I have been giving a lot of thought recently to the typical Yankees' fan retort of "27 championships." As a Mets fan, it gets old. I mean, the Yanks won their first World Series in 1921, long before my grandparents were even aware of what baseball was. I get it - the Yanks are an amazing franchise, but I think as a fan, you shouldn't be able to claim championships that you were not involved in (meaning of course for fans, that they were unable to cheer for). The Yankees have 7 titles since 1970 so I think the most any Yankees fan of my generation can claim is 7 - still, way more than the Mets, but not 27.
And really, it goes even further than that. From 1901 to 1960 their were 16 total teams in the league. Based on random chance, that equates to 4 titles, already more than the Mets have in their history. All the credit to the Yanks for winning 17 titles during this span, but really the game was sooo different back then. The biggest difference was the lack of free agency - once a players signed with a club, the essentially owned that player's rights for their career. There was also no draft which meant that the teams with the most money could pay top price for the best players. So if a team had good scouting and their young talent turned out to be amazing, then they were set for the next decade. I won't suggest that signing Mantle, DiMaggio, and Gehrig were all luck, but you know the Yanks were allowed to throw around more money than say the St Louis Browns. And trading for Babe Ruth? Not exactly dumb luck, but there is no way they could have imagined what they were getting. No draft to evenly disperse incoming talent and the smaller player pool (due to the exclusion of black and Hispanic players) meant that rival clubs had no means of acquiring talent to catch the Yanks.
It seems crazy to think that the existence of free agency would have led to Joltin' Joe to take more money from another team, but it is entirely possible. In today's game, players move from team to team with ease. While there are Haves and Have Not's in terms of financial power, free agency has led to an amazing parity in terms of World Series winners. In the previous decade there were 8 different winners (6 during the 1990's and 9 during the 1980's compared to 5 in both the 1940's and 1950's). The Mets have been around since 1962 and really the first 5 years were lost because of expansion hurdles. Starting in 1969, the year that the Mets won their first title (which I don't claim as one of mine because I was not born yet), the league had 24 teams. That same year Curt Flood refused to accept a trade and became the catalyst for free agency. By 1969 the Yanks had won 20 of their titles.
If anything, I think the Mets caught a bad break of being born right on the fringe of free agency, in a league with 24 teams. The Yankees deserve credit for winning all their titles - I didn't do the exact math, but I feel confident in saying that the number was significantly higher than chance alone - but they were fortunate to play in a different era in which their stars didn't leave. Had the Mets been around since 1900, they would have 10 titles too. Less than the Yanks, but much higher.
So please, Yankees fans, please calm down with the "27 title" thing. We get it - you were lucky to be raised in a family that loved pinstripes...chances are your dad watched the team during their heyday when they won 10 titles in 16 years (1947 to 1964). That does not mean that you get to claim those titles. No, the Mick and DiMaggio belong to your dad. Jeter, Rivera and Posada belong to you. Let's agree that Mets fans will forever be allowed to talk about the best baseball team of the past 30 years, the 1986 Mets, AND that you can rub 7 titles in our face. It is the only fair way to go.
Showing posts with label yankees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yankees. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Egg on Cashman's Face
In day old news, Yankees GM Brian Cashman had some interesting comments directed at the Mets in relation to former Mets reliever Pedro Feliciano. "He was abused," Cashman said. "It's a thin market when you're looking for lefties, and he's one of the better ones out there. But you don't typically go after a guy whose been used like that. The pattern was abusive."
Here's my take: 1. Using the word abusive is a little over the top. To me, 'abusive' is used to describe physical, mental or psychological harm directed at another human being with with bad intentions and no regard for consequences. If anything, the Mets overworked him, but for millions of dollars, there was no abuse. 2. It's not the Mets fault that the Yankees didn't catch this before signing him. I mean, don't they have team doctors and scouts who should know this stuff? I read Casman's quote as trying to place the blame on the Mets which clearly it is not. 3. Why are the Yankes piling on the Mets? What do they have to gain by making fun of their crosstown 'rivals?' They have nothing to gain. We are no threat to them. If anything it makes them look petty and vindictive.
Of course, the story doesn't end there. In response, Mets pitching coach Dan Warthem said, "he volunteered for the baseball every day, he was asked if he was able to pitch and he said yes every day and wanted to pitch more than we even pitched him." He also chimed in with what we are all thinking, "They didn't know that when they signed him?"
When asked about Cashman's comments Feliciano back away from the abuse saying, "I think at some points they just left me there with no reason. But I want to pitch. I want to be in there. That's what I like to do. And I think I was fine always. I never felt sore or anything. I always felt good." Clearly though he was bitter about the break-up with the Mets adding, "I feel hurt a little by that. I didn't sign with them because they offered me one year. But me and my agent, we wanted a multiyear. Two or more years and they just gave me one. That's why I'm not a Met right now...They said they didn't sign me because [they knew] I'm going to blow up this year."
While I don't understand what Cashman is trying to achieve, I don't have any problem with Feliciano saying what he did. The guy was always a professional and gave the Mets parts of 8 great years. Since becoming a mainstay on their roster in 2006, he averaged 60 innings a year over 82 games and had a 3.09 ERA. He was really one of the steadiest guys we had. And at 33 I'm sure he was hoping for a sign of appreciation for the work he put in. He was asking for a 2-year deal from the only team he had ever pitched for, a team that he had very important to. At the end of the day, the Mets made a business decision and let him walk. I would have liked to have him back as I'm sure most Mets fans would. However, this isn't about what our heart tells us - we need to make the right decision for the franchise.
Players robotically move from team to team all the time. They decide to take the big money rather than to take a discount to stay in a city where they are loved. It happens and as fans we get numb. So personally I am happy to see that Feliciano was hurt. Not that I wish him an ill will, but I like knowing that he cared. I like knowing that he is human and has feelings. So yeah, good for you Pedro....
Ok, so that is where my appreciation for him ends. A day after he was placed on the 15-day DL, Feliciano further added, "I will come out from this injury and I will be telling him there is still a lot of Feliciano to go...I will show him in the Subway Series when I strike out Ike Davis, and when I jump up and down on the mound I'll be like, 'That's for you.'" My issue is why he had to bring Ike into the conversation. What did Ike ever do to him? If he was looking to make a statement, why not go after the leader of the team, David Wright? That would have carried more weight.
Maybe he mentioned Ike's name because he knows Ike is a young player who is not as media-savvy as Wright. Maybe he was trying to start of a war of words. Well if that is the case, Ike didn't give him any satisfaction, saying that he would try not to strike out, but added that he did strike out 138 times last year so "it's not that tough of a feat." That's all -nothing more than that. (Although it would have been awesome if he furthered the joke by asking, "What about striking out Wright? He does it more than I do...")
Somehow I have to think that the Yankees got the worse of this. The Mets might be a joke, but we don't blame bad signings on other teams for how they used players. If we mess up, we mess up. There is no reason to blame others because fans don't care. We really don't. Just do your job and put a winning team out on the field. If you don't, then you failed...regardless of the reason. Cashman is simply trying to save face for a poor signing. He needs to get over it.
Here's my take: 1. Using the word abusive is a little over the top. To me, 'abusive' is used to describe physical, mental or psychological harm directed at another human being with with bad intentions and no regard for consequences. If anything, the Mets overworked him, but for millions of dollars, there was no abuse. 2. It's not the Mets fault that the Yankees didn't catch this before signing him. I mean, don't they have team doctors and scouts who should know this stuff? I read Casman's quote as trying to place the blame on the Mets which clearly it is not. 3. Why are the Yankes piling on the Mets? What do they have to gain by making fun of their crosstown 'rivals?' They have nothing to gain. We are no threat to them. If anything it makes them look petty and vindictive.
Of course, the story doesn't end there. In response, Mets pitching coach Dan Warthem said, "he volunteered for the baseball every day, he was asked if he was able to pitch and he said yes every day and wanted to pitch more than we even pitched him." He also chimed in with what we are all thinking, "They didn't know that when they signed him?"
When asked about Cashman's comments Feliciano back away from the abuse saying, "I think at some points they just left me there with no reason. But I want to pitch. I want to be in there. That's what I like to do. And I think I was fine always. I never felt sore or anything. I always felt good." Clearly though he was bitter about the break-up with the Mets adding, "I feel hurt a little by that. I didn't sign with them because they offered me one year. But me and my agent, we wanted a multiyear. Two or more years and they just gave me one. That's why I'm not a Met right now...They said they didn't sign me because [they knew] I'm going to blow up this year."
While I don't understand what Cashman is trying to achieve, I don't have any problem with Feliciano saying what he did. The guy was always a professional and gave the Mets parts of 8 great years. Since becoming a mainstay on their roster in 2006, he averaged 60 innings a year over 82 games and had a 3.09 ERA. He was really one of the steadiest guys we had. And at 33 I'm sure he was hoping for a sign of appreciation for the work he put in. He was asking for a 2-year deal from the only team he had ever pitched for, a team that he had very important to. At the end of the day, the Mets made a business decision and let him walk. I would have liked to have him back as I'm sure most Mets fans would. However, this isn't about what our heart tells us - we need to make the right decision for the franchise.
Players robotically move from team to team all the time. They decide to take the big money rather than to take a discount to stay in a city where they are loved. It happens and as fans we get numb. So personally I am happy to see that Feliciano was hurt. Not that I wish him an ill will, but I like knowing that he cared. I like knowing that he is human and has feelings. So yeah, good for you Pedro....
Ok, so that is where my appreciation for him ends. A day after he was placed on the 15-day DL, Feliciano further added, "I will come out from this injury and I will be telling him there is still a lot of Feliciano to go...I will show him in the Subway Series when I strike out Ike Davis, and when I jump up and down on the mound I'll be like, 'That's for you.'" My issue is why he had to bring Ike into the conversation. What did Ike ever do to him? If he was looking to make a statement, why not go after the leader of the team, David Wright? That would have carried more weight.
Maybe he mentioned Ike's name because he knows Ike is a young player who is not as media-savvy as Wright. Maybe he was trying to start of a war of words. Well if that is the case, Ike didn't give him any satisfaction, saying that he would try not to strike out, but added that he did strike out 138 times last year so "it's not that tough of a feat." That's all -nothing more than that. (Although it would have been awesome if he furthered the joke by asking, "What about striking out Wright? He does it more than I do...")
Somehow I have to think that the Yankees got the worse of this. The Mets might be a joke, but we don't blame bad signings on other teams for how they used players. If we mess up, we mess up. There is no reason to blame others because fans don't care. We really don't. Just do your job and put a winning team out on the field. If you don't, then you failed...regardless of the reason. Cashman is simply trying to save face for a poor signing. He needs to get over it.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Love to Hate the Yanks
So for the first time since 1995-96 I will have none of my favorite teams (Devils, Nets) make the playoffs. It is a weird feeling and one that will take some time to get used to. Obviously the Mets could undo all of it if they were to make the playoffs. The problem is that things don't look to good in Flushing - both on the field and off.
So what am I to do? Simple - hate the Yanks. Ever since I moved out to Seattle I have mellowed towards the Yanks. I'm not suggesting I liked the many bit more than before, it's just that they don't ruin my day or week or month anymore. I feel more at ease after having the baseball Armageddon known as a Yanks-Phils World Series; so much so that I was hoping to only be a lover and not a hater this season.
Then a funny thing happened. I watched Quick Pitch on the MLB Network and got to hear Michael Kay calling the Yanks opening day game against Detroit. I don't want to overdue it because there are a lot worse things to dislike in the world, but man I HATE the Yankees, their stupid announcer, the YES network, stupid Yankees Stadium, Yankees fans (all due respect to Asbury, Duker, Double B and Califano) and anything with pinstripes. Listening to Kay just brought out terrible feelings. If Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are Angels, Kay is certainly the Devil. Oh, and Michael Sterling and his Thhhhhheee Yankeees Winnn, Thhhhheee Yankees Winnn is just as bad.
So this year while my Mets toil to 75 wins (ok, this is a momentary lapse out of Ya Gotta Believe mode), I will continue to hate on the Yanks. I will cheer for the Sox. And the Rays. And even the pitiful Mariners. Anyone but the Yanks.
That's all I have to say. Tell me why you hate the Yanks.
So what am I to do? Simple - hate the Yanks. Ever since I moved out to Seattle I have mellowed towards the Yanks. I'm not suggesting I liked the many bit more than before, it's just that they don't ruin my day or week or month anymore. I feel more at ease after having the baseball Armageddon known as a Yanks-Phils World Series; so much so that I was hoping to only be a lover and not a hater this season.
Then a funny thing happened. I watched Quick Pitch on the MLB Network and got to hear Michael Kay calling the Yanks opening day game against Detroit. I don't want to overdue it because there are a lot worse things to dislike in the world, but man I HATE the Yankees, their stupid announcer, the YES network, stupid Yankees Stadium, Yankees fans (all due respect to Asbury, Duker, Double B and Califano) and anything with pinstripes. Listening to Kay just brought out terrible feelings. If Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are Angels, Kay is certainly the Devil. Oh, and Michael Sterling and his Thhhhhheee Yankeees Winnn, Thhhhheee Yankees Winnn is just as bad.
So this year while my Mets toil to 75 wins (ok, this is a momentary lapse out of Ya Gotta Believe mode), I will continue to hate on the Yanks. I will cheer for the Sox. And the Rays. And even the pitiful Mariners. Anyone but the Yanks.
That's all I have to say. Tell me why you hate the Yanks.
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