I’d betcha anything nobody in the “next generation of awesome pitchers” is going to win 300 games. You can’t take a guy who’s about to accomplish one of the rarest feats in baseball down very many pegs.
He said the CORE of the team, and he’s not wrong.
The Yankees aren’t even my #1 team, but most of this stuff is a bunch of sour-grapes crap. Any other team would spend money like the Yankees do if they could. In fact, several do - and it’s not a guarantee of anything. See the Mets now, and the Rangers, Orioles and Dodgers of recent years. I’d agree that losers like Pohlad are awful for sports, though. [Not a Steinbrenner fan, by the way, he’s an insufferable prick. But he’s not the ruin of baseball.]
Jeter’s teams have won 6 division titles (including 5 in a row), 5 AL pennants, and 4 World Series. And he led the majors in hits from '96 to '01.
A-Rod was on one division-winning Seattle team. Tejada’s A’s have two. Nomar’s got zip so far. I don’t think, actually, that any of the three have even played in an ALCS. Rodriguez is unbelievable and probably the best player in the game. I suppose some misguided fools might think results count for something.
Rooting for the Cubs is a waste of my valuable supporting skills, but I’d be perfectly happy if Clemens never got that 300th win. As has been noted previous, the Yankees are evil, and so are all of their fans.
Not at all- we Yankee fans know very well that the best shortstop in baseball, probably the best shortstop of all time, is languishing in Arlington, Texas, because he’d rather make tons of money than win a championship.
A-Rod has $200 million, and Derek has the rings. I say Derek got the better bargain, but that’s just me.
Even in the time of 5 man rotations, I’d be surprised if there isn’t one or two pitchers from each generation that will surpass 300. Clemens did it, Maddux will do it late next year. After that, IIRC, its going to be a while befora anyone does it again. But a few folks will.
That’s a good point. I just get tired of reading East Coast sports columnists talk about how the EC, especially New York, has the most knowledgable sports fans in the country - when they are pretty much the same as most everyone else.
Of course they would. But they can’t. So it’s an unfair advantage.
And yes, money doesn’t give you a guarantee, but it’s a hell of an advantage. Look at the most consistently competitive teams and they are, with the exception of Oakland and San Francisco, the ones with higher than average payrolls - Seattle, Atlanta, New York, Boston. Imagine what the A’s could do with another $50 million. Probably supplement the Big Three with Millwood or someone like that.
The Yankees do spend it intelligently, for the most part, but it’s still an unfair advantage.
See? This is the kind of BS I’m talking about. Results count for something? Right - because if you stuck Tejada, Nomar or A-Rod in Jeter’s place they wouldn’t have seen the exact same success. Gimme a break. Jeter’s a good SS, but he’s not better than Nomar or A-Rod, although he might be about on the same level as Tejada.
Well, since '98, I’ve had to hate the Cubs, but now that they’re Dusty’s New Team, I’ll have to cut them some slack. Kerry should write “K” on the balls he pitches to Clemens. And then, actually get the K.
Yankees suck, and Clemens can fracture his arm for all I care. That traitor couldn’t be bothered to show up or shape up until somebody paid him EVEN more. He pulled the usual “take three seasons off after getting a big contract”, which isn’t unusual, but then he had the nerve to say that his mediocre performances were underappreciated.
The flip side of that is that relatively few franchises have been around as long as the Cubs. 3 in a little over a century? That’s one roughly every 33 years. Off the top of my head several franchises haven’t even been around that long…Tampa Bay, Arizona, Toronto and Seattle, I think. How many 300th win games have been pitched against that crowd? So it may not be so unlikely.
You can’t make me!!!
Clemens is going to win 300, eventually. He is going to Cooperstown on the first ballot, and I bet neither the Cubs nor the Red Sox will win a World Series before then!
You cannot possibly say for certain sticking any of those other SSs in Jeter’s job would have had the same results. As others pointed out, teams like Texas, NYM and LA have all proved gathering All-Stars doesn’t make a winning team.
Is Jeter better? shrug Who can say? Different situations and all that. The vocal minority of Yankee fans might argue. I think if you actually talked to real baseball fans who are Yankee fans you’d find most aren’t “know-nothings” and would agree that, yes, ARod’s and Nomar’s raw talents probably exceed Jeter’s. But Jeter is an undeniable force on a powerful team. It is just as equally unfair to try and deny how good Jeter is simply because you don’t like the Yankees.
So let me see if I have this straight… you are judging Yankee fans to be know-nothings because papers on the East coast are telling people on the East coast (i.e., their CUSTOMERS) that people on the East coast are smart?! Like they’d sell a lot of papers/magazines calling their customers stupid?? You have a lot to learn about marketing to your audience.
No, it doesn’t. And all of those have definite weaknesses. Texas spent a lot on hitting, but didn’t spend anything on pitching. LA has just the opposite problem (and aside from Brown and Gagne, remind me which All-Stars LA has?). The Mets just aged. A lot.
No one is denying how good Jeter is. I even said he was a good shortstop, top 4. Just not as good as A-Rod or Nomar. If anyone says different (especially A-Rod, I’ll at least listen to arguments about Nomar vs Jeter) they are just being silly.
Actually, no, I’m not talking about NY papers or something. I’m talking about East Coast reporters and columnists on ESPN or working for SI like Gammons, etc. Their audience is just as much West Coast as East Coast. So, please don’t try to tell me I need to learn about marketing to my audience.
Let’s see-didn’t Clemens throw a broken bat at Piazza & lie & say he thought it was a ball? Besides being a bad lie, he insulted our intelligence w/. that excuse.
And we won a crapload of games WITHOUT sammy when he was out nursing a hangnail. I’ve always disliked him, and I betcha we win more while he’s suspended
Given that Clemens won two Cy Young Awards with Toronto AFTER signing his big contract with them, and given that his first season there was one of the greatest seasons a pitcher has ever had in the history of the game, I see very little reason to believe that he stops trying after he signs a big contract. He was sure as hell trying in 1997-1998.
Neurotik
Upon rereading my post this morning I realize my comment about marketing came across not as humorous but as edgy. I apologize for that.
As for the rest, well… another time or place.
Back to the OP, my only hope is that Clemens continues to get “no decision” for the next 10 starts. Flying 60 people all over the country to watch his next start has got be pretty expensive for the guy. Maybe if he can put this off another few weeks the airlines will finally recover.
