Tag: Alex Rodriguez (Page 12 of 13)

      Should Jeter defend A-Rod?

      February 3, 2009 /

      In the wake of Joe Torre’s new book set to hit the shelves on Tuesday, Wallace Matthews of Newsday writes that Derek Jeter should step up and publicly defend Alex Rodriguez as his teammate and captain.

      Alex Rodriguez & Derek JeterNo one, of course, tells Derek Jeter what to do, and I don’t presume to try. But it is my considered opinion that Jeter can hide for only so long behind his stock answer, “I haven’t read the book yet.”

      The book is out Tuesday. Time to start reading. And he doesn’t even have to read it to come out and say, simply: “Alex is my teammate. Alex is our guy. Everyone in this clubhouse stands behind him.”

      And that has to include the captain. Because that’s what captains do.

      And it’s the captain’s job to have his teammates’ backs, every one of them, even if it means taking a stand against a former manager and mentor. Torre isn’t a Yankee anymore, but Rodriguez is. The Yankees can win without Torre but not without A-Rod. For the good of his team, Captain Jeter had better choose which side of this argument he is on in a hurry.

      And there would be no better time for him to announce his position than today, when Torre comes to town to kick off a media blitz designed to sell whatever odd copies of the book haven’t already been pre-ordered.

      Today would be a fine day for Jeter to make himself available’ to the media, just to let everyone – and one guy in particular – know he’s got A-Rod’s back.

      I agree to a point. As a leader, Jeter should stand up and defend his teammates and back them whenever they’re publicly criticized like A-Rod was in Torre’s book. But nobody knows what has really gone on in the Yankees’ clubhouse over the years and therefore nobody has the right to tell Jeter whom he should and shouldn’t defend.

      Maybe A-Rod is the ultimate prick and he has already pissed Jeter off too many times to count. Maybe Jeter has already made an effort to back the guy and it’s come back to bit him in the ass. The point is, we don’t know what happens inside a clubhouse or what Jeter’s motivation is behind backing or not backing a teammate. And Jeter is a consummate pro so I wouldn’t question his motivates either way in a situation like this.

      MLB

      Vaccaro: Torre ruined his legacy

      January 26, 2009 /

      Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post writes that Joe Torre has ruined his legacy in the wake of his new book, which trashes Yankee management and takes shots his former players like Alex Rodriguez.

      Joe TorreThis book of yours, “The Yankee Years,” is that classy, Joe? Does it dignify what those 12 remarkable years were to baseball, to this city and, not incidentally, to your career? Was it necessary to air the fact that his teammates call Alex Rodriguez – an awfully easy target, by the way, Joe, and also a guy who won two MVPs while playing for you – “A-Fraud,” or to liken him to the crazed Jennifer Jason Leigh character in “Single White Female”?

      Seriously, Joe. Did you even see “Single White Female”?

      Why would you take shots at Brian Cashman? All he did during that lengthy post-2000 time, when you weren’t winning championships, was defend you exhaustively – to fans, to the press, to fellow Yankee executives, to various and sundry Steinbrenners, to your old front-office pal Randy Levine.

      You never much cared to admit this, Joe, but Cashman was your boss. He could have sold you out. He didn’t.

      Cashman deserved better, Joe. So did the Yankees. And, most important, so did you. You transformed yourself as a Yankee, earned yourself a certain Hall of Fame plaque.

      There were lots of people who thought you were exiled wrongly in 2007, who winced when you hinted at a possible grudge with the Yankees, who figured, no, Joe is bigger than that. Joe is better than that.

      Were we really that wrong, Joe? Really?

      If you wanted to hurt the Yankees, Joe, understand this: Yesterday at Legends Field in Tampa, workers were manicuring the field, watering the lawn, getting ready for another spring training once the Super Bowl leaves town.

      At the minor-league complex just down Dale Mabry Boulevard, kids were working out. Jorge Posada was said to have taken some swings. Derek Jeter will be here this week.

      The Yankees have moved on, Joe. Isn’t it time you did, too?

      I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – this doesn’t seem like Joe’s style.

      I haven’t read the book, but already this doesn’t seem like a classy way to go about things. No matter how wronged Torre believes he was by the Yankees, you always take the high road. Most people in New York were going to remember Joe as the World Series-winning manager in pinstripes – and they still might. But this book definitely casts a shadow over Torre’s great career. Instead of remembering how great of a manager he was in the Bronx, people are going to point to when he called Alex Rodriguez, “A-Fraud” in his book. Is that how Joe wanted to be remembered?

      MLB

      Joe Torre blasts A-Rod and Yankee management in new book

      January 26, 2009 /

      Dodgers’ skipper Joe Torre decided to write a book. And then ripped his former employer and at least one former player in said book.

      Joe TorreIn an explosive new book called “The Yankee Years,” Torre gets most personal in his attacks against Alex Rodriguez, who he says was called “A-Fraud” by his teammates after he developed a “Single White Female”-like obsession with team captain Derek Jeter and asked for a personal clubhouse assistant to run errands for him.

      Torre, who left the Yankees and became manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2007 season, says Cashman never told the brass that the manager wanted a two-year deal and instead remained silent during Torre’s tense final sitdown with the bosses.

      The 477-page tell-all, which The Post purchased from a city bookstore last week, is written by co-author Tom Verducci, a longtime Sports Illustrated reporter.

      Torre recounts his 12-year career in New York through interviews. It is being published by Doubleday.
      Torre spent years trying to bring out a winning performance from A-Rod, the highest-paid player in baseball, which from all reported accounts included a lot of hand-holding and battling the insecurities and demons Rodriguez struggles with.

      And while the Bombers would win four world championships under Torre’s watch by 2000, there were years of tension over management’s choice of players and the growing silence between him and Yankee brass.

      Torre’s exit in the fall of 2007 came after a 20-minute meeting over his contract with Steinbrenner and other Yankee officials at the team’s Tampa, Fla., office.

      At the time, the skipper was coming off a tough and highly scrutinized season. He was seeking a two-year contract with the possibility of a buyout.

      Boy, how bad did the Yankee front office brass piss Torre off if he was compelled enough to write a 477-page tell-all? Joe doesn’t seem to be the type that would air secrets about his former club publicly, but this is a man that believes he wasn’t treated right in the end and obviously this is his retaliation.

      And once again A-Rod gets blasted, although this has to be the worst. Having your former manager call out your love affair with Derek Jeter? Ouch.

      MLB

      Hot Stove League: Manny to Yankees?

      December 20, 2008 /

      Since the Yankees signed CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett last week, things have been pretty quiet in the Hot Stove League of Major League Baseball. The economy, despite what Scott Boras might tell you, is definitely a huge factor as Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, and to a lesser extent, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn remain team-less. But since rumors continue to circulate, you know that phone calls are being made, albeit a bit less with Christmas approaching.

      The latest rumor has the Yanks talking to Ramirez and sticking him in front of A-Rod in what would be a pretty ridiculous lineup for a few years. You have to wonder how deep the Steinbrenners’ pockets really are, but let’s face it…doing that would make New York AL East favorites even if the Red Sox land Teixeira (which is either becoming doubtful or Theo Epstein is playing the media) and the Rays field basically the same team that went to the World Series in 2007. And it would piss off Sox fans to no end, giving them more reason to despise Manny Being Manny.

      And Cubs’ GM Jim Hendry has reported that the Jake Peavy trade may be re-visited. He didn’t want to part with as much salary as San Diego wanted him to, and he didn’t want to include Mark DeRosa in the deal, but apparently Hendry is still very interested in pursuing the powerful right-hander.

      Oh, and Rafael Furcal shunned his former team, the Braves, for his more current former team, the Dodgers, this past week. If you are yawning, I don’t blame you. And if you’re a bitter Braves fan, I don’t blame you either.

      So what will happen between now and January 1? I don’t think much. And if you are a marginal free agent (see list above), the unemployment line beckons a bit louder. And that can’t be good for anyone, especially those pesky player agents.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, MLB, Rumors & Gossip

      Top 10 MLB Free Agent Signings

      December 18, 2008 /

      On Tuesday, RealClearSports.com tackled the top 10 worst MLB free agent signings of all-time.

      On Thursday they pay tribute to the best:

      1. Barry Bonds – Signed by San Francisco in 1992, six years, $43 million.
      A six-time all-star, five gold gloves, one MVP award; his numbers were not as gaudy as they would be in the six years that followed, but he still lived up to the contract, and then some. And never, ever caused off-the-field concerns or troubles.

      2. Greg Maddux – Signed by Atlanta in 1992, five years, $28 million.
      It seemed almost unfair when the Braves, who already had Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Steve Avery, added Cy Young winner Maddux to the rotation. In the five years of his contract, he won three more Cy Youngs in the first three years, two of them unanimous; he was first or second in the league in ERA all five years; and posted an 89-33 record for the perpetual division champs.

      3. Manny Ramirez (Boston, Dec. 2000, eight years, $160 million) and Alex Rodriguez (Texas, Jan. 2001, ten years, $252 million).
      Both contracts were gargantuan, for amounts of money that seemed obscene at the time – and still do. Yet both, under the representation of Scott Boras, opted out of the last few years of the deals, expecting to make even more. The two were nearly traded for each other in 2003 before the Players Association rejected an agreement with Boston that would have reduced A-Rod’s compensation by $4 million per year. Both players are sure Hall of Famers, two of the greatest right-handed hitters who ever lived.

      A-Rod’s opt-out brought him more years and more money; Manny does not yet know how it will work and where he’ll end up “being Manny.” Would A-Rod trade his three MVPs for just one of Manny’s two World Series titles — or even a single World Series at-bat? We’d like to think so, but honestly, we don’t know.

      It’s kind of interesting to think that Bonds was very close to becoming an Atlanta Brave in 1992. I don’t think there has ever been a free agent signing in baseball that made a bigger impact than when Bonds went to San Fran. Makes you wonder if things would have been different in Atlanta and if he would have stayed in a city/state dominated by college football and NASCAR for as long as he wound up staying in Frisco.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

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