February 20, 2007
The Bronx Zoo Is Open Again
The Yankees owe a lot of things to Bernie Williams for his great play the past 16 years, but they do not owe him a roster spot for 2007. Bernie can no longer play defense and his offense has eroded to the point that he is only viable against left-handed pitching.
But, the Yankees still invited him to camp and instead of accepting or declining, Bernie has gone into hiding. Joe Torre and Jorge Posada have made unreturned phone calls to him and with the first workout for position players today, the time has come for Bernie to end the circus and either show up or move on.
The Bernie watch is nothing compared to the saga that is A-Rod. Alex Rodriguez finally admitted yesterday that he is no longer a close friend of Derek Jeter’s. And we thought all those glares and frosty high-fives were signs of two guys who got along. Then again, A-Rod has a different way of measuring friendship than most 31-year old males: "You go from sleeping over at somebody's house five days a week and now you don't sleep over," Rodriguez said. "It's not that big of a deal."
Is anyone on the Yankees interested in hosting a slumber party? Alex is known to be neat and brings his own Armani pajamas. Furthermore, A-Rod doesn’t feel that he needs any help from Jeter with the fans: "I am a big boy. I am 31 and I should be able to help myself out there."
You may be a big boy, but you have spent the last three seasons looking as comfortable at Yankee Stadium as a long-tailed cat in a rocking chair factory. Maybe the next step is to admit that the fans don’t love you to?
Then again, this could all be over after 2007 because Alex can opt out of his deal after this season (he says he won't) and unless the Yankees win it all, you can expect him to do so. Of course, expect to hear about how much he loves the Yankees until that day arrives.
Update: Derek Jeter told the media this morning that his relationship with A-Rod has changed, but that it "doesn't make a difference." Jeter refused to discuss his personal friendship with Rodriguez and insists that he supports the Yankee third-baseman.
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This all comes down to the fact that Brian Cashman SUCKS. He inherited a dynasty team from Gene Michaels and along with the meddling of Steinbrenner, has made one bad signing after another, resulting in this mess that is the Yankees. When A-Rod was signed, I knew it would be the nail in the coffin. Everyone knew it would end up this way except for the Kool-Aid drinking fools, same goes for Giambi, Sheffield and Johnson, and to a certain extent Wright and Pavano. Matsui and Mussina are the only two decent signings, and the Abreu deal was decent but otherwise, Cashman is running the team into the ground.
Besides the fact that SP doesn't have a clue what he's talking about, I'm really glad, Peter, to see some other folks taking up the "Yankees don't owe Bernie a roster spot" banner. I've been saying this for weeks. I love Bernie. He's the only Yankee for whom I owe one of those overpriced jerseys, but he simply isn't a viable player for this team anymore. He never was effective off the bench and his defense has eroded to the point that any team considering him for the outfield is foolish.
Feh. The only show in town is hosted by Omar and Willie. The candystripers with the ugly logo would be better off splashing paint on grafitti.
Hey Ben, care to back up your assertion with any arguments? I repeat my position that the majority of free agent acquisitions under cashman have been flops, and expensive ones at that. The team is loaded with diva's and has not lived up to their hype. He is great at assembling paper tigers but paper teams don't win championships. Whats your point, you douche?