horrifying thought

I was reading the NYYFans archive, and I found a thread from 2006 suggesting the Yankees trade A-Rod to the Angels for three very highly touted prospects at the time:
- Brandon Wood
- Jeff Mathis
- Nick Adenhart

Yeah this would have been a bad move. I mean... Adenhart probably wouldn't have been in that horrible car crash and he might develop into a very good pitcher, but... wow. If I trade a player of A-Rod's caliber, I want the entire fucking top fifty of Baseball Prospectus' top prospects.

today, in "dumb things that I will laugh at"

The wayyyy-too-frequent prior to 2009 "the Yankees made it to the World Series six times in eight years before A-Rod got there. They won one postseason series in total since he's been with the team. IRREFUTABLE CORRELATION!!!!"

Yankee ERA (and opponents' ERA in parentheses) in the various LDSes, since the LDS era began. A * means the Yankees won the series.
1995 5.94 (5.79)
1996 3.46 (3.55) *
1997 4.36 (4.50)
1998 0.33 (3.24) *
1999 0.33 (3.60) *
2000 4.70 (3.48) * uhhh how did we win this? God bless the dynasty Yankees.
2001 2.20 (2.86) *
2002 8.21 (6.17) ---> this is not the series to watch if you want to see amazing pitching.
2003 1.50 (3.86) *
That choker A-Rod arrives.
2004 3.73 (4.65) *
2005 4.40 (3.89)
2006 5.56 (3.60)
2007 5.89 (3.41)
2008 n/a :(
2009 1.55 (4.67) *
Hmmm what do you notice here. Clearly, A-Rod was making Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, and Jaret Wright suck in 2006, and making Chien-Ming Wang into a complete failure in the 2007 playoffs, plus he released the midges so that Joba couldn't throw strikes. Totes his fault. Don't get me wrong, watching Alex in the playoffs was painful in 2005 and especially 2006, and I guess 2007 to an extent, though he wasn't nearly as bad as most of the rest of the team in that series. He couldn't buy an RBI. But the Yankees losing those series were not his fault. He shouldn't get close to the majority of the blame. (One other thing people whine about is A-Rod not being able to get a guy home from third with less than two outs in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. That sucked, but... I hate to say this, but if Mariano Rivera doesn't blow that save/Joe Torre calls for a pitch-out, we're probably never talking about that at-bat again. The most ridiculous part of that whining? We only ever had a lead in that game because of A-Rod's home run!!!!)

Did A-Rod's home run off of Joe Nathan FUCKING RULE? Yup. But if AJ had had a Bad AJ outing, or even a Slightly Worse AJ outing, earlier in the game and the score was 5-1 going into the bottom of the ninth, that home run wouldn't have really mattered.

don't fuck with A-Rod

Gene Wojciechowski did and he paid the price for it.

I will Fire Joe Morgan this shit later but let me just say...

A-Rod, 2009 WS, Games 1 and 2:
0 for 8, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 6 K, .000/.000/.000/.000

A-Rod, 2009 WS, Games 3, 4, 5, and 6:
5 for 12, 1 HR, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 3 HBP, 2 K,* 1 SB, .417/.611/.917/1.528

* one of which was that bullshit called third strike with the bases loaded in Game 6 against Pedro that was absolutely nowhere near a strike

mediots, con't.

Once Linked By Greatness, A-Rod, Junior Have Gone Separate Ways

In the case of Rodriguez, however, there is no gift wrap. He is fading to black because (as opposed to Griffey) the skills haven't abandoned the man -- the man has abandoned the skills. At 34 and preparing to return from the disabled list, Rodriguez is still one of the game's two or three most-feared hitters. And yet, whether he plays for another season or another decade, Rodriguez is done. Finished. Kaput. Over. Gary Coleman.
A-Rod's done?! To quote A-Rod himself, HA! Somewhere in Miami or wherever, I hope he is reading this while polishing his ring and giggling to himself.*

According to the material leaked from Selena Roberts' new book, A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, he is not merely a liar, a fraud and an egoist, but a cheater of the first degree, whose remorseful "confession" during spring training was little more than a well-choreographed one-man interpretation of Justin Timberlake's Cry Me a River. Turns out A-Rod might have been using steroids since high school, and that he was involved with HGH after becoming a Yankee. In other words, like Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds before him, the glowing awe that once accompanied Rodriguez has -- poof! -- vanished.
I know he had to support Selena Roberts because she wrote for Sports Illustrated and so did he, but come on. That book was horribly researched and way more theories and innuendo than facts. And honestly, not for anything, it pisses me off when people overanalyze the shit out of press conferences or interviews or whatever of players admitting to steroid use. How many on that list of 104 (and no, I don't for a second think that those were the only people using steroids) have actually admitted it? Not too many. A-Rod has a totally weird, to be fair, press conference, and everyone won't shut up about the faces he was making and how he wasn't being genuine or whatever. David Ortiz gets his name leaked, has a press conference where he denies ever doing anything illegal, and everyone's like "oh he was so genuine." It's bullshit. No, I don't think it's a Yankee/Red Sox thing, either, because people pretty much don't care about Brian Roberts' admission or Pettitte's HGH use (except for the classy Philly fans chanting "YOU DID STEROIDS!" early on in Game 3 of the World Series); it's a "nice guy"/"bad guy" thing. Which brings me to...

Less than a year ago, people were not merely speculating how many career home runs he would hit (800? 850? 900? 950?), but also how his name atop the all-time list would return Aaron-esque decency to a record book poisoned by Bonds' regrettable presence. Rodriguez was the Brad Pitt of baseball -- the pretty boy with chops who could carry a big-budget adventure through the summer.
This is pretty much the dumbest part of the article, other than the "A-Rod's done" thing. Why the hell are you pretending A-Rod was some golden boy before this whole steroid thing? Pretty much everyone hated him. The media loved to portray him as a nancy-boy diva fraud who choked in every big situation and only hit home runs when his team was leading or trailing by ten runs. Stop pretending it's like Jeter got caught.

Oh, and Hank Aaron was on greenies.


Jeff Pearlman is a really, really good sportswriter. Just not when it comes to the Yankees. Why the hell are you trying to put logic on fandom, Jeff? You're a Mets fan. You should know this!

* Yes I know they hand out the rings at the home opener, allow me my snark.

UNCLUTCH.

Okay, it's an EXTREMELY small sample size (8 PA, so it kind of doesn't count), but in 2009, A-Rod had an OPS of 2.225 in extra innings. Lulz

OPS versus certain teams in 2009, keep in mind that these are generally pretty small sample sizes:
LAA 1.393, with a 1.466 OPS at Anaheim (we were still 2-4 there. ANNOYING)
BOS 1.027
NYM 1.167
PHI 1.141
TBR 1.107
A-Rod knows what's up.

On the other hand, LOL:
CLE .688
KCR .452
OAK .412
WAS .167
Was he not trying against the crappy opponents? Choker!!!!!! (Not that the Mets weren't crappy but c'mon, we have to beat the Mets.)

reading is fun... or not

This may surprise some of you, but I never read The Yankee Years. I got it from the library when it first came out, but I just like, dreaded reading about 2001 and 2004 so I never even started reading it. I'm pathetic and irrational like that. Well, now that we won, I finally read the thing. And all I gotta say, other than that I massively enjoy David Cone...

Holy fuck Joe Torre and Tom Verducci get off your GD high horse. Is it weird of me to say "fuck" and then use "GD"? Yes? Okay. Verducci, I think you're a really talented writer. You have a way with words, of describing how awesome the game of baseball can be at its greatest moments, that I envy tremendously. But wow, you just love going on and on about steroids when it totally had nothing to do with the Yankees (okay, it didn't have nothing to do with the Yankees, but going on about Ken Caminiti for like 25 pages has nothing to do with the Yankees). You also have an obvious and shockingly controversial love for Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, and disdain for Alex Rodriguez.

And honestly, you're completely hypocritical throughout the book. Paul O'Neill freaking out and cursing at himself in the locker room when he left guys on base? He just wanted to win, he hated losing! Kevin Brown freaking out and cursing at himself in the locker room when he pitched a terrible game? He's a headcase that represents everything that's wrong with the Yankees since 2001! George Steinbrenner saying to the media that the 2006 season was a failure because the Yankees didn't win the World Series? That's putting unfair pressure on Torre and diminishing everything he did! Derek Jeter saying to the media that the 2006 season was a failure because the Yankees didn't win the World Series? He hates losing and that's a great mentality to have! Theo Epstein and the rest of the Red Sox front office are awesome because they're unsentimental, oh and they invented the term on-base percentage! But Brian Cashman is a terrible terrible terrible person because when Bernie Williams was totally done, based on, you know, stats, he wasn't bending over backwards to let him on the team! And how dare he suggest Torre make his batting order with the high on-base percentage guys toward the top, instead of just letting him go on crazy whims!

As for you, Torre, aaargh @ this "I never wanted Giambi and A-Rod! It was so awful to have them on my team!!!" bullshit.
Jason Giambi, career with Yankees (2002-2008):
.260/.404 (!)/.521 (!)/.925, 143 OPS+, avg. 38 HR/162 g.
Tino Martinez, career with Yankees (1996-2001):
.279/.348/.488/.837, 114 OPS+, avg. 31 HR/162 g.
Alex Rodriguez, career with Yankees (2004-present):
.300/.401/.567/.968, 152 OPS+, avg. 44 HR/162 g.
Scott Brosius, career with Yankees (1998-2001):
.267/.331/.428/.759, 96 OPS+, 65 HR, avg. 20 HR/162 g.
Brosius's career year, 1998, gave him an .843 OPS for a 121 OPS+. That's very good; he'd never have a year like that again and his OPS+ in the years after was 86. In Alex Rodriguez's worst year ever (other than 1994 and 1995), he had an .846 OPS and a 120 OPS+. That was... 1997. He was 21 years old.* I don't need to tell you what he did in the years after that (but I will anyway. A-Rod in 1999, 2000, and 2001, when Brosius was posting an 86 OPS+: 148 OPS+.).
There's a few reasons the Yankees weren't winning championships with Giambi and Rodriguez on the team but they didn't really have to do with Giambi and Rodriguez. I am not trying to diminish what Martinez or Brosius and their roles on those amazing dynasty teams still mean to me today, but they're just inferior players compared to Giambi and Rodriguez. It probably would have been smart to keep Tino on the team after 2001 while grooming Nick Johnson to be the 1B of the future, and gone after Johnny Damon instead of Giambi, but let's not pretend Giambi wasn't an excellent hitter, even if he could barely manage fitting a glove on his hand. I would never in a gazillion years take Brosius over Rodriguez. At any rate, if you're a manager, you should want Giambi and Rodriguez on your team because they are (or were, in the case of Giambi) excellent players.

I don't want to hear about, "Well, it was Verducci's book, really." Sure, it's got a lot of Verducci in it, but Torre was the one who provided all the behind-the-scenes stuff. And if Verducci really wanted to tell the full story of those years, why did he just go to Torre? Why not get interviews with Cashman or Alex Rodriguez? It's obvious that Verducci wanted to tell one very slanted version of those years, Torre's. I don't know whose idea it was, but they were both frankly wrong to do it, almost disgustingly so considering that Torre is still managing and many of the players he talks about in the book are still playing. If I'm a player on the Dodgers, I don't want to talk to that guy or do anything around him; it could end up in a book some day, after all.

Oh and that conversation between Pettitte and Torre after Pettitte was named in the Mitchell Report so did not happen because it read like part of a terrible screenplay.

* insert "holy crap I'm 23 I have not accomplished anything in my life ;_;" panic here

it's all A-Rod's fault!!!!!

I realize this topic is like 80 years old but I've heard a lot of "A-Rod is The Cooler and his teams do awesome after he leaves them and are bad when he's there" blah blah blah. Yes, it has everything to do with the fact that A-Rod is a terrible person and nothing to do with pitching.

2000 Seattle Mariners (91-71, Wild Card champions)
SP Aaron Sele (34 GS): 211.2 IP, 4.51 ERA, 102 ERA+
SP Paul Abbott (27 GS): 179 IP, 4.22 ERA, 108 ERA+
SP John Halama (30 GS): 166.2 IP, 5.08 ERA, 90 ERA+
SP Jamie Moyer (26 GS): 154 IP, 5.49 ERA, 83 ERA+
SP Freddy Garcia (20 GS): 124.1 IP, 3.91 ERA, 117 ERA+
SP Gil Meche (15 GS): 85.2 IP, 3.78 ERA, 121 ERA+
In the ALCS, they used, in order: Garcia, Halama, Sele, and Abbott. Moyer and Meche weren't used at all.

2001 Seattle Mariners (116-46, American League West champions)
SP Freddy Garcia (34 GS): 238.2 IP, 3.05 ERA, 136 ERA+
SP Aaron Sele (33 GS): 215 IP, 3.60 ERA, 116 ERA+
SP Jamie Moyer (33 GS): 209.2 IP, 3.43 ERA, 121 ERA+
SP Paul Abbott (27 GS): 163 IP, 4.25 ERA, 98 ERA+
SP John Halama (17 GS): 110.1 IP, 4.73 ERA, 88 ERA+
SP Joel Piniero (11 GS): 75.1 IP, 2.03 ERA, 205 ERA+
In the ALCS, they used, in order: Sele, Garcia, Moyer, and Abbott. Halama was in the bullpen and Piniero didn't pitch at all.
The 2001 Mariners also had a much better season from their catcher Dan Wilson (62 OPS+ in 2000, 90 OPS+ in 2001), center fielder Mike Cameron (107 OPS+ in 2000, 123 OPS+ in 2001), and first baseman John Olerud (116 OPS+ in 2000, 136 OPS+ in 2001), and they replaced Mark McLemore (76 OPS+) with Bret Boone (153 OPS+) at second base. I'll give you that losing A-Rod probably hurt their offense a lot, but they made it up there, plus they got a new shiny superstar to play with prior to 2001. But sure, it was all A-Rod's fault.


2003 Texas Rangers (71-91, last in AL West)
SP John Thomson (35 GS): 217 IP, 4.85 ERA, 104 ERA+
SP Colby Lewis (26 GS): 127 IP, 7.30 ERA, 69 ERA+
SP Ismael Valez (22 GS): 115 IP, 6.10 ERA, 82 ERA+
SP Joaquin Benoit (17 GS): 105 IP, 5.49 ERA, 92 ERA+
SP Tony Mounce (11 GS): 50.2 IP, 7.11 ERA, 71 ERA+
SP R.A. Dickey (13 GS): 116.2 IP, 5.09 ERA, 99 ERA+
Their closer Ugueth Urbina also had a 4.19 ERA before he got traded to - ugh - the Florida Marlins.

2004 Texas Rangers (89-73, third in AL West)
SP Kenny Rogers (35 GS): 211.2 IP, 4.76 ERA, 106 ERA+
SP Ryan Drese (34 GS): 207.2 IP, 4.20 ERA, 120 ERA+
SP R.A. Dickey (15 GS): 104.1 IP, 5.61 ERA, 90 ERA+*
SP Joaquin Benoit (15 GS): 103 IP, 5.68 ERA, 89 ERA+
And a bunch of other guys.
Now, granted, A-Rod "hurt" the Rangers more than he "hurt" the Mariners or Yankees, because the Rangers couldn't afford to have his contract and then also spend money anywhere else. But the pitching from the 2003 Rangers was flat-out embarrassing whereas the pitching from the 2004 Rangers was just not very good.

I don't feel like talking about the dumb 2004 Yankees, but here are the 2003 Yankees in terms of pitching:
SP Mike Mussina (31 GS): 214.2 IP, 3.40 ERA, 129 ERA+
SP David Wells (30 GS): 213 IP, 4.14 ERA, 106 ERA+
SP Roger Clemens (33 GS): 211.2 IP, 3.91 ERA, 112 ERA+
SP Andy Pettitte (33 GS): 208.1 IP, 4.02 ERA, 109 ERA+
SP Jeff Weaver (24 GS): 159.1 IP, 5.99 ERA, 73 ERA+
Okay obviously Weaver wasn't very good but he was the fifth starter. The rest of this rotation is extremely impressive, especially that it was so productive and constant throughout the year. Jose Contreras started nine games and had a 2.34 ERA during those games. Only Jorge DePaula, Sterling Hitchcock, and Brandon Claussen started any other games for the Yankees, and it was each only one game. These guys got extremely unlucky in the World Series, but there was really no doubt they were the best team in baseball to me. And hey - replacing Robin Ventura/Aaron Boone/Enrique Wilson/whoever the heck else was playing 3B with Alex Rodriguez would have made them a whole heck of a lot better! In 2004 Wells, Clemens, Pettitte, and Weaver were all gone, as was Contreras at the trade deadline.

But yeah. IT'S ALL A-ROD'S FAULT!!!!!!

* was the pitching in 2004 as a whole so bad that an ERA over 5.50 was as "good" as a 90 ERA+??? o_O

heh

Pete Abraham is really terrible at analysis and I'm super glad he doesn't write for the Yankees any more.

In the post of the year, Giuseppe Franco says that the Yankees cannot win the World Series without Alex Rodriguez.
The Yankees have won 26 World Series without him. Somehow.

How DARE that selfish A-Rod not help the Yankees win the 1962 World Series!!! Can the Yankees win without A-Rod? Sure. I mean, they did it while he was still with the Mariners. But without A-Rod at third base, and with Cody Ransom, they were one hell of a weaker team.

I realize it’s spring training, but the Yankees have looked terrific.

You know who also wasn't there at this point during ST? Derek Jeter. I think I read somewhere that during Jeter's injury in 2003, the Yankees went a pretty incredible 25-11. Nobody suggested the Yankees were better without Jeter because that would be the stupidest thing ever. You're never a better team without your best players.

But that money they spent on him in 2007 could have been used elsewhere.

Yeah, maybe we could have gotten Sabathia and Teixeira in the off-season. ;_;

The last comment (in case anyone else pokes in to make fun of him, it's the November 8 comment) in that thread is gold.