It feels like this has been going on for something like a year now. Maybe we’ll get some real news this week as MLB’s winter meetings progress.
For now, it seems as though the Yankees are not part of the Harper sweepstakes and are instead focused on Manny Machado. General Manager Brian Cashman said as much when asked about it on Monday.
Via ESPN:
“No time at all all winter have I said I’m looking for an outfielder,” Cashman said. “The Harper stuff … I’m surprised you’re still asking.”
When he was first asked about Harper during a session with Yankees beat reporters on the first full day of this year’s winter meetings, Cashman rattled off the names of his six current outfielders (Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Clint Frazier) as reasons he isn’t looking for a seventh.
Would the Yankees sign Harper — who could command a total deal worth $300 million or more — and get him to exchange his outfielder’s glove for a first-baseman’s mitt?
“I’m sure it’s potentially a possibility, but it’s not something that we would play on at that level with that type of money, to play somebody like that at first base,” Cashman said.
Yesterday Gabe Kapler raved about Harper and didn’t seem to have much to say about Manny Machado in comparison. Bob wrote about that.
A few more rumors and notes floating around out there, after the jump:
“Yeah, I don’t really want to get into too much detail. I love Robbie. I’m just not surprised,” said Teixeira, a baseball analyst for ESPN since retiring after the 2016 season. “I don’t really want to go too much further, but I think a lot of people are kind of saying the same thing.”
……
Teixeira said he considered Cano’s associations in his New York days when formulating his suspicions about him.
“Let’s just use this situation here. Robbie Cano’s assistant was on the list for Biogenesis,” Teixeira said, referring to the clinic at the center of MLB’s 2013 PED scandal. “Now, of course, [he] had an assistant, you know, buy stuff for him. Alex Rodriguez got popped by Biogenesis, and [former Yankees outfielder] Melky [Cabrera] got popped. They were best friends. When someone gets lumped into that group, it’s because there’s evidence. There’s a paper trail. There’s a smoke trail.”
Interesting.
Teixeira played 1st base on the 2009 World Series squad and was Cano’s teammate for five seasons before the latter left New York for Seattle.
I think it’s pretty obvious, based on those quotes above, that the 2009 Yankees were vile cheats. THEREFORE – the Phillies are back-to-back World Series champions.
Under MLB’s drug policy, a player is not automatically suspended for use of a diuretic unless MLB can prove he intended to use it as a masking agent.
A source familiar with the case told ESPN’s T.J. Quinn that Cano tested positive before the season and appealed. During the appeal, MLB apparently was able to determine his intent, which resulted in Cano dropping his appeal, the source said.
Cano said he was given furosemide by a licensed doctor in his native Dominican Republic and the substance is used to treat “various medical conditions” there and in the United States.
“While I did not realize at the time that I was given a medication that was banned, I obviously now wish that I had been more careful,” Cano said.
I’m not sure if any Phillies fans care about the Mariners, but Cano is an ex-Yankee and played on the 2009 World Series squad. He had three hits and an RBI in 22 at-bats. He was pretty bad in the series but drove in 85 runs during the regular season and was a major cog on that team.
Someone shared this tweet on the CB Slack chat:
Updated list of PED users from the 2009 World Champion #Yankees
– Alex Rodriguez – Robinson Cano – Andy Pettite – Melky Cabrera – ???
Before Jimmy Rollins was shipped out west to drape himself in Dodger blue, there were rumblings he’d be headed on a northbound Amtrak to don some pinstripes. Those rumors were shut down when we found out that Ruben Amaro was asking the Yankees for their top prospects (which they were not willing to give) and that J-Roll™ would turn down any trade to the Yankees with his no-trade clause. “Good,” we thought. “He won’t betray us to go play for everyone’s enemy.” But Rollins was thinking “Hell no, there’s no way I’m replacing Jeter.”
And why didn’t he want to fill Jeter’s well-worn shoes? He’s too old.
“I wasn’t going to go after (Derek) Jeter,” Rollins told Jon Heyman. “If I was 26, Ok. But I’m 36. There was not enough time.”
[Editor’s note: Never has a player been more concerned with his place in team lore than Rollins.]
Enough time for what? To make his mark? To exit Jeter’s shadow? To do something with the Yankees? To get to the gift basket store? I don’t even care. I understand Rollins had to go and I’m fine with him in Dodger blue. Those navy pinstripes though? Hello no.
I read this story twice to make sure it wasn’t some sort of satire. As best as I can tell, it’s not– the Yankees actually – allegedly – employ hoodlums to travel with the team and rat on hecklers and would-be instigators.
This blog post, via Hardball Talk, about the private security detail that follows the Yankees around and hangs out in outfield concourses around the league:
Fans of Toronto beware: the New York Yankees can pretty much kick any fan out ofRogers Centre. How you ask? Bullpen trolls. Individuals paid to travel with the team to enforce and control the fan environment that their players participate in. On the surface, this may seem harmless, but on Friday night during the Blue Jays-Yankees matchup, these individuals preyed on fans who did nothing but be fans. They told the Yankees bullpen staff they sucked, booed them, creatively chirped them and then, as if a threat to the safety of these players, these fans were removed by police, one bloodied and arrested.
To eschew any accusations of bias, I and many others in our section witnessed two individuals in Yankees jackets, complete with Yankees lanyard ID tags walk into our seating area and point out to Toronto police two fans who were chirping and heckling the Yankees bullpen. One individual, who was later violently arrested, did nothing but look at these two Yankees “men in black”. After starting a chant to the tune of “Yankees suck”, one of these bullpen trolls decided to photograph me with their mobile device. With a disgusting smile, he waved at me.
Somewhere, Alex Jones just blamed these guys for the Boston bombing.
But for realsies, this is ridiculous. I have no problem with the Yankees, perhaps America’s most famous (and hated) team, traveling with their own security for players – in fact, I applaud it – but it is oh so Yankees to rat on boisterous fans daring to dissent against the Evil Empire. Like, heckling has long been a part of the game. This is more controlling the message than protecting the players. This is how Saddam ran things. How Kim Jong-un does his thing. And, apparently, the New York Yankees.
I’ve been conditioned to hate the Yankees with every fiber of my being. But excuse me for a moment as I get something out. I’m sorry, it’s been a while and I might get it everywhere: RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL.
Sorry about your headboard.
There was a time when my phone autocompleted that. But not anymore. Ibanez is a Yankee now, and only wearing a Yankees jersey would a 40-year-old on the back end of his career hit game-tying and winning home runs in a playoff game while replacing one of the greatest players of all-time. Only in a Yankees jersey. That sort of thing only. fucking. happens. to. the. damn. Yankees.
Anyway, that’s your #dickpunch for this morning: Raul Ibanez, beloved Phillie, now a Yankee, pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez in the ninth inning yesterday and tied and won the game for the Yankees. And, if for just a brief moment, you found yourself rooting for the Bronx Bombers. Along with Shane Victorino:
Of course, there’s a silver lining to your confused pain– the complete emasculation of Alex Rodriguez by good guy Ibanez. Look atthese New York columnists lining up to bury A-Rod. Raul did that, kids. Raul did that.
While we enjoy the tabloidy nature of NY’s third newspaper (pot, kettle), sometimes they can go trolling a bit too hard trying to create a story where there is none.
The Phils are in a tough spot. They are in the midst of the best stretch in team history (five straight division titles, two pennants, one title). They want to honor that run and the full houses they get each game at Citizens Bank Park by continuing to go for it. But to get there they have had to strip their farm system while elevating the age of their major league roster. They need a mechanism to get younger while still contending.
They could contend without Lee if Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Halladay get healthy/productive (remember, they won it all in 2008 with just one unquestioned ace in Hamels). And they can’t win even with Lee if that trio does not rediscover close to their peak form. But either way the Phillies would be best served with an injection of talented youth that Lee could bring in a trade.
His expense might scare away some teams, and he has been on the disabled list in each of the last two seasons for abdominal/oblique injuries. But he is 33, not 38. He’s proven he can thrive in both leagues, a tough market and the playoffs.
None of his points are even close to wrong and, honestly, I agree with everything he wrote. But this is the way trade rumors get started. It goes from this would be a good move to hey, are the Phillies trading Lee to the Yankees? to the Yankees are about to get Lee… all because a columnist was having a slow day…
…
Hmm.
Actually, yeah, let’s talk about this.
The fact that we’re here – seriously entertaining the notion of trading Lee – is a bit sad. When Lee signed with the Phillies in 2010, my initial reaction – if even for just a split second – was oh my God, where are they getting this money? That was quickly replaced by fuck yes! and me almost breaking my ankle jumping up from my computer (really).
And, after that, we all celebrated the deal for the next 10 months until Lee blew a 4-0 lead to the Cardinals.
Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction, some dude once said. And that’s often the case when sports teams experience an embarrassment of riches. The tide quickly shifts from fortune to misfortune. The Phillies had two, maybe three years to make the pitching thing work. But Roy Oswalt quickly becoming old, injuries to Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Roy Halladay, and Ruben Amaro’s inability to assemble a balanced baseball team have put the Phillies in an unfortunate position earlier than they expected: Their window is dangerously close to slamming shut, the master plan seems to be ruined after Year 1, and huge contracts to Lee and Howard likely mean that they can’t re-sign Cole Hamels.
So here we are, talking about trading Lee, who, just over a year ago, was to go down as the most beloved athlete in the city’s history. The sad part is almost none of this is his fault. Sure, he’s hocked up a few leads, but he’s mostly pitched well, often streaming excellence for four or five starts at a time. He makes a lot of money, though (less than he would have made elsewhere…), and it would probably make sense for the Phillies to free up that money to sign Hamels, a pitcher who is five years younger and just now entering the point of his career that saw a guy like Lee win a Cy Young and dominate two postseasons.
Of course, if the Phillies weren’t 900 games out of first right now, we wouldn’t care about those things.
