L.A. Angels’ Albert Pujols Contract is Nonsensical

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It is amazing that as the NFL and NBA recently concluded labor disputes their popularity isn’t suffering as much as Major League Baseball; who are losing the youth demographic. The decision for L.A. Angels owner Artie Moreno to pay Albert Pujols two hundred fifty four million dollars over ten years is ludicrous and absurd. Say that again $254 million over 10 years.

There is speculation of what Pujols’ age really is.

In 2011, I am skeptical of this notion because data around the world are fairly transparent. If that were the case, the truth likely would have come to light by now. Even so, men of a certain age (shout out to Ray Ramano) will not produce more than in their prime without assistance from performance enhancing drugs.

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Yankees Joe Girardi to be Honorary Captain at Northwestern-Michigan State

November 22, 2011 By 1 Comment

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New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi accomplished a lot during his MLB career with the Chicago Cubs, St Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies. He’s been an All-Star, 4× World Series champion (1996, 1998, 1999, 2009) and 2006 NL Manager of the Year.

Before all that, he was a star in the Northwestern Wildcats baseball program. Girardi returns to Evanston to serve as honorary captain as the Wildcats take on the Michigan State Spartans in their Big Ten finale.

Yep baseball meets college football on Saturday.

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Who Cares Where Yankees Captain Derek Jeter Gets His 3,000th Hit?

June 15, 2011 By 1 Comment

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Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter recorded his 2,994 career hit Monday night before leaving the game with a serious calf strain. Though it would always be noteworthy when an All-Star and prominent player leaves a game with an injury, the Jeter thing has gotten an inordinate amount of coverage because the Yankees only have three games left on their current homestand.

Apparently, Jeter has been pressing really hard to pick up his 3,000th hit at Yankee Stadium, in front of the home crowd. Now, I’m a really big Yankee fan and, by virtue of my age and the time I became truly interested in baseball, I’m just as big a Jeter fan as the next guy, but I really don’t care where he records he 3,000th.

If anything, I think it would be kind of cool if he did it in Wrigley. (Even though he likely won’t play in the Chicago Cubs series)

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Most Underrated Player in Baseball? Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez

May 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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When one thinks about the best players in Colorado Rockies history, names like Todd Helton, Larry Walker, and Troy Tulowitzki might come to mind first.

Tulowitzki has won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger award, but Carlos Gonzalez is the most explosive player on the club. CarGo’s start so far this season does not do justice to his true potential. Much like Jose Reyes for the New York Mets, Gonzalez is a multi-faceted player who spark-plugs the entire line-up. While it is true that he does not quite have the range of a Dexter Fowler in center field or the arm necessary to play right field in the spacious confines of Coors Field, the sum of his parts is a premium player.

The twenty-five year old Venezuelan is in the prime of what promises to be a very illustrious career.

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Yankees Derek Jeter and Hank Steinbrenner Kiss and Make Up (Video)

March 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner has been badmouthing his players. Steinbrenner recently speculated they were more focused on building mansions than repeating their World Champion win last season. His remarks are seen as a jab at team captain Derek Jeter in particular, who has just completed a three-year construction job on a 30,000-square-foot mansion in Tampa. Jeter coincidentally played the worst season of his career last year, and many feel it was a key factor in the Yankees’ not reaching the postseason after winning it all in 2009.

Steinbrenner later cleared the air, calling his remark “a bad choice of euphemism.”

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Derek Jeter Possesses By Far the Best Contract in Baseball

December 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

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There was a time in sports when players were rewarded for their performance on the field. It actually is more logical to pay a player for his potential rather than his resume since that is essentially the period of time for the contract. It does help to have a body of work at the highest level to convince owners and general managers to part with some of their money. Derek Jeter is definitely on the downside of his illustrious career.

Jayson Werth and Carlos Pena have taken a substantial amount of heat in the media for the terms of their contracts, but it should come on the other side of the aisle because management is the side that agreed to the terms.

By Patrick Herbert

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Memo to Yankees, Derek Jeter: Not a Leadoff Hitter

October 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

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With the moral demise of Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter is now the most revered man in all of sports.

Whether he is driving by a fire in a “Rescue Me” trailer or running out to his position in the Bronx, graceful is a word that describes him. The captain is every manager’s dream and Joe Girardi is certainly enamored with him. This is the only explanation why he is still hitting leadoff in that hallowed line-up.

It is much too small of a sample to be conclusive, but Jeter only has two postseason hits so far with no walks. One of the aforementioned singles was even on an “excuse me” swing to shallow right field. During regular season play Jeter did achieve the magical mark of one hundred runs scored; he also was effective in the extra base department with thirty doubles, three triples, and ten home runs. His sixty-three walks helped offset his low batting average of .270. His on base percentage hit .340 according to the sortable stats link at http://yankees.com (This site provided all of the statistics for this piece).

By Patrick Herbert

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Are the Stars Aligning for the Minnesota Twins?

September 13, 2010 By 3 Comments

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For 19 years the Minnesota Twins have been fighting. [Read more…]

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Jason Christian hopes to become another Ex Michigan Wolverine in MLB

July 11, 2010 By 1 Comment

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It’s fairly well known within the sports world that the University of Michigan produces a ton of NFL players. And they also lead the way among colleges producing  the highest number of NHL players. But the maize and blue are well represented in the Major Leagues as well.

The list of recent alums to have notable MLB careers includes Jim Abbott, Chris Sabo, Barry Larkin, Derek Jeter, J.J. Putz, Rich Hill, Clayton Richard and Chris Getz. Kane County Cougars infielder Jason Christian, one of the top prospects in the Oakland Athletics organization, wishes to add his name to the list.

By Paul M. Banks

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