Pinch hitting at The LoHud Yankees Blog

My post on Peter Abraham's blog was published this morning. Here it is:

Last season was tough for all Yankees fans to handle. Under a new manager and in the final year of the old Yankee Stadium, the Yankees missed the playoffs. This marked the eighth straight season in which the team failed to meet expectations. Once again, they proved that having the highest payroll doesn’t mean much in October.

But for me, this season was even stranger. Being a 20-year-old, my earliest baseball memory was the 1996 World Series. I was 8 at the time, and didn’t fully grasp what exactly happened. Not until I saw signs reading “World Champions” did I finally understand how big this moment was. After that, Yankees would continue to reach the playoffs year after year. One could say that winning was my birthright.

The words “winning” and “Yankees” were synonymous for an impressionable young fan like me. I began to think this success was normal. Another year would pass and another championship would be celebrated. After five years of following baseball, the Yankees had won four World Series titles and no one seemed to get in their way. Life as a baseball fan couldn’t be better.

But the loss in the 2001 World Series immediately brought me back down to reality. While I was upset, I realized the world didn’t end and life would, eventually, go on.

And life continued to go on for the next six years, though 2004 was the hardest. Even the oldest Yankees fans had to be shaken by what transpired during those four games in mid-October. Sometimes I deny it even happened.

I have almost grown numb to these playoff “failures” over the last few years. The older, poorly-constructed pitching staffs were no match in a short series. When the Yankees tried to go younger last season, injuries and ineffectiveness derailed another highly-paid campaign. It happens, but around the Bronx over the last 15 years, we’re just not used to it, especially fans of my generation.

Seeing the Yankees out of the playoffs for the first time as a fan was definitely a weird experience for me, but a lack of a championship is something I’ve been able to handle as I’ve matured as a person and as a baseball fan. I’ve begun to realize that winning is a privilege and not a birthright.

I wish the same could be said about some Red Sox fans I’ve encountered at school. You see, Quinnipiac University is located right between Boston and New York, the epicenter of the rivalry. After the Red Sox won the 2007 World Series, one of my (former) roommates exclaimed, “It’s been three long years!” It’s amazing what a stretch of winning can do to a fan base. Needless to say, watching the Rays quiet this “dynasty” up at school was rather fulfilling.

The 2008 season was humbling for Yankees fans. It made me realize just how difficult and special it is to win just one World Series, let alone four in five years. Those teams of the late 90s were special indeed – I just wish I was a little bit older to fully appreciate them. We should all be grateful to have witnessed their performances on the field.

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I appreciate any feedback. Thanks to Peter for giving us bloggers this opportunity again this year.

Guest blogger: Jeremy Schilling

The following post is written by Jeremy Schilling from the fantastic J Schil's Blog. Jeremy is one of my good friends from college and can be heard on WQAQ-FM, The Soundtrack of Quinnipiac (time: TBD) and covers the golf team for the WQAQ Sports blog (which I edit).

The New York Yankees got more money from the City of New York today for the new Yankee Stadium. Yes, the richest team in baseball that just spent half a BILLION dollars on THREE PLAYERS in the offseason is needing more public financing.

80,000 jobs have been lost so far in the United States in 2009. Fronting today (Friday, Jan. 16)'s dismal report was the announcement of the liquidation of Circuit City. American families are hurting big time -- some living paycheck to paycheck. And like that isn't worse enough, some are having to choose between vital medicine and food!

Yet the Yankees are begging for more of OUR money. That's right: OUR money. And at the same time they're raising ticket prices in the new stadium. And at the same time their spending OUR money eliciting the help of some fancy real estate company to help sell the remaining high-priced seats. I frankly hope they don't sell.

I'm a Yankee fan...just like many who will read this post. And I hope this team plays well this year. But the way the Yankee hierarchy has spent both their money and OUR money is unfair, unjust, and plain old painful in these economic times.

I'm not sure what would make the Yankees change their ways, but I sure know that giving them more $$ isn't going to be the solution.

Thanks, Jeremy.

What are you thoughts on this topic? Let Jeremy hear them in the comments section.

Pinch hitting at The LoHud Yankees Blog

Peter Abraham has - for the second straight January - allowed members of the Yankees blogosphere to "pinch hit" on his blog. I jumped at the opportunity once again.

My post will appear on his site a little after midnight on Jan. 18, so be on the lookout and let me know what you think.

Here is what I wrote last year.

Off-topic link

My good friend Jeremy Schilling (two L's) asked me to guest blog on his blog, J Schil's Blog (one L). I happily obliged.

Needing an idea, I asked another good friend of mine, Andrew Vazzano (two Z's) of The 'Ropolitans (no Metro). Having already written about how he hates tomatoes, he suggested writing about how much I hate headphones. Enjoy.

During the course of the school year, I will post my articles from The Quinnipiac Chronicle as well. Hopefully they won't be as ridiculous and nonsensical as what I wrote for Jeremy was.

Much ado about winter

The following is my guest post at the LoHud Yankees Blog:

Following another early playoff exit, things were looking grim for the New York Yankees. Joe Torre, after 12 successful seasons, was out after what was probably his best managerial job (winning 94 games after starting 21-29), and many thought free agents Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte would follow in a mass exodus. Alex Rodriguez also opted out of his record contract during Game 4 of the World Series.

But by the end of December, the Yankees were successful in retaining their free agents. Some of their contracts bothered me, while others were smart.

Posada, a 36-year-old catcher, has played in 131 or more games behind the plate every season since 2000. I would have been hesitant to give him four years and $52.4 million at that age for fear of him breaking down, no viable replacements in-house (the catching prospects are extremely young) and a lack of position mobility. However, at the time, Rodriguez looked like he was a goner and the team couldn’t afford to lose Posada’s bat after he had a career year. The Yankees blew their chance to get any sort of discount by refusing to negotiate during spring training.

Rivera also received a bloated contract (three years, $45 million). I would have given him a two-year contract with an option, but Rivera also felt slighted that he wasn’t spoken to during the spring. Rivera had probably the worst season of his career this year, yet he was rewarded with a pay-raise ($15 million per year for a closer pitching about 70 innings is ridiculous). An option would’ve allowed the Yankees to gauge where Rivera was at the age of 40.

The biggest and most expensive move involved the reigning M.V.P. Rodriguez signed a 10-year, $275 million contract with bonuses for home run milestones (making it potentially worth $305 million). The contract is a relative bargain, as it is not back-loaded when he’s past his prime.

Losing his right-handed bat would have been a crushing blow to the team for the upcoming season. But in the long-run, if he left, it could have been beneficial to the team. His production is irreplaceable, but the Yankees would’ve had more money to sign cheaper, quality players to stray away from the all-star lineup concept which has failed to win playoff games since 2004.

With the young pitchers likely having innings caps this season, re-signing Pettitte was a must. After declining his $16 million player option to weigh his future, he signed a one-year contract for the same amount a few weeks later. His production last season (15-9, 4.05 ERA), however, probably doesn’t warrant a deal worth that much.

I don’t like LaTroy Hawkins, but I liked his contract (one year, $3.75 million). The Yankees finally realized they shouldn’t give multi-year contracts to mediocre relievers.

Yes, this isn’t my money. However, with the luxury tax becoming a factor, the Yankees should become more cautious in their spending. They should also reevaluate their policy of not negotiating during spring training. They probably could’ve gotten Rivera and Posada to re-sign at much lower values.

I am very excited for the Joe Girardi era to begin. I loved his hire, because he won the 2006 National League Manager of the Year award with a young team and the Yankees appear to be headed in a younger direction as well. Hopefully Yankee fans will have a lot to cheer about when October rolls around this year.

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Any feedback or comments are appreciated.

Update on guest blogging

Yesterday, I mentioned that I will be guest blogging on Peter Abraham's LoHud Yankees Blog.

Anyway, he e-mailed us all today with the guest blogging schedule. My post is scheduled to be up on Jan. 9. I will also post a copy of it here on that date.

He said he was strict about his 200-500-word limit, which was bad news for me. My draft was well past 700 words. I've been taught in journalism classes to be concise and to trim down, but it's very hard to delete what you've written if you really like it.

It's also pretty funny how motivated I was to start writing this piece. As soon as he e-mailed me saying I was in, I got right to work. If this was a school assignment, I would've started writing on Jan. 8.

Guest blogging on the LoHud Yankees Blog

Last night, Peter Abraham of the LoHud Yankees Blog extended an invitation to established Yankees bloggers to guest blog on his very popular Yankees blog.

I quickly e-mailed him saying I was interested, and he later let me know that I was one of the chosen few. I don't know how many bloggers actually took advantage of the offer, but since the writers have to be from established blogs, all of the writing should be informative and thought-provoking.

I had no idea what I wanted to write about at first, but I eventually settled on a post recapping the Yankees' moves this off-season. I have been working on it on and off since then, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to post on his blog.

So be on the lookout in January! He said he'll e-mail us all a schedule as to when it's our turn to post. I'll let you all know when I have more concrete information.