyond one year for Takahashi. Maybe two (or some sort of vesting option for two) under the right circumstances (meaning cheaper than he will probably come). Three years is insane.

About time to say you're sorry, Derek By Ian O'Connor In a lot of ways, Derek Jeter came to the New York Yankees out of central casting. A young, [crossout]dreamy[/crossout], athletic shortstop with movie star good looks and [crossout]an ass that just doesn't quit[/crossout] a perfect physique for a middle infielder. He now looks to re-up with the Yankees with a Hall of Fame resume and five, count them, five championship rings. Who would dare reject that resume? Jeter sounds more like a god than a simple free agent shortstop. In fact, maybe another ring puts him in line to succeed Barack Obama. There is no doubt that the Yankees will do the right thing and bring their shortstop back to the Bronx where he belongs. But when he steps to the microphone on that fateful day, Jeter should take the time of offer an apology. He should say he's sorry for being an enabler at a time when baseball desperately needed a whistle-blower and a leader. He should say he's sorry for allowing the monstrous steroid culture to grow fangs on his watch. Jeter was the leader of the Yankees who slugged their way to three consecutive World Series titles from 1998 to 2000 before ultimately taking their heavy lumber to baseball's good name. Of course, Giambi and Pettite admitted to using steroids, effectively nominating the Bronx as a ground zero for the performance-enhancing plague. Jeter declined to comment Wednesday about the the Yankees� 2000 team, which was loaded with players who used performance-enhancing drugs before, during or after that season. Between the Mitchell report and unsealed affidavits filed by law enforcement officials, the count has reached 10, including Clemens, Denny Neagle and Jason Grimsley. Others named included Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, Mike Stanton and David Justice, but the use for which they are cited occurred after the 2000 World Series. Not included on that list is current teammate Alex Rodriguez, also an admitted abuser of steroids and [crossout]not nearly as good in bed[/crossout] a key member of the 2009 championship team. Asked about the rampant steroid abuse taking place under his watch, Jeter replied, "That's a question, I guess, you'll have to ask those guys." Weak answers from a strong man. Which is not to say there's a not a lot to like about Derek Jeter, starting with the fact he risked his life for his team, diving into the stands four full steps after catching a pop fly. He made himself a wildly successful major league baseball despite a minimal amount of actual accomplishment and, as detailed in several of my previous columns is cooler than Fonzie and is hung like a one of those horses in Central Park. But Jeter has a hole in his game the size of the gap between short and third when he's fielding his position, as do scores of fellow Yankee players and personnel who once looked the other way. Jeter is likely to preach accountability with the sad sack Yankees, and that's fine. He would make that pitch credible if he started with himself, and took a few minutes on introduction to apologize for an opportunity lost. Ian O'Connor is a total fucking douchebag. You can kick him in the nads if you ever see him on the street.

Five years, 150 million for Jeff Francoeur. Sign him up Ruben!

Cool. Ivy League-educated Marine. Smart and tough. Sounds like a good move.

Derek Jeter is worth no less than 5 years, $150 million. Can you put a price tag on clutch? The Yanks should sign him and consider themselves lucky.

Yup.

Darryl is tall.

I was referring more to Texiera's 0 for October.

Texiera's post-season is over. Terrible news for the Rangers.

Edgy DC wrote: ...the roids... I mean really. So Bonds, Clemens and McGwire are out, but Andy's should get in despite not being qualified? Why? Because he prays a lot?

The Don Draper piece. Wow. Great, great stuff.

He subscribes to the "Managers should not be strong, but just carry out the intentions of the Front Office" line of thinking. Didn't the A's hire Howe? I don't think that was under Alderson's watch, but he is supposedly the type of manager he likes.

I don't pretend to know anything about these candidates, but from what I'm reading, Alderson sounds like a smart guy. This is good. I think they should hire a smart guy.

It's official. CPF = As gay as Tony Randall.

Michael Young.

Wow. This is my favorite thread since we compared Karate Kid chicks.

Great, great stuff. After lunch I was going to wonder how you solve a problem like Bonilla.

Lots of good stuff in the Sound of Music soundtrack. Lonely Goatherd: Minaya puppet: "Ollie Perez, you've lost your control Double-A, Double-A, Double-A for you." Ollie Puppet: "It's in my contract, I ain't goin' down to Double-A, Double-A, Double-A, fuck you!"

Avi.

Dough, the reason that Glavine came... Rey, the worst guy in the world... Me, a word, that Rickey should learn... Fah, a long long way to hit... Seo, we traded him away...to LA, where Fred's team plays today... Tee, what our guys need to hit... Which willl bring us back to dough, dough, dough, dough...

The only problem is that it links to our old page.

Always felt he lacked imagination. Could make the simple signing, and seemed personable enough to reel in the big fish, but showed an inability to anticipate problems or come up with creative solutions. I've said it before, seemed like a C student.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I was, and remain, fairly positive on Jerry Manuel. He was not a great tactician, in fact, was pretty bad at times. The bunting, bad bullpen management, a few times I remember him inserting a pinch runner a few plays after the fact that made you wonder if he was paying attention at all. Like his predecessor, couldn't figure out Feliciano versus lefties = good, Feliciano versus righties = bad. I did not see, however, that he was any worse at these things than many of his peers. "Bunting=Fundamental Baseball" and "Don't use your closer in a tie game on the road" are philosophies that are not exclusive to Manuel. On the other hand, he did a lot of things well, as compared to others. I will appreciate how he was a breath of fresh air after Willie Randolph. He was confident, personable, and whether he made the right choice or not, seemed to care enough to think things through. He seemed to relate to his players, and his disputes with them seemed few and far in between. Knew how to handle the NY media. Never played victim, never pointed fingers, and was classy to the very end. I never felt he was given the horses to really compete, but did a good job, not great, with what he was given. I'll be happy they dumped Jerry if they bring in Bobby V, or someone who's smarter. If they bring in just another guy, they haven't gained anything.

This would never have happened if Bobby V were managing. He'd dare those fuckheads to enforce a forfeit before giving up those hats.