Derek Jeter is arguably one of the seven greatest Yankees to ever put on the uniform. His name is included with luminaries such as Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra and Mantle. If you turn on sports talk radio these days, you'd think his name belonged with guys like Espinoza, Tolleson, Pasqua and Maas. Yankee fans, those who have only known the team as a perennial World Series contender, are a spoiled bunch; no doubt, these are the same people who booed Mariano Rivera at Yankee Stadium last year. Booed. The greatest ...
...A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... In case you haven't noticed today May 4th is Star Wars day. All over social media outlets and over the internet people have been greeting each other with "May the 4th be with you"/So in honor of such an awesome day I thought I'd do a little comparison between the beloved saga and sports.So sit back and enjoy.Begin Slideshow
This is Jorge Posada’s last year in a Yankee uniform as a player—there's no doubt of that.Someday he might make a nice coach, tutoring young catchers and using his stubborn fiery personality to put rookies through their paces.But as an everyday starter, he’s done. Here in the beginning of May, Posada is batting .150. He has a minuscule .244 OBP and a 74 OPS+. And despite words from Girardi to the contrary, Posada is not looking better at the plate. Yes, he did hit two meatballs from Justin Verlander, ...
Entering the 2011 season, the New York Yankees presented a top-notch bullpen expected to possess dominance, consistency and strength against their opponents.With the greatest closer in baseball, Mariano Rivera and former closer Rafael Soriano acting as a setup man, who would think anything less from this forceful bullpen, right? With misfortunes such as Phil Hughes’s dead arm and Pedro Feliciano’s capsule tear in his left shoulder, which may possibly put an end to the reliever’s season, the Yankees are unfortunately dealing with another pitching problem: Soriano’s tendency to allow runs and ...
This was the month my all-time favorite slugger found his groove; by the end of May he had 12 home runs and was on his way to a new record.That was 50 years ago. His name was Roger Maris, and I’m pissed off that the press box hacks who vote on the Hall of Fame have never handed him the golden ticket in. Last week, Bob Costas, as close as baseball has to a moral authority (You thought Bud Selig? Brian Wilson?), said that he would vote for Barry Bonds ...
A colleague of mine, Matt Strobl, recently asked me the following questions when we were having a discussion about Derek Jeter in response to my latest article about the Yankees. He asked three questions, "What happens if he doesn't start hitting, and it goes into next year—at what point does he become a liability even though he's Derek Jeter, Yankee Captain, and with his big contract, would they force him into retirement?"Those are three very interesting questions, and as a Yankees fan, have me very concerned. After all, sports in general ...
It is May and the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. The Yankees beat Detroit last night and now have a 17-9 record. They are on pace to win 106 games. New York sits in first place in the AL East by three full games over Tampa Bay. So New York Yankee fans have to be happy, right? Absolutely, Yankee fans have to be out of their minds right now. They have to be ecstatic. But right now, the Yankees should do two things: Guard ...
Going into the month of May, the Yankees are in first place of the American League East division and are surprising a lot of people with their strong start.Mostly because many felt the Boston Red Sox were destined to be the team to run away with the division and right now, they are tied for last place in the division.While a lot of Yankee players came out of the gate with a solid month, one particular Yankee had a month he wished he could forget.Brett Gardner at one point during ...
No one deserves the benefit of the doubt more than Derek Jeter, but one could argue that he happens to be on the list of the worst shortstops in baseball. Jeter's April not only reaffirms Brian Cashman's stance on the shortstop in the offseason, but also demonstrates that Cashman should have been tough in negotiations. Jeter's slash line of .250/.313/.270 does not suggest that he should be regarded as the worst offensive shortstop in baseball. However, his batted ball rates show a player who is in rapid decline.He leads all of baseball ...
Derek Jeter stinks offensively this year, plain and simple. His two best hits have been doubles, but they were ground ball doubles. Brett Gardner has more home runs than Jeter and Nick Swisher combined, but his OBP is .325 and he's only stolen at a 50 percent success rate in 2011 (4-for-8). Phil Hughes has zero velocity and it's nothing physical based on recent tests. Rafael Soriano has an ERA over 6.50 and a WHIP over 1.70. These facts have New York Yankees fans up in arms yelling for the ...