Before writing about the toy department of life, I just want to give condolences to the friends and family of Tommy Muthig. I went to Lincoln with him and he was always a very nice kid to me who loved football. Thoughts and prayers to all those of PR who knew him. His obituary states in lieu of flowers to please send donations in his name to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Rest in peace, Tommy.
@YouTheReader, hopefully, you know the deal by now, but on Thursdays, @YouTheReaders submit a topic or take of your own. It doesn’t have to be just sports, whatever is on your mind. All you have to do is send something to me that you think should be covered during the week and I promise to try my best to post it by Thursday. It can be as simple as a text or a DM to @You_The_Reader and also please don’t feel like any topic or take is irrelevant, the wider the field that Week to Week Notes can cover, the better.
My expertise is the Yankees, Jets, MLB, and the NFL. Despite loving to play basketball, I don’t keep up with it from start to finish like I used to. I think the more teams&sports that get covered, the better. There are so many of you die-hard sports fans who know what you're talking about, so this Thursday spot could only help.
@YouTheReader your default setting for His or Her Words, Not Mine is a team/sport/topic “fan insider.” If you wish to come up with your own @Name, I’ll run with that so that other @YouTheReaders could also start to get to know your style. Either way, I won’t tell no one your name. Unless you want your full name on Week to Week Notes.
NY Yankee Candle Talk
2/16 ‘23
On this day in 2004, a trade is completed and approved by the commissioner sending Alex Rodriguez to the New York Yankees.
Wow. I loved Soriano - but they had to do this. He was great, but one championship was probably not worth all the drama.
Yeah I remember initially there was a moment where everybody thought there would be a chance they move Jeter from SS lol
Everybody but Jeter.
(@YouTheReader: Alex Rodriguez on December 11, ‘00 signed a 10-year $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers. It was a massive record-breaking contract for an athlete and one that didn’t get surpassed for quite some time. He performed like an MVP during his time in Texas, even winning one in ‘03, the only problem was the Rangers stunk. Texas initially was going to send ARod to the Boston Red Sox but the trade fell through at the 11th hour and the Yankees swooped in once they knew the Rangers no longer wanted to pay ARod boatloads of cash to come in last place. Unfortunately, the Yankees did have to trade Alfonso Soriano in the process, but like every trade in life, you have to give something to get something. Soriano was a fan favorite and one of the best lead-off hitters of the previous generation. In ‘02 he hit 39 home runs and stole 41 bases. He followed that up with 38 homers and 35 stolen bases in ‘03. ARod was the superior talent and you make that trade every time but it does have me wondering what would have happened had he been dealt to Boston.)
2/19 ‘23
Was bored tonight and went back and looked at river ave blues top prospect lists from the past. If you scroll to the bottom of this article it has lists going back to ‘07. Remember the name, Jose Tabata!? This is a great rabbit hole to go down.
I remember them all. Ty Hensley was supposed to be a beast. Got hurt before he got started.
Phil Hughes and Joba should have been the guys. What a bummer they didn’t work out.
I don’t know about today, but they definitely should have been there longer. Phil Hughes was ok but never was the same after the near no-hitter when he pulled the hammy. He had good stuff but not great. Joba had GREAT stuff. They messed him up because they thought he could help them win. The Joba Rules sucked. He was awesome.
(@YouTheReader: Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain were supposed to be the next generation of homegrown arms. I think it is fair to say that the Yankees had no idea how to develop starting pitchers. It felt like every other month which turned to years they were constantly moving Hughes and Joba from the bullpen to the starting rotation. They were doing so to protect the young arms, and didn’t want them overworked, but shifting their roles a ton probably didn’t help either talented pitcher. They were both a part of the ‘09 World Series so you can never take that away from them, but unfortunately, their careers didn’t pan out the way so many Yankee fan insiders thought they saw coming.)
Classic
Dellin was the first “Baby Bomber” I found on the internet. He was like 17. There was a blog or something called pending pinstripes. That’s where I learned about Phil Hughes and Joba before they were household names. Pending pinstripes were before river avenue blues - both were great.
I wish we had something similar nowadays. I haven’t found anything as in-depth as river ave blue used to get.
You should check out @you_the_reader - it’s pretty good.
Fair point.
(@YouTheReader: Cough, cough, thanks for the endorsement!! Cough, cough)
2/20 ‘23
Pant-look alone is why we should get rid of this guy.
Yup. Need to play DJ at 3rd.
(YouTheReader: More on Josh Donaldson this Saturday.)
2/21 ‘23
Joe Niekro pitched almost 3,600 innings for 7 different big league teams and had a career ERA+ under 100.
He did however give us this classic moment. 😂
Classic.
Haha he looks like he almost got away with it too.
The ump reaction is great. His is better if you see the whole vid. Like “oh you mean that”. Very weird - not like he could bust that out in the mound and scuff up the ball.
(@YouTheReader: Joe Niekro was ejected from a game in 1987 for scuffing up the baseball. A scuffed-up baseball will have more movement, thus is harder for a hitter to hit. Below is an excerpt on his reasoning behind the incident.)
Imagine a manager/coach doing this to a superstar today - would never happen.
100%…Girardi was prob let go for doing a fraction of this. Also not Monday morning Quarterbacking the decision because I thought it was the right time to move on at the time.
Me too, but in retrospect… maybe we should have kept him.
Girardi would have done better than Boone has done, but they were right to move on. They should have hired #23.
I feel like part of the reason was they knew they could have anyone manage the team to 100 wins annually and didn’t want him getting to McCarthy, Torre, Stengel, and Huggins. Would’ve looked bad with only 1 ring.
I think their problem is that they have been playing for the 100 wins and not to win the WS. The whole “playoffs are a crapshoot” thing is getting tired. Go win the World Series then be excited about a few 100-win seasons.
I saw a tweet the other day that was like “I’d rather see the Yankees win 90 with Volpe, Oswalds & kids, than trudge along to 100 only to get bounced with Hicks, Donaldson, etc.” so much of the team philosophy seems to be about “development” but what good is it when the kids get wasted in the minors being blocked by log jam vets. The ‘17 team was fun bc we had no idea what to expect and that should’ve been this era’s 96.
I go back and forth. I would love to see the kids come up and play but I also just want to win. Honestly, I don’t care who starts, who plays where, or who we trade. It’s been too long since we won the World Series.
I would rather Hicks hit a walk-off hr to win the WS with Donaldson on base than see one of the “kids” hit a walk-off against the rays in a 90-win season. But I think the “kids” are better and we likely have a better chance of seeing one of them hit the game-winning hit in a WS.
Also, I don’t think this it’s the most likely situation, and he’ll probably be bad, but is it crazy to think that Donaldson may have just had a bad year and will be useful next year? Ideally, he plays a few times a week and is a legit bat off the bench which is something we have been lacking for a while.
I’m not a hitting coach, but I think his leg kick is too high - he probably used to be able to get away with it being an elite athlete, etc. but I think if he shortens it up a bit - I agree he can help. Hicks stinks.
Agreed and yeah Hicks and Donaldson can’t be much worse right? It would be tough for them to stomach a year paying Judge and Cole that much if the goal is to get the kids growing pains out of the way, but their timeline is kind of a mess bc they haven’t won one yet.
(@YouTheReader more on Aaron Hicks and Josh Donaldson this Saturday.)
NY Jets Offseason Flight Plan
-From a fringe lunatic writing about sports and Jets fan insiders.
2/16 ‘23
Is Justin Fields worth the #13 pick if available? Would take a lot of cajones for JD to do that when they could have had him already. And man if they got that wrong the org may have to fold.
I would see if they could get him for their 2nd rounder. I’m not sure that many teams would be willing to give up a 1st. Different than Rodgers bc if it works you have your guy for the next decade but it’s not a sure thing and most teams seem to already be set at QB. See if the panthers, raiders, and Bucs would give up their 1st for him. Falcons too.
I don’t think I would. He’s still an unknown from my perspective. 2 2’s maybe but no 1’s.
2/17 ‘23
The #Jets are bringing in free agent QB Derek Carr for a visit this weekend, sources say. It’ll be the second meeting with a team for Carr, who visited the #Saints prior to his release by the #Raiders.
Carr is in the process of evaluating all options now that he’s a free agent.
I’m team Rodgers all the way now, but I think it’s good we’re at least having a conversation with him.
I would be good with either - but definitely want 1 or the other unless Joe Douglas has some other better trick up his sleeve.
2/18 ‘23
What he ordered will tell me alot about if he can handle this market…..
Shikey T @ShikeyTues
I don’t like how he’s smiling like that. Lol.
Thomas HATES Derek Carr.
Mike White guy.
Huge Mike White guy.
I’d be more than fine with Carr I’m just worried about him in NY. I think he’s a really nice guy but I think the media will take advantage of it.
If they win he’ll be fine. If not, not so good. They have to win.
(@YouTheReader alright I’ll come clean. Derek Carr lost me a fantasy football championship so I’ll hold that grudge forever. Carr would for sure be an upgrade, but I just really don’t have a good gut feeling about him with the Jets.)
2/19 ‘23
I don't think it's sunk in how devastating missing on a #2 pick is. Imagine having an Allen, Burrow or Herbet, Hurts, Heck even Tua level QB going into year 3 of a rookie deal and then spending the $$ were about to drop on a QB to stack the roster. Damn it. #Jets