Showing posts with label Robinson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robinson. Show all posts

Monday, April 18, 2016

Lazy Ellsbury owes Yankee fans a refund

New York Yankee centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, earning $21,142,857 this season, should give some of that dough back to Yankee fans who spent their hard earned money to buy tickets to Saturday's game against the Mariners.

Seattle's Ketel Marte was on first base when Robinson Cano hit a routine ground ball single into center field. Ellsbury lazily trotted in to field the ball, allowing Marte to score from first base. He never slowed, meaning that the scouting report on Ellsbury pointed out that he is a lackadaisical outfielder with a weak throwing arm. This meant an opportunity for a fast runner like Marte to score a run against the Yankees - a run that they should not have had, and a run that cost the Yankees the game.

Ellsbury, who has missed a ton of games in his career due to minor injuries, could at least hustle on routine plays. For $21,142,857 a year he owes at least that much to the fans.  I shudder to think what would have happened to Ellsbury if Billy Martin had been the Yankees' manager on Saturday.

Monday, May 5, 2014

YES Network, Michael Kay make much ado about nothing in Cano's return to Yankee Stadium

Sometimes news people have to somehow generate stories when things are slow. Last week's return of the Seattle Mariners' Robinson Cano to Yankee Stadium was an example of this.

While Cano was an outstanding player for the Yanks, and would definitely make a list of the top fifty Yankees of all time (on my list he'd be around number 43 or so), the team has many great players through the years who have gone on to play for other clubs.

If I had been in the stands I would not have booed him. Nor would I have cheered.

Yes he left for a bigger paycheck, but Yankee fans need to realize many of their star players through the years (and even this past offseason) have bolted their teams to take more money from the Yankees. So why should Cano be vilified for that? He should not be.

The Yankees management also made the right decision (for a change) by not offering Cano a contract for longer than seven years. Seven years is enough for a player who is already 30 years old.

So no boos or cheers for Robinson. Maybe Seattle will have a contending team within the next few years. Maybe they won't and he’ll finish his contract in a rainy town.

The most absurd aspect surrounding Cano's return was Michael Kay's reaction to the fans jeering of the second baseman. The boos weren't that overwhelming. It just may have sounded that way because Yankee Stadium was two-thirds empty. If the place was at full capacity of 50,000 people, the jeers may not have been as noticeable. If Yankee fans were really that angry about Cano taking the money and running, wouldn't they have put up with the bad weather, bought and a ticket to the game, and boo with everyone else. But that didn't happen. Not enough fans cared enough one way or the other.

Kay made it sound like the fans' reaction was the most horrible thing in the world. Please. This is a non-story. The real story, if any news writers are interested, is how Yankee Stadium is half empty even on days when the weather is nice. Either the ticket brokers or the team is taking a bath on sales. Somebody is losing money. Not many people want to spend $100 to watch two boring teams for three hours. And that's with or without Cano on the roster.