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Tag: Nick Swisher

Podcasts • Yankees

Aug 20, 2015

Podcast: Bald Vinny

The face of the Bleacher Creatures joined me to talk about the emergence of Luis Severino and Greg Bird, how Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan are still on the team and the Creatures’ relationship with Nick Swisher.

Twins at Yankees

The Yankees took care of business over the weekend in Toronto and returned to the Bronx with a chance to get fat against some weak competition on a 10-game homestand. After sweeping the Twins with three come-from-behind wins, the Yankees are taking care of business once again.

Bald Vinny of the Right Field Bleacher Creatures and Bald Vinny’s House of Tees joined me to talk about the good and bad against the Blue Jays, the emergence of Luis Severino and Greg Bird, how and why Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan are still on the team, the Bleacher Creatures’ relationship status with Nick Swisher and celebrating Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte at the Stadium.

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Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Aug 11, 2015

Indians Fans Found Out the Real Nick Swisher

After being swept and scoring one run in three games, the Yankees find themselves desperately needing to get back on track in Cleveland before heading to Toronto.

The weekend series against the Blue Jays couldn’t have gone worse for the Yankees. After being swept and scoring one run in three games, the Yankees find themselves desperately needing to get back on track in Cleveland before heading to Toronto for another three-game series against their newest rival.

With the Yankees and Indians meeting for the first time this season, Matt Lyons of Let’s Go Tribe joined me to talk about Nick Swisher playing himself off the Indians, the late rise of Corey Kluber and the perception of Terry Francona in Cleveland.

Keefe: After thankfully watching Nick Swisher leave New York following the 2012 season, I couldn’t believe a team was willing to give him a four-year, $56 million deal, but the Indians were that team. But now Swisher is gone and he’s no longer an Indian, as the Braves were stupid enough to trade for him. Even though the Indians have to pay $10 million to cover a portion of Swisher and Michael Bourn’s salary, I think you should be happy to no longer have Swisher on your team.

Swisher finished his time in Cleveland as a .228/.311/.377 hitter and only played one full season (145 games in 2013). I’m sorry your Indians lost the 2013 wild-card game to the Rays, but I happily watched him go for 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in that game to continue his career postseason failures.

Now that Swisher is gone and will play out the final one-plus years of his contract with the Braves, how will you remember his time in Cleveland?

Lyons: It’s difficult for me to hate or blame Swisher personally. He did not ask to be over 30 and have crippling knee injuries. I was not thrilled with the big contract to begin with, but that is more on the Indians front office than Swisher accepting money that was offered to him. On the field he was a total disappointment, no doubt, but it was genuinely refreshing to have a big name free agent come over to Cleveland and be so excited about the city and the team. Even with his lack of production, he still did a lot of good off the field in terms of exciting the fan base. Granted, this is all easier to say now that he’s gone and no longer dragging down the payroll.

However, I will say that the whole “bro” thing got old real fast. At least he toned it down when his production dipped.

Keefe: For the last couple of years, it seems like a lot of preseason predictions favored the Indians to get over the hump and be in position to win the AL Central. After missing out on the second wild card by three games last year, the Indians are in last place in the Central and are 7 1/2 games back for the second wild card.

When you look at the 2015 Indians, while the offense hasn’t been anything special, the entire pitching staff has serious strikeout number and you would think a team with so much power pitching would be in a much better spot than they are in at 51-59.
What has gone wrong for the 2015 Indians?

Lyons: It’s all Sports Illustrated’s fault for picking the Tribe and jinxing it!

No, I think offensively it all comes down to lack of hitting with runners in scoring position and a bunch of players just slumping at the same time. The Tribe as a team has consistently been at the bottom of the league when it comes to hitting with RISP despite being great at nearly everything else. You always expect a player or two to underperform, but almost everyone in the lineup not named Jason Kipnis was bad to start the season.

Pitching wise, don’t forget that this staff struggled early. The fifth spot was a rotating door between Bruce Chen, Shaun Marcum and others, which was a guaranteed loss every week. For a while, it felt like one of the starters, bullpen or offense would blow the game every night. Nothing clicked at the same time.

Injection of young players like Giovanny Urshela and Francisco Lindor have helped the offense a bit and been a tremendous boon for the defense. Although it’s arguably too little too late at this point.

Keefe: Corey Kluber won the Cy Young last season after leading the league in wins (18) and FIP (2.35). This season, Kluber has had similar numbers aside from ERA, which is over a run higher (2.44 to 3.46) and leads the league in innings pitched, but also leads the league in losses with 12.

What changed for Kluber from 2012 to 2013 and from 2013 to 2014 that made him the pitcher he is today, as sort of late bloomer the way Cliff Lee was for the Indians? Do you believe in him as a true ace the way Indians fans believed in Lee or CC Sabathia?

Lyons: Developing a cutter/sinker, for sure. Prior to 2012, Kluber was a typical fastball/slider/changeup guy, but he developed his cutter in the minor leagues, which he now leans on in the majors. Movement in general on his fastballs can be devastating, but when that sinker is working, he is unhittable.

The losses and his ERA are not an indicator of much for him. He consistently has some of the lowest run support in the league, and before Urshela and Lindor were called up, he (and the rest of the staff) was at the mercy of a terrible left side of the infield. I still wake up in panicked cold sweats thinking about this team’s defense in April/May.

He is an ace, absolutely, and not many Indians fans are going to dispute that. It’s no fault of Kluber’s but he hasn’t played on many big playoff run teams so he hasn’t a chance to produce a lot of heroic performances that help the Tribe in the end and grab a lot of national attention. Because of that, I don’t think he’s as well regarded as Lee or CC quite yet.

Even in the 2013 run, the story on the staff was Ubaldo Jiminez, not Kluber. I still see team’s fans asking who this 2014 Cy Young winner is when the Indians go up against them, so I can’t wait until he gets that chance to get more attention.

Keefe: Terry Francona is now in his third season with the Indians after taking the year off in 2012 following the end of his tenure in Boston. Looking back, Red Sox fans aren’t happy with the decision to get rid of Francona after the Bobby Valentine disaster and now second last-place finish in three years under John Farrell.

Francona has led the Indians to a 228-206 (.525) and the calm demeanor he brought to Boston has carried over to Cleveland. Even though his time with the Indian hasn’t translated into consecutive postseason appearances or a championship like it did with the Red Sox, he seems to have the Indians on the right track for the future.
Are you a Francona fan and has his stock remained as high as it was two years ago

Lyons: I’m a mixed bag on Francona. I love some things he does, like bullpen management and the team’s general attitude, but his small ball mentality can make the team unwatchable. It’s just frustrating how often the team bunts. His lineup configurations can be bizarre at times, but I never get too hard on a manager for lineups.

At least from my own observations, I’ve never seen too much “Fire Francona” chatter when the team stumbles, which is interesting. The manager is usually the first piece thrown under the bus, but I get the idea a lot of the Indians fan base believes in him.

Keefe: After reaching the playoffs in 2013 for the first time since 2007 and then coming within three games of going back to the playoffs last year, what were your expectations heading into this season?

Now that we’re in August and things aren’t looking so good for the Indians’ postseason chances, what do you want to see down the stretch and what will your expectations be for 2016?

Lyons: Can I lie and say I saw this collapse coming? No? OK … well I was fully on the hype train coming into 2015. This pitching staff looked nasty from the start, and I thought for sure the lineup would be something special. Surely Jason Kipnis would bounce back after his poor 2014 season (which he did), surely Yan Gomes would keep better (nope), surely Carlos Santana would keep being Carlos Santana (nope), surely Jose Ramirez would keep being a solid defensive shortstop (nope), surely Lonnie Chisenhall would take the next big step (nope). Just a whole bunch of things we all thought would happen did not pan out this year.

As for the rest of the year, I just want to watch young players. It’s already happening with Lindor, Urshela and outfielders Jerry Sands, Tyler Holt and maybe even Tyler Naquin down the line. Watching Lonnie Chisenhall play effectively in right field since being called back up from Triple-A has also been a treat, and I want to keep an eye on how that develops.

2015 has been such a weird year of no one playing like they are “supposed to” and that it makes it hard to predict for 2016. Will any of these players bounce back, or is this what they are? Unless it involves trading one of the big four starting pitchers, I don’t see the front office making any big deals so this is more or less the team we have for 2016. I would be equally surprised to see them go all the way, as I would be to see them as a basement dweller. It’ll be exciting either way.

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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.

Mark TeixeiraEveryone 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:

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

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!

Nick Johnson

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

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!

Nick Swisher

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!

Jonathan Albaladejo

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!

mitre

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!
Travis HafnerWant 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!Kelly Johnson

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!A.J. BurnettI’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 DrewStephen 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!Lyle Overbay

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!

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Blogs • Yankees

Aug 14, 2014

The Joe Girardi Show: Season 5, Episode 4

David Roberston went unused once again as Joe Girardi called upon Shawn Kelley to hand the Yankees’ their fourth straight loss in the middle of a playoff race.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Derek Jeter

Each off day for the Yankees feels like an eternity, but after the rain created an off day on Tuesday, I thought it would work in the team’s favor after a two-run lead became a blowout loss. Here we are again with another off day for the Yankees and the lingering feeling from Wednesday night isn’t going away and I’m not sure it’s going to.

Last Friday, I said:

I haven’t been this excited about the Yankees since the moment right before Nick Swisher misplayed a ball that became a Delmon Young doubled, which led to Derek Jeter breaking his ankle on the next play, just five pitches later.

As of now, I haven’t been this down on the Yankees since, well, what I said next last Friday:

But Swisher misplayed that ball, Jeter broke his ankle, I nearly broke down in tears in Section 230 at the Stadium and aimlessly wandered home.

After winning three of four against the Tigers, and playing well enough to have swept the series if Joe Girardi only knew Matt Daley wasn’t going to be a good idea, and then beating up on the Indians last Friday night, in my delusional Yankees mind, I thought that I prematurely wrote the column “Sign Me Up for the Second Wild Card” and thought they could make a real run at the Orioles and their then-five-game lead. But here I am, six days after beating the Indians and the Yankees haven’t won a game since. Back-to-back losses to the Indians at home followed by back-to-back blown-lead losses to the Orioles on the road and the Yankees have played themselves out of contention for the division and each night their chances at winning the second wild card fade a little more.

So yes, the last time I felt this bad about the Yankees was when Jeter got carried off the field and now the realization that Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS might have been the last time Jeter ever plays in the postseason and that the last Sunday in September in Boston might be the last time he ever plays baseball is a real possibility. The only way that Game 162 isn’t Jeter’s last game if the Yankees win at least 25 of their remaining 43 games, and even then that might not be enough.

On Wednesday night, Hal Steinbrenner tried to be his dad by saying his team “has to step it up and they know it,” in what was the emptiest of all empty gestures since everyone will be back and paid next season and everyone will keep their job even if the Yankees miss out on the postseason for the second consecutive year in a world where 33 percent of the league gets into the postseason. While Hal was busy meeting about who the next commissioner of baseball should be (and it should be anyone other than Tom Werner), his team was busy giving away another game to the first-place Orioles thanks to some more questionable decision making from Joe Girardi.

So once again, it was necessary to fill in for Michael Kay on my version of The Joe Girardi Show.

Why the sudden urgency to use Dellin Betances?
Someone must have told Girardi that last night was Game 119 of the season and there are now only 43 games left because I can’t think of another reason to explain his sudden urgency. The urgency that I have begged for and waited for all season came in the sixth inning when Girardi turned to Dellin Betances to get nine outs, something that he hasn’t done as a reliever and something that I’m happy he asked him to do. But why all of a sudden, Joe? Where was this urgency when you didn’t care about giving away games or playing with the mindset of losing battles to win the war even if you might not end up winning the war anyway? I’m ecstatic to know that you know not only what “urgency” means, but that you are now also aware of the date and how many games remain on the schedule.

Betances got the first seven of nine outs before giving up a solo home run to Jonathan Schoop. Schoop is hitting .217/.255/.349 with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs this season in 97 games. But against the Yankees, Schoop is hitting .379/.400/.862 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in just 29 at-bats. So of course the newest Yankee killer, and Orioles’ No. 8 hitter, was the one who blew Betances’ impressive outing to that point with a game-tying home run.

Maybe Girardi didn’t expect Betances to get all nine outs, but I have a hard time believing that he was going to ask Betances to get eight outs and then with Betances cruising with two outs and no one on in the eighth, that he would then call on David Robertson. So if Betances retires Schoop, he faces Nick Hundley. But Betances gives up the home run and Joe Girardi calls on Shawn Kelley to get the final two outs of the eighth inning instead of Robertson. So it’s Kelley in a now tied game, a game the Yankees had to win to have any hope of fighting for the division and to keep them from losing further ground in the second wild-card race.

Why did Shawn Kelley relieve Dellin Betances?
Before Joe Girardi calls on Shawn Kelley to relieve Dellin Betances, here is what we know about the situation: Shawn Kelley isn’t good at pitching. And really that’s all you need to know about the reliever you’re bringing in instead of the best reliever in your bullpen.

Kelley got Hundley to ground out before giving up a single to Markakis and walking Chris Davis. (Now would be a good time to bring in your best reliever, right? Wrong.) First-pitch slider to Adam Jones … ballgame over.

Kelley followed his horrendous outing by talking to the media and saying, “I think we’re looking more at the second wild-card spot. That’s a little bit better number, it’s a little more achievable at this point.”

There’s nothing quite like single-handedly destroying a game and then saying that the team is no longer playing for the division after losing to the team in the division you’re trying to catch because of your own performance.

Is David Robertson ever going to pitch again?
Today is Aug. 14. David Robertson last threw a pitch on Aug. 7 against the Tigers. He has pitched in four games in August and has thrown 57 pitches in 14 days, or 4.07 pitches per day for August. The Yankees have pitched 109 innings in August and Robertson has pitched four of those, or 3.7 percent of the Yankees’ pitched innings. Adam Warren, Chase Whitley, Shawn Kelley, David Huff and Esmil Rogers have all thrown as many or more innings than Robertson in August. But why would you want to use your best reliever more than once a week while fighting for your playoff life?

I guess Joe Girardi’s plan is to save Robertson’s arm for 2015 when he could be on a different team since he is a free agent at the end of the year, the way he saved Mariano Rivera’s arm so he could play catch with his kids for the rest of his life, or the way he is saving Derek Jeter, so he has enough energy to play on the beach and make love to Hannah Davis for the rest of his life. So while Shawn Kelley was busy destroying the Yankees’ chances at splitting two games in Baltimore, David Robertson was sitting in the bullpen, unused for the fifth game in a row.

This shouldn’t really be a surprise though when you look at the history of Girardi and the rest he has given Robertson. In 2011, David Robertson pitched 13 1/3 innings in September, appearing in only 13 of the Yankees’ 28 games. He threw 11 pitches in Game 161 on Sept. 27 to get some work and also be completely rested for the playoffs. But once the playoffs started, he continued to go unused, pitching just two innings in the five-game series loss to the Tigers. His first appearance in the series didn’t come until Game 3 on Oct. 3 (so he had five full days off). But guess who pitched in Games 1 and 2? Luis Ayala! And even Cory Wade got to pitch in Game 2 before Robertson. So Joe Girardi used Luis Ayala and Cory Wade before his rested, dominant, All-Star setup man in the playoffs. Why? Because playoff innings don’t matter the same way games in August apparently don’t matter. And with this bullpen management, games in September won’t matter either.

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Blogs • MLB

Jul 14, 2014

The 2014 All-Animosity Team

With Major League Baseball ready for the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, It’s time to announce the 2014 All-Animosity Team.

John Lackey

The Midsummer Classic is this week and that means it’s time for the four longest days of summer: the four days without baseball. I mean real baseball and not the Home Run Derby or the All-Star Game because without real baseball to watch and talk about, the baseball world becomes talking heads spending Monday and Tuesday debating who should and who shouldn’t have made the All-Star Team and how the All-Star Game can be fixed. And then those same talking heads will spend Wednesday and Thursday spewing meaningless “second-half” predictions and giving us their “midseason” awards for Cy Young and MVP.

Instead of complaining about the Home Run Derby format or Chris Berman’s broadcasting techniques and instead of debating if the Home Run Derby messes up a hitter’s swing or if the All-Star Game should determine home-field advantage, I thought now would be the best time to announce the one midsummer roster that matters: the 2014 All-Animosity Team.

It’s the Fifth Annual All-Animosity Team and once again the team consists of one player at each position, along with a starting pitcher, a closer and a manager from around the league. The standards to be considered for the team are simple and only one of the following three requirements needs to be met.

1. The person is a Yankee killer.

2. The person plays for the Red Sox.

3. I don’t like the person. (When I say, “I don’t like the person” or if I say, “I hate someone” I mean I don’t like the person who wears a uniform and plays or manages for a Major League Baseball team and not the actual person away from the game. I’m sure some of the people on this list are nice people. I’m glad we got that out of the way since I can already see Player X’s fan base in an uproar about me hating someone who does so much for the community.)

So, here is the 2014 All-Animosity Team with the winners from the previous years also listed.

C – Mike Napoli
(2013 – Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 2012 – Matt Wieters, 2011 – Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 2010 – Jason Varitek)

Jason Varitek hasn’t played baseball in four years, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is in Miami and Matt Wieters had Tommy John surgery. Usually if I’m having trouble, I can always turn to the Red Sox, but A.J. Pierzynski just got cut and David Ross isn’t worth giving the time of the day to. With a limited number of unlikeable catchers, it was hard for me to not break my own rule of not putting any Yankees on the team and put Brian McCann in this spot. So while Napoli has never caught in any of the 214  games he has played for the Red Sox and hasn’t been a catcher since 2012, I’m penciling him in here.

Even with David Ortiz saving the Red Sox’ season against the Tigers in the ALCS and then hitting .688 in the World Series, Napoli was the face of the 2013 Red Sox. With his Duck Dynasty beard, he became the face of a team built on the notion of “We can win a championship if every single thing goes our way” and every single thing did go their way for the whole season as they got bounce-back seasons from their entire roster and overachieving seasons from several players who had become perennial underachievers.

After agreeing to a three-year, $39 million deal and then having that deal voided because of a failed physical, Napoli was almost not even part of the 2013 Red Sox. He signed a one-year, $5 million contract with $8 million of incentives and then went on to hit .259/.360/.482 with 23 home runs and 92 RBIs, which isn’t very impressive, but what is are his 2013 numbers against the Yankees: .375/.453/.804 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs. This year, Napoli has cooled off a little against the Yankees (.306/.405/.667), but he still has three home runs against them and one game-changing home run against them when he got a two-strike fastball from Masahiro Tanaka in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium a few weeks back before calling Tanaka “an idiot.”

1B – Chris Davis
(2013 – Chris Davis, 2012 – Adrian Gonzalez, 2011 – Adrian Gonzalez, 2010 – Kevin Youkilis)

I wasn’t going to put Chris Davis here with a .199 average at the break, but after his two-run home run against the Yankees in the bottom of the fourth inning on Sunday Night Baseball gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead in an eventual 3-1, rain-shortened win, I had to. Eff you, Chris Davis. And eff you, rain-shortened losses in a huge division game that is the difference between being three games back or five.

2B – Dustin Pedroia
(2013 – Dustin Pedroia, 2012 – Dustin Pedroia, 2011 – Dustin Pedroia, 2010 – Dustin Pedroia)

For as long as I have an All-Animosity Team and for as long as Dustin Pedroia is the second baseman of the Red Sox, he will be in this spot. So as I have done the last few years, I will just put down what I have about Pedroia.

Pedroia is like Tom Brady for me. He has that winning instinct that you just don’t see all the time these days, he plays hard and he’s the type of guy you want on your team. But if I didn’t put him here again it would just be weird.

3B – David Wright
(2013 – David Wright, 2012 – Robert Andino, 2011 – Kevin Youkilis, 2010 – Chone Figgins)

David Wright is the face of the Mets. And for that alone, he gets this spot.

SS – Jose Reyes
(2013 – Jose Reyes, 2012 – Jose Reyes, 2011 – Jose Reyes, 2010 – Jose Reyes)

Sometimes I miss the days of the Jose Reyes being the Mets shortstop when Mets fans would try to engage me in fights about Reyes being better than Derek Jeter. And sometimes I miss the days when Mets fans would call WFAN and talk about how Reyes is “the most exciting player in baseball” as if there were any true way to measure a statement like that. But I always miss the days when Mets fans would call and say the team has to re-sign Reyes before he hit free agency after the 2011 season. Since Reyes left the Mets for free agency and signed a six-year, $106 million deal with the Marlins (and was then traded to the Blue Jays), he has played in 332 of a possible 420 games and has become a shell of his former self offensively, even playing for an offensive power like the Blue Jays.

I can only dream about the state the Mets would be in right now if they had Reyes playing shortstop a $16 million per year for an under-.500 team trying to rebuild and can only imagine the types of calls that would be flooding the sports radio phone lines with the trade deadline looming and Mets fans waiting on hold for hours to share their fantasy trades for Reyes. I miss the days of the Jeter-Reyes debates, even if they were one-sided and ended the same way as all the Jeter-Nomar debates, and I miss Reyes being a Met and giving that fan base years of false hope.

LF – Wil Myers
(2013 – Carl Crawford, 2012 – Delmon Young, 2011 – Manny Ramirez, 2010 – Manny Ramirez)

Here is what Wil Myers has done this season: .227/.313/.354 with five home runs and 25 RBIs.

Here is what Wil Myers has done against the Yankees this season: .375/.429/.813 with four home runs and 14 RBIs.

That means 12 of Myers’ 45 hits (27 percent), four of his five home runs (80 percent) and 14 of his 25 RBIs (56 percent) have come against the Yankees. Excuse me while I throw up.

I watched Myers round the bases on his inside-the-park home run from Section 203 at the Stadium on May 4 and watched him encourage all of 203 to continue to taunt him as he continued to beat the Yankees. Unfortunately, he is 23 years and will likely taunt me for years to come.

CF – Adam Jones
(2013 – Ben Zobrist, 2012 – Josh Hamilton, 2011 – B.J. Upton, 2010 – Vernon Wells)

I was shocked to realize Jones hadn’t been been part of the All-Animosity Team before, given his knack for killing the Yankees offensively and defensively. This year Jones is hitting .324/.359/.514 with two home runs against the Yankees and it’s usually Jones in the middle of any Orioles rally against the Yankees or the one killing a rally with a Web Gem. I miss the days of a young Adam Jones, who hadn’t realized his power yet and could easily be struck out in a big spot.

RF – Nick Swisher
(2013 – Nick Swisher, 2012 – Jose Bautista, 2011 – Magglio Ordonez, 2010 – Magglio Ordonez)

Before the Yankees started a four-game series in Cleveland last week, Nick Swisher was hitting .197/.287/.317 with five home runs and 39 RBIs in what was becoming a disastrous season for the Indians’ highest-paid player making $15 million this season. Swisher’s struggles this season brought a smile to my face the same way I was smiling when he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the one-game playoff last season.

But during the four-game series against the Yankees, Swisher went 5-for-18 with two home runs and five RBIs, including the two-strike home run against Tanaka in his last start before he hit the disabled list. And since the start of the Yankees series, Swisher is 9-for-10 with three home runs and seven RBIs. There’s nothing quite like the Yankees letting a sub-.200 hitter in July get hot and start to turn his season around againts them, especially when it’s the hated Nick Swisher. OK, maybe “hated” is the wrong word to use when talking about Swisher since he is extra sensitive.

SP – John Lackey
(2013 – Josh Beckett, 2012 – Josh Beckett, 2011 – Josh Beckett, 2010 – Josh Beckett)

I never thought any pitcher other than Josh Beckett would earn this spot, but Lackey had been knocking on the door for a few years and finally busted it open this season.

Let’s put aside his personal life issues and even his double-fisting beers in the clubhouse and even his belittling of the media, who do sometimes need to be belittled, and let’s talk about Lackey’s contract status.

Lackey signed a five-year, $82.5 million deal with the Red Sox from 2010-2014 with a club option for 2015 at the league minimum is Lackey misses significant time with surgery between 2010-2014 for a pre-exisitng elbow injury. Lackey did miss time because of surgery and missed the entire 2012 season and is now saying he will never pitch for the league minimum ($500,000) and will retire before doing so.

John Lackey is pure scum on top of scum and I’m not sure how he has a single fan. He signed a five-year, $82.5 million A.J. Burnett deal before 2010 and in the first two years he went 26-23 with a 5.26 ERA. Then he missed the entire 2012 season. Last year he went 10-13 with a 3.52 ERA on a division-winning and World Series-winning team. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he is upset that he would only make $500,000 next year, but it’s a little ironic that he didn’t think he should only be making $500,000 when he had a 1.619 WHIP in 2011 or when he threw zero pitches in 2012. Poor John Lackey.

CL – Fernando Rodney
(2013 – Fernando Rodney, 2012 – Jose Valverde, 2011 – Jonathan Papelbon, 2010 – Jonathan Papelbon)

It was actually hard to fill the closer role this season, but watching Rodney celebrate saves over the years and then turn in an ugly line (1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP) in two appearances against the Red Sox in the ALDS en route to their third championship in 10 years was enough to put him back on the team.

Manager – Mike Scioscia
(2013 – Mike Scioscia, 2012 – Bobby Valentine, 2011 – Mike Scioscia, 2010 – Joe Maddon)

I really wanted to put Mike Matheny here for his managerial decisions in the World Series, especially his decision to bring in Seth Maness and his awesome pitch-to-contact stuff to face Jonny Gomes in Game 4. Thanks, Mike! But I don’t care enough about Matheny or the Cardinals for this spot considering how many choices there are from the American League.

This spot has gone to Joe Maddon and Mike Scioscia and the legendary Bobby Valentine (whose Stamford, Conn. restaurant I ate at on Saturday and it was actually good) in the past and once again it goes to Scioscia, whose Angels are finally playing up to their payroll for the first time since 2009. And because the Angels are looking like a lock for either the West or the first wild card, that means we are going to have to hear about how great of a job Scioscia did in 2014 despite having Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols in his lineup. Don’t forget, no team goes first to third and plays fundamentally-sound baseball better than Mike Scioscia’s team!

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