Derek Jeter, Please Just Take The Yankee Money and Sit Down!

…in no other profession, I can’t think of another profession where you are rewarded for yesterday’s scores like in baseball. In the NFL, with the salary cap, you’ll get cut as a good player just like Baby LT by the San Diego Chargers.

In the NBA, they’re not giving anyone 5 year deals past their prime, but in baseball – because it’s so driven by tradition and history, is that there is this sense that you’ve got to pay a player because he used to be great! That is idiotic as a business model and I am here to defend the New York Yankees, which is not to say that Jeter doesn’t have value – although he has almost none at short. I mean, him winning a Gold Glove is laugh out loud ridiculous!

Think about it this way, I got an email from my former baseball coach in middle school, die hard Jeter fan. “Andrew, it happens all the time, look at Donovan McNothing, McNothing get’s $80 million dollars” Coach, only $3.6 million of it is guaranteed! Pay attention please… that is not what he’s getting. He’s getting $3.6 million of it and will be screwed if he doesn’t get it at the end of this season.

I have to tell you something, during the baseball season, I tend to pay close attention to the baseball ratings for every game. The Yankees are the only – heck, forget Red Sox Nation, the Yankees are the only franchise that moves the meter. Texas, San Francisco…hell, nobody watched in baseball crazy Boston.

The Yankee’s don’t need anybody. Joe Torre left, their attendance went up. “Well Jeter funnels money back Andrew!” yes, I think he does, perhaps $7 million a year, I’m sure the Yankee’s have done a study, or maybe $8 million. I’d say to Jeter “here’s $24 million dollars AND you’re moving positions!”

But if you think Jeter’s got more power than the Yankees, you are nuts!! Let me ask you this, Jeter doesn’t talk much, he’s not real flashy, he’s not a home run hitter, he’s not going to draw any fans anywhere. Ken Griffey Jr. at his peak could draw fans, Mark McGuire drew fans, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens…guys who throw 100mph, Stephen Strasburg as well, and they all have this freak show quality to them.

Jeter is not fast, not stealing bases, doesn’t hit for power, not a big personality, very reluctant to talk, he’s not moving the turnstile, so I got news for you. Go look at these other Yankee’s that left…they disappeared! Bobby Abreu had a good year yet you didn’t see him play. Matsui…you didn’t see him play either.

You leave the Yankees in this sport; you pretty much fall of the face of the earth! And I see the ratings; you pretty much fall of the face of the earth when you’re done with the Yankees. So I just don’t buy into this, “oh the Yankee’s better watch out on how they treat Jeter…” why do you think they have done studies?  Why do you think they’re playing hard ball folks? They’ve clearly done their homework.

They know what he’s worth and it’s not $21 million for 6 years. When you make the Yankee’s money, they do their research; they know every jersey that sold every single one of them. They know what Jeter is worth. I think the best thing Jeter has got going for him…there is no other shortstop on the market.

If Hanley Ramirez was available, Jeter is done! But he’s not, so the problem is that if you replace Jeter and you bring in somebody who is average…brutal! It’s like replacing Howard Stern; it probably makes the situation worse. So you have to bring in someone to replace Derek,  so that’s why when they let Torre go they brought someone in like Joe Girardi, who’s a bottom line tough guy, and a year or two later he wins the World Series with them and nobody cares about Joe Torre anymore

But this idea that the Yankee’s will fold and the stadiums will be empty without Jeter is a joke! Young people, such as myself, like Cano! Cano is probably the best player they’ve got by a mile. And some people are just like “I’ll never go to another game ever again” really? Seriously? You freakin live in Queens! What are you going to do when it’s August? They’re playing the Red Sox’s! What are you going to do? Go to a Mets game? Come on!!!

The Greatness of Phil Jackson As A Coach…Firestarter!

…there are a lot of different styles of coaches, you got the guy at Kansas State who is breaking clipboards over his knee, you got coaches yelling and screaming. I personally like Belicheck and Phil Jackson style…cerebral, smart, and respectful, they’ll poke you in the ribs at times.

Phil Jackson this past week was on Chicago radio and he was poking Lebron and the Heat in the ribs. Saying “You know the scenario that sits kinda behind the scene is that you’ll eventually see these guys that were recruited, Bosh and James, by Pat Riley and the owner are going to come in and say you know, we feel like you could do a better job coaching the team you know, we came here on the hopes that this would work or whatever…I don’t know, that’s just my take on it. Eventually if things don’t straighten out soon, you could sorta see the Van Gundy thing all over again”

Oh Phil Jackson, he’s stirring the pot. Is he stirring the pot? Absolutely! Remember what he said on November 11^th of this year? Somebody asked Phil Jackson, Lakers coach, “are you going to win 70 games?” and he goes “oh it’s not going to happen for us, the schedule is too tough, the travel, the conference is tough, time zone changes…” which by the way, he is absolutely right! But then he goes “I think Miami can do that, I think Miami is talented enough to do that. Everything has to break perfect for you, you have to be very talented and I think Miami could do it!”  haha

By the way, he is right about the travel. In the Eastern Conference time zone, Boston, DC, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey…they are like 40 minute flights from each other and a lot of easy W’s. Out West, the Lakers have to go to New Orleans, which is like 4 hours, Minnesota at 3 ½ hours, Dallas/Houston/San Antonio is like 3 hours…it’s just more difficult in the West.

Remember when Wayne Gretzky went to the New York Rangers? Wayne played in Edmonton and LA and the he goes to the Rangers – and Gretzky never liked to fly anyways, Gretzky said “this is incredible! God I could’ve saved 8 years on my legs and my back” Because in the NHL, the Bruins, the Devils, the Flyers, the Islanders, the Caps, the Penguins, the Whalers (at the time) they’re all like 40 minute flights from each other. You don’t get that out West. You’ve got much more space, much longer flights, it wears out on players. So Phil Jackson is right about that, but he’s tweaking the Heat in the ribs

By the way, he’s been doing this for years. Do you remember what Phil Jackson did with Kevin Durant? Right before the playoff series, he was asked about Kevin Durant and he said “boy! As far as the calls he gets on the floor, he gets to the line a lot. I’ll tell you, there are a couple of plays in that last game where I was pretty curious on how he got to the line. He gets a lot of ref’s treating him like a superstar. Boy, he gets to the line easy and often”

Kevin Durant, next day, reacts to it and goes out and stinks in Game 1, 7 for 24, 1 for 8 in 3 balls, 4 turnovers and then in Game 2 he’s gets 8 turnovers. He totally manipulated Kevin Durant and got right into his coconut. He did it with Steve Nash as well, remember the Steve Nash quotes? Right before the Phoenix series. Somebody had asked him “How do you simulate the Suns’ Steve Nash in practice?” and Phil is like “Well, you can’t carry the ball like he does, in practice. You can’t pick that ball up and run with it like Steve Nash does” hahaha, seriously…Phil Jackson is great!!!

Now there’s different styles of coaching, there’s the Mark Mangeno at Kansas “I’m going to explode unless I eat a salad and I scream at people” way of coaching. You got the Frank Martin at Kansas State who is just absurdly ridiculous. You’ve got Bull Pullini getting in guys faces’ and then you’ve got my favourite guy, the cool , sophisticated,  cerebral, sarcastic, poke the other guys in the ribs…Phil Jackson. He’s my very favourite coach in pro sports; Belicheck and Phil Jackson are my favourite coaches. Re-read that quote I posted earlier in this rant about the Heat. You can just read into how he’s poking Lebron and the Heat in the ribs.

By the way, the Lakers beat the Bulls earlier in the week and Derek Rose had like a million points and some great highlights, but as I’ve said before, I don’t want my point guard scoring that many points! Lakers just look so good, they are just absolutely philthy!