Can you imagine if that happened today? They'd probably shut baseball down for a week just so everyone could regroup emotionally. Nobody even came out of the dugout after this. The announcer still isn't sure whether or not that was a dirty play.
It's plays like this that have Belle of the HOF ballot completely now. Look at his numbers. He was low-key one of the top ten most exciting players of the 90s. In the most prolific offensive era in baseball history he led the league in RBIs three times and finished top 10 in the MVP five times. In 12 seasons his 162 game average was .295 with 40 HR and 130 RBI. His 1995 season is one of best offensive seasons in baseball history - .317, 50 HR, 52 doubles and 126 RBI.
Listen Tom, I understand you're upset. We all know you're a great competitor (we can tell because you scream a lot) and that not being in the Super Bowl this weekend must be killing you but Derek Jeter does not want to hear your shit. He didn't watch your game last weekend. He doesn't even watch baseball. He's busy planning a wedding and managing the hottest sports site in the world. He doesn't have time to listen to you mope about how you couldn't move the ball an inch against the Broncos.
And how about these kids asking for a pic with the Captain and completely ignoring Brady. That's a 4-time Super Bowl champion quarterback standing off on the side like he's Jeter's fucking intern.
It just goes to show you can be the greatest football player of all time but when you're standing next to Derek Jeter your just another schlub. Kids from Ann Arbor are lining up to take pictures with Jeter when he's been retired for a year and a half. The guy off to the left won the Super Bowl last year and they don't even know who the fuck he is. This whole signing day thing is another example. Brady actually played and was drafted out of Michigan. All Jeter did was say he kind of liked the Wolverines when he was a teenager and he's even more welcomed at this thing than Brady is. Maybe if Tom took a few fashion tips from the Captain and didn't look like a gangly substitute teacher everywhere he went then kids wouldn't be afraid to go near him.
Shane Spencer was probably my favorite player in 1998. Here's a fun fact - he was a replacement player during the 94-95 strike. A fucking scab. That's how good things were going in 98. Didn't matter who was playing. Cuban refugees. 26-year-old rookies. Everyone who put on the pinstripes that year did something well. Spencer's September was so good he was able to parlay it into a roster spot for four more seasons. Pretty sweet deal.
It doesn't make any sense but this kind of makes me feel better. In the back of my mind this surgery was pretty much Greg laying there in a bloody heap with his arm fully detached from his body as doctors tried to sew it back together. Good to see he's alive and smiling, thanking the fans and the doctors. Would've totally expected him to throw up a couple middle fingers and post that, but I guess some guys just aren't that cool.
PS - Greg Bird is a GREAT looking cat. Never really realized it until now.
Ts and Ps to our boy who had surgery yesterday. It's been a tough few days thinking about what the future holds for this guy. This was probably my favorite moment of the 2015 season. Biggest hit of the year in the biggest game of the year. Here's to 2017 and hoping today is the fist day of a short and efficient rehab.
Now that Greg Bird is slated to miss 2016 in its entirety the Yankees are left in a very precarious situation at first base. Bird was perfectly situated to hang out at Scranton with major league talent while we all waited around for Tex to get hurt. Now the plans have changed. You absolutely have to prepare for Teixeira to miss hundreds of at-bats this season but who's going to step in and try to stem the tide? Let's explore the options...
Dustin Ackley
Ackley's probably going to get a lot of reps over at first base whether Tex is healthy or not. His strong finish and relatively young age make his prospects for 2016 borderline exciting. I like his stick. I'm not exactly sure if he's changed anything since stinking it up in Seattle for all those years but in 52 AB's in pinstripes he looked a lot more like the stud who was drafted 2nd overall out of UNC. He's versatile enough to give Castro and Beltran a blow at second and right every few days but if/when Tex goes down this is most likely going to be the guy shouldering the load at first.
Juan Uribe
This would be my favorite. Juan Uribe in pinstripes. There is nothing not to love about this guy. Just a fat, lovable, relatable dude who's swing is just as big as his dick. He's a right-handed bat with a ton of pop. He can spell Headley and Tex at first and third whenever you need. Basically everything the Yanks are looking for right now. Not to mention the fact that this guy is a gamer. Just one of those guys who's never seen a moment on the baseball field that he couldn't handle. Mark my words if the Yanks get to the playoffs this guy is going to bash one into monument park and turn Yankee Stadium inside out.
A-Rod
There've been a lot of mixed messages about Alex Rodriguez and the first base position. Girardi seems to be leaving the door open a little in terms of whether or not A-Rod will see time at first base this spring despite him admittedly being uncomfortable over there. A-Rod seems to want no part of it and I don't blame him. People act like you can just throw anyone over there and make it work. You can't. You have to fucking catch the ball. The Yanks have a third baseman who would have had about 90 throwing errors last year if it wasn't for Tex. A second baseman who just started playing the position. The only place A-Rod feels less comfortable at than a social interaction is first base.
Ike Davis
I completely forgot this guy existed but apparently he's out there. He's coming off of hip surgery and was having a terrible year with the A's prior to that. He's mildly attractive because he'd likely accept a minor league contract and if he ever does make it to the big league club he's capable of putting a few balls out of the ballpark but all-in-all this dude is a bum and I'd rather try and lure Garret Jones back from Japan than invite Ike Davis to spring training.
Pedro Alvarez
This is the name everyone's bringing up because he's probably the best available slugger on the market and he's from New York. But he hit 27 home runs last year. That's not peanuts. That's legitimate major league output no matter which way you slice it. There's at least four or five teams who would be interested in inking Alvarez to a major league deal that can guarantee him a ton of at bats and the Yankees aren't one of them. Not going to happen.
Justin Morneau
Better player than Alvarez but I'm pretty sure he has CTE so that brings his market down a little bit. He'll likely have plenty of suitors willing to offer him a big league job so, like Alvarez, there's really no shot they sign him.
Gary Sanchez
Things might get interesting if Sanchez makes the team out of spring training. He'll have plenty of opportunities to prove his bat is a major league weapon and if he hits Girardi should find ways to get him in the lineup, especially because he's right-handed. If Tex should go down don't be surprised if McCann gets an uptick in reps over at first while they try to groom Sanchez behind the plate.
Well this just came out of fucking nowhere didn't it? Just when you thought you were allowed to get excited about the Yankees bringing up a star position player you get punched in the gut. Not that the story of Greg Bird doesn't have plenty more chapters to be written but this SUCKS. This was going to be Bird's opportunity to fine-tune his skills before taking the full-time gig in 2017. Now who knows what's going to happen a year from now. I'm nervous about Bird's future but I don't subscribe to this idea that he's the next Nick Johnson. He had some injury hiccups in the minors but he never underwent anything major. Certainly nothing close to this.
The thing that does scare me is the power. I don't know what kind of player Bird's going to end up becoming. Maybe he'll never hit for average. Maybe he'll never be a plus defender at first. But the one thing that's evident is that the kid has MAJOR Yankee Stadium pop and a tendency to hit home runs in big spots. If having surgery on that right lead shoulder hinders the development of that power it's going to drastically change the kind of player he can become.
PS - How about the Yankee doctors get a fucking clue? First Tex is day-to-day for about two months with a bone bruise that turned about to be a fracture. Now you had Bird basically playing the whole year with a torn labrum and nobody noticed when he complained about it the first time? Tanaka's probably pitching every game with a completely detached UCL.
