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Sunday Links

Posted by Steve S. at 11:19 pm 3 Responses »
Jan 162010

-The Daily News catches up with Howie Spira. To nobody’s surprise, he’s done little with his life since the Dave Winfield-George Steinbrenner scandal that ended up with him in jail and George suspended from Baseball.  Apparently he still blames George Steinbrenner for the fact that he’s a lazy, unemployed scam artist.

-Bill James discusses the Red Sox shift to focusing on defense with old pal Peter Abraham, and on the strides defensive metrics have made in recent years. When Bill James talks, smart people in Baseball listen.

-The Texas Rangers moved another step closer to being sold to the Greenberg group, and Drayton McLane announced that he’s considering selling the Houston Astros to a group of investors. Expect both deals to get done, when an owner announces he’s selling a team it’s a tough thing to step back from. The last thing Bud Selig wants is a losing team with an owner who everyone knows doesn’t want the club. Bud can assemble a group of minority owners to buy most teams, if needed.

-Ouch. Tell us what you really think, Jack Clark. Andy Van Slyke really tears into Big Mac as well. As much as McGwire deserves it, Clark really just comes across sounding angry and bitter.

-WCBS radio’s Tom Kaminski has the latest update in his series of photos of the old Yankee Stadium demolition. It’s been an excruciatingly slow process and it still seems like little has been accomplished over the past 2 years. Shea Stadium went down completely in the off season between 2008/2009, and was even paved over for extra parking by the time the 2009 season began. The fact that (unlike Shea) it’s a densely populated area is likely slowing things down, they were able to pull down entire sections of Shea toward the end.

-Rob Neyer examines all the places Johnny Damon isn’t going. Your guess is as good as mine, but as I posted a while back that it wont be the Yankees. If I had to wager a bet, I’d go with the Nippon Ham Fighters at this point.

-Ever heard of a Yankee blog named Fonzie Forever? Neither had I, until they posted a terrific Top 50 list of Yankee Prospects with realistic projections and outcomes for each player. Give it a look, you’ll get a nice thumbnail sketch of pretty much every player you’ll need to know about heading into next season.

Ben Sheets to throw for teams on Tuesday

Posted by Steve S. at 7:11 am 7 Responses »
Jan 162010

Ben Sheets To Throw For Teams Tuesday

11:49am: Ben Sheets will throw for teams Tuesday at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, reports ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian. Said Sheets: “They’re going to like what they see.” Kurkjian indicates six to ten teams have expressed interest, the Cubs included. Kurkjian believes a one-year deal with incentives is in order. He says to “keep an eye on Seattle,” given Jack Zduriencik’s familiarity with Sheets. The Mariners were first connected to Sheets on December 11th by Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.

Kurkjian talked to Sheets about his year off from baseball, after the righty had flexor tendon surgery in February. Sheets feels “refreshed” and “fantastic,” and seems raring to go. He thinks he can regain his old form, adding “Watch, I’ll show ‘em.”

I wouldn’t expect him to say anything else, given the fact that he’s still on the open market and is selling his services to prospective bidders. But in this case, I believe him. His comments match up with his huge asking price (believed to be around 12 mil) and he’d better look great if he’s going to back up those kinds of salary demands in the current marketplace. The elbow surgery he had wasn’t Tommy John, it was the less serious Flexor Tendon variety, which is the kind that pitchers generally bounce back from well. Yankee fans may remember that top prospect Dellin Betances had the very same procedure last year and Mariano Rivera had it as well when he was in the minor leagues.

Unfortunately, I don’t see the Yanks getting involved in the bidding. They already have an excess of starting pitchers, to the point where Joba, Hughes, Mitre, Gaudin and Alfredo Aceves will all battle for ONE rotation spot this spring. They are said to only have 2 mil left to spend, and have a need to fill in Left Field. I’ve always been a big Ben Sheets fan, and while his injury history is long this is the first time it was anything arm related. I’ll venture a guess that he’s going to have a big season for someone next year. If the Mets were smart (ahem) they’d be very aggressive in pursuing him.

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