NYCurve Yankees Blog

Retired Yankee reliever, Rich Gossage, will be on the Hall of Fame ballot for the ninth time this year. Last year he fell short of the required 75% by a measly 21 votes. He is speculated by many to finally make it this year because the number of votes for him has increased a lot over the course of the past nine years. Also, with no definite first timers this time (like Cal Ripken last year), the now 56 year old definetely has a good shot at it.

Gossage was a power pitcher who packed many strikeouts in his day. He played for several teams, including the Yankees, but he was at his best during his tenure with the Padres. He ended his career with over 1500 strikeouts, 3.01 ERA, 310 saves (17th on the all time list), and a record of 124-107. During his era Gossage was one of the premier relievers. He will find out if 9th time is a charm tomorrow, January 8th, 2008. There are several other Yankees on the ballot this year including Don Mattingly, David Justice, and Chuck Knoblauch.

So it begins, Clemens has filed a lawsuit against ex-Yankee trainer Brian McNamee for defamation. Most of you probably already know the whole story between the two. If you don’t just look at some of my recent posts and you’ll understand. This is really getting old, but it was bound to happen. This is all part of the Rocket’s plan to prove himself innocent. If he is innocent this is all great, but if he turns out guilty then his legacy will become even more tarnished just because he went so far to prove that he didn’t do it. As a Yankee fan I really hope he isn’t lying, but we won’t find out for sure for a while (maybe never).

I didn’t expect this whole fight thing between the two to start until the meeting with Congress, but once word spread it started. The media probably has a big part to do with this too with many of their questions to Clemens and McNamee focusing on the matter. Interestingly the two had a phone conversation last Friday, where McNamee asked Clemens “What do you want me to do?” He even said he would go to jail for Clemens. Clemens’ response was “tell the truth.”

This year is the last in Cashman’s current contract, which brings up the question of whether or not the Yankees will make an extension offer to him. When asked about it, Cashman said he is not worried about that at the moment because there are so many other things going on that he doesn’t have time to worry about it. In my opinion that is a good approach to it because thinking about something like that would do no use. Instead, Cashman is focusing on his job and a potential deal with the Twins for John Santana. Whatever happens with that whole situation and how the Yankees do this season will certainly play a part in whether or not the Steinbrenner’s want Cashman back. I don’t expect them to make a contract extension offer until atleast half way through the season, when we get a better picture of how Cashman’s moves have helped/hurt the Yanks.

Roger Clemens, Andy Petite, and Brian McNamee (the ex-trainer who accused the two pitchers) have been invited to testify before the congressional committee in regards to the Mitchell Report. The committee is the same group who Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Rafeal Palmeiro had testified in front of a few years back. They recently decided to hold a second day of hearings so that they could get varied perspectives on the issue. These testimonies will follow day one of the hearings in which George Mitchell, Bud Selig, and union leader Donald Fehr will officially report their findings and recommendations.

Retired Yankee Chuck Knoblauch and ex-Mets trainer Kirk Radomski (who also made accusations) will join Clemens, Petite, and McNamee as well. So far none of those invited for day two have confirmed that they will attend, but it is very likely that they will. Roger Clemens’ lawyer has specifically said that “Roger is willing to answer questions, including those posed to him while under oath.”

This whole situation has a very “soap opera” feeling to it in my opinion. I wonder how Roger Clemens will react when he sees McNamee. McNamee has said that he had personally injected steroids into Clemens, but the Rocket issued a statement this week saying that it was nothing more than vitamin b12 and Lidocaine (a common anesthetic used to relieve itching and pain from skin inflammation). I am personally sick of this whole thing; maybe it is because I don’t like soaps.

This year is the eighth time former Yankee captain, Don Mattingly, will appear of the Hall of Fame ballot. He had a great career with the Yankees as one of the league’s best players, but he fell short with one very important thing and that was championships. During his fourteen years with the Yanks, we were able to win zero World Series’. It definetely isn’t his fault though because winning a World Series is a team effort, but critics always look at how many championships a player has won because frankly that is the ultimate goal of each season. Mattingly’s chances have also been hurt due to the the last few years of his career as a player, which were plagued with injuries. This brought down his effectiveness and in turn has lowered his appeal. Regardless of that sad decline, Mattingly deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame due to his leadership and stunning play when he was not injured. Whether or not this is the year for that to happen, we will find out soon.

The Yankees have received a lot of scrutiny from fans of other teams about how they did nothing this offseason other than bring the team from last year back. These naive people think that since its the same team, the outcome will be the same. I know that the Yanks [or their fans] don’t have to answer to fans of other teams, but I felt like responding to this one because that assumption is just bullshit. Just because the players are the same does not mean we will lose in round one of the ALDS again.

There is actually an advantage to having the same players return. As they practice and play more games with each other, they start to get more acquainted with the eachother’s playing styles. This helps them realize what each man’s strengths and weaknesses are. They can then use that information to play optimal ball for whatever situation they are in. The more the same team plays together, the quikcer the team chemistry grows and the players act as a more unified team, which is very important for any successful club.

Now lets move on to specifics. Particularly what many Yankee fans are referring to as the “big three”. Who? Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, and of course Joba Chamberlain; three young pitchers who were a major part of the rally last year. Only difference is, now they got another year under their belt’s and experience is always a great thing to have in professional sports. They are still young and learning so they should continue to get better for a while to come and if you look at what they’ve done so far that might be scary for other teams.

I am not going to pull the Joe Girardi card in this one because even though that was one of the changes made this off season, Torre was still a great manager, so that was not the issue.

Bottom line is, we may have the same base of players, but that DOES NOT mean we will have the same outcome.

Another slow day in the baseball offseason… No news today other than Mark Prior has signed with the Padres, meaning he won’t be in pinstripes. Not a big deal, especially if he keeps getting hurt. Well since there is nothing else new, here is another great performance by the Bleacher Creatures; Yankee fans are definetely the best in the sports world:

Ex-ballplayer and Yankee Jim Leyritz was charged with DUI manslaughter and DUI property damage today. He was driving drunk and ended up killing a man. As a result he was taken to the county jail where he posted his $11,000 bail bond. It is really a sad thing when a drunk driver kills someone and it is even sadder when the drunk driver is someone famous because there are always kids who look up to him.

Leyritz played with a few teams during his career which ended in 2000. He was popular among fans during his tenure with the Yankees, especially during the 1996 season when he hit a home run in game four of the World Series against the Braves. Currently Leyritz is working with mlb.com.

This year the Yankees’ luxury tax was reduced to $23.88 million. Man, we are really a thrifty bunch! But really, sure its a lot but it still beats the $26 million we paid last year and it is certainly an improvement over the $33.98 million we paid in 2005. The Rocket accounted for $6.98 million of this year’s tax and at the moment it doesn’t look like he’ll be returning, so our payroll should be lower this season (which will bring down the luxury tax). Well that’s unless we get Santana, in which case it may still remain about the same if we give him a big deal. But who really knows whats happening with the Twins ace?

I just ran across this video on Youtube and since it is Christmas is perfect for today. It is a 1947 newsreel of Babe Ruth playing Santa Claus for children with Polio. He doesn’t make the greatest Santa, but hey if it made the kids happy thats all that matters.