TODD FRAZIER WHO?

We forgot about Frazier already.  I kid... I kid.

This is a news item and there will be plenty of opinion on this unique move later.  The bottom line is the Yankees just got more fun.  We nailed down a deal with the Rangers for Russell Wilson.  Yup... the Quarterback. The Seattle Seahawks Quarterback. Crazy right?

Sports illustrated has this:

"The New York Yankees have acquired Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in a trade with the Texas Rangers in exchange for future considerations. Wilson is set to appear with the Yankees in Spring Training at some point in February or March.

Photo: USATSI

According to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, Wilson has no plans to double up as a two-sport athlete like Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson. "

But what does that mean? NJ.com expands:

"Wilson, a four-time Pro Bowler, will show up in March to big-league camp, participate in pregame workouts and watch games from the dugout, the team said....The Yankees will assign him to Double-A Trenton's roster."

Well... OK, but the guy's a second baseman. Can't we play the guy there?

Hey, who the hell knows.  I do know this, it's exciting to see a move like this.  Or maybe the word I'm looking for is interesting.

Whatever the case, we got Russell Wilson, folks.  More on this with some hard opinion from BYB.  Look for it.

The last time we wrote about Wilson on our BYB pages was in a piece called "I JUST NEEDED SOMEONE TO GIVE ME A CHANCE."  That was the night the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. Read it.

In the meantime, welcome to New York, Russell.

WOULD YOU SIGN ODELL BECKHAM TO PITCH FOR YOU?

Funny... I send this story to my writers today hoping someone would pick it up.  They should have...it's fascinating.

(In Photo: Deion Sanders, 1990)
I was always intrigued by guys like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders.  Guys that could play 2 professional sports and play them well for a long, long time.  I'm not saying that Odell Beckham Jr. could or would do that, but I do like this story, even though it's small. It's about the human interest part that I like.

According to YES Network: "After watching the Giants' star wide receiver hurl a softball 90 MPH, the Rockland Boulders believe he could be, offering him a contract to pitch for the Canadian American League team.



'It's apparent that Odell is a very gifted athlete regardless of his sport. We think that getting experience pitching to professional hitters will give him the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson,' Boulders general manager Shawn Reilly said in an interview with True Jersey. 'As we are the New York area's only defending professional championship team, he will have the opportunity to learn in a first-class environment while still in close proximity to MetLife Stadium.'"

Look, the way I see it, it's just a story about publicity and natural sports talent.  Beckham is a true athlete and the Boulders want alittle bump in the publicity department.  Nothing wrong with that. But I feel like Beckham will probably stick with football.

What do you think? Would you give Beckham a shot?

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ATHLETES & BASEBALL: WHO TOPS THE LIST?

When I think of athleticism I think of speed, dexterity, finesse, strength, movement, power, balance, precision, and how these features work together to make a person successful in his sport.  It has often been said, mostly by MLB players themselves that baseball players can succeed in multiple sports because of the depth of their athleticism.

According to ESPN.com “Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, a great athlete, said, "I've told players from other sports, 'We [baseball players] could play your sport better than you could play our sport.” In other words, players of other sports can’t hack it in baseball, no matter their athletic ability.  In my eyes, the best NBA player of all time is Michael Jordan.  No one has ever moved like Mike, hustled like Mike, floated in the air like Mike or scored like Mike.  Sure we have LeBron and Kobe, but they are no Michael Jordan.  To see him beat Patrick Ewing in the Garden back in the early nineties was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever witnessed.

No one can hold a candle to Michael Jordan, and I am not even a big NBA fan, let alone a Bulls fan.  But he couldn’t play baseball, even when he tried to for the Chicago White Sox as he neared the end of his NBA career.

There have been a number of two sport athletes over the years, most of which eventually chose one sport over the other.  Bo Jackson played left field for the Kansas City Royals and running back for Los Angeles Raiders in the late 1980s before a hip injury ended his football career and cut short his baseball career.  He was the only athlete to be named an All-Star for two American sports.  He was and still is an incredible athlete who is sharing his knowledge with newbies at White Sox camp this spring.  He even warned Seattle Seahawk Super Bowl winning quarterback, Russell Wilson to “keep his talents on the football field, and not expand to the baseball  diamond.”

Wilson has been drafted by the Texas Rangers and has been working out with them this spring.  Wilson would join the likes of Jackson and Deion Sanders who has been encouraging Wilson not to give up his dream of playing football and baseball. 

So why am I saying all of this when it comes to taking the crown of best athlete? Because being a top athlete in any sport means you have depth in multiple areas.  In baseball it means you have power and precision and speed.  And that means you top the charts in hitting and base stealing and defensive magnitude.  There are a number of players that come to mind who fit this profile.

Guys like Chris Davis, Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera and Torii Hunter certainly come to mind.  But no one is more vivid in my mind than Mike Trout, my pick for the number one athlete in MLB right now.  He seems to have it all.

“Via Baseball Prospectus’ True Average stat, which expresses runs created per plate appearance on a batting average scale after adjusting for park and league scoring conditions, he’s been an even more effective hitter than last year (2012). Like Cabrera (.377), he’s on pace for a season that would rank among the top 25 since 1950, which is as far back as BP’s stats go,” according to Sports Illustrated Strike Zone at the end of last season.  And he is bringing on the heat again this spring, batting .400 with four home runs.  He can run, he can cover center field well and he gets on base.  He is my choice for best athlete.  But I will also say that guys like infielders Manny Machado and Dustin Pedoria, outfielder Bryce Harper, pitcher Max Scherzer and catcher Carlos Santana also should get consideration.

What about the Yankees’ best athlete?  I am hugely behind Brett Gardner for that award but I wouldn’t rule out Alfonso Soriano and Jacoby Ellsbury who definitely place well on the charts in slugging and speed as well.  The one thing that sets Gardner apart of from the pack is his powerful combination of commitment, persona and poise.  He exemplifies what it is to be a Yankee athlete and I appreciate having him on our team.

Baseball is exciting to watch today because of all of the competition and athleticism in the game.  It is exciting to watch young and old play well.  Guys like Derek Jeter this season and even Mariano Rivera last season, who had the athleticism and rigor to come back from debilitating injuries and climb to the top of their game make it even more special to watch.  I look forward to watching records being broken, web gems in the field and monster homeruns topping the highlights of every game.  It’s the great American pastime and it’s baseball at its finest.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof



 
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WHAT'S IN YOUR JUNK DRAWER?

Back on July 15^th, Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record made me smile.  He did a terrific piece about what every true baseball fan should be doing once in a while. Opening up the junk drawer just to see what types of collectibles, no matter how big or small or expensive or cheap they are. You know, the stuff you've accumulated over the years. Pete's idea for his piece came from the story about the guy in Ohio that found those baseball cards of Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner in his grandfather’s attic…read that story HERE.

Caldera described some of the stuff he found around his apartment, like a matchbook from Rusty Staub’s restaurant (Rusty Staub's on Fifth) that used to be opened back in the 1980’s, a 1980 Yankees Yearbook and an old Abbott & Costello “Who’s on First?” cassette, among other things. I had to laugh.  I own an autographed Rusty Staub menu from the old restaurant somewhere as well as that Abbott & Costello cassette.  But that’s not what I found in my basement.

I have weird stuff that I’ve collected over the years.  I figured I’d share them with you, after all, it’s the beginning of the week, you’re just waking up, you’re having your coffee before work, let's start off light. Check it out:

 

I'm a card collector, but this one seems to have snuck away from my collection and was sitting in a top drawer of my laundry room.  It's a 1956 Topps card of Eddie Robinson, he was with the Yankees from 1954 to 1956 until he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics.  He was a career .268 hitter with 172 homers in 13 seasons.  Anyway... I thought that was interesting. 

 

 This is a pen I bought from at a Newark Bears game a few years back.  I was never good at keeping score while at the ballpark but I gave it shot that day, I didn't have a pencil.  I bailed on it in the 4th, but I kept the pen.

Here's a signed picture of Bo Jackson, someone I really idolized for his talent on the baseball field as well as football field.  The "Bo Knows" days were a phenomenon.  I think I got this signed years later...he was already retired.

This is one of my favorites.  It's an older ceramic Roger Maris bobble head that I bought off a dealer on ebay in the 1990's.  I've always had a thing for Maris and reading the history of how things went down in 1961, and the stress of the Home Run race.  I've always had a soft spot for him. Luckily history happened the way it did for the Maris family.  Anyway, I love this piece.

Look OUT! A 1971 Ken Singleton Topps baseball card.  Love it.  I was born in 1971 and for a while there I was trying to collect every 1971 card so I could complete the set.  That hasn't happened yet, I still have a long way to go. But it's still fun.

Remember Chase Wright? He was going to be the next big thing for the Yankees...or at least the next big thing for the moment. I kept this I guess thinking it may be worth something.  It's from that 2007 season.  It's not worth a thing, but that's OK. I did alittle research and found out Chase still pitches. He's 29 years old these days and plays for the Somerset Patriots. Good for him!

I love this.  This is a 1946 Yankees program and scorecard and inside, the Yankees played the Red Sox.  I got this from a friend a few years ago.  The scorecard is filled in. If you click on the image below, you can just make out some of the players that day for the Yankees...Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Bill Dickey.  It's just a cool, yet frail and old collectible that I stare at from time to time.

So, what do you have in your junk drawer, or basement or closet? Tell us here at BYB, comment! I’d love to hear about it.  Better yet, take pictures of your items and send them to Bleednyankeeblu@gmail.com and we’ll do a piece about it.  Include your name and the city you're from with a picture of something you’ve come across.  I can’t wait to see what you guys have!

And thanks for the idea Pete Caldera, you da man! Enjoy this everyone!

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WHY IT'S ABOUT TO GET HOT & HEAVY FOR CESPEDES

I was in denial for a few days.... but it’s clear... the Yankees aren’t getting Yu Darvish. As disappointing as it is, if the Rangers want to spend that money on bidding rights for Darvish, well, then you really can’t blame Cashman and the Steinbrenner boys for losing out. Word is the bigger the posting fee, the bigger contract Darvish is going to demand as a sort of way to protest the twisted posting system. What was looking like an $100 million commitment could quickly become a $130 million commitment. Even with only a bit more than $70 million of that counting towards payroll, that is a massive commitment for a team trying to cut payroll.

So while Darvish may not have been a financially viable option for the Bombers, there’s another big international name that could end up being the big off-season acquisition Yankees fans have become accustomed to. I’m talking, of course, about Yoennis Cespedes.Cespedes gained a cult following of sorts following his outlandish scouting video, but it revealed relatively little about him as a player. Sure the Star Wars intro was fun, the music was, at times, hilarious, and he displayed the most amazing rotisserie pit cleaning skills I’ve ever seen in the end, but as far as scouting goes, it helped very little beyond give some pretty phenomenal statistics from the equivalent of a minor league.

Apparently Cespedes got the message from all the GMs and decided to send in a video that is actually useful. I present to you, Yoennis Cespedes Encore...

Yoennis Cespedes Encore from Baseball2011DR on Vimeo.

The brilliant Star Wars introduction is still there, but there is a hell of a lot more hitting and running than before. He even decides that showing off his powerful arm from the outfield might be more helpful than catching balls behind his back. The displays of freakish athleticism are still there; he sprints 60 yards in a mere 6.41 seconds and shows off a 37” vertical leap (which according to the information provided in the video is somewhere in between Derrick Rose and Kobe Bryant). There’s not much you can say about Cespedes’ athleticism that hasn’t already been said. To keep it nice and short: He’s the new Bo Jackson.

Unlike Darvish, who the Yankees were long said to be wary of, the Yankees have been called early front runners for Cespedes along with the New York Marlins… rather Miami Marlins, sorry the money they suddenly have confused me, and the Tigers. ESPN’s Wallace Matthews doesn’t seem to think so, read HERE. Let's face it though, none of these guys really know and Matthews has been wrong before… actually he’s wrong a lot, just one of many reasons I’m not a fan. My gut says that no matter how they try to make it look, the Marlins don’t have enough money to offer any more than what Aroldis Chapman got, an offer the Yankees will certainly top. The Tigers could be a legitimate threat, but Detroit just doesn’t seem like an ideal destination for a Cuban player. In Miami or New York he’s got entire communities surrounding him to make him comfortable, but in Detroit there’s really nothing. If it comes down to New York or Detroit offering similar money, I bet everything that the Yankees get him.
Some may be wondering why exactly the Yankees need Cespedes? That’s a perfectly reasonable question...Curtis Granderson, Brett Gardner, and Nick Swisher may very well have been the most valuable outfield trio in baseball last year (worth 7.0, 5.1, and 3.8 fWAR respectively for a total of 15.9 wins above replacement). All played solid defense, screw what UZR says, Gardner merely stole plays from Granderson which killed his numbers, and were potent offensive threats each for their own reason. Granderson has incredible power, Gardner has blistering speed, and Swish works the count and gets on base better than anyone on the team. It seems like the perfect combination, but what if you could take the weak link, Swisher, and replace him with a guy who is 5 years younger and can do everything? Would there be any reason not to do it?

I know it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but Nick's post-season struggles in my opinion make me disappointed with Swish sometimes. Sure, there’s no guarantee Cespedes becomes a post-season hero, but frankly it doesn’t get much worse than Swisher in that regard.

If you ask me, Cespedes is more than just a luxury or a way to flex our proverbial muscles on the international market before the CBA forces us to put away the big guns; he’s what the Yankees need right now. He’s an exciting young player with a lot of energy. Jesus Montero fits the first two points, but what’s desperately lacking on this club is energy. Being classy is great, I agree, but watch Cespedes as he hits an opposite field bomb at the World Baseball Classic in the video. He claps, pounds his chest, and proudly struts around the bases. Some of you may think he’s just being an ass, but the way I see it, as long as that energy comes from skill and not just from a tendency to be a goofball, it can only do good for the team.
Cespedes is a five-tool player, a guy who could become a perennial 30-30 threat. He may never endear himself to the crowd like Swish has, but he’s just the dose of youthful energy and incredible talent we need to get things rolling again. He won’t be cheap by any means, but he’s not going to cost any more than Swisher’s $10.25 million, and he sure as hell won’t require the Yankees to shell out well over $100 million like the Rangers will have to if they want Darvish. It may be hasty, but I say we do our best to put Swisher in a package for the number two or high end number three starter we’ve been desperately searching for, and bring in Cespedes and that's my opinion of course and you will have yours. I’d like to be sure we have Cespedes locked up and he can at least play adequately before we start dealing to make room for him, but by the trade deadline next season I’d like to see Cespedes patrolling right field on a regular basis. What do you think?



--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer

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