Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
"Absolutely, staying with the Yankees is my first priority," [Hideki] Matsui told Sankei Sports. "But I want to feel that the Yankees really need me. I want to be respected. If I feel the Yankees do not need me anymore, I am ready to [talk to another team]."
(Hartford Courant)
Brian Cashman met with Hideki Matsui's agent, Arm Tellem last night (in an editorial today in the Times, Murray Chass explains why Tellem is such a shrewd operator). It is expected that Matsui will remain in New York, but he won't be a bargain. While Joe Torre has acknowledged that Matsui is most comfortable in center field, it is unlikely that the Bombers will go that route. Well, how about Rafael Furcal? Say again? Well, according to Ken Rosenthal:
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman asked one of Furcal's representatives if Furcal would be willing to play center. Furcal, 28, likely will rule nothing out at this early stage of free agency — he routinely shags fly balls with Braves teammate Andruw Jones and jokes about replacing him in center. He not only is athletic enough to play the position, but also could bat leadoff for the Yankees, forming a dynamic 1-2 combination with Derek Jeter.Even if the Yankees aren't completely serious — and when are they not? — the high demand for Furcal almost certainly will enable him to land a five-year contract and possibly a six-year deal.
That's rich, huh? Meanwhile, Joe Torre tells Daily News Yankee writer Anthony McCarron, that he's spoken with Bernie Williams:
The two old friends had played phone tag for about a week before finally talking yesterday and Joe Torre came away with the sense that Bernie Williams wanted to continue his career as a Yankee, though Williams knows that he'd be a sub rather than the team's starting center fielder...."I think he'd like to stay. Nobody's making commitments either way and he knows center field isn't what I've had for 10years, where he's been the first man on the field.... I sense that he wants to come back in a different role."
In the same article, Torre also endorsed the idea of giving Andy Phillips an opportunity to be the second-string first baseman.
Sounds like Matsui's taking a page from the Pedro Martinez playbook: respect = money.
And regarding Matsui's respect = money thing. Well, yeah. Nothing odd about that. I mean, I'm looking for a new job right now, and the higher the offers have been, the more these guys are expressing in business terms that they value my work history, respect my abilities and exhibit a desire to bring me onto their team.
I think Matsui, who just seems no-nonsense, is using a formal meaning or the word respect which is completly appropriate.
Here's a thought: maybe the Yanks needs aren't addressed by this free agent crop. There's a lot of "Yeah, but..." free agents out there. Example:
"How about Damon?"
"Yeah, but he's like 32 going on 40"
OR
"How about Brian Giles?"
"Yeah, but he's on the wrong side of the hill."
If that's the case, don't sign these guys. Get creative w/ a trade or make due w/ what you got in your system.
(In Napoleon Dynamite voice): Gosh!
And lets be honest about Phillips. When Joe says give him a shot, he probably means about 1 weeks worth of ABs.
Avg # of games per year: 156
Life time BA: .303
lifetime OBP: .411
Avg HR 29
avg RBI 95
okay, okay, let me come down.
I know it's a long shot, but chiggity-check out the guys OBP during the first month last year when he couldn't hit for nothing.
Okay, breathing again. Fantasy baseball, I know, I Know
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze78spq/yankees.htm
They did a special issue about "The Secret Lives of Men." About men's emotional lives, near as I could tell. Anyway, the article is about the deep friendship among Rivera, Posada, Jeter, and Williams. (They started hanging out together in Columbus because Posada was a family man, Rivera was very religious, and Jeter was too young to drink. :)
The four of them seem painfully aware that such friendships don't survive retirement.
//Then, as if describing the final fear, the one that, traditionally, has bedeviled men, the fear of losing their purpose and their friends when they retire, Williams blurted: "I have no idea what's going to happen after the game. None. If I think about it, it takes my breath away."
...Early in a player's career, fear is simply an energy, an itch. As a player matures, fear becomes a vision, a picture of one's final game.
"We say we will always be close. But you always think that every moment is always. And it never is," said Posada the next day, as the clouds vied with the sun to dominate the midmorning light. He joined Williams, Jeter and Rivera in front of the dugout for photographs, and continued. "I see how it is, once a guy leaves the game. We're all happy when he comes back, and there's a lot of catching up, and then there is this moment when there is nothing left to say." //
Wouldn't surprise me if Bernie took a paycut and a reduced role to stay on with the Yanks.
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