Doug (NY): "I think it's the ballpark. Every year in free agency, we generally see the elite pitchers avoid places like Colorado, Cincinnati and Baltimore, where they have smaller ballparks" I hope the Yankee brass is reading your chat, Buster
Buster Olney: Doug: That's exactly the point when it comes to the significance of how new Yankee Stadium is playing this year. During the '09 season, it's not that big of a deal -- and in some ways, it might give the Yankees a competitive advantage, because they are power-laden. But in the big picture, it is a big deal -- and I've already heard about conversations in the pitchers' fraternity about what a joke they think the park is. So if you are (I'm riffing here) a Yovanni Gallardo in four years and you can be a free agent, and Yankee Stadium is still a homer haven, would you rather go to that place or Citi Field? Most of the time, the best FA pitchers will avoid the homer havens.
Do you think our new bandbox will scare away potential free agents in years to come?
15 Comments:
Pretty sure the Yanks have the best record in the AL. Why not write this a month ago or if it were still true? Yes there are a lot of homers but most of them came in those first weeks of the opening. I attended 3 games during that span, tailgating out in the parking lot you could tell the winds were extremely stronger than usual. I really do not believe it is the Stadium, there were just unusually strong winds those couple weeks. Buster Olney is a jackass. Plus the Old Stadium always produced a lot of homers down right field. That's the way the stadium has always been designed, for power lefties. I'm sure FA pitchers would love to pitch 7 scoreless innings of baseball for the Mets, only to see it blown in the next 2 innings.
To answer your question, no. There will no doubt be some significant changes to the stadium if this HR trend continues.
I think it may actually attract the pitchers we really want - Those looking for a challenge. If Yankee Stadium plays out the way it does and you can pitch better than the other guy you're gonna rack up a lot of wins and a lot of respect
-G
no, its all about the dough, and the steins have a ton of it and they care enough to spend it. can't take it to the grave like the wealthy Twins owner once thought, and some other owners out there who have as much or more money than the steins and don't spend it on their teams.
Buster is a piece of shit. He'll always find something about the Yankees to talk negatively about
$$$$$$$.....money talks...always has...always will...
The media also was saying that without Joe Torre we would have trouble getting free agents, players wanted to play for Torre. But we still landed Teix, Sabathia and Burnett.
Remember, "real men wear pinstripes"!
Does anybody remember the early 90s, when the Yankees were horrible and no pitchers could come here for any amount of money?
Greg Maddux jerked us around for weeks to drive up the price before signing in Atlanta.
As long as the Yankees are fielding quality teams with killer lineups, pitchers are going to come here.
The reason pitchers don't sign in Baltimore or Colorado is because those teams perenially suck.
And I'm quite sure the Yankees will do something about the homer problem at the Stadium.
I think you hit the nail on the head NYSJ.
If the Orioles had a quality team we may not have been blessed with Teixeiras presence
This is the same buster that said in a recent mlb trade rumors piece that the Red sox were going to go after Derek Jeter when he hits the free agent market.
hahah Jeter would never
Right on both fronts. Good teams and more money will always attract top shelf talent.
As far as Olney goes who cares what he thinks. He is part of that ESPN mafia. They protect the Red Sox at all costs and they attack the Yankees when ever they can. As long as the Yanks stay in front and play well you'll see a steady stream of this kind of shit from Olney, Nyer and company.
the yankees not only offer the most money, over a ten year span they offer the best concentration of elite players and the greatest odds of winning a world series ring. this of course is a self reinforcing reality, which is why Peter Gammons rightly observed that the rest of major league baseball is the Yankees farm system.
Its also why I think the Mets as a franchise is a joke, since they could be this competitive - as a global sports franchise - but their marketing and branding is the most hokey crap on earth. they market themselves as a AA ball club does.
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