Ken Davidoff's baseball insider

I am getting sick of the Cashman story. Does the guy love attention and want to be begged to come back? Why doesn't he just say, "I am happy here, my family his happy here, after the season we will sit down and get a deal done?" All of this intrique is past the point of "too much." I almost wish the Yankees would tell the guy to get lost after all of this.

Read what Cashman said. He clearly intends to return. Forget about this 50-50 or 65-35 stuff. He's coming back, and at a salary that is far more generous than he deserves for the results he has produced IMHO.

. . . . . and no, I wouldn't have booed Clemens. Why would anyone? When he is found guilty in a court of law, then maybe I would boo him. When I think of Bonds, I doubt that I would boo him either and if I did, it wouldn't be over steroids, but because he acted like a jerk a good portion of his career. Any Yankee fan that booed Clemens would have been someone with a very short memory. Personally, I think Clemens would have been cheered. Look at how SF fans have reacted to Bonds.

I wasn't a member of our wonderfully dysfunctional environment during the Clemens/McNamee hearing saga, so I will simply say that Yankee fans should boo Clemens for never acknowledging his use of PEDs, even under oath, which makes him as big a jerk as Bonds. How that hearing became a partisan circus remains unclear to me.

As a Mets fan, I never quite understood why, in the wake of the World Series bat incident involving Mike Piazza, he wasn't immediately tied down with rope on the pitcher's mound, and tested right there! Of course, eight Yankees from that roster were listed in the Mitchell Report, so that 2000 trophy is null and void in my mind.

Pettitte and Giambi only "confessed" after they were already caught, so they're hardly profiles in courage, but, yes, they were simply two of many ballplayers on the juice.

Regarding Santana, I expect him to pitch well tonight, but he's already earned his salary this season, regardless. But so what? If the Mets earn a postseason berth now, it will almost surely be as the wild card. Of course, anything is possible in a five-game playoff series, but I won't enjoy seeing the Mets go to Wrigley....

JE, Clemens' position is that he never used PEDs. He isn't merely keeping quiet about possible use, like most named players did. How can he admit to something that he says he didn't do? BTW, Giambi never admitted to using them either. He apologized but never said what he was apologizing for.

Maybe Joe Torre should apologize for not knowing what was going on in his own clubouse, a few feet from his office. He should have been more aware, but I know he was busy in that office, meeting with Billy Crystal, Rudy G., and his other celebrity friends.

I would have booed Clemens. Loudly and gladly with every bit of venom permissible in polite society. Giambi not as much and Pettitte even less. Lots of guys did it but it was still illegal and wrong.Yankee fans probably would have cheered him but many of my fellow Yankee fans have warped values. The first game I ever saw in May 1962 Roger Maris got booed his first at bat despite winning two MVPs, two pennants and one championship. Not unusual in high pressure cities..in 1953 Boom Boom Geoffrion got booed in Montreal because he won the scoring title when Rocket Richard was suspended.
Bad move by the Yankees in not mentioning Torre. I was all for his leaving but the franchise owes him a lot (and vice-versa). Just don't do anything more ridiculous like issuing "6" to anyone else. Show some class, even to people who say $5 million is an insult (which sounds especially stupid in today's financial crisis).
Cashman has the right idea in building with youth but so far it hasn't worked (C.j. Henry, Jose Tabata, Brett Garnder, Gerrit Cole).
I would probably hire someone else if I was Hal (who I predicted several months ago would run the Yankees..beware the observant Michael Corleone types). But I won't complain if Cashman stays. He handles the media well and is bound to hit a hot streak.John Schuerholz was pretty lousy with Kansas City in the late 1980s but was great with the Braves for years.

Yes, Jim, the sky in Clemens' world is not blue, so why should he confess? Ditto with Bonds. The rest of us presumably know better, though.

That is not to say that either guy should be prevented from playing baseball, mind you.

Speaking of which, here's a recent John Brittain column on Bonds and collusion:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/not-pro-bonds-just-anti-collusion/

Giants fans cheer Bonds and I for one would have cheer Clemens despite what is going on with him.
The fact that the Yanks didn't mention Torre's name was on purpose. That to me tells me that they were clueless.
Cashman doesn't want his contract to be a distraction. My feeling is Cashman will stay but it wouldn't surprise me if he leaves.
If the Mets lose tonight with Santana on the mound, I think it will have a negative effect on the Mets. This is a must win game for the Mets tonight with Santana on the mound because if they lose then I can see the Mets fall apart.

I would not have booed Roger Clemens on Sunday night.
I would not have applauded or acknowledged him either.
I would have ignored him, sending my silence as a "Well Roger, I want to believe you, but I don't believe you, in the meantime I pass no judgement on you.....either way.

Booing is out of place at an event like Sunday's.
JMO
(Although, I acknowledge it was pretty damn funny watching two sections of fans in the upper deck give their NY "best" to a fellow ticketholder wearing a Red Sox jersey all night).

I am also realistic to know that the chances of of 50K NY fans remaining silent for a minute or so as a mild form of protest to an issue like Clemens' is about as likely as anyone believing that Santana has had a success season if he loses tonight.

It was best that Clemens was avoided.
But Torre? I don't get that.

The Yankees aren't clueless on Torre. They don't like him (the brass that is.)

Cashman has allowed his contract to become a distraction by not saying what his intentions are. If he does stay, he shouldn't have played this game. If he leaves, what he has done makes sense.

Ken - did you watch any of the Mets last night...?

How much responsibility does Dan Warthen hold for the bullpen's failures...?

I know that the motley crew was assembled by Omar but with the arrival of Warthen things have gone from bad to worse.

Also can someone explain to me why a veteran catcher liek Brian Schneider can't control a rookie pitcher's fascination with throwing curveballs...?

Great points on Santana (and Randy Johnson, too), Ken. Teams go down as a group. And here's the thing... Santana has done his job this year, he has already earned his money. Because of the many, many failures of the rest of the team, he now has to do his job and more. If Santana gets lit tonight, it's because the rest of the squad choked and they counted on him to bail them out one too many times.

BTW, I wouldn't have booed Clemens, I would have ignored him. The video mentions were quick and mostly just earned head nods, it was who was there that got the attention. Oddly, though, by excluding Torre and Clemens, they created more notice. Each would have had their moment and we would have moved on, except that Clemens's would have been a lot quieter than Torre's.

It's always a bad policy to make decisions based on anticipating someone's bad behavior.

PS: Jim, why the Cashman hate? Is Brian writing the stories about himself? Brian will make his decision when it suits him, as is his right and his earned privilege. If your mad that there's too many Brian stories, maybe get mad at the folks who write them?

Tim, what you write would be fair if Cashman wasn't in a high profile job. But, as GM of the Yankees he will get covered by all the NY media. Hence, he can't play the cat and mouse game without people like me getting fed up with it. It is what it is. Answer the question. The Steinbrenners have said for months that they want him back. If he wants to stay, he should say so. They can do the contract later.

The people that would have ignored or booed Clemens are some of the same people that cheered him when he was helping the Yankees win games. How soon we forget.

I watched some of the Mets last night, Gerry. I don't think the bullpen has become worse under Warthen. It was pretty bad earlier in the year, too, if you recall the stretch that got Randolph and Peterson fired (four-game sweep at San Diego, two horrible losses and nearly a third to Arizona at Shea).

Jim, what kind of "distraction" has Cashman caused? I think that Mussina might be the only player who even knows that Cashman's contract is up. I understand that it has been an aggravating story, but wouldn't you rather have your favorite team's GM take all the time he needs to make a clear-headed decision? It's not like free agency has started or anything.

Regarding your latter point, Jim, what about Jimmy Leyritz? Look at what we know now! I realize that he is an extreme example; all I am saying is that you have to look at it on a case-by-case basis.

By the way, here are the key paragraphs from Brittain's piece:

"To state that blacks were not colluded against because there is no concrete proof would cause folks to lump you in with the flat-earth society. I mean, how else could players like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston and Martin Dihigo not land a job in MLB unless there was a collusive understanding to exclude them?

"Skeptics of those who feel Barry Bonds is being colluded against would never dispute collusion against black players pre-1947 despite the lack of hard evidence (the smoking gun), yet they demand just that when it comes to Bonds.

"In both cases though, it’s blindingly obvious … never before in baseball history has a talented player been deemed too obnoxious to employ and that includes abusers of women, statutory rapists, racists, steroid users, alcoholics, drug addicts, felons, men who threaten their own children with death etc. If they could help a team win ball games, they found work."

I know, I know, Ken: I enjoy beating dead horses, but once you "injected" Clemens' name into to our morning bloodstream, how could I resist? ;-)

Johan has obviously had a very good year. He's been a top 3 NL pitcher all year, so it's been money and talent well spent. It's not his fault the bullpen has cost him a chance to have 17-19 wins going into today's start. And a bad performance tonight, won't wipe away the fact that without him, the Mets aren't even in this position. Baseball is such a grind that judging one's year long contributions as a failure because of one small (timeframe wise not magnitude wise) moment serves little purpose. But, I think he can change his season from very good to superlative with outstanding performances in his final 2 starts. Of course that assumes a playoff berth as well, and for that he'll need the help of his teammates. And we know how that has gone this season.

JE, please clarify. Clemens denies he used PEDs. He hasn't been convicted and baseball hasn't disciplined him. He could have signed with a team and played. I am not going to judge him. He was a good player for the team that I root for and I am going to cheer for him until I have a very good reason not to. I still don't have that reason.

Ken, I am just sick of hearing about Cashman. I don't think he has done a particularly wonderful job. Yes, I want him to come back. But, I have to admit, that he does get on my nerves a little bit. This only adds to it. For someone that hasn't done a great job it's as if he wants to be begged to return. He gets paid a small fortune. I really don't care what he does. The fact this keeps getting written about means there isn't anything better to write about.

That is a terrific point that Brittain made, JE, and I fear that the chronic counterpoint that I've made all year - that I could understand teams not wanting to sign Bonds, due to age, character and distraction issues - could've been utilized by my equivalent in 1944.

The Yanks have a bunch of front office people that are frauds led by Randy Levine who wanted Torre outta here. I bet they were responsible for leaving Torre's name off because who else is responsible.
Cashman doesn't want to negotiated a new contract during the season. Perhaps the frauds in the front office want Cashman to leave also.

Jim, we are not talking about a criminal case against Clemens, just whether he deserved to be booed had he shown up at the Stadium. And in the court of public opinion, he has indeed been convicted, just like Bonds and Big Mac. And, frankly, if Clemens and Bonds and McGwire didn't knowingly use PEDs, then no one did.

Having said that, please note that I am not criticizing your right to applaud Clemens, only defending those who boo.

Who said anything about negotiating a contract for Cashman right now? Why can't he indicate he wants to return and say the contract will be taken care of later? Isn't this what I wrote hours ago?

Levine and probably Trost can't stand Torre. So what?

I wouldn't have booed Clemens. I think it's ridiculous that baseball focuses its PED spotlight on a few players when the use was widespread. I don't think many people comprehend just how vast the use was among players.

Clemens helped this team win. And I feel about his steroid use the same way I feel about Bonds: thousands of players used PEDs, but how many of them won 350 games and hit 700 home runs? You can't just shoot steroids into your butt and become Barry Bonds.

JE, I had to laugh about your statement dismissing the 2000 World Series. I guess you believe the Mitchell Report was complete and named every single player who ever used steroids. Since just about every primary player on the Yankees -- from their shortstop, centerfielder, left fielder, catcher, closer, first basemen and almost all of their starting pitching staff -- weren't included in that pitifully lacking report, I think you can considered the easily-won 2000 WS rightly honored.

Ken, should we call up Elias and find out the last time a team gave up two grand slams to pitchers in the same year?

Ken, here's a little tidbit that I missed during my first read of the Brattain piece: the Mariners' DHs this year have combined to hit .224/.271/.341! That is borderline criminal! Do we know if any AL team in this regard has done worse in these three hitting categories since '73? Moreover, I would enjoy comparing Seattle's futility with what the NL teams' DHs hit during their interleague series this year.

Well, props to the LoHud Mets blog: no team has given up two grand slams to pitchers since the '77 Cubs, ironically.

bailewalk, you are absolutely correct! Mitchell should have included the ENTIRE 2000 roster! ;-)

Look, I remain pissed at Timo Perez for not hustling on Todd Zeile's near-homer, Armando Benitez for walking Paul O'Neill to lead off the ninth, game two's home plate umpire (don't remember who it was) for not immediately ejecting Clemens for attempted battery, Derek Jeter for his leadoff home run in the fourth game, and future HOFer (!) Luis Sojo's seeing-eye single in the finale. (Honorable mention goes to that sudden gust of wind that knocked down Mike Piazza's moon shot on the warning track to end the Series.)

Oh, well...

To answer you original question Ken, no chance I look at Santana as a failure if the Mets don't win tonight. Look, the bullpen S-T-I-N-K-S! How many leads has the pen blown this year. Cut that in half (whatever number it is) and the Mets are in first right now. Santana's numbers support how great of a pitcher he is and I am super happy with what he has done this season. now, if you were to ask me about Aaron Heilmann's q-rating...........

Santana gave the Mets exactly the stats that were expected of him and the second half monster performance he is accustomed to giving every season. They should win the 2 games he has to pitch this week and that might be enough to clinch a playoff spot.
Randy Johnson was viewed as a failure because he was paid to be and brought to NY to be the ace of the staff and he sure was not that. Given the greatness of the guy, even as close to washed up as he was, he was still better than at least half the starters in baseball, maybe more, when he pitched for the Yankees. Still for what he was being paid to do, that wasn't enough. It's a lot like looking at Dice-K, regardless of his record, he sure hasn't been worth the $102 million dollars Boston paid for him, he isn't a falure, but he isn't worth the money either.
I could care less about Clemens, he's a phony, always has been, always will be.

Sandy, Dice-K is 18-2 with 2.60 ERA for the Red Sox this year. So I guess Dice-K is doing something right this year.
Joel Sherman had this stat on his blog today. The Brewers this year are 11-1 against the Pirates. And the Brewers play a 3 game series against the Pirates starting tonight at home. You figure the Brewers will sweep the Pirates at home. Which means the Mets have to at least take the next 2 out of 3 against the Cubs. That means if both those things happen, the Mets and Brewers will be tied for the Wild Card heading into the last weekend of the season.

People cheer for George Steinbrenner and he has a felony conviction, he hired a criminal stooge to follow one of his own players (Winfield) and was thrown out of baseball twicw by commissioners.

What have Clemens and Bonds been convicted of doing?

I agree regarding George, Bob.

Comparing Steinbrenner favorably to the CBS folks who once owned the Yankees reminds me of the rabbi giving the eulogy of a guy he didn't know. After some short, boilerplate remarks, the rabbi looks out at the assembled crowd, and asks if someone who was close to the deceased would say a few words. Silence. The rabbi asks again, but no one raises a hand. Suddenly nervous (this had never happened before!), he asks one last time for someone to talk. Finally, the rabbi spots a hand belonging to an elderly gent tentatively rise from the rear of the room. "You wanted to talk about David?" The old man responds, "Yes. His brother was worse."

About Santana. We've seen throughout the year that whenever they try to stretch him to stay away from the bullpen, he often can't do it. (I know he had two complete games thrown in there.) It almost seems like Pelfrey is better at putting the pitching staff on his back and taking control of things.

Santana has gone eight or more innings four times this year (out of 32 starts). We talk about how many leads the bullpen has blown, but that's also a product of his inability to finish off games, isn't it?

Dennis I understand Dice-K's record, but many games he pitches he cant get out of the fifth or sixth inning because of all the walks and pitches he throws. You should expect more for $102 million. The Red Sox bullpen hasn't been that good in the mid-relief area. Dice is paid like an ace but he clearly isn't the ace.

Bob, I don't know anyone who cheers for George. I never have. I consider him an embarrassment. I feel sorry for him because he is close to death (according to reports) and I absolutely hate watching people get old before my eyes. But he isn't someone to cheer for or respect, plus he ran his shipbuilding company into bankruptcy, which people forget when they describe what an acute businessman he is.

Ken,

Boy oh boy did I pick the wrong day to go to see a game at Shea for the first time in five years. I'm considering not going back on Friday, I'm bad luck! This morning on the drive back to school, there's an accident on the GW Bridge, so as a result, a drive that normally takes me two hours took seven. I'm trembling at the thought of what will happen if I go back to see the Mets on Friday.

As for the game, though, I did get one thing right: Soriano looked silly. Boy was he out of wack. I was surprised at the number of Cubs fans there and boy did they let us hear it after the Marquis slam. The second that happened, the whole crowd was out of it. Tonight is an absolute must-win in every sense.

Ken,

Thanks for the link to our article about Ozzie Guillen and Javy Vazquez above. Always appreciated.

I think it is an unfortunate reality...but a reality nonetheless...that "Ace" pitchers are judged by their performance in the biggest moments. This is on different than QBs in football...and I really don't think it is that unfair. Of all the positions in major sports, starting pitcher and quarterback have the greatest individual ability to dictate the outcome through their performance. Would a failure by Johan Santana tonight mean that his signing was a failure? No. Because they would not be in a position for this to even be a big game without him. Reasonable and rational fans (which, admittedly, can sometimes be few and far between) will understand this.

But...

If he falters tonight, it probably will be the most prominent memory for many fans and observers of his first year in New York. That's just how it is...in both success and failure. Aaron Boone is a beloved Yankee (who is apparently now more welcome in Yankee Stadium that Joe Torre...but that's neither here nor there) because of one moment. Moments create legends and goats in sports. That's just the way it is, and I think it's implied when you sign for a contract that big. You have to step up in big moments or be branded as somewhat of a (but not a total) failure.

If Javier Vazquez steps up for the White Sox tonight, I will probably forgot most of his horrible "big game" starts from earlier this season. If he fails, all of those bad outings get magnified. It just is what it is, and I think all players should understand that it's part of what they sign up for when they sign on the dotted line for big $$$.

Ken, you have to agree that Hank Steinbrenner has made some very good points in his Sporting News comments. I agree that revenue sharing is socialism at its best and the current divisional set-up/playoff qualification is ridiculous. Comments please.

Santana has earned his money and unless he pulls a total Glavine
(who pitched 3 1/3 innings COMBINED in his last two starts) will likely win his two starts. If either Perez or Pelfrey win their start, Brewers have to go 4-2 to even tie the Mets.

For Mets despairing about 2007, remember '99. After losing the last 5 games and being out of the playoffs in '98, the Mets lose a huge lead in '99. They right themselves and beat the Reds in the on game playoff. I think the Mets get it done this year.

What did you make of this story, Ken?

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/09/22/2008-09-22_pol_fears_that_yankee_stadium_selloff_wi.html

Wouldn't it be nice if your average New York public housing tenant (i.e., NOT Charlie Rangel) had the same rights that the Yankees appear to enjoy?

JE what is left unsaid in that article is the Mets have the exact same situation the Yankees do. Unless they put in the seats on their own dime, everything that is attached to a city-owned municipality belongs to the city. So they should NOT have the right to sell one seat and keep any profits at all.

Getting on here late. Ken, Johan could pull a Glavine and this season would not be on him. Speaking of that, I always laugh at how Mets fans are so freaking fickle. Had Glavine pitched a gem, Mets fans would have said he was a very good Met during his time. But since he gave up 7 runs in 1/3 inning, they forgot about all the good September pitching he did during 07. Next to Tommy Herr he is my least favorite Met of all time...but I do think objectively he gets a raw deal by Mets fans.

Having said this, Johan needs to step up tonight. This IS what the Mets pay him for. Much like Clemens earned his Yankee stripes Game 7 of 01.