Not only is CC Sabathia not opting out of his contract, he decided to shoot a video to New York Yankee fans announcing his decision:

He said, “My goal the whole time was to be able to finish my career as a Yankee…I look forward to seeing everybody out at the ballpark next year.”

I bet all of the people cursing him out yesterday and saying the Yankees would be better off without him feel kind of silly right now. Oh who I am kidding…

Okay so the Yankees have CC, Cano and Swisher locked up for next season.

So far so good.

What’s next? A free agent pitcher? A free agent slugger?

Stay tuned.

The Day: October 31, 2001
The Event: Game Four of the 2001 World Series
The Participants: The New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks
The Setting: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

So, where were you on October 31, 2001? I was lucky enough to be in Section 16 of the Upper Deck at the old Stadium. As a part of my ticket package at the old place, I had four tickets to one game of each round of the playoffs – I miss that package so much.

I was with my best friend, my brother and my father who were also with me during the previous round – we went to Game Four of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners. That game featured the first playoff walkoff home run I had ever experienced in person thanks to Alfonso Soriano.

Little did I know when I walked into the Stadium Halloween night 2001, that Soriano’s home run would trumped by two improbable blasts.

» Continue reading “October 31, 2001: The Bamtino and Mr. November”

About an hour ago, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated tweeted that CC Sabathia has decided to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. It took less than thirty seconds for the “CC is an *sshole!” and the “Eff you Sabathia!!!” tweets to start showing up on my Twitter timeline.

Guys, this wasn’t unexpected. And just because he’s opted out doesn’t mean he’s going to sign somewhere else. He just wants more money.

If you had the opportunity to make more money, you’d take it, right? I know I would.

So step off the bridges, climb off your high horses and calm down.

It will all be fine, I promise.

Of course, if he does end up signing with someone else feel free to flip a shit pickle but for now, hold off on the pitchfork and torch marches.

The MLB Players Union released the list of players who became free agents today.

Luis Ayala
Eric Chavez
Bartolo Colon
Freddy Garcia
Andruw Jones
Damaso Marte
Sergio Mitre
Jorge Posada

Players can begin signing with new teams at 12:01 a.m. ET Thursday.

Notice someone missing from the list? His name has two initials, he’s big and he throws with his left hand. Yeah, let’s hope it stays that way.

And now for the least surprising news ever, the Yankees picked up both Robinson Cano’s and Nick Swisher’s options for 2012.

Although there were some people who were actually surprised about Swisher. They say things like, “Swisher sucks in the postseason!! GET RID OF HIM!!!”

Hey guys, do you know who else kind of sucked in the postseason? Tino Martinez. He just happened to hit two very big home runs and that’s all people remember. Before he hit the big home run in the 2001 World Series, he had an 0fer for the series. And that was a few at bats into Game 4. So yeah…

As for Cano, that was a no brainer. Cano has become one of the most feared and most respected hitters in the game of baseball. There was no doubt his option was being picked up.

Cano and teammate Curtis Granderson landed in Taiwan this weekend with a number of other MLB players to play a series against Taiwan’s National team.

Cano’s dad Jose played in Taiwan but the younger Cano never got a chance to visit until now.

“It’s an honor to be here,” Cano said. “I’m looking forward to playing against the best players in Taiwan. Also it’s a dream come true. My dad played here for 11 months. Too bad I didn’t make it here when I was young, but I’m happy now to be here and looking forward to the series.”

I think I’ve just been waiting to be able to use Ellen in a post. That’s all. 

Ah, once again Scott Boras comes through, providing us with a pleasant segue to talk about Robinson Cano and his contract.

First, the “news.” (When your team is not in the postseason, it’s fun to dig up news wherever you can get it. Specifically, on the like five different websites that provide coverage throughout the season.)

» Continue reading “Quick Hit: Just Kidding.”

Do you remember where you were when Joe Girardi hit the triple heard around the world? Or where you were when Charlie Hayes caught the foul pop up to clinch the Yankees’ 23rd World Championship and first since 1978?

I was in Old City Hall in Oswego, New York, with my friend Brenda, sitting in front of a TV in the bar on two lawn chairs with our own personal pitchers of beer -it was college and I was a heavyweight drinking champion.

The whole game was intense and by the time the ninth inning started, a sizable crowd of mostly boys had gathered around us and when the final out was made I jumped up out of my seat and into the arms of some guy whose name I never knew. He spun me around like they do in the movies and we all celebrated…for a long time.

It was also the night Daylight Savings was ending and the clocks were being pushed back so we had an extra hour of drinking time.

Before heading to another bar, Brenda and I went to my off campus house so I could grab one of my Yankee hats to wear the rest of the night. While I was there I decided to call my mom. I was drunk and delirious and I was thrilled that my Yankees finally won a World Series. Within about ten seconds she informed me that not only were my dad and brother were at the game but that my dad wanted to fly me down for the game and that she thought it was ridiculous for me to do that. Before she even finished telling me the story, I hung up on her – fifteen years later I am still bitter about missing the chance to attend a World Series clinching game.

Fuming, I left the house with Brenda and we walked toward the main street of Oswego, Bridge Street. People were beeping their horns and yelling out car windows. It was a Yankees celebration and it was awesome. We made our way down Bridge Street to our final destination, the Woodshed Tavern. I sat the head of the bar and because of my Yankee hat I had – at one point – four freshly opened Labatt’s Blues in front of me. I took turns drinking out of all four and yes I finished them, remember I was a lush.

Every once in a while a “Let’s Go Yankees!” chant would break out and we’d slam our bottles on the bar instead of clapping. That was so much fun. And because of that extra hour, we all got extra drunk.

That World Championship was extra special for a lot of reasons. It was the first full year of Derek Jeter’s career, it was Joe Torre’s first year as manager, it was the year Dwight Gooden threw his no hitter and with all of the health problems that Torre’s brother Frank was battling, the title seemed even sweeter. Personally it was the first one that I could actually watch and understand what was happening – I was only three and four years old respectively in 1977 and 1978.

So Happy Fifteenth Anniversary to the 1996 Yankees. Thank you for that season and for starting the dynasty that would last into the 2000s.

*We’re coming up on some pretty important Yankee anniversaries in the coming days and Spreadin’ The News will have you covered.*

Why must I always be the one to do this?

It’s been a couple of weeks since the Yankees’ early exit from the playoffs but that hasn’t stopped people from constantly bringing up Alex Rodriguez’s shortcomings in the Division Series.

This time it’s in black and white on the cover of the New York Post under a picture of Moammar Khadafy’s bloodied, lifeless body. The story is that the man who put the final bullet into Khadafy killing him and ending his 40 year reign as Libya’s dictator was wearing a Yankees hat. This, of course, gave the people at the Post the idea to write about A Rod because nothing reminds people of A Rod than the death of a dictator.

Wait, what?

Oh! The joke is because the man in the Yankees hat hit Khadafy with the fatal bullet and that he had more hits then A Rod had in the Division Series.

Yeah, still not funny.

Alex Rodriguez was hurt and probably shouldn’t have played in the Division Series. But we all know that if he hadn’t played in the Division Series and the Yankees still lost, he’d be blamed for that too. People would have said he was soft and weak. They would have said, “He should have sucked it up and played!!”

The man can’t win. He still is a pariah in this town even after almost singlehandedly leading the Yankees to their World Series Championship in 2009. (Or least to the World Series that year.)

Do you know who also should have had more hits in the Division Series? Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher. Do they make as much money as Alex Rodriguez? No but both of them have been atrocious in the playoffs since they came here.

Oh and here’s proof that Rodriguez hasn’t been terrible in the playoffs during his career.

Year   Age  Tm  Lg Series Opp Rslt  G  PA  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP   SLG   OPS  TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB

1995    19 SEA  AL   ALDS NYY    W  1   1   1  1  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0 .000 .000  .000  .000   0   0   0  0  0   0

1995    19 SEA  AL   ALCS CLE    L  1   1   1  0  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0  1 .000 .000  .000  .000   0   0   0  0  0   0

1997    21 SEA  AL   ALDS BAL    L  4  16  16  1  5  1  0  1   1  0  0  0  5 .313 .313  .563  .875   9   0   0  0  0   0
2000    24 SEA  AL   ALDS CHW    W  3  14  13  0  4  0  0  0   2  0  1  0  2 .308 .308  .308  .615   4   1   0  1  0   0

2000    24 SEA  AL   ALCS NYY    L  6  25  22  4  9  2  0  2   5  1  0  3  8 .409 .480  .773 1.253  17   0   0  0  0   0
2004    28 NYY  AL   ALDS MIN    W  4  21  19  3  8  3  0  1   3  2  1  2  1 .421 .476  .737 1.213  14   0   0  0  0   0

2004    28 NYY  AL   ALCS BOS    L  7  37  31  8  8  2  0  2   5  0  0  4  6 .258 .378  .516  .895  16   1   2  0  0   0

2005    29 NYY  AL   ALDS LAA    L  5  23  15  2  2  1  0  0   0  1  1  6  5 .133 .435  .200  .635   3   2   2  0  0   0

2006    30 NYY  AL   ALDS DET    L  4  15  14  0  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0  4 .071 .133  .071  .205   1   0   1  0  0   0

2007    31 NYY  AL   ALDS CLE    L  4  17  15  2  4  0  0  1   1  0  0  2  6 .267 .353  .467  .820   7   0   0  0  0   1
2009    33 NYY  AL   ALDS MIN    W  3  12  11  4  5  0  0  2   6  0  0  1  2 .455 .500 1.000 1.500  11   0   0  0  0   0

2009    33 NYY  AL   ALCS LAA    W  6  30  21  6  9  2  0  3   6  1  0  8  3 .429 .567  .952 1.519  20   0   0  0  1   3

2009    33 NYY  AL     WS PHI    W  6  26  20  5  5  3  0  1   6  1  0  3  8 .250 .423  .550  .973  11   0   3  0  0   0

2010    34 NYY  AL   ALDS MIN    W  3  13  11  1  3  0  0  0   1  1  0  1  2 .273 .308  .273  .580   3   0   0  0  1   0

2010    34 NYY  AL   ALCS TEX    L  6  25  21  4  4  2  0  0   2  1  0  3  4 .190 .320  .286  .606   6   1   1  0  0   0

2011    35 NYY  AL   ALDS DET    L  5  23  18  1  2  0  0  0   3  0  0  4  6 .111 .261  .111  .372   2   0   0  0  1   0

10 Seasons (16 Series)             68 299 249 42 69 16  0 13  41  8  3 37 63 .277 .386  .498  .884 124   5   9  1  3   4

10 ALDS                            36 155 133 15 34  5  0  5  17  4  3 16 33 .256 .344  .406  .750  54   3   3  1  2   1

5 ALCS                             26 118  96 22 30  8  0  7  18  3  0 18 22 .313 .432  .615 1.047  59   2   3  0  1   3

1 WS                                6  26  20  5  5  3  0  1   6  1  0  3  8 .250 .423  .550  .973  11   0   3  0  0   0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/21/2011.

So please, stop bashing Alex Rodriguez, for the love of God.

Thank you and please tip your waitress.

It’s October 17, 2011 and instead of preparing to watch their team play in the World Series, Yankees fans have been without baseball for over a week.

During that span, a few stories about the upcoming offseason have been published and a number of them had made mention of CC Sabathia’s opt out and C.J. Wilson’s free agency.

Wilson, whose Texas Rangers just punched their ticket to the World Series for the second year in a row, will be a free agent at season’s end. In some of these stories, Wilson is “likely” to leave Texas for the brighter lights and deeper pockets of the New York Yankees. But why? If Texas wins the World Series, wouldn’t he want to stay there and continue their run?

As for Sabathia, why would he want to leave New York? Which team could offer him more money? Some articles say Texas could offer him a big contract but I honestly don’t see Sabathia leaving New York – a team he helped lead to the World Series title in 2009 and helped lead to the playoffs three consecutive seasons.

I also don’t see C.J. Wilson coming to the Yankees. He seems to enjoy being in Texas and I also don’t see the Yankee front office overpaying for him – at least I hope they won’t.

When the World Series ends, this will all be front and center leading into the Winter Meetings and Hot Stove. Until then, let’s have fun reading the speculation!!

Now that it is officially embarrassing to be associated with all things Red Sox, David Ortiz was waxing poetic about the Yankees organization and a possible stint in pinstripes.

Excuse me as I dry heave.

1. There’s no place for him on the roster – we already have a first baseman and if Jesus Montero’s defense is atrocious as some people make it out to be, he’ll be the DH.
2. Um, no.
3. Seriously, no.
4. Come on, really?

From an interview with ESPN’s Colleen Dominguez:

“It’s great (playing from the Yankees) from what I hear. It’s a good situation to be involved in. Who doesn’t want to be involved in a great situation where everything goes the right way?”

Yeah it’s great until you hurt your thumb, can’t hit in the playoffs, end a game on a strikeout which also, coincidentally, ends the season and then have fans chant, “[insert name] Sucks!” on the 4 train platform…

And following Mary J Blige’s lead, Ortiz is sick of the drama in Boston. No more for him.

“There’s too much drama (in Boston), man,” Ortiz told Dominguez. “There’s too much drama. I have been thinking about a lot of things. I don’t know if I want to be part of this drama for next year.

“Too much drama. My head is spinning way too much to deal with everything that is going on. I have unplugged, you know, and I have just been dealing with my family.”

He also added about the Yankees:

“They lost just like we did, they just went to the first round of the playoffs. I ain’t heard nobody coming out killing everybody just because they lost.”

No, darling. The Yankees actually made the playoffs, your team didn’t. It’s not the same thing. Not even close. They played five more games than you did. Nice try though.

He addressed some of the stuff from the Boston Globe article that came out yesterday which portrayed Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey as beer guzzling, fried chicken eating, video game playing lazy asses.

Apparently the beer, fried chicken and video games helped the Red Sox win in 2004 and 2007:

“We had that when we won the World Series in 2004. We had that when we won the World Series in 2007. Beer in the clubhouse, it’s always been there. Video games, that’s always been there; guys eating fried chicken, that’s always been there.”

Well, that’s strange. What happened this year? Maybe it wasn’t good beer?

Anyway, sorry Papi, but I don’t think the Yankees will be calling you up anytime soon.

*if they do I will eat my 2009 World Series Champion Hat