1) With a couple exceptions (like Quantrill, whoop-de-doo), the Yanks have not been defending ARod from all the ridiculous crap a couple Sox players have been throwing his way. Posada: "It's not my problem, so don't make it my problem." Jeter: "I have nothing to do with that one. That's Trot and Alex....Alex will be here soon. Ask him if he's offended by it." The Times and the Daily News imply it's because they don't really like him; of course George King says they're not responding because the Yankees are too good for that. I don't think I agree with either; I think they honestly just want to stay out of it. (As did Wakefield and Foulke when asked.)
2) Still, Selena Roberts (a writer whom I rarely agree with, except when she's writing about steroids) makes a pretty interesting point:
"All of this makes Steve Phillips's '24-plus-one' remark in 2000 seem clairvoyant instead of crazy. The Mets general manager that courted A-Rod that year, Phillips pulled out of the race, citing the excessive perks requested by the agent Scott Boras. Like a billboard presence in the city. Like a private plane. Like a separate marketing staff.
'I just hope the people in New York don't believe that silliness,' Rodriguez said at the time.
If New Yorkers believed Rodriguez then, they may be wondering now. Not because of any diva-like fits, but because A-Rod has yet to reveal himself as the real deal."
3) I think the big news about Nixon's diatribe, which went relatively unnoticed, was all the nice things he had to say about Giambi:
"I don't feel sorry for Giambi but I do have a great amount of respect for him, for what he's done in this game, the kind of person he is. He's a superstar and he doesn't act like it. A lot of people have lost respect for people like Giambi. I can't judge him for what he did. I don't even know him that well, but I enjoy talking to him over at first base...He's a very good ballplayer. He plays hard. He plays with passion, and what's happened to him right now is [that] he seems to be the bull's-eye."
Trot "can't judge him for what he did"? Well, we've mentioned Trot as a possible 'roider before...in my book this adds to that possibility considerably. I guess it's possible Trot's such a nice guy that he honestly feels bad for Giambi -- face it, the guy's life sucks right now -- but I sort of doubt it, given all the stuff he sad about A-Rod.
4) So as you all know, I sort of like Brian Cashman. I think he's actually a fairly decent GM, and I really respect anyone who can take the kind of punishment he must get on a daily basis by working for Steinbrenner. But I have to say, I found his quote about Giambi rather disgusting: "The biggest thing he needs to do now is just not duck. There's a controversy that surrounds him. He just needs to face it head-on. There's no other way. You can't run and hide." Given the flap about the steroid language in the contract (it's now official: Chass was correct), right now no one in the Yankees management, least of all Cashman, has any right offering someone advice about facing something "head-on" and "not ducking". Pretty annoying.
Yeah, that is pretty weak on Cashman's part. Very weak.
ReplyDeleteI certainly give the guy some credit for being able to put up with Steinbrenner, I really don't think he is that good of a GM. His trade record is abysmal. The team that won the 4 WS was essentially assembled by Gene Michaal and Bob Watson.
Sure some of his moves were probably forced by the owner. But some have totally him and have been a bust. And you never know how a guy is going to react in NY - which has allegedly created some of these bad deals.
And that is another issue. If guys on a blog can speculate on whether a guy can handle NY, why wouldn't the GMs do it. And if NY is really the cause of these guys failing (as opposed to say, bad evaluation of their real talent), how come we don't see these guys bounce back to their old self once they are shipped out? Is it because their psyche is permanently damaged? Maybe. But really you would think that someone other than Kenny Rogers would be able to regain their form after leaving NY . But who has? Wever? Neagle? Contreras and Vazquez (we'll see)? Sterling Hitchcock? Irabu? Knoblauch?
Okay, I think this has officially become a ramlbe.
My bottom line is that Cashman does okay in NY. But I don't think he is top level GM.
Earl,
ReplyDeleteThanks for bring this up. You saved me the hassle of making all those a href tags. I read Selana's article this morning and I wasn't really all that sure there really is a story there. Sure there is that interesting thing about Philip's, but how much of that is a reflection of Arod versus Scott "I own the MLB" Boras? Maybe Boras has pushed ARod too far and ARod's lack of character has allowed him to create this image?
Following that theory, clearly ARod hasn't worked hard on building his "own image". He's paid people to do that and it shows. I think the Yankees non-comments are appropriate given the situation. It's really ARod that should address these concerns and comments and they way he should address them is show up and play ball - everyday. Exactly, why the comparison to Jeter is so poignant.