Here’s JohnNY

I really don’t want to hear any more about this whole situation until the season starts, and many bloggers have written about this already, but I am obligated to share my thoughts.  The Damon ordeal has been a very strange one.  I’ve never had such a feeling of ambiguity (before and directly after the deal) with regards to a player who plays such a significant role on one of my favorite teams.  Prior to Johnny’s signing with the Yankees, I was unsure about what I wanted the Sox to do.  Of course I would have loved to have him back on the team, but with the apparent youth movement the Sox are making (prospects from within the system are beginning to play a role, such as Papelbon, Pedroia, Lester, Hansen, DelCarmen, as well as the acquisitions of Beckett, Marte, and Van Buren) I didn’t want them to sign him to a deal that would handcuff the organization and prevent other potential moves that could improve the team (now and in the future).  However, with the rumors increasing about the Sox trying to go after Coco Crisp, Jeremy Reed, and other CF candidates, I had a feeling JD wouldn’t be back. 

So then, in an event than seemed almost inevitable as the days went by, Johnny drank some of Scott Boras’ world famous Traitor-ade and signed with the Yankees.  My first reaction to hearing the news was one of ambivalence, mainly because I had convinced myself the Sox would be OK with one of the other CF candidates, but once I heard Johnny’s comments from approximately 10 minutes after he was an official Yankee, that feeling changed.  The man who said in May of ‘05, “There’s no way I can go play for the Yankees.”, was now saying things like, “I'm part of the Yankees and that great lineup. We're going to be a tough team to beat.”; and "Our policy with the Yankees is to go out there and win and we're going to try and bring another championship to them."  Hearing Johnny Damon say things like that when he’d been a part of that team for such a short amount of time made me feel sick. 

I appreciate JD and all of the things he did for the Sox (including the most obvious thing), but after this, I don’t think I will ever like or respect him again.  Of course he could play the “The Red Sox didn’t really want me back.” card, but he knows that is not the case.  The Sox a plan to not overpay JD, so they made him an offer that they thought was fair enough, and left it on the table.  When a person is making upwards of 10 million dollars, what exactly does a couple of extra million dollars mean?  I would love for any athlete, agent, celebrity, or anybody else to explain this to me.  Maybe Johnny was holding out because the Sox were only going to give him enough money to buy 3 countries in South America instead of the 4 that he wanted.  It has long been clear that in most cases, it’s all about the money.  However, it is always discouraging to see an example of that which has relevance to you as a fan.  This guy surrendered being treated as royalty and the luxury of never having to pay for many a thing (meals for sure) throughout New England, for a couple of extra million bucks, and I don’t know if I will ever really understand that.  Although I now strongly dislike Johnny Damon the person, I am not feeling the sense of panic that some may be feeling when thinking about this situation in terms of the baseball impact. 

First, Johnny Damon just does not seem to fit in with the Yankees.  Johnny’s hair and persona have become as much a part of his game as anything else, and when you take into account how superstitious many athletes (especially baseball players) are, sometimes causing a player to deviate from his comfort zone can have an effect on his performance (Jason Giambi anyone?).   Another thing about is that in addition to the fact that his arm is no stronger than Bernie Williams’ (or Jodie Foster’s for that matter), the ~150 games that Johnny has played in each season for the last 10 years seem to be beginning to take a toll on him.  JD is a player who leaves it all on the field, but he was visibly tired at the end of last season and his  2005 pre/post all-star break splits looked like this (AVG/OBP/OPS): Pre All-Star: .343/.386/.858;  Post All-Star: .282/.343/.740.  Also, JD’s 3-year home/road splits (2003-2005) are as follows: Fenway: .318/.338/.836; everywhere else: .278/.340/.773.  And last but not least (sorry to beat you over the head with stats, but its baseball, and I want to let you people know why I don’t think there is a need to panic), Johnny’s career numbers in Yankee Stadium: 66 games, .252 average, .301 OBP, .647 OPS, 4 HR, 26 RBI (keep in mind, in game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, Johnny was 3-6 with 2 of those HR’s and 6 of those RBI).  I believe that Coco Crisp/Jeremy Reed will be able to make up at least 80% of Johnny’s offensive production this season, as well as quite possibly serving as an upgrade to JD’s defense.  Those things, in addition to the Sox potentially signing Kevin Millwood to upgrade the rotation (with the money saved as a result of Johnny leaving), could actually improve the team. 

All that being said, I do think Johnny will be a huge upgrade from what the Yankees would have had in CF, and he should put up some big numbers in that lineup of all lineups.  However, in the not too distant future, I believe he will become an albatross just as Bernie was this past season, and the bottom line is this.  His signing will not result in more World Championships for the Yanks.  Brain Cashman and the Yankees’ front office appeared to have learned a mini-lesson last season by having players like Shawn Chacon, Robinson Cano, and Aaron Small among others help lead their team to another AL East Championship; while big offseason signings like Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright didn’t pan out and turned into instant bad signings.  However, I guess the opening in CF and the opportunity for Steinbrenner (who obviously did not learn a lesson, and make no mistake about it, this was clearly Steinbrenner’s decision – there is none of that increase of autonomy for Cashman going on when it comes down to it) to stick it to the Red Sox was too tasty to pass up, so Georgie Porgie opened up his wallet yet again and JD is now in pinstripes.  Signings like this do not a championship team make.  And while the Yankees are going the Yankees route of signing every big name possible regardless of how they fit in with the team, the Sox are going the White Sox route of trying to put together a cohesive team that can “play the game the right way” (as Larry Brown would say); and before everybody writes off the Red Sox as 2^nd/3^rd in the AL East (Buster Olney *cough*) let’s just wait until the roster looks a little clearer come Spring Training to make our predicitions. 

So in closing, thanks for everything Johnny, but in the end, please don’t try to say it was about anything except the money.  I will be looking forward to Josh Beckett blowing you away with 97 mph gas, as well as your first slump in NY, when you will be one of the few players who will be hated by Red Sox and Yankee fans alike.

 

The Cuban Baseball Crisis

The fact that Cuba is currently unable to participate in the World Baseball Classic (which I think should be renamed; one would think an event that has the word “Classic” in its title would have to be an event with some sort of established tradition) because of U.S. laws and regulations governing certain transactions with Cuba is beyond absurd.  I’m not even sure if I like the idea of this tournament (I can see the positives and negatives), because of the fact that it cuts into spring training and the players’ ability to become familiar with their team, however I believe that if this tournament is going to be played, it should be played correctly; and that includes allowing every country possible to participate in the WORLD Baseball Classic, especially a country such as Cuba.  Cuba has a rich baseball history and they are one of the few teams who can compete with the U.S. and Dominican Republic in this tournament.  Obviously, the real issue here is money, and the fact that Cuba may be receiving some as a result of the WBC.  To address that issue, I implore the government to look at the fact that there are several Cubans in the MLB right now, including Orlando Hernandez and Jose Contreras.  When these players make their millions, do people honestly think that none of that money is going to find its way to Cuba in order to assist family members, build better baseball facilities for kids, etc.?  Now, as if the Government’s decision didn’t look dumb enough in the first place (this is a baseball tournament, not gun running, or a drug war, and this has no relevance to our gripes with their political system), somebody in Cuba pulled off a masterful P.R. move by stating that the Cuban team will donate any money it makes in the WBC to Hurricane Katrina victims.  This is a great move by Cuba to show the U.S. that they just want to participate in the tourney for love of the game and national pride, not to extort money from the U.S.  If the Government declines Cuba after this, I really won’t know what to say. 

Just let Cuba play.  As I said before, they are one of the 3 teams, in my mind, who have a chance to compete with the U.S. and the D.R. (the two teams which Mr. Ice Water in My Veins, Alex Rodriguez, couldn’t build up the gumption to choose between, so he just decided not to participate – what a stand up guy; seriously, has there ever been a more spineless “best player in the game”?  He never shows up when it counts, see: 2005 playoffs, and when asked about leadership and things of that nature he responds with gems such as, “This is still Jeter's team because he's the captain, but my approach is not to be everyone's best friend… My approach is to win championships. The only way to do that is to be myself, and to take care of my world. With my talent, people will follow naturally.”), the other teams being Venezuela and Japan.  Who else is going to be any sort of competition for these teams?  Definitely not The Netherlands, with Andruw Jones and nothing else; perhaps they could get Ruud van Nistelrooy and Dennis Bergkamp to play, at least some soccer fans would watch.  Australia won’t compete, even though the influence of former Milwaukee Brewer great Dave Nilsson (the only Australian baseball player I’ve ever heard of) will surely be felt.  Do I really need to go through any other teams?  Stop the madness… Cuba Libre! (at least for the WBC).
 

Stop!... Kobe Time

Kobe Bryant put on one of the best displays of basketball dominance I have ever seen this week, when he dropped 62 points in three quarters against the Mavs on Tuesday.  It actually got to the point where Josh Howard took a page out of coach Jack Reilly’s book (the coach of the Hawks in “The Mighty Ducks”, who told his players to remove Adam Banks from the game at all costs) and tried to take Kobe out of the game by hacking him, but it was all in vein, as Kobe continued to have his way.  I wish Phil Jackson pulled a Steve Spurrier and left Kobe in for the 4^th quarter of the smackdown of the Mavs, because it would have been nice to witness some history and see Kobe break Elgin Baylor’s Lakers scoring record of 71.  After the game, a journalist was trying to imply that Kobe’s 62-point effort may have been a message to Shaq (they have another holiday showdown on Christmas Day).  That is such a ridiculous notion, I shouldn’t even gratify it with an opinion, but I’m going to anyway.  No player, not Kobe, not anybody, is good enough to score 62 points in three quarters at will because he wants to send a message to a rival player who he is playing against, not in the next game, but at some point in the future.  This notion seems even more implausible when you consider the fact that this “message” and the rivalry are for the most part media creations and have no real relevance to the players themselves.  If that were the case, players like Carmelo, Kobe, Dwayne Wade, and Lebron would average 80 ppg, because there always seems to be some sort of media-created mini-showdown game on the horizon for every star player in the NBA.  This Kobe/Shaq thing has officially reached the point of out of control, oddly enough with neither player acknowledging the other; and I feel bad that no matter what they do on the court, ultimately they have to be bothered with this nonsense (as bad as I would feel for a person making absurd amounts of money for doing what they love to do).  Regardless, things just seem to be going the right way for Kobe again, because half-way into his 5-year, $45 million contract with Nike, he is finally getting his own Nike sneaker.  The sneaker will debut on Christmas Day when Kobe will wear it during the aforementioned showdown with the Heat.  Apparently Nike believes Kobe’s image is repaired enough for them to begin utilizing the marketability of the superstar, and I can’t argue with their decision, because Kobe and LeBron James should give Nike the most amazingly marketable duo of NBA players in quite some time.  That’s all about Kobe for now, I just wanted to recognize his amazing effort.  In the meantime, I have to go prepare for the ultimate showdown between Shaq and Kobe, they may actually look at each other once or twice in this year’s game.

Look Who’s Talking

This week’s Pot Calling the Kettle Black award goes to Mike Tice, for telling Vikings fans not to scalp tickets.  I’m not discrediting Mike’s solid coaching job this season (he’s got to be a finalist for coach of the year), I just thought this was hilarious and I had to include it in my rant.  Here are some imaginary scenarios that would be akin to Mike Tice telling these fans not to scalp:

Jessica Simpson telling somebody to smarten up.

Isaiah Rider telling somebody to quit smoking marijuana.

Vince Carter telling somebody to play hard, no matter what the situation.

Jim Mora, Sr. telling somebody to be optimistic.

Johnny Damon telling somebody to have some self-integrity.

Drew Rosenhaus demanding that somebody answer his questions.

Todd Bertuzzi refereeing a boxing match and telling the fighters he wants a clean fight.

Paris Hilton telling somebody to have some class.
 
I could go on with these for weeks (I may have to include things like this in my blogs in the future, it’s pretty fun), but you get the point.

R.I.P. James Dungy
I just want to give my deepest condolences to the Dungy family.  This is a travesty and yet another incident that puts sports into perspective.   My thoughts and wishes will be with the Dungys throughout the Holidays.