Q: How has Scott Boras affected the game with his trend of pitting teams against each other to drive player salaries up?
TK: I’ll let Jayson answer this because Boras hates Jayson.
JS: Well, I’m not Scott Boras’s favorite person. I once wrote that one of Boras’s clients was less likely to get a job than another player because Boras was his agent and some teams did not want to deal with him. He sought me out in the press box the next day and demanded I print a retraction because he said there was no evidence that the agent will prevent a player from signing with a team. But the fact is that there are some General Manager’s and teams that won’t deal with him. Now, he tries to work around the people that won’t deal with him. He’ll try to find someone else in the front office or deal directly with the owner to try and get a deal for his player. The major issue with him I think is what is more important; making the player happy or getting him the most money? I know guys who go for the big contracts and are just miserable with where they end up and cannot wait to get out of there. The perfect example this year is Matt Holliday. Holliday loved it St. Louis, the fans embraced him, he did well, but they probably aren’t going to be able to give him the best deal. Now shouldn’t Holliday be able to go to Boras and say, “I don’t need to have the most money, I just want to stay here where I’m comfortable.”
Q: What do you think about the trend of General Managers and other top executives moving from being former players to being college-educated businessmen?
TK: There was a time 20 years ago where 70% of the GMs played in the Majors. Now, 3 of the 30 played. That is where the sport is going. Guys like Theo Epstein is extremely smart figuring out all the statistics and information like that, but his biggest strength is surrounding himself with baseball people. Too many GMs like that think they can evaluate talent the way someone who played can. There was one story about how a GM came to a manager and said, “All of our charts and say that this player can play centerfield, so we want you to put him there.” The manager told him that the player could not play centerfield. The GM trusted his research and told him to try him out there. So the player went out there for a week and was horrible. So after a week, the GM went to the manager and told him he was right and asked, “How did you know that?” It’s because managers like that have played and understand what it takes to play. I don’t have a problem with the trend as long as the new GMs understand that they can’t evaluate talent like a baseball person can.
Q: How has technology like Twitter helped or hurt the way you cover baseball games?
At this point, Tim’s daughter Kelly, a freshman at Syracuse who was sitting in the audience raised her hand and said:
Let me just say that my dad knows absolutely nothing about technology.
TK: Well, I guess this isn’t a question for me to answer, go ahead Jayson.
JS: I love Twitter. At one point it was a little bit of an issue at ESPN because they were concerned about what were putting on there because they wanted to make sure it drove people to ESPN.com and not Twitter. I backed off until they decided what to do, and now there’s a Twitter module on our ESPN MLB page for all the Tweets we do. But it’s an amazing interactive media. I’m sitting in the press box and all the sports writers are tweeting about the game, and we’re all sitting right next to each other providing information. It’s a great place to put tidbits and information that may not fit anywhere else, too. And when I’m not physically there, using it helps me feel like I am there.
Q: With a lot of glaring mistakes by the umpires in the postseason this year, do you think instant replay will be expanded?
JS: I wish they would. I was the guy, who a week after they instituted replay, called for them to expand it. At the General Manager’s meetings, they made no formal recommendation about instant replay. And Bud Selig is dead set against the further expansion of it, so as long as he is in charge, I don’t see it happening, whether it is a challenge system or a fifth umpire. Read more...
Well, Sabathis didn't win the AL Cy Young, that went to Royals ace Zack Greinke.
However, every year, Sports Illustrated presents the award Sportsman of the Year in its first issue in December. Many great athletes such as Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, and Michael Jordan have earned this honor. Many times it is given to a player who stands out the most on a championship team. With all the stars on the Yankees, and the postseason heroics of A-Rod, a case is made for CC Sabathia by Ben Reiter. Here is part of his argument:
"Sabathia is my Sportsman of the Year, first and foremost, because of what he did on the field. While he might not win his second AL Cy Young Award -- that honor will probably, and deservedly, go to the Royals' Zack Greinke -- no pitcher was as valuable to his team as Sabathia was to the Yankees. He was an ace, a stopper, a leader of men, and he was at his best when it mattered most. But Sabathia is also my Sportsman of the Year because he showed us, in this money-fueled era of pro sports, that cash doesn't always change athletes, or corrupt them, and that the idea of a "contract year" can sometimes represent nothing more than a matter of timing."
Reiter makes an excellent case for Sabathia and I would love to see him win the award. You can argue Jeter, A-Rod, Matsui, but Sabathia demonstrated his character on and off the field is a huge part of being a successful athlete.
We apologize for not having any updates over the weekend, but there really hasn't been anything but rumors. So, we will give you a rundown on what some of those rumors are.
Saturday rumors were flying around about Curtis Granderson. Granderson hit 249/.327/.453 in 710 plate appearances this year. Those are not his best numbers but what is really striking is his numbers against lefties. The Yankees have to ask themselvesx how much would they be willing to give up for a guy who may possibly be a platoon player due to his numbers against lefties. And if the Yankees do acquire him, say goodbye to Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui.
Speaking of Matsui, he says that he would be disappointed if he does not return to the Yankees. The Yankees are going to have to make a decision on who is more important to resign Damon or Matsui, because I only see one, if any, of them returning.
Rumors continue to link the Yankees to John Lackey. I don't know if there should be anything read into that yet, being that a big-name player on the market the Yankees will always see what the price and if he fits their needs, but I don't see the Yankees handing out a big contract to him.
There are a lot of rumors and not much real news, and it is going to be like that probably until the Winter Meetings. We're going to continue to hear rumors about Holliday and Bay talking to the Yankees and Damon with the San Francisco Giants. We'll let you know if anything noteworthy happens.
For some real news, Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan and A's pitcher Andrew Bailey were named Rookie of the Years for their respective leagues today. Tommorow AL Cy Young is announced. I'd say Greinke wins over Felix Hernandez.
For a guy who just won a World Series, Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger Award, he really let himself go.
Ok, so he's not really a bum.
If you are wondering, Jeter makes a cameo in an upcoming Will Ferrell movie, The Other Guys. They filmed Jeter's part yesterday in Coney Island at Nathan's. This is the second movie Jeter is making a cameo in. He appeared in a cameo with Roger Clemens in Anger Management in 2003. Jeter also hosted SNL in 2001 where he infamously dressed as a woman, and like many Yankees, he was once on an episode of Seinfeld alongside Bernie Williams.
Q: What are some of the biggest storylines of the off-season and the Winter Meetings?
JS: The trade market is going to be very interesting this winter. It already has been, since we had about 5 trades within 48 hours of the World Series ending. Roy Halladay will obviously be the most talked about player this offseason, much like Johan Santana a few years ago. And the thing is that they HAVE to trade him. The poor guy went to the All-Star game and for two days had a million people like me ask him about him getting traded and where he wanted to go. Then over the next month it was all that was talked about, and then he stayed in Toronto. He is not going to want to go through that again. He wants to play for a contender, and the Blue Jays are too far away from being that type of team. He has a full no-trade clause. He can go to the team and say, if you are going to trade me, do it in the offseason because I will not do this again. Then they lose him and only get the two draft picks. The teams that are the front runners are the Phillies, who obviously made a strong play at the trading deadline, the Red Sox, and because Boston’s involved, the Yankees will be. Then the Mets will try to make a deal, that is, if they have anything left to trade. The free agent market consists of really three guys: Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, and John Lackey. There is not too much depth in this class. Holliday and Bay are not true centerpiece players, but they are going to want to get paid like they are. Then there is Lackey who isn’t a true ace, but he’s the best pitcher on the market.
TK: This is the most work we have to do as baseball writers. People will come up to us after the World Series and say, “So you’re on vacation for the next four months, right?” No, not at all. During the season, it’s easier because you know where the story is. If the Yankees lose six games in a row, you know that’s the story. But in the offseason, it’s not like that. Most of our work is done over the phone trying to track people down to find out which teams are making trades and which free agents are going where. And Manny Ramirez took four months to sign last year. It was torture trying to figure out where that clown was going!
JS: I’ll tell you a story about misinformation and knowing who to trust when it comes to breaking stories like these. At the trading deadline, one of my best sources came to me and said that the Indians and Red Sox were working on a three-team deal to bring Victor Martinez to the Red Sox. They just needed a third team to put Adam LaRoche. So with that and all the corroborating evidence I had, I was going to run it. But I thought, “I need to run this by someone from one of the teams involved.” So it’s very late and I have an email out to someone in the Red Sox executive and I still hadn’t heard back, and I decide that I trust my source and my reporting enough, and we run the story. We were the only one who had it. That’s a lonely feeling in that situation. So I go to sleep, since most of the time we’re up and working 20 hours a day, and when I wake up I get an email back from my Red Sox contact who says that this information is “completely false.” And this trade actually happened! I email him back telling him about my source and all the evidence I had and why I decided to run the story. Two minutes later I get an email back from him saying, “It’s alright, you got it mostly right.” In two minutes, I had gone from “completely false” to “mostly right.” You just need to know who to trust and who not to and who may be misinforming you.
Q: How will the disaster of the Santana trade (on the Twins end) affect the Halladay deal?
TK: As you saw at the deadline, the Blue Jays won’t make a deal unless they get exactly what they want. They want, and need, better prospects in return for Halladay. There is a zero percent chance that he re-signs with them. Teams are unwilling to part with top prospects because of uncertainties in how a player will perform the next year. In basketball and football you know almost exactly how a player is going to perform the next year, but not in baseball, and that’s the ultimate beauty of the game.
JS: I think the lesson teams are learning is to not wait too long to trade these players. You can’t wait until a player like Halladay has one year deal left on his deal. Especially since teams didn’t get a window to negotiate a contract with him during the season, so it’s unlikely that it is going to happen in the off-season. The optimum time to trade big players like Halladay is with two years left, or even this past trading deadline so team’s get him for a year and a half. If they trade him next July, teams like the Yankees are just going to say, ‘Why should we waste prospects on him when we can wait 3 months and sign him for a bazillion dollars?” just like they did with Sabathia. And the Twins example shows that teams should look for quality, not quantity.
Q: When International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) founder Dick Pound came to talk to us [Pound spoke to Sport Management majors on October 25] he spoke about how big of a joke the MLB drug testing system was and it was ridiculous that they thought they had a strong testing program. What are your thoughts on that?
TK: Well, you have to give the MLB credit for how far they’ve come over the past 15 years. If you had told me back then that we would have the type of testing we do now, I would not have believed you. There was no way the Union would have allowed it, but now there have been too many embarrassing situations and something needed to be done. While this system is not perfect, it is not the be all, end all, and it still has holes, there is no perfect way to do it, and right now this is the best way.
JS: I think that the penalty for first-time offense should be a year and not 50 games. That would get some people’s attention. But baseball is completely different than the Olympics. Baseball is everyday and the Olympics happens once every four years. But you have to look at if it is working or not. How many 60 home run guys have you seen lately? How many 50 homer guys have you seen? Baseball’s program is on par with the three other major sports in North America.Read more...
The Sport Management Club at Syracuse University hosted two of ESPN's Senior Baseball writers, Tim Kurkjian and Jayson Stark, for a discussion on Major League Baseball. There were a lot of people in the auditorium, but I was able to get one question in. Most of the questions were about the league in general, but people obviously asked some questions about the teams they follow. Being Syracuse, NY, there were plenty of Yankees fans, and there was some very good information on them, including the Joba and Hughes bullpen/starter debate. But I'm not going to tell you here, I'm going to make you read the post. Devious of me, I know. There's a lot of material here, and as I commented to a few people at the meeting, I think I took more notes in that hour and a half than I did in class all last week, so I won't get into every single question that was asked. The easiest way to do this is in Q&A format. I'll put the question, and then TK for Tim Kurkjian and JS for Jayson Stark.
Q: How will history look back on the steroid era in baseball?
TK: Right now there's an imaginary asterisk next to this era. And that should be it. Taking away records would ruin the credibility of the record book and the actual asterisk did not work in 1961 with Roger Maris. We need to take this era and give it to the best baseball fans and say, this is what the stats were, take what it what you will. Instead of attaching asterisks, we should attach stories to these statistics.
JS: The thing about this topic, is that when we talk about it, we talk almost exclusively about 10-15 players. We talk about Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and now Roger Clemens has gotten dragged into this, but the fact is hundreds of players took performance enhancers. Yes, there were people who were taking them to break records and to make more money, but there were also guys taking them to just hang on, or to make it to the big leagues. Then some guys thought that HGH had magical healing powers, and that's why they took them. And when it comes to the Hall of Fame, there is no way to keep everyone who did steroids out. We may have already elected a player into the Hall that used steroids. When there was no testing, it's impossible to think that you can just stop those people from getting in. I agree with Bob Costas when he says that when we get to that era of player, we should just put a sign that denotes these players as part of the steroid era. We know that the statistics in this era were different, and you can look at them any way you want to.
Follow up comment: Despite the dark cloud, it seems that, at least attendance-wise, the game has not been affected.
JS: I am amazed at baseball's success as a business. More people are watching baseball on TV or live in person than ever before. It seems that people compartmentalize, and they have this filing cabinet in their head, and they put the information on the steroid era in there and enjoy the game. To say that you aren't going to watch baseball or go to a game because of something that happened in the steroid era, if you like baseball, you are denying yourself pleasure.
TK: I think it is because baseball is bigger and better than any of the issues it faces. There are people who care more about baseball than almost anything else. We have a researcher at ESPN who can tell you who made the last out in every World Series since 1948 and how they did it. There is another guy who can tell you what every Topps Baseball card over a seven year period looks like. You'll say a player's name and he'll tell you, "There were two. One was him standing at the plate looking down at the third base coach, and the other one was him running out of the batters box." We also work with a huge Phillies fan who we once asked about a game on May 4th, 2004, which, at the time, was over 4 years prior. He was able to tell us they lost to the Cardinals 6-5, the Cardinals scored 2 in the first inning, and Kerwin Daley was the home plate umpire. It was just amazing.
Q: With the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) set to expire in 2011, how will MLB avoid the 9th work stoppage in its history?
TK: When they prevented a work stoppage during the last negotiations, the players stood up to their representatives and told them that they couldn't have another strike because last time they almost lost the game. Now, they know that, in the middle of an economic recession, they won't be able to walk out and say they aren't getting paid enough and they don't have good enough benefits when the average salary is close to $3 million. This is good for us because covering labor negotiations is horrible.
JS: Well, who just won the World Series? The Yankees, and when the Yankees win, people clamber that the system is broken. That's a bunch of garbage, because the system has never been better. Do you know how much revenue the Kansas City Royals take in before they sell a single ticket? $100 million. Some small market teams just aren't spending the money they are getting from luxury taxes and revenue sharing. It's been proven by the Rays, the Twins, and the A's that a small market team can win if you evaluate players correctly and spend money wisely. In the end, there won't be any major changes to the CBA and no work stoppage.
Q: What about a salary cap? Is that in the cards?
TK: Well, the Yankees provide the perfect foil for Major League Baseball. Every good story needs a hero and a villain, and they are, depending whether you love or hate the Yankees. But the fact is, when the Yankees and these other big market teams are good, it's good for the baseball. They make money for the entire league through merchandise sales, TV ratings, and luxury tax. There is no way the Player's Association (PA) will allow a salary cap within at least the next 10 years because there are obviously team's out there willing to pay.
JS: Also, it doesn't appear that there will be a salary floor either because the PA is opposed to that as well. The argument against a floor is that the only way a small market team like the Rays can compete is if, every few years, they blow the team up and start over. I think the way to do it is to set a floor of say $65 million for the payroll. And if a team, like the Rays decides to go under that number, just as the Yankees decide to go over the luxury tax threshold, they should be taxed. It would start out as a small tax at first and increase the longer the team stays under. The biggest flaw in the Basic Agreement right now is that there is no accountability on how teams spend the luxury tax money. They could be spending it on the Christmas party for all we know.
Q: What do you see the Yankees doing when it comes to free agents and other off-season moves?
TK: Of their big three free agents, Pettitte, Damon, and Matsui, I think Pettitte will come back and the other two will be gone. They are trying to get younger and more athletic. They saw how much Mark Teixeira helped them not only on offense, but with their infield defense, and want to do that in the outfield. In regards to the rotation, from talking with people in the know, my guess would be that Phil Hughes returns to the rotation and Joba Chamberlain stays in the rotation.
JS: I agree with most of what Tim said, but I can see Damon returning to the Yankees if the deal is right for the team. If there is a small one year deal with an option, they will probably jump on that. There are three words that are probably going to prevent that from happening, however, "Scott Boras client."
(My question) Q: With Derek Jeter's contract up after next year, and despite him still performing, he is an aging superstar. How do see the Yankees handling their iconic figure?
JS: Well the simple fact is: he's Derek Jeter. He is the heart of the Yankees. The Yankees know they need to take care of him. They have already gone to Jeter and his agent and said, "You're going to be a Yankee forever." The traditional rules don't apply to him. I thought the most interesting thing about them winning this World Serieswas the "Core Four," and how they all played in the clinching game. They have all been there through the minor leagues and from that first playoff appearance in 1995 and it isn't like they are there hanging on trading stories about the past. They are still four of the most important players on the team. The Yankees know this is a special situation with all of them and are going to deal with it accordingly.
TK: A quick story, last week I'm in the Yankees clubhouse after the game, soaked in champagne, and I need to interview Jeter. I see him and I'm following him through all these people. He dodges what seems like 100 people and over in the corner, he meets his Mom and Dad and gives them a big hug. It's just the type of person he is, and why he's been so successful. I asked Tino Martinez once to tell me something about Derek Jeter that I wouldn't know. Tino told me that if Derek had even just one beer, he will not get behind the wheel of a car and drive. It's why he remains so successful on and off the field, because he is smart enough to not get in trouble by getting arrested for a DUI.
Q: Do you think that Jeter will make a run at Pete Rose's hits record?
TK: I don't think he will, but he'll end up with around 3,500 hits. If he gets to that, he will have 800 more hits than any shortstop in history and anyone in Yankee history. He always plays hard. In 12 years, I have never, ever seen him not run hard to first base. And people still tell me he is an overrated player.
That basically covers it in regards to Yankee-specific material, and since this post is already over 1,800 words, I'm going to wrap it up...for now. I still have plenty of material on what they think of the off-season trade and free agent markets, as well as some stories on the nature of covering Major League Baseball, so I'll save that for a rainy day later this month (except that I live in Syracuse, so make that a snowy day).
The American League Gold Glove Award winners were announced this afternoon, and Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira represented the Yankees in taking home the hardware. Jeter became the second oldest shortstop to win a Gold Glove at 35, since Luis Aparicio won when he was 36. It is Jeter's fourth and first since 2006. Mark Teixeira also received his first Gold Glove since 2005-06.
I imagine the NL players will be annoucned tommorow. As for the rest of the awardsm here is when they will be announced:
Nov. 16 — AL and NL Rookie of the Year Nov. 17 — AL Cy Young Nov. 18 — AL and NL Manager of the Year Nov. 19 — NL Cy Young Nov. 23 — AL Most Valuable Player Nov. 24 — NL Most Valuable Player
UPDATE 5:09: Jim here: Well I guess the voters, the managers and coaches, disagreed with the UPenn research that came out a couple of years ago. Maybe if the research had come from Princeton, they would have believed it.
Tomorrow night, Jayson Stark and Tim Kirkjian will be holding a baseball discussion with members of the Sport Management Club, of which I am a member, at Syracuse. I will obviously be armed with several questions regarding the Yankees and Major League Baseball in general. Feel free to post any questions you want me to ask in the comments, tweet @jgeant, or send an email to michaelkayssuccessors@yahoo.com. I'll have a post up about the experience sometime later this week.
Also, as you may have noticed, the blog layout has changed. That was merely a technical difficulty, and it will most likely go back to the way it was, or a better template, depending on what we find. Much like the Yankees, we will have organizational meetings (or more like IM sessions) to decide on what we can do better and how to position ourselves this offseason.
UPDATE: The layout is back to the way it was, for now. Stay tuned over the next couple of days for info from the GM Meetings in Chicago and the story about Baseball Tonight's visit to Syracuse.
So the champagne bottles are empty and all the confetti is being cleaned up. It’s time to start thinking of one of the most exciting part of the baseball season: the Hot Stove season.
The Yankees are sure to be involved as they always are and we’ll be here covering all of the moves en route to World Series Championship #28.
First, some important dates:
November 9-11: The GM Meetings will take place in Chicago.
November 22- Until this date, clubs have exclusive negotiating rights with their current players with expiring contracts. Free agency begins. You can go here for a quick rundown on the rules of free agency.
December 1- Last day for clubs to offer arbitration to players in order to receive draft pick compensation.
December 7-10- Winter Meetings in Indianapolis.
December 10- Rule 5 draft for players not protected by teams by being placed on 40-man roster.
December 12- Deadline for teams to tender players a contract
January 5-20- Teams and players exchange salary arbitration numbers.
February- Salary arbitration hearings take place.
February 12- Yankees Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring Training
Now here are the Yankees free agents:
Type A
Johnny Damon
Type B
Jerry Harriston, Jr.
Hideki Matsui
Xavier Nady
Andy Pettitte
Non-type
Jose Molina
Eric Hinske
Non-tender candidates
Chien-Mien Wang
Chad Gaudin
In all, that’s $40 million coming off the books to use in the free agent market. Or, you know, buy the Florida Marlins.
In the next couple of days, we’ll give an off-season preview with what with think the GM Brian Cashman and the Yankees will/should do in regards to free agency and trades and identify strengths and weaknesses.
The owners, operators, and writers of the Michael Kay's Successors blog are in no way sponsored, endorsed or affiliated with the New York Yankees or the aforementioned Michael Kay. Because if they were, we'd be on World Series championship #39 by now.
Also, anything written about broadcaster/on-air personalities is all in good fun and meant to be taken as a joke.
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