of course a-rod's a weirdo, he's been a star athlete from day one. i've taken to calling him 'vanity's pure child' - he is insanely self-involved. that's why he's perfect for new york and damn it i wish new york understood that.
Has anyone been reading the organizational rankings at fangraphs? That is definitely by favorite baseball site to read right now by far.
My prediction:
1. Yankees
2. Boston
3. Chicago
4. Tampa
5. Mets
6. Cleveland
7. Atlanta
8. Milwaukee
9. Arizona
10. Los Angeles
The hardest thing to account for was how league membership affected how likely a team was to win a championship, it doesn't make sense for 3 teams in one division to be ranked that highly when there are NL teams which have massively higher chances at making the playoffs and the world series. The easiest thing to account for is us being #1 looking forward, rich ownership, new stadium, recent diminishment in george steinbrenner influence, cashman showing he is a stable improvement over the last regime. They have excellent MLB level talent with a pretty scary rotation of CC, Wang, Burnett, Joba, Petite. Inevitably one of those guys is going to go down, and they will go to Hughes and Kennedy. Hughes might not have proven to be star he was projected to be but him coming in as a replacement is a MASSIVE increase over the absolute dog**** we have put out there in recent seasons. Their offense isn't the machine it once was but teixeira is going to be a ridiculously well fitting boost. The obvious weaknesses are first the defense, and then age, which is going to mean that a number of important players are going to miss key time.
Several years ago I was definitely not optimistic about the future of the franchise, as the entire team was old, there was no minor league system to speak of, and they had a handful of truly crappy longterm deals on their books. Previous decisionmaking suggested that the FO was probably going to try to solve these problems the wrong way and repeat past mistakes, but it looks like Cashman has successfully changed the direction of the organization and begin to turn it around. Before this offseason they had gone a very long time without going for a big FA (or santana), something which I do not think was George's idea. I have confidence the FO will avoid resigning jeter at short and find a replacement, whereas the people in charge 5 or 10 years ago would certainly **** it all up.
As for the 425m or whatever they spent this year, I don't think ownership's decision was that hard. The team just missed the playoffs for the first time, they were moving into a new stadium, and think of how many 2009 wins CC, Teixeira, and Burnett are going to add next year? A large number of very important marginal wins, so I think they decided to go all out. Burnett is a pretty bad signing, but I guess the reasoning is, "Over 5 years, he is guaranteed to miss about 2 of those to injury, but when he's not injured he will be an excellent pitcher which we could not get elsewhere, so let's just hope we have a cheap replacement for the inevitable 2 months out. Oh wait, we do have the cheap replacements". The Teixeira signing seems like an awesome long term improvement over the past "situation".
A former Manhattan madam who supplied Eliot Spitzer with hookers also counted Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez as a customer - and found him so charming she dated him herself for free, former employees of the call-girl agency tell the Daily News.
A-Rod wooed ex-madam Kristin Davis with flowers, jewelry, persistence and heated e-mails, according to the sources.
"Throughout the years, there were a number of clients that I befriended and it was not uncommon for them to want the women they can't have whether it be the phone bookers or the madam," Davis said.
"In regard to Alex, all I can say is our paths have definitely crossed personally and professionally."
Davis met Rodriguez in June of 2006 in a gym in Philadelphia, shortly after she opened a branch of her call-girl service in the City of Brotherly Love, sources said.
Davis told a friend the then-married Rodriguez asked her, "What are you doing tonight?"
The shapely madam didn't know who A-Rod was but found him "hot as hell," she told the friend. "I said, 'I'm having dinner with my boyfriend. But if you're looking for someone to hang out with, here's a number.' I gave him my agency's card."
That night, Davis told a friend, Rodriguez booked a two-hour "date" with one of her girls, who met him at the Four Seasons on Rittenhouse Square.
"He gave his real name," Davis told the friend. "The next day we found out who Alex Rodriguez was. The girl we sent freaked out. Her father (works for) another Major League Baseball team."
Rodriguez soon became a repeat customer of one of Davis' three Manhattan agencies, two former employees said.
In an e-mail exchange provided to The News by a former booker for Davis' Wicked Models, Rodriguez purportedly told Davis on Nov. 17, 2006: "Thanks for setting me up with Samantha. She was gorgeous. But she is not you. When can I see you you are gorgeous . . ."
The exchange goes on:
Davis: "Hi Alex. You don't want to see me. I'm no fun. lol. Just because your (sic) so sweet, here are some pics of me and I appreciate the compliments. Your (sic) a doll. Thanks, Kristin"
Rodriguez: "You have been playing hard to get for a year now, your (sic) killing me."
Davis: "It's not playing I am hard to get. Maybe you should try harder."
Rodriguez: "Kristin, I definitely will and I love the pics. I put the one on my cell so I can look at you all the time. Alex."
Davis: "You are too sweet. I'll let you know when I get someone you like."
Two former agency workers said A-Rod hired prostitutes more than a half-dozen times, often meeting them at the Four Seasons hotel on W. 57th St.
Meh. Was a decent story, but nothing out of the ordinary for people like him. For some reason I think that whenever this book comes out, there will be a lot worse things about him and his "sexuality". This may be the tame stuff.
Hearing Francesa say "da book" again a million times a day, every day... Weeeee!!!
I have just become desensitized to the Arod stuff. The only thing I care about is his on-field performance. Yankees win another championship, and most fans wont care about the extracurricular activities.
Austin Jackson's Grand Slam against Boston was pretty sick.
was that who that was? jfc i was at a bar and saw that but the sound was off, so i didn't know who it was (i was hoping it was him, he looked like a guy who might be named austin jackson) - then some boston clown comes up to the plate and they've got all his stats. i was all :wtf:
