Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

The latest from the Bronx

More than a quarter of the $370 million in taxpayer financing in the Yankees' latest demand would go to shiny new toys like giant video screens and upgraded luxury suites, documents show.

Nearly $95 million is for "scope modifications" - items not in the team's original plan when it got $942million in tax-exempt bonds via the city . . .

. . . The Yankees' $95 million in extras includes $14.2 million for a scoreboard, $10.7million for a giant video board and $10.4 million in luxury suite upgrades.

The team wants more money to make room for two restaurants, a New York Yankees Steakhouse and a Hard Rock Cafe.

"It's terrific that they want to have a Hard Rock Cafe and a steakhouse there, but why should the taxpayer pay for that?" [Assemblyman Richard] Brodsky asked.

Kevin McClatchy is out

Former Pirates managing general partner Kevin McClatchy has sold his remaining shares in the team, ending a 13-year relationship that began with the newspaper heir ensuring that the club remained in Pittsburgh.

McClatchy's spot on the five-man Pirates board of directors will not immediately be filled.

"This was a personal decision that I felt was best to make at this time," McClatchy said in a statement issued Wednesday by the Pirates. "I care deeply about this organization, the city of Pittsburgh and the people of this region. While I will no longer play a role with the club, I will always passionately support the team in any way that I can."

Wedding Bells

The Yankees’ drama du jour

Andy Pettitte is extremely unhappy with how his negotiations have gone with the Yankees, and the lefthander might be softening on his opposition to rejoining the Astros . . . Pettitte believes that the Yankees should display more appreciation for all that he has done for them . . . Though Pettitte is popular among teammates, fans and media, emotional breakups play a significant role in his biography. He left the Yankees for Houston after the 2003 season, feeling jilted by the team that drafted him. And he returned to the Yankees after the 2006 campaign, feeling that the Astros didn't display much interest in bringing him back.

In fact, Pettitte still harbored bad feelings against the Astros heading into this offseason, and he very much wanted to be part of the Yankees as they opened their new stadium.

Congratulations to Eric Mangini, whom I've never met but with whom I feel a kinship because he, Jeff Juden and I were born on the exact same day. I'd tell you the day, but like Mangini, I like to play things close to the vest. I will throw you a bone and tell you that it was sometime between Copernicus' death and yesterday.

Oh yeah?

With the news that John Smoltz may be headed to the Red Sox, it should come as a no surprise that the Braves appear to be intensifying their pursuit of another free-agent pitcher: Derek Lowe.

According to a baseball source, Lowe is scheduled to meet with representatives of the Braves this afternoon in Atlanta. The Braves have spent much of the offseason looking for another starting pitcher since since acquiring Javier Vazquez from the Chicago White Sox and now appear focused on Lowe as that alternative.

It’s . . . interesting.

The uncanny similarity in shape between the baseball diamond and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which has been pointed out before, is what sparked the idea for this work, but the similarities do not end only in form.

While the Tree of Life, or Etz haChayim (עץ החיים) in Hebrew, is a mystical symbol used to understand the nature of God and the manner in which He created the world, it also depicts a "map" of Creation. It details the various spiritual elements of the world that surrounds us.

To the true baseball fan, concepts such as beauty, splendor, strength and wisdom are just as much a part of the game as the sacrifice fly or the seventh inning stretch. These spiritual entities are present in every facet of the game, and they stand as a microcosm of our life experience, enriched and fulfilled.

Fantasy baseball

OK, no more negatives. No more whining about how the Astros have taken a step back in the off-season.

I'm sold.

I am officially convinced your 2009 Houston Astros will be unstoppable on their way to the World Series. They are the best team in the Central Division. Once they get in the playoffs, we all know anything can happen. This will be their year.

MLB = Pravda?

However, there was a stray phrase in one segment of Tuesday’s Hot Stove that made me do a double-take, and risks dampening my enthusiasm for the network as a whole. The segment was about the Yankees‘ history of spending on high-profile free agents. In it, reporter Greg Amsinger divided the Steinbrenner era into four parts–1973-1981, when the team spent on premier free agents like Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage and Dave Winfield, and won championships; 1982-1995, when the team “join[ed] other franchises in self-restraint and a change of philosophy that led to a title drought in the 80s;” 1996-2000, when the team built from within and used mid-market signings to become a champion again; and 2001-present, when the Yankees have been on a fruitless spending spree with no end in sight.

If the quotes didn’t give it away, it’s the description of that second part that rubbed me the wrong way. Set aside that the description doesn’t quite fit the time period carved out–the Yankees spent freely on the market for all but a short part of that fourteen-year period–the fact is, there’s a very specific term for the “change in philosophy” that caused the Yankees to briefly join other franchises in “self restraint.” It was called collusion, a dark period when baseball’s owners brazenly violated their labor agreement with the players, and had to be ordered to pay nearly $300 million in damages as a result.

I’m hoping that the “c-word” just slipped Amsinger’s mind while preparing the segment. Otherwise, it’s a real unpromising sign of what we can expect from the MLB Network going forward. Collusion wasn’t self-restraint, it was an illegal agreement between baseball’s clubs to restrain each other. More importantly, the collusion era is old news–if the MLB Network is going to put a glossy pro-ownership spin on embarrassing events that happened over 20 years ago, how can we trust them to report reliably on current events?

Smoltz to the Red Sox?!

John Smoltz is leaving Atlanta for the most stunning of destinations.

The Boston Red Sox.

Smoltz, 41, is on the verge of signing a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Red Sox, according to major-league sources.

The deal also will include $4.5 million in incentives, giving Smoltz the chance to earn a total of $10 million, sources said.

Today at THT