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Author: Neil Keefe

Blogs • KTTC Classics • Yankees

Feb 10, 2016

CC Sabathia Is Still Done

It wouldn’t be February without overly optimistic stories. And who better to start up this round of stories than CC Sabathia?

CC Sabathia

It’s almost time for pitchers and catchers to report and spring training to officially start, and it wouldn’t be early February without some overly optimistic stories. Each year at this time, the fairy tales that “(Player Name) is in the best shape of his life” or “(Player Name) feels the best he has in (number) years” are written. And who better to start up this round of stories than CC Sabathia?

“I feel the best I have in three years. I am excited to get to Tampa with a clear head and a healthy body.”

That’s what Sabathia texted to the New York Post on Tuesday after a workout, and in two simple sentences, Sabathia has given a lot of false hope to those who believe him. I don’t.

Last season, I did over/unders for the Yankees, and for Sabathia I set his ERA at over/under 4.50. Here’s what I said:

Sabathia is going to need to find a way to get outs without overpowering hitters the way his former teammate Andy Pettitte and supposed best friend Cliff Lee were able to do. (Let’s hope he talked to them.) Given the health concerns of Tanaka and Pined every pitch they throw, Sabathia is going to need to be relied on. That makes me uncomfortable, but … optimism!

Yes, I took the under and believed that a former ace making $25 million could pitch to a quality start ERA. He finished the year with a 4.73 ERA. It was down from his 5.28 in 2014 and his 4.78 in 2013, but it was nowhere near the 3.22 he posted in his first four years with the Yankees.

Sabathia once again let Yankees fans down as if was once again unable to turn into former teammate Andy Pettitte or supposed best friend Cliff Lee and instead tried to sneak fastballs past hitters sitting on his mid-to-high-80s stuff. He put together back-to-back quality starts three times in 29 starts and never had three in a row. It was another disappointing season from the former Cy Young winner, who lost his first four starts and didn’t get his first win until May 11 to improve to 1-5, as he didn’t win in April, won twice in May, once in June, once in July, didn’t win in August and won twice in September.

So now on Feb. 9, after having not pitched since Oct. 1, four months ago, and having spent a month in rehab for alcohol abuse, Sabathia says he feels the best he has in three years. Of course he does! He hasn’t pitched in 131 days and finally received treatment for what he said had been an ongoing problem. He’s never going to feel as good as he does right now before pitchers and catchers report and before the daily grind of being a soon-to-be 36-year-old Major League pitcher sets in.

My biggest question from Sabathia’s two sentences, is what he means by “three years.” If he means calendar years, well, three years ago right now he was about to begin a season in which he went 14-13 with a 4.78 ERA and led the league in earned runs. If he means seasons, then OK, because three seasons ago was his 2012 season when he went 15-6 with a 3.38 ERA and beat the Orioles twice in the ALDS. (Better known as his last good season.)

Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York wrote that Sabathia is “fighting” for his job in the rotation, which couldn’t be any less true, so I tweeted that I hope no one really thinks Sabathia’s rotation spot is in question.

When I tweeted Matthews about how ridiculous of a concept that was, he replied:

https://twitter.com/ESPNNYYankees/status/697545815473008640

So then, I replied:

That’s the truth. If Sabathia could remain in the 2015 rotation despite having an ERA of at least five until Sept. 14 and having just four wins in 26 starts through Sept. 14, while Adam Warren was sent to the bullpen, why would anyone think that Sabathia would be fighting for his job this season, against Ivan Nova of all pitchers? As long as Sabathia keeps making about $700,000 per start, which he will make this season AND next season, he’s going to start.

For the guy who basically won every five days for four years, he has now held Jorge Posada’s former title as the Yankees’ family dog for three seasons. If you forgot what I wrote about Posada in 2010 and 2011, well …

Posada is like the aging family dog that just wanders around aimlessly and goes to the bathroom all over the place and just lies around and sleeps all day. You try to pretend like the end isn’t near and you try to remember the good times to get through the bad times, and once in a while the dog will do something to remind you of what it used to be, but it’s just momentary tease.

Take out Posada and insert Sabathia and you have 2013-2015 Sabathia and what we will once again get in 2016 for $25 million and unfortunately again in 2017 for $25 million.

As the family dog, I’m sure Sabathia will give us a few throwback performances this season. Maybe he’ll beat the Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball or outpitch Matt Harvey at Yankee Stadium. Maybe he’ll retire Jose Bautista with the bases loaded or get Adam Jones to ground into a double play to hold a lead in a big spot. There will be times when Sabathia makes you think it’s 2009 or 2010 or 2011 or 2012 again, but they will be rare. Don’t believe what he texted the Post. It pains me to say again, but like I said last June, CC Sabathia is done.

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Podcasts • Rangers

Feb 10, 2016

Podcast: Brian Monzo

Mike Francesa’s producer joined me to talk about the Rangers and Wayne Simmonds’ punch of Ryan McDonagh.

Ryan McDonagh

Wayne Simmonds punched Ryan McDonagh in the face on Saturday, gave him a concussion, and got away with it. Aside from the game misconduct he received at the time, Simmonds avoided a suspension despite his punch to the jaw of an NHL All-Star and Alain Vigneault was right to speak out and question if the same result would have happened if a superstar in Pittsburgh who wears No. 87 were concussed.

WFAN Mike’s On: Francesa on the FAN producer Brian Monzo joined me to talk about Wayne Simmonds punching Ryan McDonagh and the NHL Department of Player Safety’s lack of involvement, the John Scott story and publicizing it with Mike Francesa, Alain Vigneault’s misuse of Keith Yandle, the albatross contracts for Dan Girardi and Marc Staal and Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes being busts.

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Blogs • Yankees

Feb 2, 2016

Bye Bye Greg Bird

There’s a chance Greg Bird won’t be ready for 2017 and there’s a chance he won’t be as productive as he once was and there’s a chance he won’t be able to be the first baseman of the future.

Greg Bird

I guess I won’t have to waste a million words this season writing about how Greg Bird should be the Yankees’ starting first baseman over Mark Teixeira even though Teixeira will make $23 million this year. Now I just have to hope I don’t waste a million words next season once again longing for Bird to be the Yankees’ starting first baseman. I will spend the next year desperately hoping for 2015 Greg Bird to show up in 2017, completely fixed from his shoulder surgery and not suffering any setbacks, and not skipping a beat from the last time we saw him on the field in the wild-card game.

There’s a chance Bird won’t be ready for 2017 and there’s a chance he won’t be as productive as he once was and there’s a chance he won’t be able to be the first baseman of the future. The Yankees aren’t about to go into 2017 without an insurance policy at first base and that most likely means Mark Teixeira won’t have to move from Greenwich anytime soon. Aside from the actual problem of Bird being originally told to rest and rehab his shoulder and now he will miss the entire season after surgery, the other here is that Bird’s absence sets up a potential terrible chain reaction. Like a 75-yard chain of dominoes built during indoor recess due to inclement weather, if the dominoes start to fall, we’ll be looking at 2013 and 2014 all over again. Actually, we might be longing for the days of 2013 and 2014.

With the Yankees’ recent luck of injuries, I can easily see Teixeira spending the majority of the season on the disabled list (and you know if Bird were healthy, Teixeira wouldn’t get hurt all season, but be unproductive, while Bird raked in Triple-A), which would make Dustin Ackley the Yankees’ everyday first baseman. Between Ackley at first and Chase Headley at third, the Yankees will have two non-power hitters in two spots that, which need power. In that scenario, and with Brett Gardner in left field, the Yankees’ lone corner power hitter would be Carlos Beltran, and counting on the soon-to-be 39-year-old to not only contribute the way he should at $15 million, but also stay healthy isn’t exactly assuring. The Yankees could get by if they had a power hitter in a non-traditional power spot, like say second base, but they no longer have that luxury. Sure, this isn’t exactly the most positive line of thinking, but when your 23-year-old first baseman of the future goes down for the season, and you’re now desperately relying on your 31-year-old catcher (will be 32 on Feb. 20), 35-year-old first baseman (will be 36 on April 11), 38-year-old right fielder (will be 39 on April 24) and 40-year-old designated hitter (will be 41 on July 27) to not only stay healthy, but be productive, it’s important to think about the worst-case scenarios.

You might think this is overreacting to an injury to a player that was going to start the season in Triple-A, if Teixeira were to remain healthy come Opening Day, but it’s not. Bird was going to play a role for the Yankees this season even if Brian Cashman wants to pretend like you can suddenly bet on Teixeira’s health like he’s American Pharoah at Churchill Downs. And without Greg Bird last season, the Yankees don’t make the playoffs. They won a wild-card berth by two games and won home-field in the wild-card by one game on the last day of the season thanks to an Astros loss (not that it mattered). Take away Bird’s performance, while in for Teixeira and the Yankees would have been postseason-less for three straight years (even though it’s basically like they were).

Bird seamlessly fit in for Teixeira when he went down with a bone bruise, which turned out to be a broken leg, and was as good, if not better than Teixeira, giving the Yankees their first promising look into the future for a position player since Robinson Cano debuted in 2005.  Bird hit .261/.343/.529 in 178 plate appearances, while Teixeira hit .255/.357/.548 in 462 plate appearances. Combine their power and they hit 41 home runs with 110 RBIs. Together, Mark Teixeira and Greg Bird were a Top 3 AL MVP finalist.

Teixeira played 111 games last year. He played 123 games in 2014. He played 15 games in 2013. He played 123 games in 2012. In the last few years, he has missed time due to wrist surgery, pain and discomfort from that wrist surgery, a pulled hamstring, injuries to his rib cage and knee and lat, tired legs from being on the bases(!), light-headedness and an injury to his pinky sliding into home. There’s a 100 percent chance Teixeira misses time this year either due to an actual injury or something comical like having tired legs from being on the bases. This is the guy that complained about the length of playing baseball games in Sept. 2011, saying, “I can’t stand playing a nine-inning game in four hours. It’s not baseball. I don’t even know how to describe it.” This is a guy who has made $189.9 million in his life playing the game he doesn’t know how to describe and will make another $23.125 million this season. You can guarantee he’s going to get hurt this season.

Last season, we got a glimpse into the future of a real prospect for the first time in 10-plus years, and it’s been taken away. Greg Bird was the future at first base for the Yankees. Now, we need to hope he still is.

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NHL • Podcasts • Rangers

Feb 2, 2016

Podcast: Rear Admiral

The Barstool Sports Boston blogger joined me to talk about John Scott’s MVP performance at the All-Star Game.

scott2

John Scott saved the NHL All-Star Game from another ho-hum weekend and overall lackadaisical effort by creating a buzz the league has longed for with it’s midseason event. The problem is the league tried to avoid it at all costs and will now benefit the most from trying to keep one if its top vote receivers from playing. Thanks to John Scott, we were treated to a memorable night in Nashville that the league tried to steal from us like parts of the 1995-96 and 2012-13 seasons and all of of the 2004-05 season.

Rear Admiral of Barstool Sports Boston joined me to talk about John Scott’s MVP performance at the NHL All-Star Game, the slumping Boston-born players on the Rangers, the state of the Eastern Conference, old Boston and the Boston Garden and the best and worst bars in Boston.

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Blogs • NHL

Feb 1, 2016

The Legend of John Scott

If it weren’t for Pacific captain John Scott, I would have watched no more than five minutes on Sunday night. After watching the efforts of the Metropolitan and Atlantic, I wasn’t sticking around if not for Scott.

John Scott

I felt like I was watching a Rangers playoff game during the Pacific vs. Atlantic championship on Sunday night. If there was video of me watching Rangers-Lightning Game 7 in May and video of me watching then NHL All-Star Game championship, a split screen of the two would look like the split screens of Robinson Cano and Rod Carew. For a game with zero meaning other than for the players on the ice wanting their $90,909 winning share, I was pulling for the Pacific and once they took a 1-0 lead, I slowly watched the clock tick away. All of this unnecessary stress and uneasiness for no reason other than John Scott.

If it weren’t for Pacific captain John Scott, I would have watched no more than five minutes of Sunday night’s three games. After watching the Metropolitan and Atlantic put in the worst of efforts in the night’s opening game, there was no way I was sticking around to watch the Western Conference’s two teams “compete” if not for Scott. But the 33-year-old with five goals and six assists in 285 career games kept me around as if a trip to the Cup Final was on the line.

The NHL got its wish. They got their real fans and even casual fans to care about an exhibition game in 2016 that has no significance. But it wasn’t the way they wanted by implementing 3-on-3 play in a tournament format with $1,000,000 going to the winning team as a carrot at the end of the stick to get their multi-millionaire stars to care about competing. It was because they embarrassed themselves in a way only the NHL could thanks to the scum in the league office acting like the scum that they are.

The NHL’s attempt to keep John Scott out of the All-Star Game after he rightfully won a spot and captaincy through their own fan voting system was disgusting. Their plan to force a league-owned franchise in the Coyotes to trade Scott to Montreal and stick him in the AHL to make him ineligible for the game to try to keep an enforcer and non-traditional “All-Star” out of the game was disgusting. The idea that they didn’t that Scott would have to move his wife, who’s pregnant with twins, and two young daughters from Arizona to Newfoundland, or force him to be apart with his about-to-be larger family all to avoid him playing in the All-Star Game was disturbing.

Even though the entire story seems unimaginable and even though Scott’s account of it on The Players’ Tribune seems unfathomable, it shouldn’t be. This is the NHL we’re talking about. The same league that forced a partial-season lockout in 1994-95 and a full-season lockout in 2004-05 and another partial-season lockout in 2012-13. The league has never cared about doing what’s right or taking care of their fans or taking advantage of a great public relations opportunity. They have operated like the Mets at a league level and have remained tone deaf to the hockey world outside of their Avenue of the Americas office. Only the league could make me miss a former Ranger, who played six games for the team four years ago. And only the fans could make sure Scott attended the weekend and only the fans could make a write-in candidate the MVP.

It took pure scum to try to get Scott out of the weekend and to force a trade of him and to ask him to back out of the weekend and to ask him, “Do you think this is something your kids would be proud of?” and to leave him off the MVP ballot during the tournament. So it made sense that the king of all the scum, Gary Bettman, would stand there after championship amid a chorus of boos with that shit-eating grin on his face and shake Scott’s hand and pose with that dirty smile for a photo opportunity while telling Scott, “I’m proud of you.”

Before Bettman could smile about how his poorly-run league backed into a Disney-like story because of his own Joe Thornton-like leadership, John Scott had scored two goals. The first was the first for the Pacific in the tournament, tying the Central at 1 and the second came on a breakaway later in his team’s first game. He had scored twice and sat his former teammate Patrick Kane down before fake fighting the league’s leading scorer after the Blackhawk scored. He had played in front of a sold-out Bridgestone Arena chanting “M-V-P” at him and had the backing of the world’s best players at his side, giving the ultimate eff you to the league even if scumbag Bettman and his band of scum would be the ones who would ultimately benefit of the league’s short-lived publicity. And he had stood on the blue line, as an All-Star Game champion, $90,909 richer and in awe as his name was announced as the tournament MVP with a new pickup truck to go with his trophy.

The only two All-Star Games that have ever stood out to me were 1989-90 when Mario Lemieux scored four goals in Pittsburgh (which I was only three years old for, but relived hundreds of times thanks to the VHS Dynamite on Ice) and 1995-96 when Ray Bourque scored the game-winning goal with 38 seconds left in Boston. Now 2015-16 when John Scott took over the hockey world and then took over in Nashville joins them.

I wonder if his kids are proud of him.

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