metirish

AL MVP

Cliff is a class act.

Seems very personel to Gaffner though.....

] Geffner: Randolph was robbed This was back in the first weekend of July, at Yankee Stadium during the Subway Series. The Mets were already running away with the NL East, up by 11, and I was sitting in the visiting dugout before the game, as the Yankees were taking BP, when suddenly Willie Randolph, with that purposeful step and stone-cold game face, crossed right in front of me. "Hey "� hey, you!" I called out to him, trying to get his attention, which isn't always the easiest thing � him and that famous focus of his. "Hey, you, manager of the year." It was a playful line, of course, attempting to do two things: bring a smile to his face and let him know, without being mushy about it � he absolutely hates anything mushy � that I thought he was doing a great job. Mind you, I've known Randolph since the day he broke in with the Yankees in 1976. Used to hang by his locker just shooting the breeze nearly every day of the season for years. So I can't help but have a special fondness for him. He quickly snapped his head around, looking to connect that disconnected voice, and indeed gave me that smile. A big one too. Then he slowly came right up to my ear and in a low voice gave me something I didn't expect. "Nooooooooo!" he said, holding that smile, "Joooooooooe Girrr-raaaaaarrr-di. He couldn't have stretched the syllables any longer, couldn't have been more lathered with sarcasm, couldn't have made his point any clearer. He already sensed that the wave of positive vibes � and votes for the NL Manager of the Year � was moving unstoppably, irretrievably, against him and in the direction of the then-manager of the Marlins. A guy who, unlike Willie, unlike him by a long shot, needed a scant two years after his retirement as a player to be in such a supreme position with a big-league baseball team. Funny how I thought at the time that Randolph was merely being paranoid, still gun-shy from all the rejection he suffered for a decade trying to so desperately to land that managing job, simply bracing himself early, out of habit, if nothing else, for another round of disrespect. Little did I know that he had the whole thing nailed. In the end, he got beaten out by a guy who'd led his team to, of all things, a losing record, who didn't even capture so much as a wild-card spot, who was fired right after the season. In fact, in the 23-year history of the award, the thing hadn't ever been given to a losing manager. Until yesterday. Until baseball, with its great wisdom, decided to give it to a guy who'll spend next season not in the dugout but in a TV broadcasting booth. Way to go, guys. Nice job. The final tally: Girardi � 18 first-place votes, 111 total points, Randolph � 8 first-place votes, 81 total points. It wasn't even close enough to demand a recount. Leave it to baseball and its association of writers to find another way to stick it to Willie � despite him winning his division going away and tying with the Yankees for the best record in baseball. And doing all that pretty much without his ace (Pedro Martinez) and two of his other starters (Brian Bannister and Victor Zambrano) and his meat-of-the-order left fielder (Cliff Floyd) and maybe his best pitcher in the pen (Duaner Sanchez). Let the writers who didn't cast a first-place vote for him, who only followed the team from a distance � in the newspapers and on TV � talk about the Mets' huge payroll and all the superstar talent and how it gave Randolph an unfair advantage. Those who saw the club day in and day out at Shea know differently. They know he performed something of a minor miracle to get this hobbling-from-the-start team within a single game of playing in the World Series. They know that, in the tiny space of two seasons, he has turned around the entire mindset of this franchise. Made these Met players not only into winners on the field but also in their collective heads and bodies and souls, molded them in his own image into nothing less than the Yankees by the Flushing Bay. And for all this, he's handed the wonderful Thanksgiving gift of Joooooooooe Girrr-raaaaaarrr-di. I hope he can still smile about it the way he did back in July. Michael P. Geffner's column appears regularly in the Times Herald-Record.

I liked the idea,10 pages is enough,what happens if Rico makes news on page one?

] In sports contracts, nine figures are too many The Chicago Cubs are throwing $136 million at a 98-year championship drought, and the funny money is landing in the waiting arms of a free agent with power, speed, and enough eye-popping stats to swing open the vaults of a company reportedly trying to sell assets, not buy them. So Alfonso Soriano, formerly of the Washington Nationals, will not be listed in the Tribune Co.'s quarterly report as a 30-year-old ballplayer who struck out 160 times and couldn't bat .280 for a last-place team. He's been chosen to lead his new club to a place where the White Sox have already been, and Cubs fans only need to review recent history to know they shouldn't hold their breath. Nine-figure contracts usually don't work in sports, except for the agents. For the executives who sign them? Monster deals heighten expectations while squeezing budgets, weakening rosters and alienating teammates. In baseball, only Manny Ramirez ($160 million) and Albert Pujols ($100 million) have helped their clubs win titles while playing under the terms of nine-figure deals. Shaquille O'Neal ($120 million with the Lakers, $100 million with the Heat) and Tim Duncan ($122 million) are the only NBA players to have scored the daily double, and no NFL star has managed the same. Soriano will be swinging against a disturbing trend of Hollywood-sized busts, and this unscientific survey of the 10 worst nine-figure deals suggests he'd better take a healthy cut. Alex Rodriguez, $252 million - The Rose Bowl of sports contracts (granddaddy of them all). Texas finished dead last with A-Rod, and Seattle won 116 games without him. The Yankees would love this drama queen to take his soap opera on the road. George Steinbrenner's saving grace? Tom Hicks is paying a hefty portion of the tab. Mike Hampton, $121 million - What on earth were the mile-high Rockies thinking? Off a 15-10 season with the Mets, Hampton said some nice things about the Colorado school system and cashed in beyond his wildest dreams. He went 21-28 over two seasons before the Rockies cut their unfathomable losses. Shawn Kemp, $107 million - How were the Cavaliers to know that he'd spend it on bacon double cheeseburgers? Kevin Brown, $105 million - The first baseball player to hurdle the $100 million barrier, Brown surpassed 14 victories just once for the Dodgers, who gave him a dozen free chartered flights a year between L.A. and his Georgia home. They finally punched Brown a one-way ticket to the Bronx, where he punched a clubhouse wall and surrendered Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS to Boston. Juwan Howard, $105 million - Pat Riley should still be sending David Stern a dozen roses a week for voiding this Miami signing over a flagrant salary-cap foul, leaving Howard to play out his overpriced, underwhelming prime in Washington. Jason Giambi, $120 million - Hurt a lot, defensively challenged, and the public face of the steroid plague after his reported BALCO testimony, Giambi hasn't been worth half his wage. He couldn't help his case by pointing out that even Captain Jeter hasn't won a ring since signing his own $189 million deal. Allan Houston, $100.4 million - No surprise that many mega-bust contracts find their way to a New York payroll at one point or another. Before retiring on bum knees, Houston admitted even he was surprised at how much the Knicks were willing to pay him. Drew Bledsoe, $103 million - NFL contracts generally don't count, since they're never what they appear to be. But Bledsoe's best contribution since this signing was clearing out for Tom Brady (or was that Tony Romo?). Chris Webber, $127 million - Webber played big on the front end of his deal, but injuries have left him a hobbled shell of his former self. Michael Vick, $130 million - Maybe a better bet than Brett Favre's post-title $100 million extension and Donovan McNabb's $115 million, but Vick's deal more than doubles Brady's and clears Peyton Manning's by $32 million. He hasn't honored the investment. These 10 account for no rings as members of the nine-figure club, as Brown won with Florida before securing his $105 million contract. In other business, Kevin Garnett signed for $126 million with Minnesota, and then for another $100 million, and has yet to reach the Finals. Todd Helton got $141.5 million from a Rockies team that's never made the playoffs. What does it all mean for the Cubs and Soriano? Their nine-figure marriage won't stop the title drought from becoming a three-figure deal. Ian O'Connor is a sports columnist for The Journal News. Reach him at ioconnor@lohud.com.

Piazza - Angels

Mets get to keep him and added to him to the 40 man roster.

Apparently the Tribune Company are going to sell the Cubs so they don't really care that they are handing out huge contracts,they won't be on the hook for long.

I'm starting to tire of Glavine.

Former Mets coach Gary Pettis joins the Rangers as first-base coach.

] MTA could sell name rights to Shea stations THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 21, 2006, 8:01 AM EST Transit officials hope to profit from the record-breaking sale of naming rights for the New York Mets' new ballpark by offering to change the names of nearby stations, according to a spokesman. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials plan to negotiate with Citigroup Inc., which is reportedly paying an average of more than $20 million annually to name the Queens stadium Citi Field, spokesman Tom Kelly told the Daily News for Tuesday editions. Two stations carry the name of the current arena, Shea Stadium. One is a stop on the Long Island Rail Road, the other is on the 7 subway line. MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow had previously ruled out renaming landmarks like Grand Central Terminal, but board member Mitchell Pally said the move was a reasonable step to prevent fare increases. Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, argued that sales of naming rights could go too far. "What's next? Will we give riders directions to take the Bayer Aspirin IRT to Walt Disney's Times Square and then switch to the McDonald's 7 line to the Citigroup stop in Queens -- which also happens to be the stop for the Mets Stadium?" he asked. A spokeswoman for Citigroup did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Citi Field deal set a record for U.S stadium naming rights, topping the approximately $10 million annually the NFL's Houston Texans receive from Reliant Energy to call their home Reliant Stadium. The new $800 million stadium is being built next to its predecessor. The 45,000-seat ballpark is set to open in 2009.

That's pretty funny, even funnier was the contrat Juan turned down from the Tigers....$140 million IIRC...

yeah,excellent points...I guess his one bad month hurt him....

Some no doubt will say it's northeast bias...

] IOW, there are other votes not shown on that chart Thanks,makes sense.

Ok,dumb question,how is Soriano's 1 third place vote worth more than Reyes's 1 third place vote? Beltran gets $200,000 for fourth..nice work.

Complete voting here FK... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2669508

Good,I'm happy that that crackhead Pujols didn't win.

And no one picked retirement.....

Alex Gonzalez to the Reds....3 years/$15M

Yeah and with the Soriano deal the price for the likes of Drew and Lee likely went up....

Can't remeber if they were 5+ year deals but Denny Neagle and Chan Ho Park didn't finish out big contracts.

1 - Reyes 2 - Beltran 3 - Alou 4 - Delgado 5 - Wright 6 - Lo Duca 7 - Green 8 - Valentin I can't wait...

I think this means Lastings wil be part of a trade...I have no problem with Alou for a year,can he stay away form the DL?,probably not but if he can then this could bea cool move.