Daily RoundUp- Friday, February 20th

Spring training is right around the corner and with such, I’m not ashamed to say it, I’m like a kid in a candy store. Reading up on teams and how they are projecting is something to be savored. So here we go. I also make one promise. Unless its prominent and or important to the development of the story, no more steroids stuff. Unless we get something of note, I will not post a single article about steroids. Consider this a PED free zone from now until something of note comes out, like say, Derek Jeter is one of the 103 names on the list.

Ok, I’m done. Mets fans can all agree on two things: at this point, Manny Ramirez is not coming to the Mets and since that’s the case, we need the second half Delgado to stay with us the entire season this year! Mike Vaccaro agrees.

One thing that I learned during the 2006 season that really made me like Delgado was his habit of writing down the pitch sequence as he saw it and making notes as to what he felt he did wrong. This enabled him to correct it in later at-bats with the pitcher or allowed him to fix it next day at the batting cages if it was something mechanical. That kind of work ethic emanates from a man who is worried about losing his technique because if a ballplayer doesn’t notice he can fall into some bad habits which he must avoid.
So when he went into his funk during the early part of the year, I was a bit worried but not too much because I was reminded that eventually he would break out of it because his habits had not changed and he was proactive in trying to fix it everyday. So when he did break out of his funk, it wasn’t a surprise but more of an about time type of feel for Delgado himself I’m sure.
With the Delgado from the second half of last year in the Mets line up, they could be in an excellent position to win.
Also, with more time to think about the proposed line up, I guess putting Jose Reyes into the three hole wouldn’t be that bad, I just feel that if you put him there, you have to watch for him trying to upper cut some pitches and try to power stroke it which is not Reyes’ strong suit. He does have enough power to hit 20 home runs but his strength is getting on base and creating havoc there. Just his presence alone on the base paths are worrisome for pitchers who have to contend with the thought that at any moment Jose is going to steal a base and thus he could end up making a mistake to Delgado or Wright or who ever.
I just want a good hitter behind him because too many times last year, I saw Castillo’s weak slap hits ground right into the short stop’s hands which ended up creating a double play and took Jose off the base paths which is what we want to avoid. So putting Castillo, Reyes, Wright, Delgado, Beltran and Church in that order would probably be our best bet in my opinion. It all depends on how well that guy behind Reyes can hit which is really going to determine if this is a good move or not.

According to the team, Jerry Manuel gave one of his best speeches in a 40 minute motivational message for pre Spring Training.

These are the stories that usually fall under the radar but I love reading about. The powerful Spring Training message which surely is going to be referenced back to if the team accomplishes anything this season, is important for a few reasons: none being more important than creating a sense of confidence amongst a group of players who have suffered through two horrific Septembers that are surely going to haunt them until they right some of the wrong. I think Jerry is the right fit for this team because everyone loves his style, including media types who love his fiery ways as opposed to the monotone Willie Randolph who I never hated or disliked. I just think asking Randolph to be this fire and brimstone kind of guy was wrong. Jerry brings the kind of juice that these guys see and can appreciate.
Also good news considering that this time, the patch worn on the hat only this season is better than the old Dominoes looking patch that they will still be wearing on the jersey this season for the inaugural Citi Field stadium.


I truthfully looked for Yankee news without any kind of steroid reference or having to do with anything steroid related and I finally found one thing: A.J. Burnett. Here’s a preview done by John Harper detailing one of the Yankees biggest off season pick ups.

For Yankee fans who are still getting over the money lost on Carl Pavano, I’m sure they took some lumps in message boards and the like with this signing being that A.J. Burnett has a medical history as well. However, his list is not as big as Pavano’s is and Burnett’s injuries had to do with the fact that he was too reliant on high 90’s fastball which hurt his arm.
Last year seemed to be the year in which he was able to realize all his potential and put together a season that probably had Yankee fans drooling considering that he used to dominate the Yankees on a pretty regular basis. He’s 32 so this is probably going to be the best contract he ever gets. Becoming lax is a big issue for a guy who has never shown a consistency in producing results that clearly his natural raw stuff can produce. If he were to put it all together and have some sort of run support, he could win 20 games easily. His natural stuff is just that good, but again, consistency is going to be the key with him. Oh, and staying off the disabled list as well.



Tiger’s back. Also this story proves it.

I’m not at all ashamed to admit that in high school I lettered in golf (there was no such thing but I’m going to stick by that statement) and frankly thought it was much more challenging than I previously thought. When you consider how much better he is than anyone else and the fact that the sport is actually in eager anticipation of his return because of what it means for the level of competition, and overall popularity of the tour, its huge news on par with Michael Jordan un-retiring and the like.
Golf is funny in the sense that you can like playing the sport purely aside from watching it being played. That’s how I got into golf. Watching it is too much of a bore. I don’t ever have the urge to play golf when I see it being played like I do with wanting to play baseball or football or basketball after seeing a game.
Tiger brings a lot of credibility to the sport and he’s more important to his professional sport than anyone else is to any other sport.

The Mike Leach, head coach of Texas Tech, contract negotiation was a funny one. Basically giving everyone a overview, they wanted to mutually discuss a long term contract. Leach wanted money and a lot of concessions that had never been presented to any head coach ever, like his ability to negotiate a release should another job become available at a more prominent school which is always something colleges want to keep their guard up against. The school wanted to negotiate a higher buy out clause and was resistant. They missed two deadlines and the school reportedly said that if they missed this third one they would fire Mike Leach. They would fire their head coach after one of the school’s most successful seasons ever. As Kevin Sherrington writes there were some clear losers in this process.

The Mike Leach story is something I’d never heard of. The fact that college coaches just up and leave a university at the drop of a dollar more than the previous college was giving them is a direct contradiction to the message that they should be trying to preach to these kids that they recruit. Commitment, a four year college education. These are the things that should be stressed in a collegiate environment, yet coaches these days are just as crooked as some of these players who make it known that they plan on staying in college just one year to build up eligibility and then try and cash in at the pro level.
The fact that he asked for so much is something else. Forget the fact that he used his graduation rates and success at the collegiate level as some sort of springboard for future success, I think the way in which he did that was just a bit shady and finally after all was said and done when the coach and the school met, it was done in about five minutes. Just goes to show you that when you need to get something done, you just need to roll up the sleeves and do it the old fashioned way.