The Outsiders' Edge

(Alright, I am contractually obligated to post this article from our New York correspondent prior to the World Series. Everybody be nice and humor him, because Joel is likely to be pretty pissed off in about a week after the Phillies slay his team in the World Series.)

World Series baby!!!  Whooooo!! Excuse me while I do my Ric Flair strut.  After a first round scrimmage with the Minnesota Twins,  the New York Yankees have defeated long time pests the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in six games to clinch their first World Series birth since 2003.  They will try to do something the New York Mets haven’t been able to do, defeat the Philadelphia Phillies.

It took a total team effort.  The big contract signings of AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia have paid off this year, especially Sabathia.  The big lefty has dominated in this postseason, whether it is on regular rest or three days rest.  Burnett and Andy Petitte have also played a vital role, as the starting pitching has been tremendous all postseason long.  The bullpen has been shaky with Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves all taking their turn in stinking up the joint.  Some of manager Joe Girardis pitching decisions have come under fire as well.  It took two full seasons and a few games into the postseason, but we now know Girardi went to the Tony La Russa school of late game management with how he yanks his relievers.

Derek Jeter has been Derek Jeter.  He has been getting on base, hitting home runs and setting the tone for the offense.  First baseman Mark Teixeria hasn’t had the best postseason at the plate, but his work at first base defensively has been tremendous.  Still, it would be nice to see Tex start hitting the ball better.  It could be worse.  He could still be in Anaheim, or he could be Steve Phillips.

What can we say about the postseason Alex Rodriguez is having?  Every homer he has hit has been significant, from the game 2 shots against Joe Nathan and Brian (I’m walking forever for the rest of my career) Fuentes to the game tying homerun against Carl Pavano.  He has been aggressive on the bases, coaching the guys from the dugout, what got into this guy?

Now, we play the best the JV, I’m sorry, The National League, has to offer.  The Phillies have a great lineup that is loaded with lefties. That being said, if Vicente Padilla can shut them down, I don’t see why CC and company can’t do the same.  If Hughes or Joba continue to struggle, it would be nice to see Dave Robertson get a shot.  He has pitched in extra inning situations  only so far, but those are still pressure packed spots where a mistake is magnified even more.  It would also be interesting to see if Pedro Martinez really gets the nod in game 2 of this series.  Is he familiar with pitching against the Yankees? Yes. I weigh about 350 lbs and am very familiar with a treadmill, doesn’t mean I should be a personal trainer.  Get what I am trying to say?  Let them bring Pedro and his 86 mph stuff to the hitting heaven that is Yankee Stadium, they will pay dearly for it.  I know Mr. Kline may hold a lifelong grudge with me for this, but Yanks in 5.

Pedro holds up the jersey of the best team he has ever played for.

Food for thought, if A Rod had the same postseason Tex has had, how would the media treat him?  One last thing, I would be an idiot if I were not to mention the great job Mariano Rivera has done in this postseason once again.  He does his job so well that we forget to mention him at times.  Watching Jonathan Broxton, Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan, Brian Fuentes and Huston Street all blow saves this postseason should make us appreciate him more. These are all closers who have made all star appearances as well.  It is very rare we get to see someone who is the absolute best ever at their position perform, especially a sport with a rich history as baseball.  Yankee fans should be glad he is on that team.

Mo Rivera has been Lidge like in his dominance this postseason.

All this Yankee hoopla has overshadowed the suddenly slumping New York Giants.  Since stepping up in competition, the Giants haven’t looked like the most complete team in the league some of us thought they were.  There is a big game coming up on Sunday with the Philadelphia Eagles.  To avoid a crisis situation, they need to beat these birds.  They play the same day as game 4 of the World Series, so Philadelphia will be the sports capital of the world for that weekend.  Too bad they won’t be celebrating too much when Sunday becomes Monday.

Eli reacts poorly to dominating Eagles blitz.

The Jets are making me look like a genius.  Last time you heard from I mentioned how I am not a believer in this team yet and Mark Sanchez is due to turn in some dreadful performances.  I do not hear anyone calling him the Sanchize anymore.  He has gone from the big time Mcdonalds like franchise quarterback to something of a joke, like the Crabby Patty.  That may be a bit harsh, but that is the way it goes here in New York.  We can also blame Matt Ryan, who has just waltzed into the NFL and has become a star.  The Jets did manage to win their last game against perennial super bowl contenders the Oakland Raiders, so maybe things will turn around.  They have lost key players Kris Jenkins and Leon Washington for the season in back to back weeks, however.  Jenkins is injury prone, so there is no surprise there.  The injury to Washington was painful to watch.  Anyone who saw that had to have winced, the bone pierced through his skin like what Bolo Yeung did to that dude in Bloodsport.  His career is in jeopardy.  We all wish him a speedy recovery.

How about them Rangers?  Those guys have gotten off to a great start. Free agent pickup Martin Gaborik has so far shaken off his injury prone rep and has played like a top 5 talent, the penalty killing has been better than anyone could have imagined and they are very fun to watch.  They should be right in the middle of things when the postseason comes around.

Two more days and the Knicks will begin their last season where nobody cares.  I expect them to be quite entertaining and possibly compete for the last playoff spot and be swept in the first round.  Coach Mike D’Antoni has promised to stress defense this season.  I am taking all bets on that one.  There are seven guys on that roster who are in the last year of their hideous contracts.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

Speaking of hideous contracts, I was watching game 3 of the ALCS and I saw Dave Robertson warming up.  While he was in the pen warming up Tim McCarver made a comment on how Robertson signed for a few bucks and has turned out to be quite the find while Kei Igawa went the Bernie Madoff route and has stolen damn near twenty million dollars from the New York Yankees.  I don’t know whether to shake his hand for being such a genius or punching him in his face.  Either way it got me to thinking who else had some terrible contracts? At first I decided to solely include New York Knicks, but the more I thought about it almost every city team has made some colossal mistakes. So here are the top 10 worst contracts in New York sports history.

10. Jose Contreras P, New York Yankees  4 years $32 million

Remember this guy?  He was the guy who ignited the whole evil empire nonsense.
Both the Yankees and the Red Sox flew to Panama to try to sign Contreras.  The Red Sox thought they had a deal, but when they found out he decided to go with the Yankees Red Sox brass decided to take it out on their hotel room.  The guy turned out to be a bum, only pitching well against the bad teams in the league and getting rocked against the Red Sox.  Eventually got traded to the White Sox and had a little bit of success there, even winning a title.

9. Oliver Perez P, New York Mets 3 years $36 million

It is really tough to put someone who is only in their first year of this deal on this list, but that should show you how terrible his year was.  They could have went after Derek Lowe for a few more dollars but balked for whatever reason.  They could have even kept Pedro and save him the spanking he is going to get in game 2 of the World Series on Thursday.  Instead they went with Ollie, and he rewarded their faith by going 3 and 4 with a 6.82 ERA. Hope he turns it around, because he is desired almost as much as Eddy Curry right now.

8.  Jared Jeffries F, New York Knicks 5 years $30 million

I have this rule when it comes to scouting basketball players.  If the first word that comes out of that scouts mouth are energy guys, good locker room guys (what is that anyway? What, is he gonna get a towel for you?) or anything similar to that those guys are bums. They are just being kind.  Jared Jeffries has some things you like in a basketball player.  He is tall, he can move and he puts his pants on one leg at a time. That’s about it.

7. Kei Igawa P, New York Yankees 5 years $20 million

Nothing much to say here, he gets 4 million a year to wear sunglasses on the mound in minor league games.  May have the best job in the world.  Cashman seemed to reach for him because of the whole Dice-K thing in Boston. Why didn’t he try getting one of those good young pitchers from the Marlins like Boston did with Beckett? Oh yeah, he did. Keep reading.

6.   Pedro Martinez P, New York Mets 4 years, $54 million

Ok I know it may seem like I have it in for this guy.  Truth be told, he was one of the more dominant pitchers in baseball when with the Montreal Expos and Boston Red Sox.  He is also on the exclusive can’t do anything wrong list with the media along with Derek Jeter and Shaquille O’Neal. But for 4 years and 54 million dollars you would want more than just one full season and a bunch of good quotes in the newspapers.  The only time the Mets made the postseason during his tenure there he couldn’t even pitch.  He missed most of the next season with a laundry list of injuries as well.  He was signed here to be the ace to the staff and he was a bust.  Plain and simple.

5.   Jason Giambi 1B, New York Yankees 7 years, $119 million

He probably would be higher if not for the great seasons he had the first two years of this deal.  The mysterious thyroid problem, the steroid issues and the gold thong thing put him on this list.  I think the Yankees knew they were going to have to move him to DH eventually and he was going to be a liability on the basepaths during the later stages of his contract.  They did of bad job of avoiding a log jam at the DH spot and forcing him to play first. He did revive his career after all the steroid nonsense and became a serviceable player, but for all those millions we should have gotten Hall of Fame type stuff from him.  Probably hell to play against in beer pong though.

Jose Contreras and Jason Giambi exchange horro stories about playing for the Yankees during a mound meeting in Colorado.

4. Bobby Bonilla OF New York Mets 5 years $25 million

This contract was given out in 1992, so 25 mil at 5 years was considered huge at that time.  Bonilla came over from Pittsburgh, where along with Jay Bell and Barry Bonds they formed the killer B’s and won some pennants only to lose in the NLCS.  The Mets should have waited one more year and went after Bonds, who was far and away the superior player.  Bobby’s numbers dropped at an alarming rate.  He had to wear cotton in his ears to drown out all the booing.  The Mets traded him only three years later to the Baltimore Orioles for Alex Ochoa.  The Bonilla signing was just one of three major acquisitions the Mets made during that period.  They also traded for pitcher Brett Saberhagen and acquired Hall of Famer (seriously this time) Eddie Murray.  Those three helped carry the Mets to zero playoff wins and appearances as well as more last place finishes than first place ones.  Good times.

3. Eddy Curry C, New York Knicks

The Knicks traded a slew of expiring contracts to get this guy.  So we actually could have been under the cap if not for trading for this colossal failure.  We should even include Isaiah Thomas on this list.  How can he get paid for making the deals he made?  Injuries and a lot of personal stuff aside, the guy is not worth his deal.  He says he wouldn’t mind a change of scenery.  I think if we were to start a collection plate and ask every Knick fan to donate some money to send Eddy to Aruba he might get his wish.

2.  Carl Pavano P, New York Yankees 4 years $40 million

Here was the Florida pitcher we were talking about. He like Contreras was heavily sought after by many teams.  The Yankees ended up with the prize.  The man won 9 games for his whole contract. NINE GAMES.  Two wins a year.  Four and a half million dollars a win.  At the very least, the man played in more than 10 games.  Unlike this guy…………..

Pavs gives himself a concussion while taking off his cap.

1. Jerome James C New York Knicks 5 years 30 million

Someone needs to look up the family tree of this guy.  If for whatever Ike Austin, Oliver Miller and/or Troy Hudson pop up, things would be clearer.  How many times does a guy have one good playoff series during their contract year and they get paid the big bucks afterwards?  After the Knicks signed him he went made it his personal mission to never play again.  He broke his promise last year and shot 1.000 percent for the season, going one for one from the field and 2 for 2 from the foul line.  Proving once again that the Knicks definitely know a sharp shooter when they see one.  What hurt the most is everyone but Knicks brass knew he sucked.  Hope Walsh doesn’t go out and sign DJ Mbenga with all the cap space we will have next year.

A few of Jerome "Big Snacks" James closest friends on the Knicks.

I only mentioned New York City players because this is a New York City column. I also only mentioned guys the new York team signed, not ones they got from a trade. So Stephon Marbury, Rick Dipietro and Alonzo Mourning were saved from this list. Below is the always awesome honorable mention list.

Scott Gomez and Anson Carter (Rangers) Hideki Irabu and Danny Tartabull (Yanks) Kaz Matsui and Luis Castillo (Mets) Dan Reeves (Giants) Larry Brown and Don Chaney (Knicks) Neil O’Donnell (Jets)

That’s it for now guys.  Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to say my list was good or it sucked.  Just write back.  This is a great website. Get the opinions out there.  Ill be back after the Yanks win number 27.  Later.

~ by globalcorrespondent on October 28, 2009.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: Eli Manning, Jason Giambi, Jerome James, Jose Contreras, Mo Rivera, Pedro, Phillies, World Series, Yankees