February 19, 2009/Thursday
Nothing much has developed in Rodriguez-gate so far today, though I did miss out on a quote yesterday from the Jayson Stark article:
Wow. That was impressively harsh. But the worst think about the Yankees organization is how they fail to realize why A-Rod took steroids. Guys, he took steroids to HELP the team (in this case the Rangers)! He wanted to win, and he wanted it badly enough to do something somewhat illegal. It's not like this was just in some elaborate plot to ruin Major League Baseball (which is what the media is turning it into).
The other big news in baseball today is Ken Griffey Jr's return to the Seattle Mariners. He is one of the classiest players in baseball, and I am willing to bet my life that he never took steroids. It is only fitting that he finishes his career with the team that has defined his life, the Seattle Mariners. It will be great to see how he plays alongside Ichiro, upon whom I am also willing to bet my life that he has never took steroids.
The big issue with the Red Sox right now is the shortstop 'debacle'. As I mentioned on the blog "Julia's Rants" yesterday, "The starting shortstop issue could have been solved long ago. Back in 2006, I was hoping Pedroia (with his great range) would be able to play shortstop while we could keep the extremely under-rated Mark Loretta at second. However, that didn't happen as we went out and bought Lugo. Anyways, now I think we shud see how Lowrie fares at shortstop. He proved to us last year that he's able to play in the majors, and we can develop him and hope he ends up like Pedroia. If he doesn't do well, however, I think we should give Lugo a chance (we won the World Series with him as our starting shortstop in 2007)."
Yeah, that's how exciting things are right now.
But Cashman's most revealing answer came
when he was asked whether he "regrets"
handing Rodriguez a 10-year, $270 million
contract just a year and change ago.
It's a good bet that 29 out of 30 general
managers in baseball would have replied:
"No. Of course not. He's still the most talented
player in the game, and we're glad he's on
our side." Or something like that.
Instead, here's how this GM, at his refreshing
best, answered that question:
"Well, we're not in a position to go backwards on
this. The position we're in is to try to move
forward and make sure that we can help him
get through this. We've got nine years of Alex
remaining. ... We've invested in him as an asset.
And because of that, this is an asset that is
going through a crisis. So we'll do everything
we can to protect that asset and support that
asset and try to salvage that asset."
when he was asked whether he "regrets"
handing Rodriguez a 10-year, $270 million
contract just a year and change ago.
It's a good bet that 29 out of 30 general
managers in baseball would have replied:
"No. Of course not. He's still the most talented
player in the game, and we're glad he's on
our side." Or something like that.
Instead, here's how this GM, at his refreshing
best, answered that question:
"Well, we're not in a position to go backwards on
this. The position we're in is to try to move
forward and make sure that we can help him
get through this. We've got nine years of Alex
remaining. ... We've invested in him as an asset.
And because of that, this is an asset that is
going through a crisis. So we'll do everything
we can to protect that asset and support that
asset and try to salvage that asset."
Wow. That was impressively harsh. But the worst think about the Yankees organization is how they fail to realize why A-Rod took steroids. Guys, he took steroids to HELP the team (in this case the Rangers)! He wanted to win, and he wanted it badly enough to do something somewhat illegal. It's not like this was just in some elaborate plot to ruin Major League Baseball (which is what the media is turning it into).The other big news in baseball today is Ken Griffey Jr's return to the Seattle Mariners. He is one of the classiest players in baseball, and I am willing to bet my life that he never took steroids. It is only fitting that he finishes his career with the team that has defined his life, the Seattle Mariners. It will be great to see how he plays alongside Ichiro, upon whom I am also willing to bet my life that he has never took steroids.
The big issue with the Red Sox right now is the shortstop 'debacle'. As I mentioned on the blog "Julia's Rants" yesterday, "The starting shortstop issue could have been solved long ago. Back in 2006, I was hoping Pedroia (with his great range) would be able to play shortstop while we could keep the extremely under-rated Mark Loretta at second. However, that didn't happen as we went out and bought Lugo. Anyways, now I think we shud see how Lowrie fares at shortstop. He proved to us last year that he's able to play in the majors, and we can develop him and hope he ends up like Pedroia. If he doesn't do well, however, I think we should give Lugo a chance (we won the World Series with him as our starting shortstop in 2007)."
Yeah, that's how exciting things are right now.
Leave a comment