It was shocking and it really surprised me to see a note from Andrew Marchand last night on Twitter. It turned out that for the first time in a long time, Marchand would not be at pitchers and catchers. In fact... Marchand was leaving ESPN.
Now for a Yankee fan site like myself who depended on and appreciated guys like Andrew, it's hard to get my head around this kind of stuff. Change sucks. Because much like Wally Matthews, Mark Feinsand and others who have left their positions at their respective companies for whatever reasons... it's weird. Mostly because we as new kids on the block in the fan site world, we like reading these guys.
I mean sure, I'm the first one to admit that I get bent out of shape when these guys stretch it a bit with their reporting, or when they call themselves 'baseball insiders' and yet, there really is no insight... I DO give some of these folk jazz. I admit that 100%. But ultimately, it's guys like Marchand that keep folks like Bleeding Yankee Blue, Greedy Pinstripes, Section-36 going evey single day.
Hell, I would have never started the BYB Hub, collecting a whole range of new writers if it wasn't for the likes for Marchand, Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record, Erik Boland of Newsday, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, Pete Abraham over at the Boston Globe, Jason Keidel of CBS Sports. That's my stable... and my staple to great morning reads for me. It's many of these guys that I like waking up to and reading... and yes... give them the proper plug when the story is great, or shake my fist at the screen if I don't agree.
Marchand is one of the good ones, despite our disagreements, and there is mad respect there. When I read his note last night... I responded the only way I know how....
Wow. Good luck to you. You are one of the best. If you get bored, come write for Bleeding Yankee Blue. It could be fun for you. 😀. Sincerely. Good luck.
Best of luck to you Andrew. No doubt your new gig as a New York Post Media Columnist will be great. But much like when I offered to Wally... my offer stands with you too. I know we're not top of the baseball heap, and I know you need to provide for your family... but if you wanna write something for BYB, no question we'd welcome it. It's because of people like you that we even exist.
(July 11, 2017 - Source: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images North America)
Jason Keidel wrote another instant classic for CBS Sports and the headline is bound to get every Yankee fan pissed off. Not me though... I get everything he said... except one thing... comparing Matt Harvey to Aaron Judge should be a crime. Other than that, I like his latest piece titled Don’t Shoot The Messenger, But Judge Should Just Retire Now. Nice job!
In this piece, Keidel speaks highly of the Yankee sensation and how 'cool' is the place to be and Judge is it. But sooner or later, Judge will fall...
(July 10, 2017 - Source: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images North America)
"Judge has reached an orbit that’s even too high for most celebrities. Even folks who don’t care for baseball — and really don’t care for the Yankees — are punching their remotes to see his next space-age homer. He’s entered a realm of crossover appeal that’s so rare that some of sport’s most transcendent names are being whispered with Judge... And surely he will make a lot more money than his current salary of $544,000. By the time he reaches free agency in 2023, he will be making that per week. But life won’t be any more exciting or wondrous. Not only is he a divine talent, but at age 25 he’s got the universal sense that we all had at that age, that this is just the beginning, that there are no such thing as bad days, that life is a gold-plated path to infinite wealth and wisdom. And as anyone with a television can see, he’s got a disarming innocence that only exists when you first knock on fame’s door.
(July 10, 2017 - Source: Mark Brown/Getty Images North America)
It won’t take that long for Judge’s star to crash, dim, or burn when it passes into our atmosphere. In six or eight months, pitchers will surely find holes in his swing, and surely the media will find flaws in his character. What if he drops his first fly ball with a man on third? Or he strikes out with the bases loaded in the ALCS? Or if God forbid, he flips his first bird at TMZ or gets into his first barroom spat?"
Now many of you hate this. You don't want to hear it. You think it's crap and you now hate Jason Keidel. Well... Keidel is provocative... and good and don't be a hater, because here's the reality; While we don't want to see our beloved Judge fall... it happens to the best of them. Bumps happen... because when you're popular, folks want to find ways to make you unpopular. It's just the way life goes for top celebrities. We don't want to hear it as a Yankee fan, but it kind of happens like... all the time.
(July 6, 2017 - Source: Mike Stobe/Getty Images North America)
Will it happen to Judge? I hope not, but don't be surprised if some a-hole finds a photo of him with some chick who later comes out and accuses him of something outrageous, or something more. Trust me, I wish that garbage on no one... not even Matt Harvey. Here's the thing though... Aaron Judge is enjoying this and staying mad humble about it! He's not getting ahead of himself. He's not buying into the hype, he's taking it one day at a time. He doesn't speak about himself in third person and you don't see the guy with strippers. For crying out loud the guy lives in a hotel in New York City and speaks to no one. He just commutes back and forth to the stadium and for the moment is squeaky clean and staying out of trouble. He's a good kid and raised right as far as I can see. But you know the way the tide turns, and hopefully he doesn't fall off.
Keidel brings reality to Aaron Judge's amazing season whether we want to hear it or not.... it's actually a great piece. But I was disturbed by this comparison...
Photo: Getty Images
Matt Harvey? Really Keidel? You are trying to thread a Judge to Harvey? You know I hate Harvey... how could you? Read this...
"Whatever that dynamic is that we’ve distilled to the term “hating” will soon surface and attack or devour the young, wildly gifted outfielder. We want our heroes happy, up to a point. Then we break them down. Then we cheer them during the comeback. If we can find issues with Tim Tebow, we’ll find some dirt on Aaron Judge.
(April 26, 2017 - Source: Al Bello/Getty Images North America)
Not too long ago, Matt Harvey wore the crown. Even had his own handle, the “Dark Knight of Gotham.” Now, Harvey is some broken shell of his former eminence and dominance. The very supermodels he so proudly wore on his arm to Knicks games are now discarding him with frigid indifference. He’s not cool anymore. And cool is everything."
Damn you Keidel!
Here's the thing though, I'm not buying it. Why? Because we're dealing with 2 different personalities.
Judge knows he's good, but he's not gonna let anyone out here know he knows. Matt Harvey on the other hand knew he was good, pretty much told everybody he was great, bought into the hype and reeked of arrogance as he said it, and tried to bang strippers using the ol' "I'm the Dark Knight, wanna see my penis?"
So once Harvey started to realize he wasn't very good, and started having problems, the media pounced, because like I have written earlier, while celebs and athletes can be cool, there is always someone to remind them they are not, because they do digging through scandal, or blow up stories to try and knock them down.
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Harvey is no Aaron Judge... and while one day, like Kevin Maas, the opponent could find a way to pitch to him so he falls from grace... here's the difference; Judge won't live in the past of his greatness... he will work hard to make adjustments and try to improve.
Matt Harvey is Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite... thinking about what could have been... walking around like the 5th Heartbeat telling the world he "Still has it'.
Judge, while larger than life will come back to reality one day. That's a fact.
But Aaron Judge is humble, and he was raised right... and trust me, he will succeed, even in the toughest city of the toughest critics in the world... NYC.
Jason Keidel is the man. Nice work, dude. You know how much I like your stuff. Keep going.
So SNY has a show called Daily News Live apparently. Well... there's a reason why newspapers aren't on TV... my goodness it's terrible.
Below is a screenshot of what they were discussing in an actual segment of today's show:
You read that right, "Bigger Concern: Tanaka or young bats". So basically after a single Yankee loss, there's panic everywhere and the New York Daily News needs to worry about what the Yankees did yesterday, because you know... it sets the entire tone of the season or something.
Now come on, are we really doing this? The Yankees lost a game and Masahiro Tanaka wasn't good. And what, the world is going to end?
The Yankee youth movement stunk up the joint as well, not hitting. Oh my, fire Joe Girardi! Hide your face Yankee fans, it over!
I'm tired of the garbage and the made up stories, folks. You know, I laugh because real journalism is gone. People ask me why we at BYB don't fire up a bunch of stories every single morning anymore. I gotta tell you. When we read in to find some good nuggets to publish, there aren't many. I've told you for a while now... you come to Bleeding Yankee Blue for news, some entertainment, you laugh, you get mad, maybe you shed a tear, but you come here for the nuggets. In fact, most publications used to do that. Now, these days, one or just a few writers really do.
Mandatory Photo Credit: Bleeding Yankee Blue
Amazing crooner and outstanding sports writer, Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record. Jason Keidel of CBSSports.com...solid and a class act. We also like Mark Feinsand of MLB.com and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. Of course we're big Jack Curry fans too... way before YES. But I have news for you... journalism is different now. In fact... it's pretty crappy.
This is a perfect example.
And so, I'm just calling bullshit on this. It's a stupid story. If this was game 100... yup, this debate would be important. It's game one girls... calm the hell down.
"It’s been traditional for WFAN to send its baseball beat reporters Sweeny Murti (Yankees) and Ed Coleman (Mets) on the road with both teams. Now it appears a cash crunch at FAN has resulted in cutting back on the snoops’ road itinerary. MLB spies say neither Murti nor Coleman will be travelling west of the Mississippi much this season. While the perception of a travel cutback is not good for the station, it has more impact on the Yankees, since FAN is the Bombers’ radio flagship and trumpets the fact it provides comprehensive coverage of the team. Murti is also a mainstay on the game radiocasts hosting the postgame show."
And so, what the F? How in the world can that even be possible? How does Sweeny, who's one of the top Yankee guys do his job? And what the hell is going on at FAN? Seriously.
Photo of Justus Sheffield
In this incoming Yankee season, the most exciting one in several years chock full of youngsters, you would think FAN could find the money to feed a Yankee audience.
Photo: New York Daily News
That doesn't seem the matter. In fact, the whole thing is ridiculous. I wish Sweeny could truly give me his thoughts on this whole mess. I would gladly print them here on BYB, but I know he'd get in trouble doing that.
This is a great story, and we will keep following it closely. Hey, Keidel, thanks for the nugget.
We're excited again, aren't we. But we as Yankee fans weren't always this happy. This season has been unbelievably rough on our fan base, but then we got younger making some monster trades at the deadline. We received retirement announcements from Mark Texieira and Alex Rodriguez.
And then the kids came up and Gary Sanchez is leading the charge. And us Yankee fans see hope because of it.
My friend Jason Keidel writes a terrific piece for CBS Sports and I wanted to share some of it here on BYB with you. I do it because Keidel's the man, approachable, smart and just a cool cat, and so, here's some of that story today:
"This will shock the Yankees, their fans and those who read this space with any regularity.
While many of us misguided folks said the Bombers are only allowed to reload, the Yankees indeed have the right to rebuild. In fact, they had a duty to do so.
And Exhibit A is their glittering new catcher, who was merely promoted and not acquired.
While Gary Sanchez
goes all Roy Hobbs on the sport, his binary impact has the media and
the masses drooling. Sanchez provides not just the illusion that the
Yankees are World Series contenders this year, but also the reality that
they are much closer to future contention than they were the day before
he was called to the majors."
If you don't Keidel, know him now. He's honest, keeps it fresh and to the point and sometimes we Yankee fans don't want to hear from him, but he dishes it. He's also usually right. And he's right about Sanchez.
Gary and the new New York Yankees have a big shot, and we're all pretty psyched because of the moves we've made, but mainly because of Gary Sanchez and his explosion. Can the Yankees make the post season? If you asked me 2 weeks ago, I would have said "Hey, let's just finish the season and look forward to 2017." Today I'm saying it looks real good.
Look, we have a crucial 10 game home stand that will pretty much determine our post season dreams in 2016. But I feel good about it, I really do, especially is Sanchez and company can do the job.
Anyway, Be sure to check out Keidel HERE, and make sure you read him regularly. He's one of the good ones, and he's always been cool with us here at BYB.
As for the Yankees and Sanchez... root hard fans, we're back! I hope we can keep the wins going.
If you don't read Jason Keidel or Pete Caldera, 2 of my favorites in the sports writing world, you're missing out on good, quality work.
Jason Keidel writes in a CBSSports.com piece about the Yankees, and their winning ways, and top notch, "win at all costs" mentality for years and years under George Steinbrenner... that has suddenly vanished from Yankeeland.
"... fourth place doesn’t cut it. Nowadays, it seems like the Yankees are
resigned to their place in AL East obscurity, buried in mediocrity.
When
they whiff on a Jacoby Ellsbury, they retreat to corporate cliches and fawn over the farm system, which hasn’t produced an everyday All-Star since Robinson Cano.
Would George just stand pat, and wait for the cosmos to kick in? Would he talk about the process?
Maybe King George didn’t always do the right thing, but he always did something. What he didn’t do was speak in half-baked platitudes about grinding and keeping the faith."
Exactly what we've been crying about here on Bleeding Yankee Blue. Keidel has a bigger stage, but the message is correct. Sure, we can lean toward the whole "George would be rolling in his grave right now", but the reality is, George is dead, but the Yankees should be the same. DO SOMETHING!
I read a thought-provoking post by Jason Keidel of CBS New York today that got me reaching back into my Yankee archive to remember a day when business was conducted much differently in the Bronx. An interesting slant to this read, "They Are Definitely No Longer Your Older Brother’s Yankees", is that my 18-year-old college freshman sent me the link to the Keidel opinion piece in a text today on my way from Washington D.C for work.
The build up to the text message from my son was his excitement over the recent Starlin Castro acquisition. Myself, like Keidel, was not all that impressed. "Instead of CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, or Mark Teixeira, the Yanks now covet Starlin Castro. Nothing against Castro, who is a fine player, but Tuesday’s trade was more about the new world order than it was the old one." It is not business as usual in Yankeeland. Our way of working is very different than it was back in what Keidel deems, "King George" days. I don't want to give up the bank for these long term deals. But I also don't want good pitching to go to our division rivals. Boss George would never go for that. "If King George were still around, you can bet your bottom dollar he would have spent his bottom dollar on David Price, who signed with the Red Sox. Now, the Yanks bristle at the $217 million sticker price. Ten years ago, the Yanks had a different corporate coda of spend now, fret later. Once Price became old they would just buy a new pitcher, and hang onto the lanky lefty like a used car buried in their baseball garage."
"Think of the Yankees’ new approach as a fantasy football tactic. They are now doing the equivalent of watching the waiver wire to see whom they can pluck from the discards of a doomed team." This is our new business plan and honestly, it is scary.
So what does this all mean? It means that the only way we are going to pick up Jose Fernandez is if we can come up with a fair market value trade. And we are not to going to sign a multi-year contract either unless the spirit of George enters the boardroom.
As I stated the other day in our post WINTER MEETINGS, BAH HUMBUG, "As I decorate our Christmas tree for the holidays and carefully place each World Series ornament on the tree, I become nostalgic about the teams that made us proud. It's not easy to get to the top of the baseball tree, but we have done it 27 times, always hoping for #28. So although dynasties are not common place today, there will always be a big battle for the ultimate trophy and there will always be Winter Meetings to keep us hopeful for things to come."
Thanks, Jason Keidel for keeping it real. Great post!
We are big fans of Keidel here at Bleeding Yankee Blue. You should be too.
