Thursday, July 05, 2007

New York Minute

A great game yesterday, highlighted by a blast from a guy that the Twins desperately need to heat up. Like most fans, I'm sick of talking about last year, but the parallel between Kubel's blast to save the Yankees series yesterday and Kubel's blast last year to beat the Red Sox is a little spooky. That moment is what many Twins fans consider the start of last year's remarkable second half run. It isn't (it's actually a week earlier) but I'm willing to let it ride if it means a little momentum.

Meanwhile, it's sometimes fun to see what's happening over in the other dugout, just so it helps to regain some perspective. For instance, the NY Daily News didn't think Santana was awesome as much as it thought Mussina was bad. The NY Times (and Mussina) thinks he just threw two too many pitches. Newsday looked at the larger picture, and saw this loss as just another example of the Yankees backtracking. While the New York Post gave credit to Santana - and the wind. And really, for a Twins fan, they're all enjoyable reading.

But here's what is not. John Harper of the New York Daily News takes up a longstanding Yankees tradition - openly plotting how they'll steal another team's players. And after yesterday's loss to the best pitcher in baseball, you can guess who he's got his eye on. (Though it's worth noting that he eyes, and quotes, Hunter too.)

Among the depressing insights...

- He calls Santana the $200 million question, which is a number the media here has been slow to embrace, mostly because it's almost unbelievable. Um, they believe it in New York.

- He says "industry sources" say that Santana's agent is throwing around a $25 million per year price tag. Holy cow.

- Something I never thought of. This one makes me really weary. I'll let him say it:

Or, to put it another way: how much do you think the Yankees would pay to
have the best pitcher in baseball take the mound on Opening Day as they christen
their sparkling new ballpark in 2009?

Especially if they continue sliding backward as they have this season -
and Alex Rodriguez is in Anaheim or Chicago, having opted out of his contract
after this season?

That's really a tripleshot of bad news - all the new revenue the Yankees are going to see + the pressure to justify the prices in the new ballpark + the possibility of gaining payroll with A-Rod's contract off the books.

Hmm. Maybe it's not so fun to see what's happening in the other dugout.

2 comments:

Adam said...

Are the Yankees really going to have that much new revenue? They sell out every game anyway.

I suppose they'll probably have more luxury boxes now or something and will be able to charge more for tickets, but I can't think they'll have as big a boost as most team get.

Anonymous said...

More than often its the fans/media that makes these claims and not the organization. I am not going to dispute the fact that NY wants to do it, but there are other big market teams that also have ablity to spend big money on players. NY hasn't had much success since eclipsing the 200million dollar mark. Even with ARod possibly leaving would they take on another huge salary? I haven't given up hope that the Twins will someday care about winning.