Tomorrow Is A Promissory Note

If you're a baseball fan, this is the time of year when rumors run rampant speculation is at a fever pitch, and a team's future fortunes may live or die based on a good or bad trade. It's called the "trading deadline."  With basically two-thirds of the season already completed it's time for franchises to decide whether they're Contenders or Pretenders, whether there are buyers or sellers. Talk shows and newspapers are full of game plans, formulas, and wish list's that if successful may get their teams to the promised land. For all of us baseball diehards it's serious business, but at the same time has to be taken with a grain of salt. Should they or shouldn't they, Yes, No, Maybe.

   Trading highly rated prospects and future potential superstars is as unpredictable as trying to predict what the weather will be for the next 6 weeks. It's as unpredictable as trading commodity Futures on the exchange. There's no guarantee but there is plenty of risk. I've always said prospects are always prospects until they're not. From the time a young player is drafted out of college or even high school and during all his time in the Minor Leagues there is always a risk. Injuries, under performance, lack of development, and just plain wear and tear can make the best prospect at 19 or 20 look like the worst investment at 23 or 24. But as Hyman Roth said in The Godfather "this is the business we've chosen". But if you are a baseball fan much of this is understood, the question is what do you do, when do you do it, and how much do you give to get. The trading deadline makes every general manager deal with that question. There is no right and wrong no guarantees or promises that can be depended upon to help a GM make these decisions when the great unknown lays ahead. If you make the right decision it's easy to justify what you've done and everybody loves you. If not your resume takes a big hit. I've always felt that taking a long-term view is a relevant issue to consider as well. But more importantly, I believe that it's not just what you can do at the moment to make your team better. It's what happens to your franchise if the deal doesn't work out. How does that affect your depth of talent, the holes you have in your current lineup, your future ability to keep your team competitive, team chemistry, your Minor league pipeline etc.

    You can sell your farm for a pot of gold but then you have nothing to eat and no place to live. GM's get paid for making decisions that hopefully make sense and give them the edge and leverage that they need to have their teams be successful. It's the same in other aspects of life. No matter what you do there is always a risk reward, a price to pay and a final result. Hopefully in all of our lives we can all hit home runs when we have to make those kinds of decisions.

A Lifetime Achievement

It's springtime on the east coast. The time of the year when things get a little bluer, a little warmer, and things turn from brown to green. In sports it's time to turn the clock forward and embrace our new season of " bread and circuses". Baseball has its opening day, the NHL has its playoffs, and Tennis starts to hit its stride. Hope springs eternal for all of us die hard fans, and we pledge our allegiance for the next 6 months. But there's one thing that comes every spring and over the course of one weekend provides us all with the most special drama and excitement that we could hope for. Every spring it arrives and whether you're a golfer, a golf fan, or just someone who appreciates drama, excitement and beauty you can look forward to it. It's The Masters. For many it's the official beginning of the golf season. There truly is nothing like it. There is history pageantry and drama all rolled into one weekend's worth of viewing. The other major golf championships are exciting and important but there is nothing like the Masters. When Bobby Jones designed Augusta National his intent was to make something special, memorable and challenging beyond expectation, and the history of the championship has proved to be nothing short of that. Every year the statement that the Masters begins on the back nine proves to be true. The powers to be make sure of that. Charges, Miracles, Heroics and Disasters are all part of Masters lore. It's part of the drama that we've come to expect. The setting itself is like a beautiful painting, and is it just me or does the grass seem greener and the flowers more colorful. Nothing looks like the Masters because there isn't another golf course like it in the world. People become experts on the course because the Masters is played on the same venue every year. We know the holes, we know the turns and we know the spots where Miracles can happen and invariably do. The greatest players in the world come to play here but they are not the Stars. The true Star of the Masters is Augusta National itself, the course. You don't win The Masters you wind up being the last survivor. She's a beautiful lady that requires perfect shots, perfect putts, and perfect course management. Shakespeare once said all the world's a stage and everyone is just players on that stage. That's what the Masters provides for us. A great play with twists and turns, drama, heroics, disappointment and eventually success. Masters champions are known forever. The other major championships are great but if you're a Masters champion you are a golfing G-d a member of the greatest club in Golf. The champion has run the gauntlet and survived and that stays with you forever. I remember many Masters finishes Ben Crenshaw crying on the 18th green remembering his mentor Harvey Penick, Adam Scott being the first Australian to win, Seve Ballesteros making people appreciate his heritage and golfing genius when he won. Arnold Palmer winning four times, Jack Nicklaus winning six times. Unfortunately I don't remember the British Open and US Open Champions as well. Maybe that should tell us all something about what the Masters means to golf and its history. Many of the greats have won the Masters, but even if that's the only great day you have as a player it makes you immortal. Here's to the Masters champions, the survivors, the history makers, the hero's. This year's champion is as great an example of that as there is. He conquered his demons and managed his fears and never gave up. A true Masters legacy. So here's to the champions, and on a personal note here's to one of the greatest champions of all time. A man who always made the rest of the world feel connected to golf more than any other person. Who always had a smile, a handshake and a personal connection with the public that made him not only a great golfer, but maybe even a better man. Thanks for the Memories Arnold, we will never forget..

The Double-Edged Sword

It really would be too easy to jump on the Yankees for giving up all their best pitchers bullpen or not, for young prospects, especially after their pitching meltdown last night and the likelihood that Nathan Evoldi's career could very well be over after his latest injuries; Sabathia's really hurting and their rising star Severino is imploding too. What the heck let's do it anyway. I wrote an article a week ago questioning the Yankees complete abandonment of this season efforts to try to make the playoffs and give away tremendous talent for prospects. Of course I believe in prospects and developing your farm system. No one plays forever and your farm system keeps a team " forever young ". The Yankee farm sysyem was a big reason for their historic run through the 90's and into the next Century. What I don't believe in is depending 100% on the development of prospects because we all know that's a real crapshoot.  Recent weeks have shown the Yankees talent is for real and they will definitely have a chance to put together a real solid foundation of talented players. The future looks bright but in the meantime you need to be competitive and no matter how bright your future is or how good your offensive players are you can't win if you can't stop the other team from scoring. Baseball is a game of pitching, always has been and always will be. The best pictures usually lead their teams to championships. Some of baseball's best cliches are about pitching. We all know them "momentum is only as good as your next day's pitcher", " good  pitching always stops good hitting" and on and on. Pitching is always at a premium, and finding a position player is always an easier job than finding an Ace for your staff. As I've said before getting younger and more athletic is a Sports Axiom .The Yankees are moving in the right direction, and if you're a baseball fan you can sense the excitement building. They may put together a foundation that starts another run at greatness. In the meantime I don't think they needed to give up the ghost. They still need pitching and it may take a while but once you build a strong foundation and usually last for very long time.. Go Yankees...

Some Gods Have Lead Feet

Shooting stars are beautiful, exciting, powerful,  dangerous and ultimately self-destructive all at the same time. To call Alex Rodriquez a shooting star is underestimating his longevity and his impact on the game for better or worse. He came out of the Miami area as a teenager and is probably the greatest baseball player that we have seen in recent times. Like it or not that's what his numbers say. His potential was quickly fulfilled and he became a superstar before he even knew what the game was all about. As his career developed he clearly took some wrong turns and some Dark Paths. His talent  always bailed him out and his celebrity although controversial always seem to be a good selling point for team looking to market a superstar. His numbers are more than Hall of Fame worthy they are historic. He is fourth all-time in home runs and they're are only two men in the history of the game that have more RBI's. 3000 hits became just another roadblock that he pushed out of the way has he continued to break records. At his best he was in a class by himself. Yes Bonds, Pujols and others had their day in the Sun but they never performed at the level that Alex Rodriguez did for 20 years and they didn't do it as a 19 year old kid. God surely bless him with talent, but not the confidence to deal with the public in a way that was beneficial to him. For those who really know him they understand he's a nice guy who was insecure and unaware of how to deal with the Limelight and the Celebrity that poured over him on a daily basis.
       The steroid use is indefensible and certainly changed his career profoundly. To say he was part of  the steroid era and doing what everybody else did does not excuse it. But for him to become The Whipping Boy of Major League Baseball when dozens of other players  who were busted not only once but twice got a complete pass is not only prejudicial but completely hypocritical. How does David Ortiz become a hero in Boston after two failed drug tests. Ryan Braun was welcomed like a Conquering Hero in Milwaukee after lying through his teeth and having the biggest failed drug test in history, and in addition costing the technician that took the sample his job. The list is big and the hypocrisy even bigger. Selig figured he could cleanse the hypocrisy of baseball looking the other way during the steroid era if he could only get Alex. Which he did. Rodriguez's good looks, Bonanza type contract, and seemingly superior attitude didn't help his cause either; but like him or not his career statistics are matched only by a few in the history of the game. He is a flawed hero, a damaged star, an insecure celebrity. But no one can ever say he couldn't play the game.

Who Knows What Tomorrow Brings

Anyone who's been around sports for as many years as I have understands the need to get value while you can, restock your pipeline for talent and make sure your future is as bright as possible whenever you can. Getting younger faster and more athletic is a sports Axiom that holds true for any sports team you can talk about. The question is what's the best way to do it, and at what price. After all,  whether sports fans want to admit it,  the best way for these businesses to survive and thrive is to make sure their product is worth watching and sometimes it's painful process to get to that point. We all root for our favorite players and identifying with their ups and downs as if they were our friends. The reality is it is a business and emotions sometimes take a backseat to Dollars & Sense.
    What the Yankees are doing is something that you very rarely see top teams do because winning is always a relevant concern. I have never seen a team have a player dump like this and although it gives them youth and athleticism it also gives them an uncertain future. There's no question they must have a bigger plan in mind like stockpiling young prospects to package players for a starting pitcher or a big-time hitter which is obviously what they probably are thinking about. If not it's going to be a number of years before these kids even have an impact on their team. A wise man once said prospects are prospects and the odds against them even advancing through your minor league system are very small. The best you can hope for is to use them for trades or possibly help your team at one point in the future. With all of the thousands of kids in the minors think about how many actually make it to the Major Leagues, and we all know the answer to that. The Yankees have dismantled the best bullpen in baseball, gave away one of the best hitters and in essence traded three All Star player for prospects  that may or may not help them, and if at all are couple years away. The Yankees didn't get one player back that can help them now. It's going to be a long process. Supposedly the headliners are the real deal. For all those fans who want to blow up the system and start over to build a new Dynasty you've got your wish and hopefully it comes to fruition.
Yankees were competitive already, that's what .500 means. Were they on their way to the World Series that's a stretch for sure but they started the season 9 under and before the Tampa series they were three games over which means since that time they were -9 they have been +12. As good a record as anybody in that stretch of time. They weren't out of the mix, they were competitive. In my opinion the Yankees could have built with some off season trades some free agent signings with their freed up contract money, and continue to develop their minor Leaguers and not have necessarily blown up their team.Their Bullpen was as lockdown as you can get, that's worth a lot. The Yanks led the MLB in 1 run victories.
     As I've said I assume they will use some of their prospects 4 player upgrades. If all of their prospects  develop the Yankees will be a monster franchise. But history shows that never happens and hopefully  one or two prospects will survive. Evaluating 20 year olds is always a crap shoot no matter how good they look now. Season ticket holders and fans alike thanks for your patience, and  hopefully it won't take too long to get back to even where the Yankees are now,  Sorry George, I hope it works for you....Go Yanks...

Honor Bound

It's not very often you can actually feel good about someone who loses their job, but it just may be the case with Tom Coughlin. Tom Coughlin has been a beacon of professionalism, consistency, and respectability for his entire career. He did not forget how to coach this year, and his departure is indicative of a failure on many different fronts not just his coaching. The Giants problems are well documented and they include a serious lack of talent, a multitude of injuries, and an overall failure by the front office to not only improve the team but keep it competitive while they rebuilt. These issues are not new or a secret, and have been pointed out by more than one analyst. The interesting thing is that Coughlin's departure may be just as much a blessing for him, as it is I'm sure a disappointment. Coaching without significant talent and a lack of front office support is like running in quicksand. You may stay afloat for a while, but you'll never get out. You can't cook a 5 star meal with 1 star ingredients. Coughlin Leaves with the respect of his  players, the respect of the front office, the respect of the fans, and the knowledge that he did a hell of a job overall, and that sometimes "the good of the many out ways the good of the one." Very few if any coaches can leave a job with that many good check marks. His resume is full of nothing but successes no matter where he coached, and his 2 Super Bowl wins speak for themselves. How many 6 and 10 teams have a locker room that still want the coach back. The Hall of Fame may just be his next stop. With Coughlin it was always about the team not himself. He was a tough hard nose no nonsense guy who adjusted when he needed to and learned to deal with the modern day player and the modern day game. To bad the Giant front office hasn't learned how to do that yet...good luck Tom.

Never Enough

The Mets and their fans truly deserve each other, they are a constant study between euphoria and hysteria. This has always been their history, maybe this is what a lack of success over a long period of time creates in people. Regardless of the reason it's what this franchise's character has become and probably always will be. In 1962 when the Mets were formed they were an expansion team compiled of the lowest common denominator of players you could find. Castoffs, aging veterans, and just plain bad players, 100 losses a year was commonplace. Any success they ever had in the early years truly was a miracle. If you rooted for the Mets from the beginning the current status of bipolar behavior is something you got used to early on in your fandom. Maybe the worst thing that could have happened to them was their miracle win in 1969, as great as it was for their fans and the City of New York it truly was an illusion as far as any future success being a real option for them. As I've stated before the Mets as a franchise have been the prototype of dysfunction, bad signings, bad drafts, tight purse strings and just bad play. All leading to a tremendous lack of success over the years. Their lifetime franchise winning percentage is somewhere around 450%, not the formula for hanging pennants on their walls. If I sound like Mr Scrooge I apologize as a lifelong Yankees fan I've grown up with a different mindset. Obviously all those World Championships help when you're trying to get through the lean years, and the Yankees have had long stretches like that themselves. They went from 1965 to 1976 without a playoff appearance, and then from 1981 to 1996...15 years of lackluster performance. But even so Yankee fans never lost their perspective about expectation, performance and what was real about their team.  I'm truly glad for the Mets and happy for all of their long suffering fans. It's obvious they have a pretty solid team but it's also obvious that they played in a terrible division with three of the worst teams in all of baseball rounding out the bottom of their division. There's no question the strength of schedule and the failure of the Nationals who everyone expected to run away with the division contributed to this success. Be that as it may, they deserve to be where they are, they are an exciting young team, their fans have waited a long time and they are obviously enjoying their success. But it's hard to accept the skewed media coverage and euphoria about something that became inevitable almost 2 months ago with their strength of schedule, and the Titanic like performance of the Nationals.  The Mets finally got it right, did what they had to do at the trading deadline picked up a real stud for the stretch run, and as it usually does when teams get it right they ended up with a Division Title.
Championship teams learn to expect championship type performances and every year offers an opportunity to back up that mindset. The Mets are new at this and can be excused for their euphoria, but performance and expectation are the ingredients for long-term success. One day maybe the Mets and their fans will learn this concept the way they should, by expecting performance not praying for it.  Then maybe they won't feel like little brothers to the Yankees.  Boston did it and they suffered longer than the Mets, be that as it may, congratulations to the Mets. The playoffs start soon and the Mets have a chance for a deep run, hey it may be another Miracle you never know "you gotta believe"...