Jack Curry To Join YES

From YES:

Jack Curry, who covered the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball at The New York Times for nearly 20 years as its Yankees beat writer and most recently as its national baseball writer, has joined the YES Network as a Yankees studio analyst, program contributor, and a columnist on the Emmy Award-winning YESNetwork.com.

...

"I look forward to this new chapter of my career, and am eager to contribute to YES on air and online," said Curry. "Through my work on Yankees Hot Stove and its pre-game shows, I am already very familiar with YES' high quality of work. I'm eager to provide insight and information to our television viewers and Web readers."

Here's what John Filippelli, president of production and programming at YES, had to say:

"He boasts a superb knowledge of the game, has tremendous sources throughout the league, and has earned the respect of everyone in the game. He will be a tremendous addition to our Emmy Award-winning multi-platform Yankees coverage, and will complement Bob Lorenz, our pre- and post-game host, extremely well in the studio."

Curry always did a good job on the Hot Stove shows, and did a great job while writing for the Times. He clearly knows his stuff and should be a nice addition to YES.

Damon's Parting Shots

Johnny Damon, always willing to share his thoughts (sometimes a bad idea), expressed some negative feelings about the way the Yankees dealt with him this offseason as he was welcomed in his new home of Detroit. Here are the quotes via John Harper:

"We're coming off a great year and you're told you've gotta take a pay cut," Damon said. "You're kind of like, 'A pay cut? What the heck?' It's a little humbling.

"You're like, 'Wow, is that what they really think of me? Or what I do for the ballclub?' I did a lot for the ballclub. I even recruited (free agents) for those guys. I did everything."

Obviously, Damon felt that helping the Yankees win a World Series was enough to warrant a new contract at the $13 million a year he'd made for his four years in pinstripes. As a result, he admitted that, yes, agent Scott Boras told GM Brian Cashman not to bother making an offer if it was for less than $13 million per.

"I let Scott do his work," Damon said. "That's why he's there. In the end, I think he did a great job. It's funny, though. Every time I'm a free agent, I'm always on a new team."

...

"At one point I told Cashman, 'All I want is two years,'" Damon recalled. "I told him, 'I want to see Derek Jeter get 3,000 hits and I want to have a chance to win some more.'

"I wanted to be on a team longer than any other team I've been on. Because hopefully I've got a few good years left and I can start pushing up on the all-time runs list, and get 3,000 hits."
...

"I called Hal Steinbrenner," Damon recalled, "and he said, 'We just can't do anything.' I said, 'Thank you very much, I had a great time playing with you. Now it's time for both sides to move on.'"

Cashman had this response:

"When we signed him (for four years, $52 million), he was playing center field, a premium position, and the market was high. Now he's a left fielder, he's 36, in a collapsed market. Why would he not expect to take a pay cut?"

Cashman clearly understands simple concepts that might exceed Damon's intelligence. There are so many reasons why Damon should understand the need for a paycut. Maybe he does, after all, he did end up taking one to play in Detroit.

Tex Arrives In Camp Ready To Defend Title

Today is the day that the rest of the position players arrive and tomorrow will be the first official full team workout. This is when spring training really begins. Mark Teixeira was one of those who made their first appearance in the Yankees clubhouse today and he seems ready to defend the title. Here's more from Pete Caldera:

Mark Teixeira said that there wouldn’t be any lack of impetus to go for another world championship again.

Why? “Cause we’re the Yankees,’’ he said. “If you get complacent, it’s going to be a tough year for you."

...With the new guys replacing Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui, “I don’t think we’re going to skip a beat,’’ the always-optimistic Teixeira said.

Here's a couple more quotes from Teixeira via Chad Jennings:

“You’re always kind of looking for something else and trying to figure out what we did wrong, what we can improve on, what we can change to make it all the way every spring training,” Mark Teixeira said. “For us I think it’s, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. That was kind of our motto all last year during the playoffs.”

...

“We feel like we’re just as capable of defending our championship as we were winning it last year,” Teixeira said. “We have a great team. The core group of guys are back, and hopefully we get a little bit better this year.”

Good stuff, Mark. That's pretty much exactly what any Yankees fan wants to hear.

Robinson Cano also arrived today, and admitted he was sad to find out that his best friend, Melky Cabrera, had been traded. He also said that Cabrera wanted to remain a Yankee, but was dealing with the situation well. Hopefully that doesn't effect Cano's performance on the field. It shouldn't.

Jennings reports that Cano said he wants to improve in RBI situations, something we all complained about last year.

I'll have more quotes and pictures from today's arrivals later on.

Update on the New Writer Search

First let me say that no decisions have been made yet. I've gotten many more applicants than I had expected and to be honest you all sound like you could be great for the blog. Based on that I am going to need about a week to figure everything out. Also, if I haven't responded to your emails it doesn't mean anything. Things have been a little crazy in my neck of the woods.

Still, if you haven't emailed me yet and would like to write here please feel free. And once again prior blogging experience is obviously a good thing.

I have also decided that since so many of you want to have your voices heard that besides adding the new group of writers I will also be starting a "From the Fans" post where the comments will be shown on the sidebar. The idea is a mix between SB Nation's fanposts (which I wanted to do, but cannot on blogger--if you know how to do this and I'm just an idiot for not figuring it out please let me know) and TYU's Perpetural OffTopic Post. So a big hat-tip must go out to both SB Nation and TYU. It will go up sometime next week and will be a never ending comment stream for you guys to post what's on your mind that day as long as it is Yankee related.

Heyman: Yanks Might Be Eying Crawford

Towards the end of Jon Heyman's article on the Red Sox yesterday (hat-tip to Was Watching), he had this nugget about the Yankees interest in Carl Crawford:

One reason the Yankees were reluctant to go for a two-year deal for Johnny Damon might have had little to do with Damon and been a greater reflection of what they think of Carl Crawford. The Yankees love him. Crawford is almost sure to be too rich for the low-revenue Rays, and the Yankees jump to the head of the class for interested teams. Remember, too, that the Yankees passed on Matt Holliday. It all seems to set up nicely for Crawford.

This could be just pure speculation on Heyman's part, after all the Yankees did offer Damon a two-year deal, but that was before they traded for Curtis Granderson. I'm sure many others are thinking the same thing regarding Crawford and the Yankees, I know I have.

With how things went down this offseason, adding Crawford next year makes a ton of sense for the Yanks. Adding his speed and defense to an already potent lineup would make give the Yankees a lethal combination of speed and power.

In my mind, the only thing that could stop the Yankees from landing Crawford would be a breakout season by Brett Gardner. That could definitely change their plans. Otherwise I think he ends up in Pinstripes.

Damon: "The Tigers Were My First Choice"

From the AP:

“This is where I wanted to be,” he said Monday after completing his $8 million, one-year contract. “The Tigers were my first choice. I love it here and think I am a good fit.”

I honestly don't even know what to make of this, but I guess I'll just throw it in with the rest of his I only want to play here, or I'll never play there quotes. Here's one to refresh your memory from back on August 17th:

“I don’t know where else I would want to go to,” Damon said. “Obviously, that’s not the right thing to say when you’re about ready to approach free agency, but I’m very happy with playing in New York, and my family’s happy I play for New York. There’s no bigger place to go. If you play well here, you’re going to get paid. New York has the resources. But we also have the chance to win every year. I don’t want to attempt to go make more money elsewhere, for more years, with a chance to be out of the race by the first of June."

For more nonsense from Damon, check out this collection of quote from the guys over at TYU.

I've often wondered why a player feels they have to make up some B.S. when they sign with a new team. Remember when A-Rod's dream was to be a Met, then a Red Sox, and then a Yankee?

For this quote alone I hope he gets booed when he comes back to the Bronx.

(Update) Apparently what he actually said was after the Yankees were out of the picture the Tigers were his number one choice. So I guess the quote wasn't as bad as it might have seemed.

Burnett Blames Himself For Issues With Posada

From Chad Jennings:

“It all went back to when I was right,” Burnett said. “If Jorge was going to catch me or not, it would be irrelevant because when my mind’s right, then everything is a lot easier for Jorge.”

...

“I think sometimes when people talk about the relationship, they make the relationship bigger than it is, like it’s what they do when they’re not in the game together,” manager Joe Girardi said. “To me, it’s just the understanding of the pitcher when he’s on the mound that day and what you need to do. That’s the relationship that you continue to learn.”

...

“That’s what started it all,” Burnett said. “I never questioned Jorge. Never would, never did. I questioned myself, and then everybody thought I questioned Jorge. He’s caught in this league for a long time, and I can do nothing but learn from him, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Jennings also reports that Burnett says he wants Posada to catch all his games, and the only problem they had was a communication issue, something he obviously wants to fix. This is good for the team. They don't need these two having problems all year. I'm glad Burnett is looking to fix whatever problems he had with Posada, hopefully Posada does his part.

New Save Gate 2 Video

Check out this nice video from the Save Gate 2 folks:



As we've seen by the increase in speed of the demolition of The Stadium, it's getting to be make or break time for these guys. I, am hoping that this can be one of those times where a few people with a great idea can actually get something done. Some part of that grand old stadium should remain intact.

As a Yankees fan it sickens me to think that nothing will remain standing, and all that will be left will be an empty field and a sign saying "Yankee Stadium once stood here." ...Some tribute.... We're talking about the most famous sports venue since the Roman Coliseum here, not Shea Stadium. As the video correctly states, Yankee Stadium is not only part of sports history, but American history as well. It's embarrassing that people even need to fight.