Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Yankees Build Bullpen With Castaways

I was reading the New York Times, the newspaper I read to look smart, when I came across this article by Tyler Kepner about the Yankees bullpen. It said what most have probably already noticed, but it was interesting to hear all the stories. The bullpen is comprised of several castaway players, or players that other teams let go before they ended up with the Yankees. With Damaso Marte the only real big money middle reliever, the Yankees were able to build a consistant bullpen out of guys like Brian Bruney, Jose Veras, Phil Coke, Edwar Ramirez, and Jonathan Albaladejo with Coke being the only player that was drafted by the Yankees. Bruney had been let go by the Diamondbacks where he had once closed for them. He impressed in 2006 before running into some troubles in 2007, but last season was another good one for him. All those guys have similar stories with other teams giving up on them and the Yankees finding their worth.

The New York Post reported today that the new stadium will allow alcohol in the bleacher seats. This is good news for everyone who has had to sneak in their moon shine over the last few years. The article says that there will be more access for those in the bleacher seats to other parts of the stadium, thus allowing us bleacher fans to see more of the stadium. This is a good move since I normally can't afford anything closer than a bleacher seat and always dreamed of seeing the stadium that season ticket holders see.

A-Rod is said to be stepping up his workouts down in Colorado. We have to really give it to him since he has not made a headline in about a week. It could be that Cashman's words finally reached him, but its always fun trying to guess what A-Rod's next headline will be. My guess is that the next big headline will have him dating Jennifer Swindal, and the Steinbrenner family will not be happy.

In former Yankee news Gary Sheffield was just released by the Tigers. After a 72 hour window, any team can pick him up for the league minimum. The Tigers still have to pay him the $14 million they owe this season. I'm not sure where he'll end up but he's 1 homerun shy of 500 for his career. I'm sure some team will take him. For the league minimum, that's some decent pop to have on your bench. Even if he is 40.

3 comments:

cheshirecat9 said...

I was just wondering today about alcohol in the bleechers. Thanks for doing that detective work!
I have tickets for the exhibition game against the Cubs this Friday and I am very excited to see the new Stadium. I will be sitting in seats I will never be able to afford again.

Bronx Baseball Daily said...

See, for years people have talked about the "bleacher creatures" and to me the sad poor people who have sat out there for the past few years were lame excuses for what took place during the 70's.

You need alcohol out there to have some real creatures.

Fernando Alejandro said...

I hear you on the seats. We're getting killed on these ticket prices. It looks like I'll be at the Sunday game of opening weekend though. I'm excited about that. I'm not big on stadium beer because of the price, and because its usually crappy beer, but the next time I'm in the bleachers I'll have to grab a cold one to celebrate the victory of beer being served in the bleacher seats.