Tuesday, December 20, 2005

F This/Where Have You Gone, Bill Lee?

Remember when Sonny told Calogero that Mickey Mantle didn't give a shit about him?

I feel like Calogero felt when he heard that.

None of these shithead macho jocks cares about anything except the money that's waved under their noses. David Ortiz aside, of course. What's the point in rooting for any of these people? What if Steinbrenner said he's changing the yankees logo to an Old English red "B"? Would yankee fans still root for the yankees? Why should I choose a side in a game where all the sides are the same?

I'm not even worried about the yankee lineup being yet another (eyes rolling completely back in head) "murderer's row." Their pitching still isn't that good. As long as they don't win the World Series, I'll be happy. And all the old, crew-cutted, buttoned-down, robot Johnny Damons won't get them that this year. I just feel sick because the face of the Red Sox is on the yankees.

In the meantime, I authorize any and all garbage-throwing. Go on the field and mess up the game when Johnny's out in center field. It doesn't matter anymore. Go on the field and tackle his sorry ass. During a play, when he's concentrating on the ball.

I at least had respect for my yankee fan friends, even though for some reason, they decided in the last few years to still root for that team. But now, and this means you Chan, I don't consider you a human being with a soul if you can still root for the yankees. No matter how good a person I know you are.

The Red Sox-yankees rivalry is just a Fox TV show anyway.

I hope that in twenty years I can still like the Red Sox and maybe share that with my kids, and tell them about the days when people didn't just haphazardly play for one team and then that team's rival.

Until then, I'll just be happy with as few yankee fake-ass championships as possible. Hey, guys, I just started a baseball league and my team is the only team in the league who's allowed to have players with legs. I win! I am a champion! I am a better person than all the rest.

You know what I can't wait for? (besides Damon breaking his fucking leg) When George Steinbrenner finally dies. I can't wait to see all the crying full-of-shit yankee fans and go up to them and say "Too bad Steinbrenner's fucking dead." And they'll probably tell me I'm Osama bin Laden or something.

Speaking of terrorism...well, I don't want to get arrested, so I'll stop there.

Cuban baseball, people. A league where loyalty means something.

Burn in hell, Johnny. Say hi to Thurman Munson while you're down there.

Comments:
Still in disbelief.
 
Good to have you back, Boz. Maybe the Munson mention was too low on the page...

Well, after sleeping on this, I've decided that the good news emotionally is that we'll never see the Damon we knew (with the hair, etc) on the yanks. We can think of him as a different guy. A different guy who better hope he doesn't walk by me on the streets of New York.

Also, I forgot to mention dirt dog in all of this. You finally get to see Johnny all clean-cut again. I also heard he's having his family history officially changed so that no non-whiteness appears in it. Congratulations, dirt dog. I think your next project should be to drive David Ortiz out of town. Also, please die.
 
I just heard the news...I hate Scott Boras with a passion...can we all say...BAD FOR BASEBALL?!

Damon can rot in hell with that loser Bellhorn for all I friggin care (my heart is broken).

First our infield is destroyed...now our new "co" managers are working their way through the outfield too.
 
Wow, there's some deep animosity here. The only question I have is, can you blame the guy??

With Manny on the way out, the Sox will be lucky to finish third. No wonder Epstein wanted to get off of this ship.
 
"None of these shithead macho jocks cares about anything except the money that's waved under their noses. David Ortiz aside, of course."

And Tim Wakefield.
 
"In the meantime, I authorize any and all garbage-throwing. Go on the field and mess up the game when Johnny's out in center field. It doesn't matter anymore. Go on the field and tackle his sorry ass. During a play, when he's concentrating on the ball. "

"You know what I can't wait for? (besides Damon breaking his fucking leg) When George Steinbrenner finally dies. I can't wait to see all the crying full-of-shit yankee fans and go up to them and say "Too bad Steinbrenner's fucking dead." And they'll probably tell me I'm Osama bin Laden or something.

Speaking of terrorism...well, I don't want to get arrested, so I'll stop there.

Cuban baseball, people. A league where loyalty means something.

Burn in hell, Johnny. Say hi to Thurman Munson while you're down there."

Wow! As classless and insipid as it gets. You, sir, are an embarrassment to Red Sox fans.
 
bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla
 
"Wow, there's some deep animosity here. The only question I have is, can you blame the guy??
With Manny on the way out, the Sox will be lucky to finish third. No wonder Epstein wanted to get off of this ship."

No, I don't blame him one bit for taking the $52mm...it's an idiotic contract offer from a team that doesn't know how to do anything except throw around money stupidly, and choke in the playoffs despite a $200mm+ payroll.

I thank Johnny for a tremendous career in Boston. He'll be an asset to the MFYs in '06, but by '08 he'll be as much of a corpse as Bernie was last summer, and the Sox will have a better player in CF. The only ring Johnny Damon will ever win was in Boston in 2004.
 
Jere, remember after reading this that we're friends, ok? I blame this, as well as the Theo fiasco, on our upper management being embarassingly slow and almost immune to the player's feelings while in the end trying to sign him to a fair deal. 4 years at $13 mill. per is a fair deal, but upper management just hemmed and hawed and totally forgot that Theo and Johnny had great histories with the club and should be treated as such. They were treated like SERVANTS. So lay off the guy a little bit and point one of your fingers or toes to upper management as being at least partly, if not mostly, to blame. I KNOW that you agree with the gist of what I'm trying to say, my buddy.
 
And Manny is going nowhere except right here to drive in 150 runs batting behind Dr. Big Papi. An overlooked story today that I wrote about before the sun came up.
 
One positive to this will be the all the hilarious yankee fan backtracking that will be going on over the next few months. If I had a dime for every time in the last four years I've heard from yankee fans about how outrageously terrible Damon's arm is, and how he's an embarassment to the game because he had long hair, I'd be loaded. I'll remind all those yank fans of how much they thought he sucked when they gloat about this. The haircut will fix one of those problems, I suppose. but his arm certainly won't help the team in those yankee stadium power alleys. Get ready to see Jeter running WAY out into the outfield for cut-offs.
I'm glad the Red Sox didn't give him 4/$52 mil., the yanks will really regret that deal before it ends.
I hope Steinbrenner dies, as well, by the way.
 
I was pretty down on this trade, but if it's going to make Red Sox fans this insane, I'm all for it. Go Yanks.
 
trade, free agent signing, whatever
 
I really don't know how you can blame the Sox front office. 4 yrs $52mm is only a fair deal relative to the deal Furcal got, but that one is ridiculous too. Miguel Tejada only makes $13mm/yr, and he's a far superior player to a 33-yr old Johnny Damon. I would have been okay with him accepting the Sox' 4 yr/$40mm offer, but that still would have been on the rich side. I trust this front office will acquire a younger player with a broader skillset that includes a good throwing arm.
 
You missed my point AJM. The problem lies with Sox upper management leaving people they are dealing with twisting and turning like a spare rib on a spit while trying to figure out what their next move, if any, will be. Finally, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and Eff the Red Sox. Is that clearer.
 
I think it works out fine for both sides. That was too much for Boston to spend on him, and money means nothing to New York. C'est la vie. No one to blame.

We'll keep a-rollin. No sweat.
 
See, here's what's funny. When Boston won it in 2004, they had the second biggest payroll. And if I remember right, it was quite a bit more then third. So the Yanks aren't the only one who spend to win.

The other thing, you only have to look to last year to see where this was going. Pedro wanted an extra year on his contract. The Red Sox hestitated, so he walked. They dinked around with Theo, so he's gone. Now it's happened again with Damon.

As far as Boras, he's doing what he gets paid to do and that's get the best deal for his guy. You guys are whining like the owners did back in the mid 70s when free agency was on its way.
 
Typical Sux fan.

Day 1: F you Damon, you sellout, blah blah blah
Day 2: Smear campaign begins. He was never that good, blah blah blah
Day 3: In Theo we trust. Our behind the scenes GM will get a better guy than Damon, blah blah, blah
 
"See, here's what's funny. When Boston won it in 2004, they had the second biggest payroll. And if I remember right, it was quite a bit more then third. So the Yanks aren't the only one who spend to win."

Actually Nick, what's funny is that you're an idiot Yankee fan trolling on a Sox blog. As for the Sox payroll, it's only 60% of the team they have to compete with in the division, and the gap between the Sox and the third highest payroll is a small fraction of the gap between the Sox and the Yanks.

You're actually right about one thing, though: Boras did exactly what he's paid to do for his client. The only problem for you is that it involved conning the Yanks into giving a ridiculously bad contract to a guy who's gonna be deadweight by year three of the deal.
 
How does Jere attract all these Yankee fan spammers? Am I just really lucky?

Anyway, I actually like Scott Boras. I think he's an intelligent guy, from what I've read/ seen, he actually does love the game, and since I don't think he uses guns/ machetes, the owners can thank themselves for paying for it. Either that or the fans can thank themselves for supporting the product to the point where salaries like this can be commanded. He shouldn't be railroaded for asking.

I think he really helps the Yankees alot, but that the Red Sox were also smart not to spend too much. Yes, the Red Sox are second in payroll, and can spend tons of money. No argument there. The difference between them (and everyone else) and the Yankees is, the Yankees can absorb huge mistakes and wasted payroll. No one else can.

That's why this was a decent deal for everyone.

But, as a fan- I'm going to miss Johnny Damon. I personally saw nothing at all about him to dislike. Hard worker, always played, nice guy, could handle his surroundings in Boston well, and had some tremendously big hits for us. What wasn't to love?

I don't love him now, though, obviously...
 
"You missed my point AJM. The problem lies with Sox upper management leaving people they are dealing with twisting and turning like a spare rib on a spit while trying to figure out what their next move, if any, will be. Finally, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and Eff the Red Sox. Is that clearer."

No, I don't see how there was any problem with how the Sox front office handled this one at all. They offered him 4 years, $40mm, which was at the high end of what was prudent to offer him. All the rhetoric coming out of Damon and Boras' camp today aside, there's simply no way he was taking a material discount from that $52mm offer to stay in Boston. And frankly, I believe that even if the Sox had matched the ante, Steinbrenner would have just upped the bid and/or tacked on another year. Damon was the shiny toy that the Red Sox-obsessed Yankee front office was desparate to take away from Boston.
 
This is the best deal since it shows how stupid the sox and everyone involved with this are. You have basically the face of your team wanting a contract and the management pussy-foots around thinking he'll sign with them no matter what, and it blows up in your face. Johnny will be successful, all he has to do is catch fly balls and run fast. The Yanks don't need his bat or his arm. You can also tell your Sox pitchers to duck next time a ball comes there way, unless they like taking baseballs of the melon. SOX SUCK!!!!
 
Jere,

somebody dropped a link to your blog on Bronx Banter. with all the trolls invading your site is gonna look like Middle-Earth
 
AJM, what's funny is, you know very little yet you still want to write down your random thoughts.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1778397

I don't know about you, but 25% over third is pretty significant to me. Maybe a math refresher is needed.
 
//"None of these shithead macho jocks cares about anything except the money that's waved under their noses. David Ortiz aside, of course."

And Tim Wakefield.//

And Trot Nixon.
 
I don't know about you, Nick, but the fact that the Yankees had a payroll 45% greater than that of the Sox in 2004 is more significant than 25%. 45% greater...and yet they still choked away a 3-0 ALCS lead. Pathetic. And Yanks/Sox payroll gap, jumped to 69% in 2005...while the gap between the Sox and the third highest Mets payroll was only 21%...that's what I was talking about above. 21% is only 30% of 69%.

You're welcome for the math lesson. Enjoy watching Johnny Damon decay on the Bernie Williams half-life table in 2007.
 
Ah, it always comes back to Sox fans inferiority complex with the Yankees. 2004 is when the Sox won the World Series, and you can't argue that they didn't buy their World Series anymore then the Yankees have been trying (of late, yes I acknowledge they haven't won in a few years) to buy the one they finally stumbled on.

And you mention pathetic. It's pathetic that since you can't argue your own point, you hide behind the Yankees losing in 2004.

But that's fine. It looks like while your team is getting dismantled, the Yankees are just getting stronger. I can understand why you'd be a little irate.
 
The final word on this should be, Damon helped your squad win a World Series. The first in a long, long time. And while some of the people here are taking the high road, most are blasting him. It would be like me trashing Bernie Williams for not accepting arbritration.
 
Irate? You're the clown trolling for attention on a Sox blog...obviously you're pretty upset and obsessing about that massive ALCS choke job. Just like Steinbrenner's Red Sox obsession led him to give that ridiculous contract to Damon. And kinda stupid of you to argue that the Sox bought the World Series in 2004 when, to get there, they beat a team with a 45% higher payroll. But then, why should I expect logic from an MFY-fan troll?
 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
yes I acknowledge they haven't won in a few years
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Well that was good of you.
 
One last thing, Jere:

I meant to say after reading your original post that I don't think you should be showing that much venom for Damon for going to the Yankees. I don't see how he could turn down being grossly overpaid like that. The only issue I have with him are the CYA statements about how he tried really hard to come back to Boston. The Sox made him a very attractive offer, so trying to trash the efforts of the Sox front office in order to try to save face with Sox fans really isn't cool in my book. Just take the money, and enjoy it, Johnny. I'll still look fondly on your Boston career, and I'll enjoy watching you turn into an albatross for the Yanks in a couple years...just like Bernie.
 
This whole reaction just drives me nuts. Why does everything with this club (and by 'this club' i mean the red Sox) need to be such a fucking soap opera? For chrissake, we had a dude playing center, we thought he wasn't worth as much time/money as the next guy, who signed him. It's really that simple. There's no morality play here, no backstabbing, no shady backroom maneuvering. IT'S A BUSINESS. I'm personally glad we're not paying for Damon's inevitable slide into mediocrity, coming to a ballpark thankfully not near me in 2007, but that's as far as it goes in terms of my reaction to this event. The whole Yanks/Sox thing has by now gotten so ridiculously stale and old, I just don't care anymore. I really don't. If the Yanks win the division this year and the Sox come in second, or third, or whatever, it's fine. It's baseball. I am looking at this team right now and seeing a younger, more versatile club that will be competing long after the Yankees start installing wheelchair ramps from the clubhouse to the dugout to the field. If it means sacrificing next season - which I don't think we've done, as I think there's a decent chance that Jeremy Reed or whoever we get to play center could outperfom Damon next year - in order to get that kind of club that has a core of players passing through their primes simultaneously and surrounded by intelligently-acquired complimentary players, fine. Finish last next year, if that's what it takes.

We all knew this was going to happen. The sox were too old and too pricey to improve, and it's pretty clear that last year's club wasn't gonna do it. So we've managed to at the same time trim payroll and age, and acquire some very very exciting young players. Maybe more, soon. I'm all for it. Johnny Damon wasn't going to be a part of that, unless he took fewer years than he wanted; if we'd signed this deal, I guarantee you by 2008 everyone would be rueing it. So, honestly? Stop whining. Stop trying to turn this into some clash of the titans, good vs. evil, spy vs. spy bullshit. It's baseball, and it's a business. I'd rather run my business this way than the Yanks way.
 
I basically agree with this move. But it must be said ... the Yanks offered $12 million more than the Sox for Damon. The Sox reportedly paid something like $11 million to get rid of Renteria. As of right now, for that money, I'd rather have both guys on the team next year.
 
Well, for one thing, I'd start with the fact that if what you said were true, those same 6 or 7 teams would be the ones making the playoffs and winning the World Series every year. They're not. The White Sox beat the Astros in the World Series this year; they ranked #13 and #12, respectively, in total payroll. The other playoff teams' ranks? #1, #2, #4, #6, #10, and #16. Weighted towards the top? Absolutely - but on some level, that's both to be expected and not to be castigated. It's simply obvious. Nevertheless, teams other than those top 6 or seven make the playoffs every single year, and frequently win it. Over the last 5 seasons, that is going back to 2001, teams with a top 5 payroll have won the World Series exactly once. The others were scattered throughout the spectrum, from bottom third to middle third to 6-10. Their opponents? Very similar. Playoff teams in general over that span? Exactly the same. So, I guess on some level I have no idea what you're arguing, or what it has to do with my previous comment (which had little to do with the business of baseball other than to divorce it from the ridiculous morality arguments I'm so sick of), but no matter what you meant, you still happen to be wrong.
 

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