Goodbye ... for now, anyway

I think we will all miss you on this apot, Mark, but you will likely see alll of us on your new blog.

You might suggest the Daily News boost up its server capacity. Sam Borden's blog took a long time to load when it had 9 comments. No telling what will happen with 900 comments.

Best wishes on the move, Mark.

You brought us all together to make this a fun place Thanks for that,

So, you'll be missed but more to the point, how does one apply for your old job at MLB.com?

I'm shocked. When I began to post some comments in this blog some months ago, I never imagined how important this site would be for me. Thanks to this site, I've met a lot of people. Many of them are now my friends. That's how I feel it. Even without meting anybody in person, I really feel like all the friends I've done over here are now a VERY important part of my life. Really. I only hope we'll be in touch by the Daily News' Blog. And remember, Mark, Paul's advice about boosting up its server capacity. Because you will recieve more than 1,500 comments per week.
Good luck on your new job, Mark. We'll get in touch

Mark, so does this mean we will hear you every game in the 5th inning with John and Suzyn?

One sportswriter for my local paper covered the Phils for 19 years. I've never respected him and think he is the worst sportswriter I've ever read. One year I had a bet that I could find ten major mistakes (not typos) in his columns from the start of ST to the All-Star Game. My friend called off the bet and paid me at the end of April when I already had found eight.

Anyway, this guy has a HOF vote and is voting for McGwire. I argue against that. To know where this guy comes from, he also has written in Pete Rose's name even though Rose was not allowed to even be on the ballot due to his suspension.

If you ever would read his baseball columns, he's another Joe Cowley. Clueless. Sensitive too, since I know another writer for the paper who told me so. This other writer says that this clueless writer can't stand me because I pick apart his columns (there's a lot to pick apart, trust me! The guy probably never opened a Baseball Encyclopedia). Sorry, I tell the truth and it hurts. Born in the Boston area, covered the Phils for 19 years. Still clueless. I call him Bozo because his last name begins with BO... anyway, I pointed out all his errors to a lot of people, and now they see him for the ******* he is.

Anyway, in Yankee news, I read today where Hillenbrand might come down to a one-year deal if it is the right deal. Originally he wanted a 3-year deal, so if Cashman still wants him, waiting him out is proving to be a Cashman victory.

Best of luck in your new endeavor, Mark. I hope to be able to come onto your blog next month.

We MUST, Mike.
And speaking of 1B, now, it is official. Cuban prospect, Juan Miranda, is now a Yankee, with a Major League contract. Here is the link

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061222&content_id=1766707&vkey=hotstove2006&fext=.jsp

Dontrelle Willis was catched when he urinated on the street at South Beach. He was arrested. Thank God he'll never be a Yankee
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061222&content_id=1766585&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Yes, I heard about D-Train early this morning.

This saddened my day :(

Nothing better change.

lol Vince, that sounded like you said that with concrete shoes nearby. :-)

Congratulations on your new job, Mark. Wishing you much success and happiness. Its even nicer that your new job will still allow us to post on a blog that is yours. I've enjoyed being part of this blog from the beginning and there is no reason this little blog community can't adapt and transfer over to your new blog.

Hey, do you get Sam's desk/office? :-)

Thanks folks. I believe that the Daily News is relaunching its web site on Jan. 1, so hopefully the blog software will be more friendly.

See you on the other side! Happy holidays and happy new year!

Looks like Foulke is going to Cleveland.

Surprised Miranda is going to start with Tampa. Early reports had him starting at Trenton. Hmmm...If he is at Tampa, Ehlers at Trenton, you have to wonder who is at Scranton---Eric Duncan...and what of the Phelps/Phillips loser? This will be interesting.

congrats on the new gig.

Take care Mark! Its been a good year. I'll see you at the daily news blog in January!

Cecil Travis, SS for Washington in the late 1930s, died at age 93. He had a .314 career batting average. His career came to a halt due to WWII service (missed all of 1942, 1943 and 1944 and all but 15 games of 1945). He wasn't the same when he came back.

Stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/travice01.shtml

Anybody notice on prosportsdaily.com hillenbrand is now open to one year deals? Apparently the yankees are very interested in him again.

I think they should just give Miranda, Phelps and Phillips a shot. Otherwise, they should sign a good defensive guy like Loretta or Mientkievich. I like the idea of signing Mientkievich because it allows for a platoon to be created.

Congrats Mark, the Daily News is a much better paper for your presence.

I think there is no need for Hillenbrand. If we're going to sign another 1B, I'd prefer Mientkyqrsvtrélpnmxágjkñwtghyú

I do not see the need to sign a 1B, most certainly not Hillenbrand.

Yes, Paul ... I'll be doing the 5th inning on radio.

Congratulations, Mark!

I will definitely crash your new blog, once it is up and running, and look forward to your Daily News 5ths. I will miss the convenient link from Yankees.com though. Do you have any idea who your replacement is yet?

Yay the grossly incompetent Packers beat the even more grossly incompetent Vikings in grossly incompetent fashion. It's insane they have a shot at the playoffs. Couldn't watch the game, though...stupid NFL Network. Instead I went to a party and ended up spending the night because the roads were so icy they were impossible to drive on.

I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow morning, so Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all of you and I'll see you either back on here or on Mark's new Daily News blog when it appears!

Unnamed sources report that in his negotiations with the NY Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman, among other benefits and perks, Mark Feinsand demanded 4 assistants including a personal assistant, a personal massage therapist, a personal physical therapist, and a 4th assistant to be named later.

It was thought that a translator was not needed, other than for the games in Texas, so the duties of the fourth toady will be determined later.

Negotiations were tough but in the end Mr. Feinsand was quoted as saying, "I have more rapid lunatic fans than any other reporter on MLB.com and you will have more hits on your website than the mob has had in New Jersey history."

What is clear at the end of the deal is that Mark's fans have brought him another huge payday.

Can I have your old job, Mark?

Well, my least favorite baseball writer did it again. I wrote about him yesterday, and this writer once again messes up. I swear the guy never opens a Baseball Encyclopedia or goes to www.baseballreference.com or checks or researches his facts.

In a column today on Hall of Famers, he says that Rogers Hornsby's career batting average was .363. It was actually .358.

In the same column, he states that Harmon Killebrew hit 563 home runs. It was 573.

Would it really kill this guy to spend five minutes looking up his statistics and verifying them? It's been like this for two decades.

It's incredible how some sports writers are so ignorants in themes they're supposed to be experts.
We've got one here in México, "expert" in boxing, who once wrote that the best fighter EVER was Mike Tyson. Not only between heavyweights, but ALL boxers of ALL times. He said this aberration about three years ago. I still have some stomach spasms because of the five hours of laughing

I wonder what that makes Buster Douglas...

Yeah, Mike. So James "Buster" Douglas should be the best of the whole UNIVERSE. And that includes all the planet systems undiscovered

Hi guys... Kat here, for those of you who don't know I switched my email. Congratulations Mark!! I am sad to see "Mark It Down" go, but I am excited for your new venture and your new blog! Thanks for the community you have created here. Have a great Holiday!

In that infamous column he wrote that Mike Tyson could win by way of knock out over Alí in just three rounds.

Hi Kat!!!!! How are you. It's been a long time without "talking" to you. And remember, my Greek Goddess, we'll be following Mark to his NY Daily News Blog

I suppose some MLB.com reporter will take Mark's place. So, a new blog will be over here. We can keep in touch in it, waiting for Mark's new blog, which will be in the NY Daily News site hopefully in mid January

I won't be over here until next Tuesday, 26th. So, to each and everyone (of course except the troll)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!

Have a good one Jorge, Merry Christmas.

"The Rangers acquired talented right-hander Brandon McCarthy from the White Sox on Saturday for three young pitchers -- John Danks, Nick Masset and Jacob Rasner."

Uhh, why did freddy garcia go if it wasn't to make space for McCarthy? I am so confused now. I can almost sense this deal is a terrible one for the whitesox.

Yeah, I'm surprised at that one.

Looking at other news, Griffey broke his hand yesterday,

and now Juan Rivera has a broken leg.

From Pete Abraham's blog:

Peter Abraham said...

In fact, Pittsburgh is now looking into Aubrey Huff, which indicates they don't think they are getting LaRoche. The three-way trade seems dead.

Sorry to see this blog go, but at least we'll be able to follow you over to the Daily News.

Mike, that is good news if the 3-way deal is dead. I really believe the Yankees would be making a huge mistake by trading Melky. I really don't think the bullpen needs that much help right now as long as the current guys keep up the same form they had this past year.

By the way, anybody notice in the MLB article about Proctor: his holiday wish is to not get traded. hahahaha. Good one. I can agree with that.

To make this long post even longer, Happy Christmas to all.

My comment on Griffey:

Seems like this guy just can't catch a break. A few years ago, he was considered a lock to eventually get the all-time HR record, and suddenly he couldn't stay on the field. You've really got to feel for the guy. This past season was really the first time since Seattle that he stayed on the field for any significant part of the season, and now he has this happen in the off-season. I hope it's nothing too severe and that he is able to come back next year and have a good year.

Mark, congrats on the prime time position! What a great Christmas present for you!

And Merry Christmas to everyone here in Yankeeland!

Jeff

http://www.bosoxbanter.mlblogs.com

By the way, I was wondering if the person who fills Mark's position will continue this blog, only under a different title, of course.

Good luck and congrats to Mr. Feinsand, one of the truly great people I've ever met in journalism. Mark's work speaks for itself. But I've been lucky enough to know the man, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better guy. Mark, you're the man. Thanks for making the job more fun, especially since I started the Sox beat in '02. I know there were long days made easier by the fact that I knew you were working every bit as hard and facing similar challenges with the Yankees beat. Best of luck,

Ian Browne.

Whether or not the next Yankees beatwriter does a blog would be up to that individual. MLB.com doesn't mandate that we do blogs. I know Mark took the initiative to start his up, and I had been thinking about pitching one for a while, and once Mark got his rolling, that inspired me to get mine going.

Christmas Eve greetings to all who celebrate the day.

In the Christmas spirit of giving I bring to you a few links.

The first is of a Yahoo story of Ray Negron, advisor to George Steinbrenner, and the book he wrote based on children facing cancer.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-steel122006&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

The second link is of the site for the book, "The Boy of Steel."

http://www.theboyofsteel.com

Ray Negron was a teenaged boy 30 years ago spraying graffiti on the wall of Yankee Stadium, stopped by the hand of George Steinbrenner. He became a batboy during the years of the Bronx Zoo Yankees with Billy Martin, Reggie, Thurman.

The Negron story is interesting and the tale of Robbie Cano hitting a home run after he told a boy he would try is compelling.

Enjoy.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it.

Looks like the beer in Milwaukee may be cheap, but they overpay for "Soup."

Merry Christmas!

Nice to see the Giants helping my Cowboys yesterday, way to go Giants...Gees!!!

1hr, 4min to Game Time!! Come on 'Boys.....however....Dallas has made 24 playoff appearances since the merger, most ever by an NFC team, congratulations guys!!!!

Anybody see the rumors on mlbtraderumors.com that johnson is being shopped, specifically back to the d backs. Allegedly the yankees have no interest in paying any of his salary in a trade, so I was thinking they may continue the minor league trend and trade johnson to the d backs in exchange for none of his salary and the catcher that they have, Montero. He is 4th in their system, considered a good prospect and is a catcher. The top three prospects are all center fielders which we definitely have no place for right now, but a young high prospect on a deep farm system may be a steal in exhange for clearing 16 million and finally obtaining a catcher of the future for a 43 year old.

For some odd reason a very reliable site known as "zips" predicted johnson would have a 3.71 era on the yankees if he stayed next season. I still would go for the prospect(s)

The rotation would still have five men in wang, pettitte, mussina, pavano and igawa. When pavano becomes injured, Sanchez can come up, karstens or rasner can also make the team.

i hope to god this johnson trade rumor is true. i would love nothing more than to see he and sheffield leave town in the same offseason.

Happy holidays, friends, and best wishes to you and yours. May we all have peace in our hearts, in our lives, and in the world.

Same to you Austin and to everyone!!!

Regarding RJ and Arizona...

Here are some top prospects in Arizona's system. Rankings from the top 100 of TopProspectAlert.com. Age in Parens.

#11 Justin Upton (19) OF

Low A in 2006 .263-12-66

#19 Carlos Gonzalez (21) OF High A .300-21-94;

AA .213-2-5 in 18 games.

#23 Chris B. Young (23) OF AA .276-21-77;

CAME UP TO MAJORS

.243-2-10 in 30 games

#43 Micah Owings (24) P

AA 6-2, 2.91; AAA 10-0, 3.70

#80 Miguel Montero (23) AA .270-10-46; AAA .321-7-29.

CAME UP TO MAJORS

six games. .250-0-3

#91 Alberto Callaspo 2B

AAA .337-7-68

CAME UP TO MAJORS

23 games .238-0-6

Thanks Vince. Here is more.

Owings is a 6'5" RHP. You read his record right. A combined 16-2, 3.33 in AA/AAA.

I could see a couple of deals here. RJ for one or two OF, the C and/or Owings could be one. Miguel Montero could compete IMMEDIATELY for the backup Catcher job. I'd rather groom him RIGHT NOW to take over for Jorge in 2008 or 2009 than have Nieves/Chavez.

As for the three OF, all CF---you might wonder--Upton and Gonzalez are too young--yet. If the Yanks got one of them in the deal, Melky goes nowhere and you may have a future OF of Melky-??-Tabata.

But...and it is a big BUT...if they got Young, then would they deem Melky tradeable? (bear with me, it's not that I want Melky to go--I am just making a point)...If Young, do they then do Melky for Gonzalez? You would have to wonder.

Not only that, could dealing RJ for prospects (a good move in its OWN right) be the signal that space is being cleared for Clemens? I didn't advocate Roger before, but if you clear away RJ, THEN I would be for it.

If RJ is dealt for even more prospects, it could be just another domino falling. The first two fell with Sheffield and Wright.

Guys sorry to ruin the fun but RJ is going nowhere.

Alex, I don't exactly think RJ is besotten with NY, and to go back home to Arizona, I think he would waive his no-trade.

Would I trade him and his salary for prospects? Yes. Especially if Montero is involved. I am reading different names. Rumors include Tracy, Byrnes. (again raising the question...if Byrnes comes, Melky then goes for Gonzalez).

Hey, I'd dump the $16 mil if AZ wants him. Getting a catcher of the future? Go for it? Or a prospect who went 16-2? Go for it. Depends on who they get, but dumping a fading 43 (44 next Sept.) year old pitcher coming off of a 5.00 ERA and back surgery? Go for it.

Merry Christmas everybody.

With these talks about trading Johnson, could it be possible that Cashman is prepping for a run at Zito?

No. Maybe Clemens, not Zito.
With the arms they have for the future, it would be a short term deal.

Remember the $1.40:$1 ratio. Under the revenue sharing and the way the Yanks are right now, every dollar they spend on a free agent is like $1.40.

I was thinking the same thing about clemens, and my initial thought was zito until i remembered the same thing you mentioned Mike.

I also went the route of a deal making melky expendable...Personally I would go the catcher route, to me, as far as prospects go, that is the most pressing...Yes more young starters would be nice but we have virtually two untouchable starters ready possibly before the end of THIS season, with more on the way...at least for now we have enough outfielders, third base, shortstop and second base are all locked up and we have about 17 guys competing for first base, one of which is a prospect (miranda). That leaves catcher, where we have a bunch of no names and old guys, it is the one spot where we need a concrete name and then to run with it.

Ok I take back what I said about Johnson. After reading some articles it seems like it probably will happen, San Diego looks like a likely landing spot...Scott Linbrink for Johnson, sounds like a deal to me.

Hi everybody. I hope you had a great time, so as your families.
I'm crossing my fingers, but I think AZ won't give us their top prospects. If they trade Miguel Montero and Micah Owings for Randy Johnson, it would be the PERFECT trade for us. But I think Brian Cashman should accept just one of those two top prospects, for making the trade easy. I'd be happy if we get ONE of them and get rid of RJ, his 16 millions, his 43 years and his injured back

Here is the New York Daily News article about the trade we are all dreaming about:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/483258p-406772c.html

sounds like a very intriguing trade idea to me...from what i've read though Cashman has been requesting a package of pitching prospects, nothing about Montero or any outfielders. Apparently the D-backs aren't thrilled with that, so perhaps in the coming days we'll see something more do-able unfold with SD or SF. I definitely wouldn't have a problem with unloading Johnson.

About Zito, out of all the places I've read about this trade idea, SI are the only ones who entertained the possibility of Zito being a replacement, so on that note, unless the person/people who leaked the info have some deal with SI where they give them more info, I highly doubt we should give that idea any serious consideration. Even with Johnson out, i doubt they'll make a run at Zito.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday.

I have to say that gets us rid of one headache if Cashman can pull it off. I really wouldn't care what we got, whether pitching prospects, a lefty releiver, a first baseman, it wouldn't matter to me. I think it would be worth dumping the $16 million we would have to pay him. There has been some speculation that the Yanks would then go after Zito. What do people think about this?

I don't think we'll go for Zito if we trade RJ. We still have two lefties in the starting rotation (Pettitte and Igawa) and with Wang, Mussina and Pavano, we've got a good rotation. The only question mark is the one whose hobby is getting injured. But we have many young arms ready for the opportunity. So, we don't need to get a pitcher for more than 70 million. I would prefer an eventually mid season Clemens, if the kids couldn't make it, than Zito.

BTW, when is Igawa deal going to be sealed? I read he went to a basketball game wearing a Yankees jacket. But, when will he sign his contract?

They have until Thursday to finalize the deal with Igawa. I have no idea what they're waiting for.

Exactly, Alejandro. If they seem to have reached an agreement, what are they waiting for? We don't need to make a circus like Red Flops-Matsuzaka.

Maybe Tellem's holding him out for a guaranteed bag of sunflower seeds per game. As they approach the deadline, Cashman may budge.

Maybe they want a couple of geishas. Hope Cashman can hire Jénnifer López and Beyonce Knowles

Reports have indicated that Igawa doesn't want either of them, he'd rather stick with the sunflower seeds.

Gotta run and be back later, but it is interesting the arguments I'm having on Pete's blog.

To make a long story short, I think anyone who thinks that RJ will post 200 IP and 15 wins again is delusional. Do I think a kid has a chance to have a better record this year than Randy would? Yes. Very possible.

Does this mean Rasner is better than Randy? No. Definitely not. But given age and fading skills, would you rather have in 2007 a youngster who may go 11-7, 4.63

or a fading 43 (44 next Sept.) over-the-hill veteran who goes 9-13, 5.33?

Unfortunately, most people I've been arguing with still think Randy will be a 15 win pitcher next year with 185-200 IP. I don't see it, and based on what I saw in 2006 (5.00 ERA, eight and nine hitters hitting him hard) a further decline and a 9-13 or 11-14 record is very probable.

Later!

Something to consider. Randy Johnson against other AL East teams had a 7.77 ERA and a 6-4 record over 13 game starts. Barry Zito struggled against the AL East, especially the Yankees, but he has a 5.21 ERA and a 5-3 record over 10 game starts. If you take out the Yankees, he has a 4.27 ERA and a 4-1 record. Now, check out the numbers against the Red Sox this last season.

Randy Johnson - 7.17 ERA and a 2-1 record.

Mike Mussina - 4.77 ERA and a 2-0 record.

Chien Ming Wang - 5.28 ERA and a 2-2 record.

Barry Zito - 5.51 ERA and a 2-1 record.

I'm not pushing any argument, I just wanted to show everyone what the numbers were. Personally, I don't care for Zito.

I have a question.. is all this Johnson trade talk worth it - if as has been argued, it makes Melky apparently that much more expendable as a result?

And what does it matter what players do against just the Red Sox? They're not the only team out there. If a player happens to not do well against the Red Sox but does against the rest of our division rivals and the rest of the teams in the majors does it make up for his lack of performance against the Red Sox? Not applying this to Randy or any player in particular, just throwing the question out there. Because i've noticed that some yankee fans tend to partially measure a players worth against how they do against the Red Sox, which is interesting.

Ummm, I pointed out their records against the AL East. Isn't that synonymous with division rivals?

And how does the Randy Johnson trade make Melky expendable? I haven't even heard him mentioned in the trade talks.

To clarify, I think the Randy trade may actually take the pressure of a Melky trade. The whole Pirates and Braves thing seems to have fallen through, and trading Randy may land us a decent lefty releiver. With that, there's no real reason to trade Melky.

I also think that its important how a player does against the Red Sox. Sure there are other teams, and they have to be competitive, but most importantly we need players who won't crumble against the Red Sox. We may only see them 19 games in a season, but if you think about it, its those games that typically make the difference. We need players who can win in those games because at the end of the day, were not worried about the Orioles chomping at our heels, and were definetely not worried about the Twins winning their division, we need to be concerned with our biggest rival. In 2005 our division title came down to a three game series with the Red Sox, you're gonna tell me that you didn't care how well our pitchers would do against them? I can assure you that at that point you weren't too concerned about how they pitched against the Devil Rays.

Hillenbrand went to Angels on a 1-year deal.

It was a general question for everyone on the blog. I've wanted to ask it for a while about the whole vs the Red Sox thing I've noticed with a lot of yankee fans. I've noticed it on other blogs too - it wasn't a dig at anyone at all. Just an observation and a question based on something Id wondered about. It really was a genuine question.

Its some of the writers who have mentioned Melky. Not anyone on this blog.

Keith Foulke could sign with Cleveland in a day or two

As Jorge said before, what are the Yanks waiting for with the Igawa announcement?

Yeah, Mike. I tought we were going to act different than the Flops, with that circus-show they made with Matsuzaka. Why wait for the last day, when it seemed they've reached an agreement?

This is from the story of 12/20 announcing that an agreement was close.

"Igawa is scheduled to fly back to Japan on Saturday, and the Yankees aren't expected to make a formal introduction with a news conference until January"

I'm sure they don't want to have the press conference without Igawa being there, so they're waiting until he returns from Japan.

They don't need the press conference, but how about an OFFICIAL release or announcement on the SIGNING?

The deadline for the signing is the 28th. Just a short note to let us know that the deal is, in fact, done?

There are two good back up catchers still available. Todd Greene (35), .252 BA and .991 fielding percentage. And Todd Pratt (39), .251 BA and .993 FP. I'd prefer any of them rather than Nieves or Chávez.
And about 1B, if we're going to sign one more, thinking Miranda will still be in the Minors maybe for 2 more years, there is one good FA 1B available, besides Eye-Chart. I'm talking about Darin Erstad (32), .286 BA and .995 FP. While Mientwfgrsvcbélñkmrývbúsfgqrsáklg (32) has a .270 BA and .996 FP.

Agree, Mike. That's the point, Andy. I remember they said that the press conference would be in January. But the question is this: Is the deal done?

Erstad worries me with his back problems.

The guy is a gamer, but...

I'm not a proponent of getting Clemens, but I would rather have him than Randy. If the plan is to trade Randy for prospects and then sign Clemens for one year, then I wouldn't have too much trouble with it.---but no 1/2 years, Roger--a FULL season.

...and of course, the team getting Randy must take his whole salary so that the Yanks take that money they won't be paying Randy and give it to Roger. No spending extra cash.

There is a lot of difference between what Clemens could do next season and what Randy will do next season. I still like the idea of having the Rocket for 1/2 year. Of course, I would prefer the whole season, but, if he just want to throw after thje All Star Break, that's the ONLY privilege I would give to him.

Okay, how about this for a reason? The Yankees have to pay the Hanshin Tigers the posting fee within 5 business days after completing the contract. Waiting until the last minute means the $26 million stays in the Yankees' account as long as possible. What's the daily interest on $26 million?

Good point, Andy.

So if they announce it tomorrow (the 27th), the payment is actually in 2007 (Jan. 1st). Ok, I can see that.

from the looks of the espn piece about the diamondbacks interest in the big eunuch, it looks as though cashman's asking price is too high. drag. i was really hoping not to have to endure another season of randy in pinstripes.

Actually, it's even later. It's 5 business days, so that would make it Jan. 4th because of the holiday.

The asking price may be too high as of now. But, if AZ gets desperate they may crack and do the deal. Either that or Cashman could come down on his asking price in order to rid the yankees of the 16 million..there is a lot of off season left.
-Ben

Kat here, with my new email addy... I cannot even tell you how happy I would be if RJ got traded. I don't care who would pitch in his place for a year, that slime brought our classy yankees down. I read the article Jorge posted and I can't believe I forgot about that "love child" scandal. ****.

I saw a trivia question the other day, and I will put it in my column at the end of January.

On July 18 (I think it was the 18th)...Melky Cabrera became the 2nd youngest Yankee to win a game with a walk-off HR. Who's the youngest?

My two guesses are mantle or Andy Fox. I lean towards Mantle.

On April 23, 1953, Mickey Mantle hit a 3-run HR off of Boston's Ellis Kinder to win the game. The 420 ft. shot into the RCF bleachers was Mickey's 2nd HR of 1953 and 38th of his career. Mickey was 21 yr. 6 mo. 3 days.

Mickey's FIRST Hr of 1953 came on April 17. It was the famous "tape-measure" Hr at Washington which was said to go 565 ft.

Mickey hit 21 HR in 1953.

Derek Jeter?

Oops, too late. Didn't Jeter hit one in his call-up in '95?

Derek had no HR in 1995.

Actually, I think it was a late-inning game-winner, but not a walk-off.

He had 10 in 1996, but I don't know when he hit his first WALK OFF HR. Melky was 21 years, 11 mo. 7 days when he hit his, so Derek most likely was at least 22 when he did it (his 22nd b/day was June 26, 1996).

Looked it up. Derek's 1st walkoff HR wasn't in the regular season.

It was Game 4 of the 2001 WS.

Yeah, I think I remember that his walk-off in the 2001 Series was his first ever.

His only one in the regular season came on April 5, 2005 off of Keith Foulke of Boston.

Later...

Hey everyone, hope those of you wh celebrate it all had a great Christmas; I just got back from Chicago and Milwaukee earlier today after plenty of time with family and being laden with Yankees-related gift items.

Only good news in Yankee-land:

Randy might be traded! Yay!

Melky might not be traded! Yay!

Shea Hillenbrand won't be signed! Yay!

All wonderful developments. RJ gone would be the perfect Christmas present...or perhaps birthday present, mine is only about a week away. Such lovely holiday cheer.

BTW Paul that was a great story you posted a few days ago about Ray Negron. I'll share that with a few other people.

For everyone wondering why the Yankees aren't annoouncing the Igawa signing there are two reasons for that. 1. They've announced they are still figuring out how to spread out the 20 million. and more importantly and probably the real reason, which they wouldn't announce is that the posting bid is due within 5 days of signing the contract. With the new year coming up perhaps the Yanks want the money to show up in 2007, I believe that if they show a higher "loss" in revenue they pay less to MLB and deifnately the government in taxes.

Mantle....I knew it. I knew he was what, 19 when he started, it was an educated guess....I only know he was young because i remember in 96 when andruw jones passed him as the youngest player ever to hit a ws homerun when he hit two in game 1 against us in a 12-1 slaughter.

Anyway, I remember jeter's first being in the 2001 ws too. I get excited when I know trivia lol.

"When the Oakland A's have scored four or more runs for Zito, he is an astounding 85-4, for a .955 winning percentage."

This is from an article on the sports illustrated website. You gotta wonder if having the Yankee run support will get Zito 20+ wins in a season. I'm still not sold on Zito, but if the Yankees trade Johnson we're gonna have to rely heavily on a Japanese import whose never thrown in the majors, a man who hasn't thrown in the majors for over a year, and a Yankee favorite with a history of elbow trouble. It would be nice to land Clemens, but I just don't think its that realistic. If we do get him, it will be for the second half of the season I would suppose, and I think it would be best to land another pitcher.

Wow. I didn't realize until now that ex-President Ford passed away.

Is anyone out there?

And not only Gerald Ford. No one over here commented that James Brown passed away some days ago.

I've got it, Andy and Gabe. It makes an absolutelly logical decision to announce the deal with Igawa at