WasWatching.com Water Cooler Talk 2/18/09
Posted by Steve L. on February 18th, 2009 · Comments (13)
Feel free to use this post as a place for you to comment on anything Yankees-related (or within reach of tagging the bag of being Yankees-related on a decent slide) today. It could be a casual conversation offering, or, something you saw in the news, or something very detailed that you want to share that’s within the territory of Yankeeland.
Or, comment on something that someone else has posted here in the comments…
Have fun. Play nice. And, remember, keep it Yankees-focused.
Laugh of the day:
Whilst googling for the initial reactions to the steroids testing done in ’03, I came upon this tidbit in a FoxNews.com report posted on 11/14/03 after 104 of 1,438 players (7.2%) tested positive.
—New York Mets reliever Mike Stanton didn’t think steroid use had been that widespread.
“It does surprise me a little bit,” he said. “But the tests don’t lie.”—
Stanton, of course, would later be implicated in the Mitchell report as a steroid user himself.
Just curious..can anyone translate what Arod said in Spanish at the P.C. yesterday?
Just curious..can anyone translate what Arod said in Spanish at the P.C. yesterday?
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Dang, I hadn’t seen that… Haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary @ the spanish newspapers, so I don’t think it was anything important.
i don’t remember exactly what he said (i can kind of/sort of follow spanish) but it sounded like the same drum he’s been beatin the whole time
You guys see some of the comments Cashman had on A-Rod? He seems livid, and I have to assume it’s over the fact A-Rod decided to use his own team of representatives to handle his pr work. Here’s one of the quotes that may draw my conclusions:
“The one thing he could have said was the fact he chose to do this to make himself better … at what he does on the baseball field,” Cashman said. “That’s the truth.”
That was one of the may not-so-flattering quotes Cash had about A-Rod.
FWIW, on M-Kay on ESPN Radio last night, they had a Cashman sound bite where, at the end, Cashman said something like “We’ve got him for the next nine years. We have to make this work. We have no choice.”
And, I LOVED hearing that from Cashman. But, I cannot find a print version of that quote – it’s as if the writers are leaving that “no choice” part out on purpose…
They have a choice, several actually.
They have a choice, several actually.
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Am I just retarded and nothing is coming to my mind? I can only think of two options, play with him or release him….and can you really release him and eat all that money? Some people can bring up a trade but, with his ntc and recent problems, would anybody take him?
Fill me in Raf.
Keep him (play him/bury him)
Release him
Trade him
NTC’s can be bought out. I’m sure some team could use his offensive production if they’re willing to trade for him. “Problems” aside, it seems that he hasn’t failed a test since 2003. His current “problem” stems from a test he failed 6 years ago.
In the end, it all boils down to how much a team wants him, and how much the Yanks want to get rid of him.
You guys see some of the comments Cashman had on A-Rod? He seems livid, and I have to assume it’s over the fact A-Rod decided to use his own team of representatives to handle his pr work. Here’s one of the quotes that may draw my conclusions
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I think Cashman is livid because these allegations came out this year, instead of last year. I have a feeling that Cashman wouldn’t have signed A-Rod to a contract a day before his steroid use was made public like he did for Andy.
Of course, Cashman shouldn’t feel too bad. The team is no worse off with A-Rod on it (in terms of winning a championship), and Cashman will likely be (long) gone by the time A-Rod’s contract is up.
NTC’s can be bought out. I’m sure some team could use his offensive production if they’re willing to trade for him. “Problems” aside, it seems that he hasn’t failed a test since 2003. His current “problem” stems from a test he failed 6 years ago.
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I agree with Raf, here. All this hooplah will die down soon enough (even if it takes a whole year, a team could trade for him next year.) This isn’t quite Barry Bonds being ostracized.
I mean, if Omar is willing to sign a steroid user who is also terrible at baseball (Guillermo Mota), I’m sure there are plenty of people willing to trade for A-Rod.
Further, if more and more people get revealed as steroid users (which may or may not happen,) I can imagine a culture in which signing former steroid users is not that big of a deal. If these other 103 players are named, are teams just not going to sign them? I don’t think so.
I mean, if Omar is willing to sign a steroid user who is also terrible at baseball (Guillermo Mota), I’m sure there are plenty of people willing to trade for A-Rod.
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That would seem logical, but, as it turns out, steroid use is only a big deal if you have a big name. Otherwise, nobody cares.
In fans, we could chalk that up to forgetting. In front offices, well, we can chalk that up to fans forgetting, and teams not actually caring about steroid use at all, except in regard to the PR hit.
The media, meanwhile, only cares about the story (which is the only direction in which their bias ever lies). And right now, the story is that steroids give players an unfair advantage and soil the purity of the American pastime. Players like Guillermo Mota don’t do anything to further that story, and in some ways actually suggest the story is wrong.
That would seem logical, but, as it turns out, steroid use is only a big deal if you have a big name. Otherwise, nobody cares.
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Yep? Alex Sanchez? Matt Lawton? c’mon!