YFSF

Mo Town Redux

Mariano Rivera is exactly one week older than me, and I'm not sure what's more troubling; the thought that my own 39-year-old body is so damned decrepit, or that his age-defiance can't last forever. A few months ago we took some time here to talk about Mo's beautiful delivery. Over on Bronx Banter, Alex Belth, Andrew McCarron and I chat some more about the Great One who wears 42 for the Yanks. 

Biology is Destiny

From today's Times:

In health-conscious, sports-oriented Boulder, Atlas Sports Genetics is playing into the obsessions of parents by offering a $149 test that aims to predict a child’s natural athletic strengths. The process is simple. Swab inside the child’s cheek and along the gums to collect DNA and return it to a lab for analysis of ACTN3, one gene among more than 20,000 in the human genome.

The test’s goal is to determine whether a person would be best at speed and power sports like sprinting or football, or endurance sports like distance running, or a combination of the two. A 2003 study discovered the link between ACTN3 and those athletic abilities.

In this era of genetic testing, DNA is being analyzed to determine predispositions to disease, but experts raise serious questions about marketing it as a first step in finding a child’s sports niche, which some parents consider the road to a college scholarship or a career as a professional athlete.

A Cold, Dreary Sunday

Scatterings...

• The Yankees and the Mayor's Office are back in the spotlight for some shady goings-on, questions about the public interest, and the place of the new Stadium in the public realm.  This hasn't shaped up to be a very dignified Fall for the Mayor's Office.
• Speaking of civic building, an man whose greatest legacy is a renowned piece of urban architecture has passed away.
• In Northern England, a couple of great and storied rivalries pick up again. Who needs Yankees/Sox in the harsh, wet cold of December when you have Rags/Bitters and Gunners/Blues?!

Not Cricket.

I've been reading Joseph O'Neill's novel Netherland over the past few days. It's an extraordinary work set largely in New York, and the growing community of cricketers in this city plays a major part in it. O'Neill's beautifully observed writing on that sport--evocative set pieces about the ritual of play--will resonate with any baseball fan. I was struck by a passage early in the book, when one of the characters, offended by a violent interruption in play, delivers a prolonged soliloquy on the nature and importance of civility. "We have an expression in the English language," he begins, "The expression is ''not cricket.' When we disapprove of something we say ''it's not cricket." But of course "disapproval" is the very least of it. 

The terrible events in Mumbai brought this passage to mind. A few years ago my wife and I visited that city. We stayed at the Taj, saw a Bollywood picture at the Metro, bustled through the Gothic Revival pile that is Victoria Station. Out on the central maidan (park), and in virtually every street, lane, and road, boys played cricket during the day. I imagine New York was like this when my grandfather was a child in the 1920s—stickball games on every corner. The horrors of indiscriminate violence are nothing new in Mumbai, a gritty, poverty stricken place. But there is also something majestic about the city, something grand and beautiful, and even peaceful. Looking at pictures of the glorious Taj in ruin, I can't help but think, "Not cricket." 

C.C. Sabathia Should...

C.C. Sabathia loves to hit.  He probably would rather hit a walk-off homer than throw a no-hitter, which I think is the reason why he said on the Dan Patrick show that he would rather hit a walk-off homer than throw a no-hitter.  It's strong evidence to help any NL team think, "Hey, we could throw a really large pile of money within a few million of the Yankees' recent 140M offer and have a decent chance at signing this guy; all we have to do is be prepared to let him hit in the bottom of the ninth with the game on the line."

Aside that chancy proposition, Dan Nied thinks there are better reasons for C.C. to sign with anyone but the Yankees.

A Most Happy Thanksgiving From YFSF

That Time of Year...

Poetic words from and about the early winter season:

 That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold (Sonnet 73)
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold
-William Shakespeare-excerpt

The Unknowable and Jason Varitek
If you think about  physical conditioning,
he's got many more years to play in this game
When he's out there, this club is decisively different.
You're really talking about a guy that is inherently valuable.
In this day and time, what is a player like that worth?

Want (with a simile comparing Garret Anderson to Tony Gwynn)
He’s in the class of player
 where he gets a chance to get
 3,000 hits like Tony Gwynn,
 This guy’s four years away...
He wants to play every day

Affirmation
We've received
a number of
offers

The Showdown

Scott Boras held up Jorge Posada's contract as the ideal for Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek's next contract. The Red Sox have officially dismissed that ludicrous claim:

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, the Red Sox’ initial contract offer to free agent catcher Jason Varitek this offseason was for one year. It was not determined what the monetary worth of the offer would be, although indications were that it didn’t approach the annual average commanded by Jorge Posada ($13.1 million).

If the Red Sox offered, say, 1 year, $5-6 million, it could set the stage for a compromise agreement of 2/$16m that would free the Sox to acquire a young catcher who would essentially act as platoon partner/protege for Varitek as he winds his way toward a richly deserved retirement.

The ball is in Boras' -- and Varitek's -- court. Last time around, the Sox gave the soon-to-be Captain a contract everyone knew he did not deserve because he was deemed too vital to the team. No longer. It's Varitek's turn to decide how important his relationship to the Red Sox is. Which is why I think reasonable minds will find a resonable solution, even if Boras' initial demands were entirely unreasonable.

HT: MLBTR

Cornering the Market

Word across the ocean this evening is that the Red Sox have indeed made an offer to 22-year-old Japanese pitching sensation Junichi Tazawa, the player who forewent the NPB draft and has created something of an international baseball crisis for what his actions portend.

The Sox have never been ones to particularly avoid contention with Japanese baseball if they see a player they want (hello, Kevin Millar), so this comes as no surprise. The Braves and Sox are the only teams so far reported to have made offers to Tazawa, who projects as probably a AA pitcher right now. 

I'm not sure how things are done over there, but this struck me as strange:

Sanspo is reporting that Red Sox VP for international scouting Craig Shipley spent 1 hour 50 minutes negotiating with Junichi Tawaza, resulting in a $6M contract offer.

Negotiations before making an offer? That would sound positive for Boston, who has long been the favorite for landing Tazawa anyway.

How Many Days Until Pitchers and Catchers?

Just when you think you can deal with the cold winter days and no baseball, along comes a video like this to make Spring seem like it is years away.  Enjoy.

(h/t Gizmodo)