The Dodgers aren't dead. Yet. Game 7 for all the marbles will take place tonight. Glad to see games in this WS beating the NFL by wide margins in the television ratings.
Kudos to the veteran Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill for stepping off the mound and allowing the Dodgers fans their chance to boo and send their message to Yuli Gurriel after his jesture in the dugout in Houston relating to Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish. Gurriel should have been suspended during this series. Instead, the Commissioner (Manfred) decided to punt and delay the punishment to the beginning of next season when it will have little to no impact. A punk move by Gurriel and he should have had to pay a price immediately.
Darvish got the ball tonight for the Dodgers at home in game 7 and was promptly knocked out by the Astros in the second inning. Darvish was brought over from the Texas Rangers to add strength to the Dodgers rotation in situations such as this in the post season and he has not done the job in the WS. The Astros are up 5-0 in the third inning and are beginning to smell their first ever championship since coming into existence in 1962 as a then National League team. It's still early, and as crazy as some of these games have turned out in this series the Dodgers still have time left to mount a rally. Starter Lance McCullers was lifted for Brad Peacock in the third for Houston.
Well Game 7 turned out to be a dud after expectations for a classic. Astros had little trouble doing it and congratulations to them on their first title in their 56th season. Still hard for me to think of them as an AL team, I have to admit as I recall them beating the Dodgers for the 1980 NL West title and then blowing the 1981 NL West playoffs after going up 2-0 in that best of five series.
Thoughts now to turn to spring already for me and I hope the Yankees managerial shakeup doesn't disrupt the momentum they took with them this past season.
Sad news in the baseball world yesterday when it was learned that retired star pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies Roy "Doc" Halladay was killed in a crash in the Gulf of Mexico while piloting his small aircraft. He was only 40 years old. He was one of the greatest pitchers of his generation. He was also a good person. RIP.
The Halladay story is tragic. I can remember when I was ten and hearing my mother call down to me in the basement where I was playing and telling me that Thurman Munson had been killed. And in an identical type of situation where an obsession with wanting to fly when it wasn't necessary led to tragedy and results in a family left without a husband and father.
I certainly am not trying to sound like that sicko talk show host in Boston (who IMO should be fired for his comments), but I do admit I will never understand what motivates people to do things like that when they're not doing it in the pursuit of a career in aviation. We've seen lives cut short like Munson, Halladay, Cory Lidle and outside baseball, John Denver and John F. Kennedy, Jr. because at some point along the way they felt this need to pursue a dangerous venture and the end result was tragic for all of them and those left behind because it didn't happen while pursuing their work.
As I'm sure you are aware, some amateur cell phone footage has been released of the plane flying dangerously close to the water before going down. Whether pilot error, physical distress, or a fault with the aircraft the NTSB investigation is underway. I work not too far away from the small Essex County Airport from which John Kennedy Jr. embarked on his fatal flight. Every time I see these small planes buzzing in and out of there it's hard not to be reminded of that tragedy.
Belated recognition to Doerr. He was about the last living person I can think of who played in the 1940s. That so-called "Golden Age" of baseball that people associate with the immediate post-WW2 period has now vanished completely from our midst.
Brian Cashman is now saying there will be no more interviews for the Yankee manager position so the next one will be from these names: Rob Thomson, Eric Wedge, Aaron Boone, Hensley Meulens, Chris Woodward and Carlos Beltran. Any one of them would be a wildcard choice and the pressure will be on to see if a new manager can maintain the feel-good sensation of the past year the team got with Girardi. A big step backward could almost guarantee the fans might start chanting "We want Joe!"
It's been reported that Aaron Boone will be named the next Yankees manager succeeding Joe Girardi. Boone is only 44 and he will hit the ground running with a talented team that has the tools to make it back to post season play next year. GM Cashman will surely add some more talent to that this winter. Boone, a former player and Yankee hero comes straight from the broadcast booth but he's bright and knows the game well. He will be able to adjust to what is expected these days from the younger generation of managers in relation to sabermetrics. This was surely discussed in his interview with Brian Cashman. The game has come a long way from wanting managers who had to "pay their dues" toiling away for years in the minor leagues. It won't be long before Carlos Beltran gets his chance to manage someplace. I thought Beltran had a serious shot at the Yankees job.
Well that's interesting. I'll admit I felt Boone was one of the few remaining bright spots in the cesspool that is now ESPN, doing a good job on the commentary on the radio broadcasts of the postseason with Dan Shulman the last couple years (but I admit I haven't felt compelled to watch them on TV during the regular season). Girardi and Torre before spent time in the broadcast booth that I think helped them overall as managers (I think it really helped Torre know better how to keep the media at bay) but Larry Dierker in Houston I think is the only example of someone who went from the broadcast booth without having managed before to a big league job and was successful (by contrast, Jerry Coleman had a disastrous year managing the Padres in 1980 and then went back to the security of the booth). So Boone will be swimming a little bit against history.
I do have to admit that if George were still alive,Boone likely would have won out over the other candidates by virtue of having had a signature moment as a Yankee player. Robby Thomson for the most part has seemed like an anonymous figure on the Yankee coaching staff and I am one of the few people who remember what an overhyped prospect "Bam Bam" Meulens was back in 1991-92! But of course that doesn't necessarily mean a thing since the other famous Yankee to hit a home run against Boston in a playoff game, Bucky Dent had a bad time as Yankee manager in 1989-90! Even so, a lot of other Yankee fans who probably still were taken aback by Girardi's dismissal will more easily accept Boone at first because that great moment will mean he won't seem like an outsider to them well known for another organization.
For now I'll extend Aaron a welcome and mark the occasion this weekend by revisiting that magical Game 7 of the 03 ALCS. The last true moment of Yankee greatness and innocence before the fall of 04 irrevocably altered things.
It seems that today teams are big on the relating to the players aspect. Boone talked about it today. You hear a lot of that from these new managers when they are hired now. I know that new Mets manager Mickey Callaway kept referring to that in his first press conference. A bit too much if you ask me, but perhaps there is a method to it. The game has changed so much in the last few years and this aspect of soothing the egos of the high priced players seems to be the way it is going now. Managers will have to adjust to the front office having a big say on day to day operations. A far cry from the days of old snapping turtles like Billy Martin and Earl Weaver ruling their on field roost with an iron fist! The old guard has gone the way of VHS tapes.
I know the Mets pitchers were not happy that pitching coach Dan Warthen was shown the door. Warthen was a big part of their development in the organization. Especially Thor Syndergaard. But in the end some thought Warthen was also a part of their recent downfall due to arm injuries. By naming Callaway manager, the Mets will hope that he can bring with him the success he had in his relations with the pitching staff in Cleveland. Dave Eiland will be Callaway's pitching coach. I still don't understand why Frank Viola keeps getting passed over for promotion in that role. He raised that staff in the minor leagues. Interesting.
Yeah more and more it seems like the role of a manager is being reduced to filling out the lineup as dictated by the GM according to his sabermetric obsessions (which is an overrated science I think; Billy Beane for instance has never accomplished a darned thing in Oakland post-season wise) and acting as a media buffer. Maybe long-term it's going to be where a GM will be phoning down to the dugout to call the moves more and more which means we'll have seen the sport embrace the full Steinbrenner/Finley behavior of the 70s!
Dave Eiland was the Yankee pitching coach when they won the 2009 championship so maybe he can rub something off there.
Well the first off-season setback as Cashman really had his eyes set on the heralded Japanese prospect Ohtani and Ohtani turned them down. At least thank goodness he won't end up in Boston!
This likely enhances the prospect of Sabathia returning on a one year deal.
Is it Ohtani or Otani? I've seen it spelled differently all over the place.
Apparently he wants to play somewhere on the west coast. On a team without another Japanese star player. They will all promise him that he will be able to be the two skill player he was in Japan just to get his signature on a contract. But eventually he will either pitch or hit not do both as he did in Japan. If he's Ichiro Suzuki with some power then some team will be getting quite a player. But you never know how it will turn out down the road. We should know the decision soon on where he chooses to go. I don't know if Tanaka being on the Yankees had something to do with his decision to cross the Yankees off his list but it's surprising he would not want to come to New York to join that club. The Mets of course had no shot to get him but I would have enjoyed watching him on the stage in the Bronx.
I'd like to thank Screen Archives and Lukas for speeding up the FSM site with the new server. This thread has been around since 2005 and has creaked and groaned it's way along at various speeds over the years with over 8000 posts for well over a decade now. There is a lot of history here. If any thread on this board is a testament to how fast the board is now it's clicking on this one! I'm grateful that it continues on and that we can continue to talk baseball right here.
Yeah I have to admit one reason why I scaled back my participation in this thread and let it slide for months on end was because I got tired of waiting for it to load and often it wouldn't. Starting with this coming season my posts can be more frequent like in the long ago olden days! (I couldn't help but look back at my every two minutes angst postings during the "Midge" game a decade ago).
Giancarlo Stanton to be traded to the Yankees for Starlin Castro and some "low level" prospects? It's not official yet but that's what Joel Sherman reported overnight. Derek Jeter has already unloaded Dee Gordon to Seattle but the big contract he wants out of the way is Stanton's 290 plus million left over from the previous ownership. If this deal does indeed go down it would give the Yankees an unstoppable middle of the order that was already loaded with talent and power. The Yankees will have to juggle some money around in moving other contracts but when you are offered a guy like Stanton who is coming off an MVP year how do you say no? Especially when the Marlins are not demanding that top prospects Gleyber Torres or Clint Frazier be included in the deal.
Stanton has a no trade clause which he would have to waive. The Marlins supposedly had deals in place with the Cardinals and Giants but Stanton has now approved other teams including ones that are not on the west coast. Stanton had a breakthrough year in 2017 but you always have to worry about nagging injuries with the guy. Especially since he's already 27 and it's a ten year contract. He has missed huge chunks of playing time over the years in Florida. Still, you look at last years numbers and put him in that loaded Yankee lineup for 2018 and it looks like "murderers row" all over again.
Well this is unexpected and it's happened only because of the Ohtani rejection. Obviously if the price is low enough for the Yankees it's probably worth doing, though I would think in addition to Castro, either Headley or Ellsbury should have also been part of the package, especially Ellsbury since now there's *really* no place for him to play in a theoretical outfield-DH rotation of Judge-Stanton-Gardner-Hicks. Class A prospects are likely the ones to go and the Yankees are at an optimal moment of players they can afford to part with. (if Ellsbury stays then Gardner may have to be dealt)
The A-Rod experience though is going to give Yankee fans more of a cautious air about the long-term magnitude of all this. When A-Rod was acquired it seemed like four or five more titles in a row was possible. Instead, the Yankees days as #1 came to an end (and fortunately for them 2009 prevented it from being rated as the most disastrous tipping point in franchise history).
And for once a star player will get to wear his old number after he comes to the Yankees. I think Austin Romine had #27 last year. I wonder if he gave it up on his own for Stanton or the Yankees just said "Sorry pal". I must admit it was really annoying watching Carlos Beltran wearing #36. Minor quibbles.
The Yankees are obviously not through as the winter meetings are underway. They will try as hard as they can to get Jacoby Ellbury's contract off the books. GM Brian Cashman was recently rewarded with a new contract by the Yankees and after years of hearing the fans calling for his head on talk radio he will be around a while longer. To be able to pivot to get Stanton while staying under the cap and not giving up any of the crown jewels in the organization deserves credit. He traded his bullpen away the year before and reloaded the farm system with prime prospects and still got Chapman back in free agency. I never thought the Yankees would venture into long term A-Rod contract territory again but this chance to get Stanton was too good to pass up. It's all about the here and now. What Stanton will look like at age 35 is a question for down the road.
Derek Jeter is not the most popular guy right now in Miami. He began his tenure by issuing a lot of pink slips. The Marlins are in complete tear down mode right now. Nothing new for that organization. They had problems bringing fans into that ballpark to begin with with both Stanton and Gordon on the club. Now that both have been dealt away in salary dumps you have to wonder who will be left in the stands down there. Probably lots of transplanted Yankees and Mets fans. Jeter will get his chance to rebuild the Marlins with youth. It will take time. Let's hope for his sake he doesn't become the next Phil Jackson.
Well they managed to unload Headley's contract which means they can keep Todd Frazier who was better at third base or open up another potential slot for Torres. That leaves Ellsbury's deadweight contract as the only one left and if they were able to get rid of that, they'd really be in great shape but that's probably wishful thinking at this point because the only way they're likely to get rid of him is to take on another dead contract of someone at another position in return most likely.
I agree, Jeter has already made himself look like Jeffrey Loria II and he's doing a really stupid thing by not being more front and center. He seems to think he can maintain this air of distance as an owner and that's not going to cut it. He in effect made himself the face of the franchise and that means he has to be visible in ways he avoided in the past.
Even so, a lot of other Yankee fans who probably still were taken aback by Girardi's dismissal will more easily accept Boone at first because that great moment will mean he won't seem like an outsider to them well known for another organization.
I think Austin Romine had #27 last year. I wonder if he gave it up on his own for Stanton or the Yankees just said "Sorry pal". I must admit it was really annoying watching Carlos Beltran wearing #36. Minor quibbles.