Kuzul

Field of Dreams: James Earl Jones (Terrence Mann) to Kevin Costner (Ray Kinsella): “Ray, people will come Ray.”

“They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. 

“Of course, we won’t mind if you look around, you’ll say. It’s only $20 per person. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it, for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.

“People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh…people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.”

While we are creeping a little closer to pitchers and catchers we’re still in the midst of what’s turning out to be one very ferocious winter. A lot of downtime with snow piling up everywhere, which may leave the mind to wander—contemplate a strong drink, fantasize about the neighbor’s wife and, in a pinch, strong, lingering memories of epic Yankee-Red Sox battles gone by. 

In this case we’ll do you one better—our own little Field of Dreams—and pull together 25-man rosters of All-Time Yankees and All-Time Red Sox and tee them off in a seven-game series that will have you seeing baseball stars.

So without further ado, we begin with the masked men, a group of receivers that have etched their own little corner in Cooperstown’s Hall of Fame.

Begin Slideshow

The Yankees missed on Cliff Lee. They didn’t act on Carl Crawford. Zack Greinke landed somewhere else. Many think it is doom and gloom for the Yankees. Instead, it’s all about the boom…the lineup. In 2010, the Yankees led the league in runs (859), RBIs (823) and OBP (.350). They were amongst the leaders in homeruns, OPS, hits.

In 2011, expect things to get even better with a healthy ARod, Posada being a full-time DH, Gardner improving and Cano no longer a slow starter.

Begin Slideshow

Baseball is one of the most unpredictable sports in the world.   

Before the season starts, predictions are made of who will do this and who will do that.  But, the truth is, that there are so many different things that can and will happen.  Every season, the unexpected happens.

Whether it be in the form of a young player having a monster year.  A mediocre player who suddenly becomes a star.  A veteran having one last kick at the can, or a perennial all-star having an off year.

Either way, these things are hard to predict.  But, I have created a list of players  of whom I believe will fall under one of the four categories mentioned above during the 2011 MLB Regular Season.

Begin Slideshow

The last coals have just about burned out in the Hot Stove for this winter.

The New York Yankees made no significant trades or free agent signings.

As a result, Yankee fans should be very concerned about the upcoming season.

To begin with, Brian Cashman and the rest of the Yankee brass put all their eggs in one basket and nothing hatched.  It is well documented that the primary gameplan was to sign Cliff Lee and they failed. The only good thing that can be said about Lee is that he left the American League.

There were not many good options for front line pitchers after Lee.  But Cashman failed to sign anybody.

The only addition to the Yankee starting rotation for 2011 is that Javier Vazquez is gone, hopefully for good.  If there was ever a time to speak of addition by subtraction, this is the time. But of course, we all thought Vazquez was gone for good after the 2004 season only to see Cashman trade for him last winter.

Andy Pettitte has not re-signed and Cashman has said the Yankees are resigned to losing him to retirement. That is a major loss for the team.

The Yankees could have signed Carl Crawford. But Cashman was so intent on Lee that he did not attempt to sign Crawford until he was gone to the arch-rival Red Sox.   Now Yankee pitching will have to face him in 19 games that will be even more important than when he was playing in Tampa Bay.

The Yankees might have signed Jayson Werth. But again, he was allowed to go somewhere else without much attention being given to him. Again, as with Lee, at least he didn’t sign with an AL club where he could haunt the Yankees repeatedly.

Cashman said he was very well satisfied with Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher in the the outfield. Puzzling is the best way I can analyze this. When you could have added Crawford or Werth for just money, you are satisfied with Gardner, Granderson and Swisher?

Do Gardner, Granderson and Swisher really embue anyone with great confidence in the Yankee outfield? Not this observer.

The Yankees have the greatest infield in the game and perhaps in the history of the game. All four players have Gold Gloves and all are among the most productive offensive players at their position. 

However, there are reasons for concern even among this glorious quartet. 

To begin, Mark Teixeira, was oft-injured last season and one now must at least wonder if he is less durable than once thought. 

And his propensity to start slowly has become a real problem. Games won in April and May count the same as games won in September.  Tex has done very little early in the last two seasons to help the Yanks win in the early months.

Robinson Cano is one of the truly great stars of the game, both offensively and defensively.  But after one of the hottest starts in memory, Robbie saw a reduction in production every month of the season. He filled the five spot in the order magnificently.

But is there any room for improvement?  Can he continue to perform at the level he showed last year?  Questions that can only be answered over time.

Derek Jeter is a year older. So is A-Rod. Realistically, anyone who thinks on this subject objectively has to expect some reduction in performance from these two great players. 

Will Jeter hit .270 again? No. He will hit much better in 2011.  But will he hit .320 again? Doubtful.  And his defense will not continue to be as good as it has been.

A-Rod shows signs of wear as well. When you see him run the bases you understand that the hip or something is still bothering him.  Or perhaps it is more accurate to say he is limited by the injury.  His power numbers were down to some extent. And he is not as good in the field as he used to be.

Jorge Posada will be the full-time DH, and he does not like it. I don’t care that the media says Cashman met with Jorge and everything is fine. Posada was surly with limited time behind the plate last year. 

He will be worse than Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men in 2011.  He will be poison to the team next year. Posada has also been injured frequently over the past three years and he will enter 2011 at age 39.  He will not be what the Yankees want as a DH.

Everyone should be happy with CC Sabathia heading up your starting rotation. CC just came off knee surgery. There is no reason to believe he won’t make a full recovery.

But CC has carried a load of innings over the past several years as no other pitcher has.  There have been many concerns expressed that at some point it has to catch up with him. Was the tear in his meniscus only the first indication that wear and tear is catching up.

Phil Hughes was great in 2010. He is young, healthy and has been over protected against too much work. But to expect him to repeat his 2010 performance is expecting a lot. If he has 18 wins, that will be fantastic. Don’t expect any more from Phil.

There are not enough psychiatrists in New York City to fix AJ Burnett. Talk of Dave Eiland working with AJ after Eiland’s return to the team are meaningless now since Eiland was fired.  No one knows what new pitching coach Larry Rothschild will do.

But AJ’s problem is not with his arm or his slot or his mechanics. AJ Burnett’s problem is between his ears. Don’t expect anything any different out of Burnett in 2011 than what you saw in 2010.

Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre and a handful of lesser knowns are the most likely choices to join CC, AJ and Phil in the rotation. There is nothing to give us Yankee fans much hope here.

The brass will have to rebuild the bench. Gone are Lance Berkman and Marcus Thames. Ramiro Pena and Eduardo Nunez are still Yankee hands, but don’t expect too much.

Signing Johnny Damon is ridiculous and only slightly less ridiculous than signing Manny Ramirez. Neither one of those signing is going to happen.  Nor should they.

Another major cause for worry is that the Yankees signed Russell Martin to whom the Dodgers gave an outright release.  What that says is that Jesus Montero is not ready to catch in the bigs. If Martin is the answer, somebody is asking the wrong question.

One final area which has already caused problems for the Yankees in 2010 and will resonate for years to come arose in this offseason.

The Yankees treated Derek Jeter shabbily. Yes, they ended up signing Jete to a contract that pays more than he is worth on the field and recognizes his past accomplishments and intangible contributions to the franchise.

But the method used to arrive at the contract and the impact on Jeter will hurt the Yankees for years to come.

If you could get Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford to talk about it, I would bet that they would mention how Cashman and the Steinbrenners and Randy Levine treated Jeter during the contract negotiations.

“It’s going to get messy…” “Shop it around….” 

Can’t you just imagine Cliff Lee sitting at dinner with his beautiful wife and asking:  “If they treated Derek Jeter like that, how are they going to treat us?”

The Yankees have a great many problems.

There are a lot of reasons for Yankee fans to worry about 2011 and seasons to come.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The New York Yankees have made small signings this year, especially after they missed out on the Cliff Lee Sweepstakes.

Players include Russell Martin, Luis Vizcaino, and Pedro Feliciano.

And if you look at it in a positive way, this is still a similar lineup compared to the 2010 team when they reached the American League Championship Series.

Adding to that, there is money that can be spent on even more signings, which can be critical.

But for now, here is the projected lineup and starting rotation of the New York Yankees, for the 2011 season.

Please read this Joe Girardi. Please.

Begin Slideshow

For the past two seasons, Derek Jeter has been leading off for the New York Yankees after spending many years in the two-hole.

At the beginning of 2009, Joe Girardi explained that Jeter was a “more pure” lead-off man than Johnny Damon. Speculation has it that it was also because Jeter frequently hits into double-plays.

The move certainly didn’t do any harm to the order as the Yankees posted back to back years of high offensive productivity.

In 2010, however, Jeter was not the reason.

The captain suffered one of the most grueling seasons of his career with a .270 average and a myriad of failures in the clutch.

Although even I feel that it was just an off-year for Jeter, would dropping him back a little in the order be a good idea?

After all, many have entertained the idea of giving Brett Gardner a shot at the lead-off role.

Why not?

Lead-off men are often judged by two things—speed, and the ability to get on base—Both of which Gardy possesses.

Gardner posted a whopping .383 on-base percentage with 79 walks.

As for his speed, anyone who has seen him play knows that it won’t be an issue.

Gardner’s hitting ability is criticized by many to be very sub-par, but Gardy’s .277 average lies.

Well on pace to hit over .300 before being hit on the wrist by a pitch from the Dodger’s Clayton Kershaw in July, Gardner hit .232 in the second half compared to .309 in the first.

It is, of course, impossible to say how much of an impact that the wrist had on Gardner’s performance, but it definitely played a role.

Whatever the case, Gardner is the perfect leadoff man.

Just think—How many times could this happen with him batting first?

Gardner walks, steals second and gets driven in by meat of order—Cano, whom I think should bat No. 2 next year, Teixeira, and Rodriguez—who all had over 100 RBI in 2010.

Imagine how many times we could jump on a team quick like that!

So think about it. How does this lineup sound?

1) Gardner

2) Cano

3) Teixeira

4) Rodriguez

5)  Nick Swisher

6) Jorge Posada—DH

7) Jeter

8) Curtis Granderson

9) Newly acquired Russel Martin

(Jeter and Granderson are interchangeable)

So, again, think about it.

PS—

Merry Christmas and Go Yanks!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Come on everybody let’s sing! “It’s the most wonderful time of the year, duh, duh, duh duh duh duh, blah, blah blah blah blah blah, it’s the most wonderful time of the year .”

That is, except for the obscenely manic, your compulsive over eaters, and New York Yankee fans already fretting over the state of their team and the very recently improved roster of their hated rival, the Boston Red Sox.  

Unlike all that turkey and gravy, pretty pies, whatever else your mama’s preparing for the holiday season’s biggest meal, I find that last described upset a little hard to digest.

After all, we are in the throes of another blustery winter, and for one, the New York Football Giants look strong heading into a highly critical Sunday match up with their own heated rival, the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Just across locker room way, the Jets, while not looking anywhere near as muscular as they did a couple of weeks ago, still have a pretty legit shot at the playoffs. (He said tongue in cheek—I’m not much for the Green & White, can’t really imagine why anyone else would be either aside from the fatty corn beef and heady parking lot cocktails that start around nine o’clock on a typical, football Sunday morning and last, via flasks masked as thermoses—or is that the other way around?—until utter oblivion sets in sometime later that afternoon or evening.)

Knickerbocker basketball has almost magically returned from utter absentia. Amar’e and Co. are on a roll, Madison Square Garden is once again electrified and tonight the high flying men from Manhattan will be entertaining another team New Yorkers love to hate from the top down, Pat Riley, Dwayne Wade, Lebron James and the Miami Heat.   

Even the Rangers, yes the once famed Blueshirts, (a hockey team that many city dwellers have been forced to forget about these past many years under threat of becoming overtly non responsive), are playing pretty well—20-13-1, fifth in the East—how’s that for a surprise?

So by no stretch of the imagination is this great northeastern metropolis lacking for easy to feature sporting news these days, in fact this may be the greatest collective abundance of good news multi team loving New Yorkers have had to embrace in a very long time. 

Of course that doesn’t do much for the endless breath of N.Y. Yankee beat writers dealing up columns for those things people used to read called newspapers. Lately there’s been a deluge of reporting over the Cliff Lee tragedy.  Oh fare thee well, Cliff, may you live long and prosper in the City of Brotherly Love & let’s see you out-pitch Giant ace Matt Cain or long haired, cannabis loving, Tim Lincecum next time the two or three of you should meet. 

But even with all the commotion over Lee, (finally dying down), and his truthfully, refreshing choice to take less and perhaps enjoy life more in Philadelphia, the notable focus of the expansive Yankee press is already returning to the teams near century old rival—the suddenly bigger spending Boston Red Sox.

You see with the laudable additions of speedster Carl Crawford and ex Pod slugger, Adrian Gonzales, the ‘Sawx, by popular report, have flown by the Yanks who’ve been relegated as of now—at least in the New York if not nationwide press—to nothing more than a potential Wild Card contender at best.

So with that in mind, or having been said, let’s take this opportunity to segue into a quick comparative, position by position look at the Red Sox & Yankee’s to see if things are really as hopeless as currently deemed—as if heading into the season as something other than a heavy odds on favorite to win it all is something to contemplate slitting ones wrists over—for a team that has won 27 World Championship Titles and forever has it’s collective mind on adding additional hardware to the worlds largest trophy case.  

Begin Slideshow

Spring training may still be two months away, but the cold winter months have had little success subduing MLB’s offseason hot stove.

The fall of 2010 has been an eventful one in the baseball world, even with the free agent class being as thin as it is.

As always, there are some teams that have added tremendously to their chances of World Series title contention in 2011, and plenty more that have been set back further, whether by their own missteps or by the unexpected choices of those they pursued (cough…Cliff Lee…cough).

With the likes of Adrian Beltre and Vladimir Guerrero still on the market, the hot stove might very well stay that way right up until Opening Day at the end of March 2011.

With that in mind, here’s a mid-December look at the offseason’s biggest winners and losers thus far.

Begin Slideshow

The New York Yankees are once again the center of the baseball world this off-season.

Drama tends to shadow any sports teams that exist in New York, but the Yankees manage to draw the most.

Blame it on the team’s history of success or the owner’s outlandishly deep pockets. Whatever the reasoning, it becomes irrelevant.

Fact is that people love to hear about what the Yankees are up to, lovers and haters alike. With emotions running so high whether you are playing or watching sports, untrue and over-exaggerated stories start to sound factual.

Here are a few off-season fictions and facts that New Yorkers are immersed in:

1. “And they just had him slip away in free agency despite outbidding the winning Phillies by about $50 million” – Joel Sherman, NY Post.

From my “non-sports fan” girlfriend, to my mom and even my doorman, all have stated that Cliff Lee taught the Yankees a lesson, as if the Universe should be very concerned for the future. Walking away from $30-50 million to NOT have to wear the pinstripes should speak volumes about the business approach the Yankees take.

Problem is this number was so overly exaggerated, as the Phillies will be paying Lee $18 million in 2011, $25 million for the next four and, if goals are fulfilled, Lee will pocket $27.5 million in 2016.

The Yankee offer was $138 for seven years. You do the math, because I can’t seem to find where the $30+ million dollars are hiding out?

THE FACT is Lee wanted to be a Philly, loves to hit and enjoys playing in the NL. The money had no weight because the offers were all in the same league. So, Yankee fans can stop worrying, but it is time for Philly fans to welcome their team into the “Evil Empire.”

1. “Brian Cashman may believe he has a championship-caliber team, but the oddsmakers no longer view the Yankees as World Series favorites.” – Mark Feinsand, New York Daily News

Not getting Lee has somehow made the 2011 Yankees into non-contenders. Words like “desperate”, “trouble” and “finished” have been the theme, along with the Red Sox making the World Series without question.

This theory is ludicrous, as the Yankees are still a competitive team.

Taking no credit away from Boston’s GM Theo Epstein, who did his job superbly this off-season by acquiring Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. Boston also lost Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez, who were the glue that held Boston together in 2010 when more starters were on the DL than on Coach Terry Francona’s roaster.

Yes, the Red Sox improved by getting faster on the bases, an area which was never strong to begin with, so it will make some difference.

This is a free country, and everyone is entitled to an opinion, but predicating unreasonably only makes the source lose complete creditability. For anyone to say the Yankees team is screwed next season is so off base it’s preposterous.

1. “While the New York Yankees’ 2010 season came to a disappointing close, it would still appear inevitable that the team will want to re-sign Derek Jeter, its franchise shortstop. But it appears just as inevitable that his on-field performance isn’t worth nearly as much as he will likely want to be paid.” – Tephen J. Dubner, New York Times.

The performance of Yankees shortstop, and Captain, Derek Jeter has always had its critics, but he continually proved them wrong up until 2010 when Jeter’s slump seemed to be never-ending and the media said he was finished.

Yes, Jeter is 36 and age does eventually catch up to everyone, but to say he will never see productive days again is just stupid.

One out of seventeen seasons is pretty good and surely gives creditability in Jeter’s favor that it was a fluke. To pounce on Jeter like wolves and state that a retirement home seems a better fit than Yankee Stadium is just pure jealousy rearing its ugly head.

Players like Jeter should be praised no matter what because the sports world is now filled with celebrities who take their talents for granted.

Athlete’s respect for the game, whether it is football, baseball or basketball is becoming extinct. It’s all about “getting mine”, and “what did I accomplish”.

Kids everywhere idolize athletes and to be so quick to dismiss a man like Jeter is embarrassing. I can promise you that Derek Jeter will have a great year next season, if only just to prove everyone wrong is good enough for me. Still, Jeter did win the Gold Glove again so that ship has not nearly sunk at all and who’s to say attitude is not valued even more than talent.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As Christmas approaches, fans of the New York Yankees have been left with nothing but coal in their stockings.  This isn’t by any means meant to be a slight on recently acquired catcher Russell Martin whose signing makes for a decent “stocking stuffer.”  It is the big prize though that has so far eluded the Yankees.

Fans of the Bronx Bombers expected their annual free-agent gift to be delivered in the form of Cliff Lee but were left with Ebenezer Scrooge-like feelings when he opted to return to the Philadelphia Phillies.  Now another Yankee target in Kerry Wood follows suit by making his own homecoming.

Around midnight central time, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal broke the news that Wood was returning to the Chicago Cubs.  Wood, 33, has agreed to a two-year pact with the “North Siders” worth $12 million to once again become their closer.  By returning to Wrigley Field, his career has now come full circle, back to a setting in which he made his debut as a 20 year-old rookie phenom.

Winter hopes haven’t come to fruition for Yankees general manager Cashman who has been left out in the cold all offseason.  The rival Boston Red Sox have already delivered two major presents to their fans in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, something that Yankee fans are usually accustomed to.  Acquiring Martin and oft-injured starter Mark Prior wasn’t what most imagined would be the Yanks’ biggest captures thus far.

A growing number of Yankee fans have begun to question Cashman who will need to dip into his farm system to acquire not only one but two talented starting pitchers if Andy Pettitte decides to hang up his spikes.  Speculation that the enigmatic Carlos Zambrano is on his radar isn’t encouraging and anything short of landing Felix Hernandez or Zach Greinke will only make disgruntled fans’ voices louder.

The public handling of Derek Jeter’s new deal hasn’t helped Cashman’s standing as even outside the greater New York area, fans nationwide felt he insulted the revered Yankees captain.  His comment during negotiations infuriated many non-biased hardball addicts: “We’ve encouraged him to test the market and see if there’s something he would prefer other than this. If he can, fine. That’s the way it works.”

Treating Jeter like an over-the-hill utility man in contract talks infuriated baseball fans nationwide and even the classy shortstop admitted his distaste for Cashman’s methods.

“I was pretty angry about it, but I let that be known,” Jeter said.  “I was angry about it because I was the one that said I didn’t want to do it, that I wasn’t going to (test the market).  To hear the organization tell me to go shop it when I just told you I wasn’t going to, if I’m going to be honest, I was angry about it.  I never wanted to be a free agent.”

The pressure will surely increase on Cashman if he is unable to acquire a dominant starter, make due with an unpopular trade or force unproven young arms into the Yankees rotation.  Cashman whose job is “to play Santa for the Yankees” has a long list in front of him if he is to assemble a team capable of challenging the Red Sox for the AL East, let alone a squad capable of making the World Series. 

Besides a top-tier starter or two, New York is in need of a new setup man in Wood’s absence.  David Robertson had an awful postseason, as he gave up vital runs that led to their 2010 playoff elimination at the hands of the Texas Rangers.  Joba Chamberlain can’t be trusted either as the formerly standout reliever is now seen as an unpredictable question mark.

Some baseball analysts feel that Nick Swisher should be moved after the free-spirited outfielder had yet another poor postseason.  In his two seasons as a Yankee, Swisher complied pitiful playoff averages of .128 and .176 in 2009 and 2010 respectively.  His erratic defense and lack of range also add credence to the thought that New York would be better off without the right fielder.

Instead of focusing on speedy outfielder Carl Crawford, Cashman turned his full attention to the pursuit of Lee, who behind the scenes made little indication that he wanted to come to the Bronx.  With Brett Gardner as the Yankees’ only consistent base-stealer in their lineup, Crawford would have been a welcome addition.  He would have given the Bombers two speedsters capable of swiping 50 bases apiece.

Along with Gardner and Curtis Granderson, Crawford would have made the Yankees outfield one of the most athletic in all of baseball and a long-term heir to Jeter’s spot in the top of the order.  With Crawford snapped up by the Red Sox, Cashman should still consider dealing Swisher and finding a younger, more athletic outfielder to improve New York’s flexibility in not relying on the long ball.

All of this being said, Cashman is still a very shrewd businessman.  He has stockpiled coveted minor league talents to deal away to reshape the Yankees roster into one that is worthy of returning to the Fall Classic.  It will be interesting to see how he goes about addressing his club’s needs as he definitely has his work cut out for him.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com