The Bitter Rivals Thread

[Mattingly]

Re: Re: Re: Re: BoSox wait to take the lead in extra innings...

Originally posted by KenFougere
V i a g r a .

He been sharing those blue pills with Raffy?

[bigtime39]

Originally posted by Mattingly
I never actually "numbered" my prior paragraphs, but I'll respond to your numbers in like fashion:

1. First off, I thank you for not posting in deep orange text, as I'd found it distracting. I thought that a bright color like bold orange worked better against a darker (gray) background than the white ones. How can you see a light, bright color against a white background?

2. What do the Senators that became the Twins have to do with the Yanks? Had some other team played them, would you have held anything against them also?

3. Did you read where I'd mentioned that the Cubs have WGN? Do they get critique also, or only the Yankees? If other teams had deals similar to the Yanks' YES Network, would you be against them also?

4. If every team pulled out 1/30th of the profit, then I'd have to ask why some aren't putting in 1/30th the profit. It's seeming more and more like teams putting the least into the pot want the most. Since the Yanks signed Hideki Matsui, who plays a very nice LF, drives in a few runs, why can't they profit by sales of tshirts to a large Asian audience? I think other teams should use their own marketing expertise to improve sales and stop bashing George for being a good businessman.

The purpose of a baseball team is to win games, right? Well, George wants to win games, even if he's over the top about his insistence about doing so in consecutive seasons. The purpose of a business is to make money and lots of it, right? The Yankees make money, so IMO, instead of complaining that George does both, why not look at his philosophy and methods? Unless some of these other teams only wish to make as much as possible w/o actually investing back into the team to create a better overall product.

5. Until Bartolo Colon is actually signed by the ChiSox or someone else, I'll put him in as an FA. I'd also rate Ponson and Millwood as highly.

6. I presume you're joking on this. George has an unusual amount of heavyhanded behavior, as seen the past 30 years. However, if using logic, given that Rondell White, Raul Mondesi and Sterling Hitchcock are gone, I don't see any more $15m players in abundance. A-Rod wasn't given a $252m, 10 yr contract by Brian Cashman, nor was Chan Ho Park given a $65m, 5 yr contract. Those were Tom Hicks' decisions. Two seasons running, the Yanks haven't either won a WS, nor have bought every single big name FA available. If anything, it's been the Phillies who were shopping for big names last winter (Thome and Millwood), and this season, it seems that Angelo would be the one doing the shopping. Please give credit where due, not where you "imagine" it's due.

7. Some teams won't overpay because they either can't or won't. I don't expect many more "Sterling Hitchcock" deals again, paying 50% more than a pitcher's market price. If anything, I believe that the Yanks paid heavily to have those players now, so that they won't pay more dearly trying to get them next season, or trying to empty the farm crop via trade.

Right now, I see the Yanks shopping for a new RF, a #2 starter (even if Pettitte is kept), and some guys in the pen. Vlad is a possibility, since he'd been inquired about right before the 7/31 deadline, but no way Tejada. Who signs a start SS to play 3B?

8. Yes, we both know it, but some people's "tongue [firmly] in cheek" is another's "half joking" comment. No way George wants the daily comments from Gammons, Lupica (NY Daily News), Sherman (NY Post) and others. I still see the NYY payroll as being higher than others, but not so utterly ridiculous as to be insanely unfair. Yes, it'll be much larger than TB's, which pays all of their pitchers minimum wage, and whose only million dollar players were picked up when others paid their fare, or were kicked to the curb (released) by other teams. If anything, A-Rod's salary is more than that entire team's.

Still, if George could find bargains similar to Epstein's Mueller and Ortiz, why would he refuse? Would George likely pay more than other teams? Probably, but I'm unsure it would be some crazy bidding war. Even with Jason Giambi, the highest priced FA in Yankee history ($120m over 7 yrs), the Yanks cut off the bidding when Oakland, the only other serious bidder, refused to up the ante. I believe this set the tone that while they'd pay top dollar for a top player, the sky's not the limit anymore.

FRESH REPLIES:
Senators 2 were my home team as a child. They lost to the Yankees all the time (even when CBS was running the Yankees into the ground...oh, to see those days again!) Then, after they moved, the Yankees were the only team you ever saw on TV. So, hating the Yankees comes easy. It'll die down a bit once they get back to sucking...and if they don't...

I think there is a huge difference in the approach taken by teams OWNED BY networks (Braves, Cubs, Dodgers), and teams that OWN networks (Yankees, Red Sox). I don't expect you'll ever see the bean counters that run the parent companies let the first three teams run wild, and the Red Sox have immense debt and stadium problems.

As to (4) please re-read: everybody ponies up everything they make (no hiding or underreporting allowed) and gets back 1/30th of the total.

I believe Colon is 30, or awful close, and FAT. I'm not betting large sums of money on the man until the market is fully shaken out, and I know what the true value of such a pitcher is. Sidney is pretty fat, too, but only 26.

If there were no Derek Jeeter, Alex Rodriguez would NOT be playing in Texas right now...Tom Hicks is no more a bonehead than George Steinbrenner, he's just had about 30 fewer years in the game.

And, if the Yankees lose the World Series, no, I believe that there is no limit to how far the madness of King George will reach.

BTW, and slightly off topic, but tied in to the utterly corrupt history of the Texas Rangers, the leader of the free world invested, what, $75 of his own money when he "bought" that team, and walked out with hundreds of millions in his pocket when he presided over the first fleecing of Tom Hicks!?! And we wonder why Texas Republicans behave like they're running a bannana republic?!?

[YankeeMan]

BTW, the NFL does not have complete revenue sharing. Further, the type of revenue sharing the NFL has will be difficult to apply to MLB -- as TV contracts are negotiated locally not nationally.

I do support baseball economic reform -- please see Fair Ball by Bob Costas. My main gripe is that the gate should be shared between the two teams playing too. The Yankees "put the butts in the seats."

[mojorisin71]

ESPN's Biggest Chokers

Red Sox being #1? What a surprise.

[KenFougere]

Originally posted by mojorisin71
ESPN's Biggest Chokers

Red Sox being #1? What a surprise.

That has nothing to do with this years version of The Boston Red Sox...

[Mattingly]

Originally posted by KenFougere
That has nothing to do with this years version of The Boston Red Sox...

Don't forget, Ken, you're fighting for the sacred chance to get demolished by the Lean, Mean, Pinstriped Fighting Machine!

[mojorisin71]

None of the teams on the list have anything to do with this year, either...unless Oakland loses tonight.

[KenFougere]

Originally posted by Mattingly
Don't forget, Ken, you're fighting for the sacred chance to get demolished by the Lean, Mean, Pinstriped Fighting Machine!

I agree, compared to previous editions of the Yankees,
this years version is indead lean...



*indead? I meant indeed. just a slip.

[Mattingly]

Originally posted by KenFougere
I agree, compared to previous editions of the Yankees,
this years version is indead lean...



*indead? I meant indeed. just a slip.

Lean = no fat, just fighting power. Be afraid ... be very afraid!

Just so you know, this is who you'll really be going up against, given that you win tonight:

[KenFougere]

Originally posted by Mattingly
Lean = no fat, just fighting power. Be afraid ... be very afraid!

Just so you know, this is who you'll really be going up against, given that you win tonight:

WOW! I can't wait to see the Babe, Joe D., Reggie, Mickey and especially King George get up at the plate against Pedro!

[drillerman]

Originally posted by Mattingly
Don't forget, Ken, you're fighting for the sacred chance to get demolished by the Lean, Mean, Pinstriped Fighting Machine!

The Rockies?

[Mattingly]

Originally posted by KenFougere
WOW! I can't wait to see the Babe, Joe D., Reggie, Mickey and especially King George get up at the plate against Pedro!

Watch what you say about the Babe. Remember, after Little Pedro promissed to drill him up the keester, he didn't win for awhile. How did Barry Bonds do after dissing the Babe, by saying nobody would be thinking about that anymore.

Keep dissing the Babe. The inventions for you guys of losing mightily will even astound the hardened who've seen it all and somehow lived to tell about it.

[Mattingly]

Originally posted by drillerman
The Rockies?

No Rockies. But all Ken seems to be doing is throwing stones. Too bad, many of us in NY/NJ know how to play stickball. At least Ken should bring a Spaldeen!

[drillerman]

Originally posted by Mattingly
No Rockies. But all Ken seems to be doing is throwing stones. Too bad, many of us in NY/NJ know how to play stickball. At least Ken should bring a Spaldeen!

you all have sticks in NY/NJ all we have out here is rocks and Trees. But the Rockies are pinstriped the last time i checked they were.

[Mattingly]

Originally posted by drillerman
you all have sticks in NY/NJ all we have out here is rocks and Trees. But the Rockies are pinstriped the last time i checked they were.

Oh, that's what you were referring to. I figured I'd play it off and see what you were referring to.

Anyway, about every club has pinstripes almost. Of course, not the Sawx (they wouldn't dare). I think those crosstowners up in Flushing, Queens have a striped uni also. I guess we lucked out in being called the "pinstripers". Ahhhhh, must be the love for formalwear, plus a formal brand of historical baseball.