Yankees – Page 182 – Keefe To The City

Mar 30, 2015

Podcast: Chad Jennings

Opening Day is now a week away, so it’s time to check in down in Tampa with the latest from spring training before the games actually matter.

One week to go. One week. That’s it. That’s all that’s separating us from baseball season and Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. It seems a little ridiculous to think that the Yankees will be playing here next Monday considering it was snowing this weekend, but after back-to-back postseason-less seasons and a brutal winter, I’m willing to watch the Yankees play in snow to have baseball back in my life.

Chad Jennings, the Yankees beat writer for The Journal News and the LoHud Yankees Blog, joined me to talk about the Yankees as spring training winds down in Tampa, what to expect from Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, why Stephen Drew is still the starting second baseman, the state of the rotation, why Joe Girardi should revolutionize baseball with his bullpen and how Yankees fans should feel about this team right now.

Blogs • Opening Day • Yankees

Mar 26, 2015

The Most Ridiculous Yankees Memorabilia

A Mark Teixeira-signed baseball for $199.99 seems overpriced until you realize what other Yankees memorabilia is for sale.

Everyone knows that Steiner Sports will sell everything and anything they can. Whether it’s Yankee Stadium dirt, a piece of gum chewed during the seventh inning of a home game by Andy Pettitte, a cardboard box that Bernie Williams’ bats were delivered in or a toenail that Derek Jeter clipped in the Yankees clubhouse during his final season, they will stop at nothing to try obtain and sell memorabilia, which you would think no one would actually buy.

On Wednesday, Steiner Sports tweeted the following:

If this tweet gets 80 RTs we will release a code to buy this @teixeiramark25 signed baseball for $80! (reg $199.99) pic.twitter.com/AB0e8taqyQ

— Steiner Sports (@steinersports) March 25, 2015

I wasn’t sure if it was more ridiculous that Steiner Sports thought 80 people might want a Mark Teixeira-signed baseball enough to retweet it, that Steiner Sports thinks that $80 for a Mark Teixeira-signed baseball is a good deal or that Steiner Sports normally sells Mark Teixeira-signed baseballs for $199.99. But what I did know was that it was the best unintentionally funny tweet of all time.

If Steiner Sports could sell a Mark Teixeira-signed baseball for $199.99, what else could they sell at insane prices and think that people might want to buy? Well, I went to the Steiner Sports site to find out, and it only got worse.

Vidal Nuno spent parts of two seasons (2013 and 2014) with the Yankees trying to get through five innings before he was traded to the Diamondbacks for Brandon McCarthy in what will go down as an all-time low-risk, high-reward trade for the Yankees that panned out. Now you can remember Vidal Nuno’s 25-pitch innings with this 2014 Opening Day Game-Used Locker Room Nameplate for just $39.99, which is 75 percent off the valued price of $160.00!

Hey, remember when Brian Cashman decided to let reigning World Series MVP Hideki Matsui walk in free agency because he wanted to sign Nick Johnson for a second go-around? Matsui signed with the Angels for one year and $6 million and the Yankees got Johnson for one year and $5.5 million. Matsui played in 145 games for the Angels and hit .274/.361/.459 with 21 home runs and 84 home runs. Johnson played in 24 games for the Yankees and hit .167/.388/.306 with two home runs and eight RBIs. Now you can commemorate Cashman’s decision to try and justify Johnson as a baseball player by replacing Matusi with him with this Nick Johnson Certified Authentic Dirt Collage for just $69.99!

David Adams has played 43 games in the majors, all coming with the 2013 Yankees, and hit .193/.252/.286. Adams is best known for being the reason the July 2010 trade with the Mariners for Cliff Lee fell through because of his ankle injury and instead of the Yankees acquiring Cliff Lee, the Rangers did, and Lee shut out the Yankees in Game 3 of the 2010 ALCS to swing the series. Never forget the trade that fell through and cost the Yankees a trip to the 2010 World Series by purchasing this David Adams Autographed MLB Baseball for $89.99!

The last memory of Nick Swisher as a Yankee is him turning on the Bleacher Creatures and going 5-for-30 (.167) with 10 strikeouts in the 2012 postseason. You can be reminded of Swisher’s time in New York by adding this Nick Swisher Action Photo to your collection for the cheap price of $99.99!

After the 2007 season, Brian Cashman traded 21-year-old starter Tyler Clippard to the Nationals for 25-year-old reliever Jonathan Albaladejo. Clippard went on to become one of the elite relievers in the league with 2.68 ERA and 530 strikeouts in 464 innings in seven years with the Nationals. Albaladejo pitched 59 1/3 innings with a 1.601 WHIP over three seasons with the Yankees before signing with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan after the 2010 season. You can feel exactly the way Albaldejo did when he was pitching to contact if you buy this Jonathan Albaldejo 2008 Game-Used Home Batting Practice Jersey on sale for only $119.99!

Between 2009 and 2010, Sergio Mitre appeared in 39 games (12 starts) for the Yankees and pitched to a 5.03 ERA. The Yankees traded him to the Brewers at the end of spring training in 2011 and purchased his contract from the Brewers on June 29 to bring him back for four more appearances. Mitre did get into three of the six games against the Rangers in the 2010 ALCS because Joe Girardi always makes sure to get everyone into games in the playoffs and posted this memorable line: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 2 HR. Cherish every one of Mitre’s 42 apperances with the Yankees with this Sergio Mitre 2011 Team Issued Hat for $135.00!
Want to relive the 2013 season? Have all of your stuff smell like Travis Hafner, hit .202 and land on the disabled list just like the former 82-game Yankee by bringing home this Travis Hafner 2013 Game-Used Equipment Bag for $260.00!

Most of the players I have used here were members of the Everybody Gets to Be a Yankee Once Team and those who didn’t make it were just barely left off of it. It was difficult to not pick Kelly Johnson to be on the team after he gave us 77 games and 227 miserable plate appearances in 2014 before being traded to the Red Sox for Stephen Drew and then ending up in the postseason with the Orioles. I’m not sure if I dislike Johnson more for how poorly he hit as a Yankee or for bringing Drew to the Yankees. But with this 6/23/14 Game-Used Lineup Card, you can always be reminded of Kelly Johnson’s 200th career double for $360.00!I’m pretty sure I have written more about A.J. Burnett than any other person in my life. He gave me three roller-coaster seasons with the Yankees and was only traded once the Yankees were willing to pay him to pitch for the Pirates. But now you can look back on his three tumultuous seasons and his five-year, $82.5 million contract with this A.J. Burnett Autographed Replica Jersey for $384.99!Stephen Drew is going to be the 2015 Opening Day second baseman for the Yankees, but at some point he will be designated for assignment. Why wouldn’t the Yankees just go into the season with either Rob Refsnyder or Jose Pirela as their second baseman instead of wasting $5 million on Drew ($5 million that could have been used to better their chances at winning the bid for Yoan Moncada)? I guess the answer is that the same person making that decision also once signed Nick Johnson instead of Hideki Matsui. Before Drew’s inevitable release, cherish his 2015 spring training, in which he’s hitting .167, and make sure you purchase this Stephen Drew 2015 Spring Training Opening Day Game-Used Jersey for $449.99!

I try to forget that the 2013 season happened and that after Robinson Cano, Lyle Overbay was the Yankees’ next best hitter. Yes, the Yankees second-best hitter in 2013 hit .240/.295/.393 with 14 home runs and 59 RBIs. Go on an all-inclusive vacation with airfare, hotel, food and drinks in a tropical place or buy this Lyle Overbay Game-Used Batting Helmet for $1,010.00!

Opening Day • Podcasts • Yankees

Mar 20, 2015

Podcast: Shane Spencer

During the Yankees’ dynasty it seemed like every player they called up filled a role and no one did it better than Shane Spencer.

Former Yankee and three-time World Series champion Shane Spencer joined me to talk about September 1998, the 1998 World Series against his hometown Padres, Gary Denbo and the Yankees’ minor league staff, the 2001 World Series, playing after 9/11, his success against Curt Schilling, the breakdown of the Flip Play, his relationship with Paul O’Neill, coming up through the minors with the Core Four and how the team changed in 2002.

Blogs • Opening Day • Yankees

Mar 20, 2015

The Face of the Yankees

For the first time since 1996, the Yankees have a new face of their team and it’s somehow not every fan is going to be happy about. It’s A-Rod.

My whole life someone has been the “Face of the Yankees”. I worn born in 1986 and back then it was Don Mattingly. When he retired after the 1995 season, Derek Jeter was the starting shortstop, Rookie of the Year and World Series champion in 1996, so it was a nice seamless transition from one era of Yankees baseball to the next. But now that Jeter has retired (or so he says since I’m still holding out hope he will be in the Opening Day lineup), the Yankees need a new face.

Brian Cashman was recently asked about who would be the next captain of the Yankees and he said, “As far as I’m concerned, and I’m not the decision-maker on this, that captaincy should be retired with No. 2. I wouldn’t give up another captain title to anybody else.”

Being the captain of a team doesn’t make you the face of it, but it’s just worked out recently that it has been the case for the Yankees. I’m not sure that the Yankees should never have a captain again. I mean if somehow the Baseball Gods give us another Derek Jeter (please) then that’s one thing, but for now, I do agree with Cashman. The Yankees don’t need a captain. They do however need a face. The Yankees can’t be faceless. They can’t be the Blue Jays or A’s.

On the 2015 Yankees, you can eliminate Stephen Drew, who will be designated for assignment at some point this season and hopefully by Opening Day, from being the face of the team. Drew will be part of the Everybody Gets to Be a Yankee Once Team the second he is released, so at least he has that going for him.

You can eliminate Didi Gregorius, who hasn’t played a game for the Yankees, and you can also eliminate Chase Headley, who is just a guy on the team and not “the guy” on the team. I’m a Headley fan, but he isn’t the reason people are going to spend their nights watching the team on YES or spend their hard-earned money going to the Stadium.

Aside from winning an MVP award, it’s equally as hard for a starting pitcher to be the face of a franchise since they will at most play in 21 percent of the team’s games (based on 34 starts) and only having the face of the team play once every fifth day isn’t an easy sell. Well, unless you’re Clayton Kershaw or Felix Hernandez. The only starting pitcher that even comes close to that level is Masahiro Tanaka and while he comes close to that level, he isn’t there yet and deeming someone whose right arm status is being treated as a ticking time bomb isn’t the most sound decision.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran were all free-agent signings in the same offseason, so they’re out of the question because they were free-agent signings. But that’s not a bad thing since I don’t want a player who won two World Series with the Red Sox, a catcher who hit .232/.286/.406 last season or a soon-to-be 38-year-old oft-injured outfielder the Yankees signed nine years too late to be the face of the team.

CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira were free-agent signings in the same offseason, so like the pre-2014 class, this pre-2009 class is also eliminated. But also like the pre-2014 class, it’s not a bad thing since I don’t want a 34-year-old starter coming off a serious knee injury, who has made 40 starts in the last two seasons, going 17-17 with a 4.87 ERA to be the face of the team. As for Mark Teixeira, or “The Mailman” as I have decided to call him since he has mailed it in for the last three years despite making $22.5 million, I obviously don’t want him to be the face of the team.

That leaves us with Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez, the two longest-tenured Yankees. Gardner isn’t “face of the team” material despite being homegrown and having been in the majors with the Yankees since 2008. And when it comes to A-Rod, he is loved and hated by the fan base, is coming off a full-season suspension for PED use and is somehow still viewed as a postseason failure and unclutch even after he single-handedly carried the Yankees to the 2009 World Series.

But also when it comes to A-Rod, he’s been the focal point of every Yankees story since the last out of 2014. He’s the reason people have paid attention to spring training since Joe Girardi has made it clear there aren’t any position battles to follow. He’s the reason people will go to the Stadium this spring and summer. He’s the only Yankee that has the Yankees star power that every era of Yankees baseball has had. With Jeter gone, A-Rod is the first person someone names when you ask them “Who do you think of when you think of the Yankees right now?” A-Rod is the face of the Yankees.

Having 2015 A-Rod as the face of your team isn’t exactly the most exciting idea and maybe not the proudest moment of being a Yankees fan, but every team needs a face, and for now the Yankees’ is a 39-year-old, who has played 265 games in the last four seasons. A-Rod represents what the Yankees have become, which is an old, broken-down, non-homegrown, overpaid player trying to stay healthy enough to play out of the rest of a bad contract.

Aside from October and the beginning of November 2009, very little has gone the way I envisioned it going when A-Rod was traded to the Yankees in February 2004 when he was still viewed as a face of the game. But in this new era of Yankees baseball, I want to add 2015 to the very little that has gone right for A-Rod in the last 11 years.

Mar 10, 2015

Stephen Drew Is ‘That Guy’ for the 2015 Yankees

Every Yankees season comes with “that guy” and you don’t want to be “that guy”. Right now, Stephen Drew is “that guy” for the 2015 season.

Sometimes there’s more than one “that guy”. Last year, we were blessed with two of them in Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson. And when they were finally released and traded respectively, Brian Cashman was nice enough to give us a handful of bad relievers to fill the void. In 2013, the entire team was built of “that guy” with Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner, Kevin Youkilis (when he played), Chris Stewart and David Adams playing for the Yankees, and I’m being nice by only including those names. In 2012, we were treated to a second year of Freddy Garcia and with him came a 5.20 ERA, Andruw Jones’ .197 average and we also got 39 appearances from Cory Wade and his 6.46 ERA. Get the picture?

I wish I could say that A.J.Burnett, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira could be classified as “that guy” in recent years, but they can’t. See, to be “that guy” your contract has to be reasonable enough that the Yankees could release you at any time without eating a ridiculous amount of money. Actually, I guess you could call A.J. Burnett “that guy” since the Yankees were willing to trade him for two minor leaguers and pay the Pirates $20 million over two years just so he wouldn’t have to throw another pitch for the Yankees. Every “that guy” should have been released long before they finally were and in some cases never should have been signed to begin with. Stephen Drew matches both criteria.

In 2013, Drew “helped” the Red Sox win the World Series by going 2-for-15 () in the ALDS, 1-for-20 (.050) in the ALCS and 3-for-19 (.158) in the World Series. Then in the offseason, he turned down the Red Sox’ $14.1 million qualifying offer for 2014. He went unsigned and then re-signed with the Red Sox in May for about $10.2 million for the year, missing two months of the season and costing himself about $4 million by turning down their offer. He hit .176/.255/.328 in 39 games for the Red Sox and then was traded to the Yankees for Kelly Johnson. An historic “that guy” for “that guy” trade. (I’m still upset that Kelly Johnson ended up with the Orioles last year and got to play in the postseason.)

As a Yankee, Drew hit .150/.219/.271 in 46 games. So of course the Yankees re-signed him to a one-year, $5 million deal (with incentives it could get up $6.5 million) for 2015. A month after acquiring Didi Gregorius to be their shortstop of the future, the Yankees signed Drew to be their second baseman, blocking a path to the majors for both Rob Refsnyder (who hit .342 in Double-A and .300 in Triple-A in 2014) and Jose Pirela (who Reggie Jackson called the best hitter in the organization this spring training). But I guess when you have the chance to block two of the best position player prospects the organization has seen in a while to make a roster spot for Stephen Drew, it’s a move you have to make. On Monday, Joe Girardi made it clear that Drew is the Yankees’ second baseman.

“We signed (Stephen Drew) to be our second baseman,” Girardi said. “We didn’t sign him to struggle. We signed him to play at a very high level, and we expect that he will.”

Well, Joe you did sign Drew to struggle because that’s all he’s done. Actually, you traded for him to struggle in a garbage-for-garbage trade with Kelly Johson and then after he struggled, you signed him again anyway despite having traded for a shortstop and with depth at second base in the minors.

I have always pictured the Drews (like the Weavers) driving around Georgia in the early 90s with J.D. and Stephen in the back and the “O’Doyle Rules!” family scene from Billy Madison taking place. The fact that both Drews have World Series rings and both with the Red Sox is so effed up it makes me hate sports. But Drew is making it easier and easier as a case to unanimously be “that guy” for this season because it seems like with each out he makes this spring, Refsnyder and Pirela add another hit to their March stats.

If Drew continues to play this way, hopefully the situation will take care of itself before Opening Day and I won’t have to worry once the games actually count. Girardi will likely recite his story about Raul Ibanez during 2012 spring training and how bad he was entering the season, trying to make believers out of Drew’s critics, as if what happened three years ago with a player offensively better than Drew has any relevance to Drew’s struggles.

On April 6, I will have no choice but to root for Drew and be a Drew fan. Once Opening Day comes, if Drew is going to be a Yankee then I will want him to do well to help the team win since that’s all the matters. But if Drew continues to struggle the way that Girardi says he isn’t here to do, he will eventually be released the way “that guy” each year has been before. If that happens, I hope the Yankees haven’t lost too many games before it does.