Palmeiro: Yankees Intriguing

From the New York Times:

Rafael Palmeiro said Tuesday he still doesn’t know how steroids got into his body and is unsure whether he wants to continue playing baseball.

The former Baltimore Oriole, speaking publicly for the first time since last season, said:”I think it is an unfair thing to expect me [play] at the age of 41, 42, the way I did when I was 30. But maybe if I have some solid years and don’t test positive, they can say he went out and hit [well]. Maybe that’s what I can do. I love baseball and I’d like to play forever, but there are other things that are important.”

He mentioned his two sons, 15 and 10.

“There are things I have to weigh,” Palmeiro said. “Baseball needs to be second to my family. I want to see what options I have. If there’s something that’s intriguing, I’ll do it.”

And what might he find intriguing?

“The Yankees would be intriguing,” he said. “But the Yankees seem to be maxed out.”

Please Rafael, find your intrigue somewhere else.

December 28, 2005 | Filed Under Trap Door Items

Comments

20 Responses to “Palmeiro: Yankees Intriguing”

Raf on December 28th, 2005 10:34 pm

Hey, if he still can play, I’d take a flyer on him
Scott Coulter on December 28th, 2005 10:41 pm

Steve, here is your “big bat,” who will be a pinch hitter, feared off the bench. Can play a little 1st base, DH, and look at how close the short porch must seem with him up at bat? Why is this a problem. Probably the cheapest “big bat” in baseball right now. No trade involved, league minimum with incentives, and if he gets hot, ride him till he cools.
Rich on December 28th, 2005 11:09 pm

Why not Raf? The Yanks seem to collect steroid users. I don’t have a problem with Shef and Giambi, why would I have a problem with Raf? If he’s not playing everyday, he won’t need the juice to “recover.” The season won’t be so hard on him and he’ll be fresher. I’d take him off the bench. Or we can just put Bubba in when we need a big hit…(/sarcasm)
MJ on December 29th, 2005 9:15 am

I’m with the others on this. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t get Palmiero as a part-time DH/PH who can play a little 1B. He’d be no worse than the Olerud/Clark/Tino combo we’ve trotted out there the last 3 years and he’d come at a deep discount, price-wise. George used to love taking in guys like him looking for a quick chance at redemption. This move makes perfect sense to me.
Steve Lombardi on December 29th, 2005 9:19 am

Am I the only one who sees RP as an over-40, and barely league average performer, and, oh, by the way, the steriod poster child? I’d rather have Matt LeCroy than him at this point. They have the same vaule with the bat and LeCroy can catch in a pinch.
Raf on December 29th, 2005 10:15 am

Am I the only one who sees RP as an over-40, and barely league average performer, and, oh, by the way, the steriod poster child? I’d rather have Matt LeCroy than him at this point. They have the same vaule with the bat and LeCroy can catch in a pinch.
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Given some of the upstanding citizens that have been Yankees, does it matter if Palmiero’s the “steroid poster child?”

Sign him, or NRI him, if he has anything left he plays. If not, he gets cut. It couldn’t hurt to take a flyer on him.

As for LeCroy, if he can be had, get him and give him a shot.
Josh on December 29th, 2005 3:29 pm

The last thing the Yanks need is steroid villian #1 on the team. We already have Giambi and Sheff and just finished with Mr. Animal Steriods. Pass with a capital P.
Raf on December 29th, 2005 3:56 pm

The last thing the Yanks need is steroid villian #1 on the team. We already have Giambi and Sheff and just finished with Mr. Animal Steriods. Pass with a capital P.
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Another character argument….

Stolen from Netshrine (love what you’ve done to the site, btw).

This post, courtesy of Lee and edited by me

“Let’s not even get into the “character” of those 1970s Yankees teams. That was as bad a set of characters you could find in a clubhouse, which followed another bad set of characters in the Oakland clubhouses where (Catfish) Hunter pitched. So, if Hunter stands for anything “character-wise”, it’s for the fact that character is meaningless when it comes to winning baseball games.

It was just as meaningless to the 1970s A’s and 1970s Yankees as it was the pure myth of the 1990s Yankees being good characters, when that clubhouse was filled with the likes of David “Masturbating” Cone, Chuck “Cancer in the Clubhouse” Knoblauch, Paul “5 Year Olds Are More Mature” O’Neill, David “Too Many Things To Say About Him” Wells, Roger “Most Hated Man In NY” Clemens, Jeff Nelson, Karim Garcia, Darryl “Cocaine” Strawberry, Dwight “Cocaine” Gooden and the rest of those bad characters that the NY media wants to falsely claim are a bunch of good guys. And how appropriate it was that the statutory rape crowd was adequately represented by Luis Polonia’s presence on the 2000 WS Champions.
Jen on December 29th, 2005 4:43 pm

I’m with Steve on this one. The guy wore earplugs ferchrissakes. And that was in Toronto. What’s he gonna do the first time they go to Fenway this year, wear those ear muffs that the airport workers on tarmacs use?
MJ on December 29th, 2005 4:52 pm

If we based all of our personnel decisions on either a) morality or b) what the fans will shout at Fenway, we’d be a team of wonderful saints who lose 100 games a year.

As someone else pointed out, the “True Yankees” of the 70’s and 90’s were all as rough around the edges as anyone else in the game. Plus, even the “True Yankees” of the first half of the 20th Century weren’t model citizens. Care to opine how many times Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth or Billy Martin got drunk, cheated on their wives, got into fights or swore at reporters?

And, if we cared what the Fenway people would say, we’d have gotten rid of ARod after Game 6 of 2004 and would never have signed Johnny Damon.

All that matters is what Raffy P can do with a stick and how much it costs to get him. If it’s a $1M investment for a guy that might hit 15 homers in 250 AB’s, that’s as good a baseball move as you can make.
rilkefan on December 29th, 2005 4:53 pm

“steroid villian #1″

I at least am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. If the team wants him and his teammates haven’t attacked him as an Oriole and accept him as a Yankee, then fine.
Rich on December 29th, 2005 5:15 pm

Steve: If you want to pass based on performance on the field, then that’s fine. If you’re passing on Raf because he’s a steroid user in the past, then that’s a little unfair to me. You know he’s going to get tested all the time wherever he is. He won’t be on the juice anymore. If it’s based on his declining performance, then it’s no problem. Steroids should have no place in this discussion. That’s just my feeling though, I don’t like to discriminate. He already paid for his crime, no sense punishing him more.

Rich
Jen on December 29th, 2005 5:56 pm

MJ, my point isn’t that the fans are gonna boo. It’s that I don’t think Raffy can handle it. They boo Giambi, Jeter, ARod etc, but it doesn’t hinder their play. Raffy I’m not so sure about.
MJ on December 29th, 2005 7:51 pm

I would say that the booing got to Giambi in 2003 and 2004 and that he eventually got over it this year. I think Raffy can handle it as long as he’s in a comfortable place. I honestly think Yankee fans would generally cheer him in the Bronx. The more I think about it, the better this is sounding.
Steve Lombardi on December 29th, 2005 7:54 pm

Rich, others, for me, it’s 75% age/production and 25% that he’s a lying sack of poop. Don’t get me wrong, if it came out - this minute - that David Ortiz was on the juice from 2003 through 2005, and he announced now that he wanted to play for the Yankees, and only the Yankees, in 2006, as a DH, then I would not say “Oh, he’s a juicer, forget him.”

I’m like Billy Martin - if Woody Allen had some game and could help the Yankees win, then who cares if he married his step-daughter? But, the talent level has to be there to allow you to look the other way - - like the Tigers did with Ty Cobb.

Raffy, at his age, and production the last few years, is nothing special and worth looking the other way.
Raf on December 29th, 2005 9:58 pm

Raffy, at his age, and production the last few years, is nothing special and worth looking the other way.
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Rafael Palmeiro 2005: 8 RCAA

Which was better than

Jorge Posada 7
Felix Escalona 0
Kevin Reese 0
Mike Vento 0
Russ Johnson -1
Wil Nieves -1
Mark Bellhorn -2
Melky Cabrera -2
Tino Martinez -2
Rey Sanchez -3
Bubba Crosby -4
Matt Lawton -4
Andy Phillips -4
Robinson Cano -5
Ruben Sierra -9
John Flaherty -15
Bernie Williams -17
Tony Womack -23

Similar batters through age 40 (and their age 40 RCAA), courtesy of Baseball Reference

Eddie Murray (-17)
Frank Robinson (0)
Carl Yastrzemski (10)
Reggie Jackson (11)
Dave Winfield (39)
Willie Mays (47)
Fred McGriff (-5)
Harold Baines (23)
Stan Musial (10)
Andre Dawson (-5)

Palmeiro’s RCAA, 2000-05

2000: 37
2001: 50
2002: 41
2003: 18
2004: 2
2005: 8

Given the state of the Yankee bench, it couldn’t hurt to have him. If he has nothing, cut him, if not play him.
Steve Lombardi on December 29th, 2005 11:05 pm

Raf - you act like he would be a $300,000 signing. Even at $2 mill, it would be too high risk. The odds are not in his favor - even if he had more RCAA than Womack, Vento and Russ Johnson combined.
Raf on December 30th, 2005 7:22 am

Raf - you act like he would be a $300,000 signing. Even at $2 mill, it would be too high risk. The odds are not in his favor - even if he had more RCAA than Womack, Vento and Russ Johnson combined.
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Then don’t sign him for $2M. It doesn’t look like anyone has any interest in him so he could be had on the cheap. Why not NRI him, or sign him to a cheap base contract with incentives?

By the way…

Tino’s RCAA, 2000-05

2000:-16
2001: 11
2002: 6
2003: 3
2004: 13
2005:-2

Tino made $2.75M last year…
Steve Lombardi on December 30th, 2005 9:19 am

That’s the point (Tino) - what was the payroll last year? They’re trying to keep it aboyt $20 mill less this year.
Raf on December 30th, 2005 9:47 am

That’s the point (Tino) - what was the payroll last year? They’re trying to keep it aboyt $20 mill less this year.
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Done…

Kevin Brown $ 15,714,286
Bernie Williams $ 12,357,143
Steve Karsay $ 6,000,000
Mike Stanton $ 4,000,000
Tom Gordon $ 3,750,000
Felix Rodriguez $ 3,150,000
Alan Embree $ 3,000,000
Paul Quantrill $ 3,000,000
Mark Bellhorn $ 2,750,000
Tino Martinez $ 2,750,000
Tony Womack $ 2,000,000
Ruben Sierra $ 1,500,000