Besmirchment

I’m new to Joe Posnanski’s blog -- he writes a lot about sports and a little about pop culture -- but I’m getting to like it. Today, he had me swooning with this paragraph, tucked into a thoughtful piece on the ubiquitous A-Rod sitch:

I will say: I’ve never been entirely sure when the Yankees became the bastion of purity. That seemed to be at least one of the themes of the early A-Rod coverage -- that somehow he had besmirched the impeccable history of the New York Yankees. As far as I can tell, the Yankees tradition began with Babe Ruth, who would get chased on trains by naked women wielding knives. Mickey Mantle was an alcoholic; Whitey Ford was his carousing partner. George Steinbrenner pled guilty to obstruction of justice and later paid a gambler for dirt on Dave Winfield. Billy Martin was a five-tool rogue. Even just talking steroids: Brian McNamee was the Yankees strength coach, Roger Clemens was a Yankees pitcher, and we know at least one of them is lying. And so on. Not a knock -- every team has its past. Just saying I’m not sure that A-Rod betrayed some sort of saintly Yankees code.

Hear, hear!

Joe also recently did a nice little post after watching George Carlin’s brilliant take on the language of football versus the language of baseball. Joe’s post ain’t Carlin, but some of it is lovely (like how the language of the game “sounds like something a small child came up with long ago”) and it’s always cool to see what happens at the intersection of “baseball” and “words.”

Semi-relatedly: If you haven’t yet seen the PBS broadcast of the Mark Twain Prize being awarded (posthumously) to Mr. Carlin, it’s definitely worthy. And yes, the football-versus-baseball bit -- part of Carlin’s opening monologue in the first-ever episode of “SNL” -- is included.

Proof That the Yankees Stink

Literally.

According to the NYT, some MLB players are perfectly happy to say goodbye to Yankee Stadium, which is expected to be demolished at the ripe old age of 85 years when the team’s new stadium opens next year.

Times reporter Alan Schwartz points out some of the hassles associated with other stadiums (rats at the Astrodome? ewwwwww) and then shares some of what players won’t miss about the House that Ruth Built. Top beef? The smell.

“Especially when it rains, the smell that comes up through the drainage system is not pretty,” said Jason Varitek of the Boston Red Sox. “It affects your sinuses, I’ll tell you that much.”

[Michael] Young [of the Texas Rangers] added: “It depends on the day. The last time we were there, which was a couple of weeks ago, a pipe burst. I was going back up the tunnel, and there was a flood — a sewer line broke or something like that. So I still have that kind of in my nose right now.”

Twins closer extraordinaire Joe Nathan preferred to focus on the exorcism factor:

“The ghosts,” he said. “There’s a reason these guys have won so much. Good to get a fresh start in the new place.”

But along with crappy accommodations for visiting teams (Joe Crede of the White Sox referenced hitting his head on the low ceiling of the dugout), Schwartz writes, “Olfactory issues led the voting.” Check out the full article here.

Gone, Daddy, Gone

At least it's the Mets (so he can hang out with former Twin Luis Castillo) and not the Yankees, and of course, we knew it was coming, but I'm still feeling pretty sad about this one.

From this morning's Strib:

Second Twins pillar departs

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

January 29, 2008

Faced with a Tuesday deadline invoked by Johan Santana, the Twins ended months of speculation by agreeing to deal the two-time Cy Young award winner to the New York Mets for four prospects, according to persons with knowledge of the discussions.

Santana is expected to receive a six-year deal that would pay him about $130 million, sources said. The trade hinges on a 72-hour window that closes on Friday afternoon for the Mets and Santana to negotiate a deal that would entice Santana to waive the no-trade clause in his current contract.

The Twins have traded top players for prospects before -- Frank Viola in 1989 and Chuck Knoblauch in 1998 -- and each time the deal was followed by at least one losing season before a run of success.

The Twins this offseason have lost Torii Hunter to free agency and likely Santana to the Mets. But even amid that gloom, Twins fans are not without hope. The team is building a new stadium set to open in 2010 and last week signed regulars Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer to long-term contracts.

Former Twins first baseman Kent Hrbek, who watched teammate Viola leave in 1989 and played in the 1991 World Series with players brought in by that trade, shared that cautious optimism.

"It all depends on what happens with the pitching staff they have and how well they will perform,'' said former Twins star Kent Hrbek. "If they pitch their butts off and do well, everyone will be like: 'Who?'"

The Twins are a microcosm of the entire Minnesota sports scene. In recent years, the Wolves' Kevin Garnett and Vikings standouts Randy Moss and Daunte Culpepper have all exited. The Mets have agreed to send to the Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez, 22, and righthanded pitchers Philip Humber, 25, Kevin Mulvey, 22, and Deolis Guerra, 18. Gomez played 58 games for the Mets last year, and could contend for the starting center field job that opened when Hunter signed with the Los Angeles Angels.

Twins officials declined to discuss the deal until Santana completes an agreement with the Mets. "We hope to have some resolution to the whole thing soon, but we don't have anything else to say today,'' Twins GM Bill Smith said Tuesday night.

The Twins offered Santana a four-year deal worth $80 million, but it became evident to team officials that he wanted to pitch on a bigger stage, such as New York or Boston. Team officials had become resigned in recent weeks to losing Santana.

"That's all we heard about all winter is [Santana] was going to be gone and traded,'' said Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson. "At first you think about it all the time. You expect it's going to happen, and when it finally does, it's like it really hasn't hit you yet.''

The deadline

According to a person familiar with negotiations, Santana and his agent, Peter Greenberg, gave the Twins until the end of the day on Tuesday to get a deal done or Santana would invoke his no-trade clause and remain with the Twins through the 2008 season. If that had happened, he would have left the team as a free agent at the end of the season, and the Twins would have received only two draft picks as compensation. Greenberg did not return interview requests.

Faced with that ultimatum, the Twins late last week asked each of the three main suitors for Santana -- the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox -- for its best offer.

The Mets offer included players deemed to have the greatest potential. The tradeoff: The two best prospects, Gomez and Guerra, might not be ready to help for a year or two.

Gomez has blinding speed and is excellent defensively, but the jury is still out on his bat. If he hits, he could become a star. He will be given a chance to win the center field job in spring training.

Guerra, who stands 6-foot-5, has huge potential and pitched in high Class A ball last season at age 18, which doesn't happen often.

Mulvey is considered a middle-of-the-rotation prospect with Humber more of a No. 4 or 5 starter.

"It's four prospects for sure,'' Cuddyer said. "None of them has really proven themselves, but then again they're all young, and they'll have a chance to prove themselves. Gomez will have a chance to prove himself in center field this year.''

With Santana's $13.25 million salary moving off the books, the Twins' 2008 payroll could hover around $50 million for the first time since 2003, when it was $55.6 million. Morneau, who agreed to a six-year, $80 million contract last week, would be the highest-paid Twin at $7.4 million. Team officials have not ruled out adding a veteran pitcher via free agency.

The proposed trade to the Mets ends a seven-year run in the Twin Cities for Santana, who went an astounding 93-44 with a 3.22 ERA, won AL Cy Young awards in 2004 and 2006 and had a huge hand in making the Twins a consistent
winner.

Departure foreshadowed

The warning signs that Santana's days as a Twin were coming to an end began a year ago when he warned that the club should sign him to an extension then or the cost of keeping him was going to increase.

He made national news after the July 31 trade deadline when he criticized the front office for not doing more to keep the club competitive. At the end of the season, he announced that he was willing to waive his no-trade clause for the right deal.

Indications during the offseason were that Santana, who will make $13.25 million this season, wanted a record-breaking deal and that he wanted to pitch on the big stage.

He's close to getting what he wanted.

As for the Twins, team officials can only hope the deal works out as well as the two most recent cases where the club dispatched an All-Star for prospects.

Viola, a Cy Young award winner, was dealt to the Mets in 1989 for five young pitchers. Two of them -- Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani -- became key members of the 1991 World Series championship team.

In 1998, the Twins traded second baseman Knoblauch to the Yankees for four prospects. Cristian Guzman and Eric Milton became All-Stars, helping the Twins end a streak of eight straight losing seasons and win the AL Central Division three straight seasons from 2002 through 2004.

For Twins fans, that past invites a reason for optimism.

"I'm extremely sorry to see Johan go,'' said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, a self-professed die-hard fan. "But I believe this is exactly what this incredible franchise needs to do to sign the players who are key to our future, like [Joe] Mauer and Morneau and Cuddyer, and build the pitching staff that has tremendous promise. I'm sad, but I think it's the right move considering the way baseball works."

Staff writers M.L. Smith and Joe Christensen contributed to this report.

© 2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Not Jo, too!

“Johan, don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” read the opening sentence of a brief editorial in today’s Strib. “And the same holds true for Joe Nathan and anyone else the Twins can deal.”

I moaned. More “we’re better off without ‘em” crap, like we saw with Torii?

But no. The piece continued:

Don’t get me wrong – these guys are class acts. But the greatest pitcher of his generation and one of the best relievers in the game deserve big money and, more importantly, a shot at a World Series ring. With the Twins, they’ll get neither. Not with this owner [Carl Pohlad, aka (in my house) "Mr. WhytheHellIsn’tHeDeadYet!"].

The conclusion: “And please, don’t trade Santana to the Yankees. I want to be able to root for him.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

True Believers? Nope

“If that’s true, then I like baseball even less than I thought I did.”

-- My husband

You’d think that I’d be mild to moderately dismayed to hear that particular comment from M, because I do like baseball and it’s just easier in our household when we like the same stuff. (I’m not talking about agreement to the extent that you lose independence or anything. But it’s truly more convenient when we both want to watch the same thing on TV, and that’s not necessarily the case when I want to watch baseball.)

But in this case, I completely agree with M. Why? Because we were talking about the Yankees -- specifically, the concept of a “True Yankee.”

As I often tell anyone who will listen, I hate the Yankees for the simple reason that they take a lot of fun out of the game. I understand that, generally speaking, capitalism is a good thing, and that if there’s demand for your product, you should be able to charge what the market will bear. A corollary: if supply and demand means you end up with more money than anyone else, that should be okay. But you know what? It’s not. At least, it’s not to me. (M and I spent a lot of time debating this when watching the "Commanding Heights" DVDs. I kept getting upset that market-based reform in South America left a lot of people in poverty, while M kept arguing that it’s still completely better than the central-planning alternative.)

You can argue all day about whether it’s “right” or “wrong,” I suppose, but in the case of baseball, the fact that the Yankees have goo-gobs more money than anyone else means a very uneven playing field. Even George Will -- generally a pro-market forces guy -- has a problem with that.

So I don't like the Yankees, and it turns my stomach a bit to hear people bandy about the concept of them getting Torii. At the same time, if the Yanks do want him and are willing to pay him what he deserves (something that the Twins don’t seem likely to do, despite his having a career year and repeatedly saying he’d like to stay here), then I certainly couldn’t blame him for going. Not just because of what it would mean to his career, but also because of the prestige of playing with the Yankees. Or so I tried to explain to M the other night.

He responds, “What does that mean? They’re a completely bought team, which is practically the same as cheating. What prestige is in that?” (Ah, so he has been listening to me rant!)

To answer his question, I try to explain a concept that I myself barely understand: what it means to be a “True Yankee.” I say that there seems to be this perception, not just in New York, that playing for the Yankees means attaining the pinnacle of baseball. It’s almost another form of getting “called up.” And then drilling down deeper, there’s yet another level of éclat: the “True Yankee.” What does that mean?

• Jay Mohr (he’s an expert on baseball now?) seems to think it's about a calling. He writes, “Some guys are meant to be Yankees and some are not.”
• FJM defines a “True Yankee” in their glossary as “A guy who’s full of intangible qualities that help him triumph -- with class.”
• (Of course -- and this is one reason I love FJM -- they also say: If you ever -- ever -- hear someone use the phrase "True Yankee," for any reason, I want you to find the nearest exit, form an orderly line, and leave the premises quickly and calmly. Seek shelter. Cover head. Report the incident to your nearest FJM representative immediately. You are in great danger, because the person you are talking to is an idiot.)

But the best “explanation” of the concept I’ve seen was in an E-Sports posting, wherein Billy Davis writes:

There's a distinction between wearing the pinstripes and being a New York Yankee. You're not a Yankee just because Bob Sheppard says so. Being a Yankee isn't about statistics or salary or track record. People who unbendingly argue that there is no such thing as a "True Yankee" wouldn't be able to see Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other ballplayers if they were in "Field of Dreams". They don't believe. And if you ask any diehard baseball fan, believing is what makes baseball so exceptional.

True Yankees are like your grandmother's signature chocolate chip cookies -- imperfectly perfect, special, and completely genuine. Other chocolate chip cookies are good. You accept them. You try them, yet all the while you know that your grandmother's cookies will always be True.

Let’s ignore the fact that Davis doesn’t know to put the period inside the quotation marks and move on to how much his comments nauseate me. They imply that Yankee fans -- and especially those who acknowledge this fallacious concept -- are purer. Chosen, in a way, because they are the real believers in the poetry part of baseball.

Bullsquat. Offensive, even. But as I said, it’s the existence of this very notion that makes me understand why Torii would go to New York in a heartbeat and with a spring in his step. Not just for the $60 million over four years, but because there’s this idea of maybe being a True Yankee, whether or not such a thing really exists, and what that would do for his -- for lack of a better word -- legacy. And that, I explained to M, is why if Steinbrenner comes calling, it’s all over for us.

At which point, my husband said, ““If that’s true, then I like baseball even less than I thought I did.”

And I totally get that.