i found this on youtube and i knew you guys would love it.  It's none other than Michael Jordan playing for the White Sox at Wrigley Field.  It's incredible to even think MJ decided to come play baseball even though he dominated basketball.  But he does pretty well in this game believe it or not. he goes two for five with a couple of ribbies.  I also en enjoyed his interview with the great and late Harry Caray.  God he was a funny guy  ENJOY EVERYBODY!!!

2010 will be an exciting year in free agency. King James is going to have to make the decision of whether to stay in a city where no professional team has won a championship since the 1964, or to go the bright lights of the big apple. Dwayne Wade will most likely leave Miami for greener pastures and Chris Bosh will also have to decide his fate. But the most important signing of them all is none other than Mr. Minnesota, Joe Mauer. Joe Mauer can validate that title for the rest of his life if he signs a long-term deal to the low budget, yet highly competitive Minnesota Twins.

The reason I bring this up now is because sources have told WCCO-TV's Mark Rosen that the Twinkies and Joe Mauer have come to a preliminary agreement with the Minnesota Twins for a 10-year contract. Don't rejoice yet Twins fans because ESPN's Buster Olney has tweeted saying that while talks "are optimistic" the report is "not accurate."

We all know baseball is in a rut right now. The steriod era is not over yet and will not be for a long time. The latest big baseball news once again was a former player admitting to his alleged steriod use and completely fabricating the truth. It may take the league another five years to take major steps away from the whole scandal. But the bigger problem in the sport is money. I guarantee you will never hear people arguing about payrolls in any other major sport. The big thing in the NBA is that with one great player a team can at least be competitive. Even with Cleveland's unimpressive supporting cast, Lebron is leading the Cavs to the number one seed in Eastern Conference. Even with a terrible (and I repeat terrible supporting cast) Wade is in position to make the playoffs. But in baseball, it is quintessential not to bank on one player. Take Alex Rodriguez for example. Between 2001 to 2003 Alex Rodriguez was no doubt the best hitter in the American League. He averaged 52 bombers per year, hit around .300 every year, and won two gold gloves. And every year in that span Texas finished in last because of their mediocre pitching staff.

That's what makes payrolls so important in baseball. There are so many holes needed to be filled on a baseball team and teams with money have such an advantage to do so. Not only that, when players on low budget teams gain superstar status, the teams can't sign them back because they don't want so much money committed to one person. But for the sake of baseball Joe Mauer needs to stay with the Twins. This is the ultimate test for major league baseball. Ownership of the Twins needs to make a statement for major league baseball that a low-budget team can keep their franchise players. As a Yankee fan even I would be completely distraught if he were to sign with the Yankees. Who working for the MLB would want to see a team with six of the highest paid players in the game. I want to see the low-budget teams keep their high profile players. And while it might terrible for some to see Lebron, Wade, or Bosh go to the Empire State and play for the Knickerbockers, Mr. Minnesota leaving the only place he has known as home for greener pastures would be the most detrimental of them all.

Poll

Would you like to see Mauer sign a long-term deal to the Minnesota Twins?

76%

Yes it will be great for baseball.

53 votes

23%

Hell no, Mauer should be ours

16 votes

69 votes | Poll has closed

This video i found on youtube and thought it was hilarious.  I'm not sure how to import a video so the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRMJQvSJyQg.  It's with David Cone and luis sojo.  If you look closely in the back you'll see the great clay bellinger cameoing.  When I came across it i thought it would be perfect for this blog so here it is, enjoy Pinstripe Alley.

 

Being the general manager for the New York Yankees is not an easy job in any way, shape, or form.  But I think it's time we take solace in how good Cashman has been for the Yankees.  He has help rebuild the farm system and 60 % of the Yankee team in 2009 came from within.  Yes Cashman has a lot of money to spend but lately he has been spending it much more wisely.  All three big acquistions worked out from '08 offseason. And this offseason he got us a solid All-Star Centerfielder in a trade that cost us a decent prospect and a decent reliever.  Also when Damon and his agent were being intolerable he went out and got us a cost-efficient DH in Nick Johnson.  Also ESPN's Rob Neyer pointed this out on his blog about the age of the team, and how his goal was to make the Yankees younger.  I think it's time we show our GM some love.

Average age of Yankee pitchers 

2005: 34.2 
2006: 32.5 
2007: 31.4 
2008: 30.6 
2009: 29.3 (which happens to be the average age of pitchers on the '96 team) 

Average age of Yankee hitters 

2005: 32.2 
2006: 30.8 
2007: 30.6 
2008: 31.3 
2009: 30.5 

 

For once the Yankees might not pay big for one of their needs.  With the payroll hovering around a little lower than $ 200 million, the Yankees might be virtually done spending big money.  But their is still one hole the Yankees need to fill, and that is left field.  In his first year I doubt the Yankees are going to move Granderson over to left field just so that a pesky Gardner can control centerfield.  It was him that got his starting job taken away almost immediately by Melky Cabrera.  

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    For every decade, the story of the Yankees can be summed up in a few words.  In the 70’s it was Reggie Jackson and the Bronx Zoo.   In the 90’s it was Joe Torre’s dynasty.  The 2000’s can be summed up as great collapses and great comebacks.  When Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino bounced a ground ball to Yankee’s second baseman Robinson Cano, the Yankees capped off one of their strangest decades in the team’s history.  Being the first team to win a World Series in the first and last year of a decade only adds to its peculiarity.

  Back when people were bopping their heads to the Baha Men, the Yankees beat the New York Mets in a climactic 2000 World Series in five games each being decided by 2 or fewer runs.  The next year, with all the depression New York was feeling after 9/11, the Yankees were able to bring some light.  They made it back to the World Series and faced the Arizona Diamondbacks.  In games 4 and 5 the Yankees, at home, hit two out two-run home runs to tie the game, and then won in extra innings.  But the series was lost in the desert as Mariano Rivera blew a lead in Game 7 and the Diamondbacks won in the ninth.  

  After that moment the organization took a turn for the worse.  When key players like Paul O’ Neill, Tino Martinez, and Scott Brosius, left for free agency the Yankees threw money at the best player in the league.  In 2002, the Yankees signed power first baseman Jason Giambi for 120 million dollars.  But his Yankee career was shadowed with steroid scandals and his most famous attribute was his black mustache rather than his bat.  In 2003, the Yankees staged an epic seven game series with the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS.   Aaron Boone hit a walk-off home run in Game 7 to send the Yankees to the World Series, but they ultimately lost the series to the low budget Florida Marlins.  It was in that off-season the Yankees made their most controversial move yet.

  When Aaron Boone tore his knee ligament in the offseason playing a pick-up basketball game, the Yankees needed of a third baseman.  The Yankees heard that the Red Sox might get Alex Rodriguez, the then best player in baseball, so they swooped in and signed him, along with his ego, and his record setting contract.  By increasing their payroll to $200 million in 2004, the Yankees became a juggernaut filled with stars up and down their lineup.  But when this team went up three games to nothing in the ALCS against the Red Sox, they fell apart.  The Red Sox came back and won four games in a row doing what no other baseball team had ever done by coming back from a 3-0 deficit.  And when the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years, the Yankee organization hit rock bottom.

 From 2005 to 2008, the Yankees continued with their outlandish spending and bad luck.  Randy Johnson’s Yankee career ended before it started by hitting a cameraman when walking in the street. Pitcher Kevin Brown punched a wall breaking his hand.  Carl Pavano, who signed a four year-contract, was plagued by injuries.  Cory Lidle died in a plane crash in New York after the 2006 season. The Yankees iconic manager Joe Torre who guided them to four world championships decided he had enough of New York and said “se la vi” to the organization.  And the House That Ruth Built was abandoned after the 2008 season in which the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

  In the 2009 off-season, the front office decided they had to do something to revamp their pitching and offense.  So they decided to spent $423.5 million on first baseman Mark Teixeira, and pitchers CC Sabathia, and AJ Burnett.  They also signed jubilant player Nick Swisher who was a big part of their new, more relaxed clubhouse.  The season started with a thud when Alex Rodriguez’ name appeared on a list of 104 players that took steroids in 2003.  He also had surgery to remove a cyst in his hip, which sidelined him until May.  With time to ponder his career and his role among the other Yankees, he came back and hit a home run on his first at bat.  From then on the Yankees began to click.  They won the Division Title and the playoffs with ease.  Rodriguez, who was known as the goat in previous playoffs, became Mr. October.  When Rivera got that final out in the World Series, for most Yankees the ring was their first.  For players like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera, it was one for the thumb.  To the organization it was a great way to finish one of their most turbulent decades in <!--EndFragment-->