Cuban Sensation: Aroldis Chapman

Aroldis Chapman is a 21 year old pitcher from Cuba who successfully defected from Cuba while in the Netherlands this past July while pitching for the Cuban National team.  Word from scouts is that his fastball has been clocked as high as 102 MPH during the 2009 World Baseball Classic.  Not sure how accurate that figure is, but he can bring the heat to say the least.  So now he stands to get a pretty decent contract despite the fact he has no big league experience.  Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News thinks that the Yankees will have the inside track to land Chapman.  The one advantage is the Yankees can eat up their mistakes and are one of a few teams who can afford to give Champman a 4 year 20 million dollar contract, which is what it appears he is shooting for.

The Yankees are no strangers to pitchers defecting from Cuba.  They landed Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez back in 1998 and he made his debut with the club in June of that year.  El Duque became one of baseballs best big game pitchers, winning his first 8 postseason starts.  He may have also saved the 1998 season for the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians.  El Duque delivered 7 shutout innings to help the Yankees tie the series and eventually go on to win the World Series and go down as one of the best teams in baseball history, boasting 125 wins including the postseason.

Christmas Eve of 2002 brought another hot Cuban commodity to the Yankees.  Jose Contreras defected and the Yankees and Red Sox fought it out over his services.  Theo Epstein wanted him so badly that he purchased every room at the hotel where Contreras was staying at in Nicaragua, to try and keep the Yankee brass as far away from him as possible.  The move failed and the Yankees still ended up landing Contreras.  Epstein was said to be so irate that he hurled a chair through his window in his hotel room. Though Contreras didn't succeed in New York, he did help the Chicago White Sox win the World Series in 2005, their 1st since 1917. 

Expect the Yankees and Red Sox to be the two teams most involved in the Chapman sweepstakes.  Keep the chairs away from Theo if the Yankees beat him to the punch again. 

By Vinnie Ferrarini

New York Yankees News and Notes

I've heard a couple of different rumors today surrounding Nick Swisher and the possibility that the Yankees have put his name out there as a possible player available through trade.  I can't see why the Yankees would do this, I wouldn't mind Swisher getting a lesser role as maybe a part time DH/RF, but I think he's a good fit and a well liked player in the clubhouse.

Free agents can officially start signing with teams at Midnight.  Matt Holliday apparently has the Yankees on the top of his wish list and would love to play in New York.  I'm still hearing Roy Halladay's name tied to the Yankees as well as the Red Sox and Phillies.  The Yankees are apparently very high on John Lackey.  According to Jon Heyman of SI and MLB Network, the Yankees first priority will be to add another pitcher.  They got through the postseason using only 3 starters but it appears a priority will be to add another arm and some other guys available outside of Lackey and Halladay could be Derek Lowe if the Braves decide to put him on the trade market as well as free agent projects Ben Sheets and Erik Bedard, two pitchers coming off of surgery.  

By Vinnie Ferrarini

Trials and Tribulations of being a Sports Fan

My fiance thinks I'm ridiculous, and probably rightfully so. When it comes to sports I wear my emotions on my sleeves and take things way too seriously, I'll be the first to admit that. When you are a sports fan, be prepared for one thing, much more failure than success. I guess you can equate it to being a Major League hitter, even a great one. You will fail much more than you succeed.

I was at a bar once maybe about 2 or 3 years back and was having a discussion about how many championships I've seen my teams win. It didn't take long to come up with the answer, at the time the number was at four, and it was all because of the Yankees. My other two teams the Magic and Jets have just one championship combined and that was the Jets in Super Bowl III in 1969 and I did not get to witness that. The Magic have been close twice, with two Finals appearances, one back in 1995 when they were swept by the Rockets which included the Nick Anderson game, in Game 1 where he missed 4 consecutive free throws to ice the game thus blowing that game and maybe the series with 4 failed strokes from the free throw line. That was easily one of the toughest defeats I've witnessed in my history of sports watching. The second was last year when they lost to the Lakers in 5 games. The closest the Jets came was a 10-0 lead early in the 3rd quarter in Denver against the Broncos back in January of 1999 in the AFC Championship game. They started turning the ball over like crazy, Elway and Terrell Davis did their thing and the Jets lost that game 23-10, thus ripping my heart out and leaving me wondering when I would see them reach the pinnacle. Well, I'm still waiting ten years later and obviously I'll still be waiting after this year.

So all this was leading me to think while sitting in front of a bucket of Budweisers at the bar that day and watching the Giants and Bills play, a game the Giants won to start their run as they were getting ready to go on their eventual Super Bowl drive. What is the percentage of times my teams have actually won it all? How far back should I go to calculate this? I won't start in 1980, that's the year I was born. I go back to my first real memories of sports. I remember being a kid watching the Bears and Pats in the Super Bowl back in the 1985 season. I remember the Mets/Red Sox World Series back in 1986. I remember trying to watch as many Yankee games as I could back around that time and I remember sitting in front of the TV in my Jets uniform and helmet every Sunday.

So it's 1986, that's the year I will start. Now that is only for the Yankees and Jets as the Magic franchise was just in the early founding days, thanks to Pat Williams down in Central Florida, getting the ball rolling on that. So that's 24 seasons I've watched each the Jets and the Yankees, giving me a grand total of 48, and I'll count this season for the Jets already being a failure, they obviously aren't going anywhere. The Magic started play in 1989 but I didn't become a fan till they drafted Shaq in 1992, prior to that I had no team that I followed in the NBA. So that's 17 seasons of Magic basketball that I've been watching, zero championships. Oh boy.

So let's do the math. 48 seasons of Jets and Yankees and 17 seasons of the Magic, that's a grand total of 65 sports seasons that I've invested a lot of time, energy, emotion and passion into. I'm going to break down the percentages in three ways; playoff berths, conference/league championships and World Championships. The New York Yankees obviously lead the way with 14 playoff births, 7 League Championships and 5 World Championships. The Orlando Magic have had 11 Playoff births, 2 Conference Championships and 0 World Championships. Then there are the Jets, oh man, don't get me started on the Jets. They always will find a way to break my heart. 7 Playoff births, 0 Conference Championships and 0 World Championships.

So going back now, combined, that is 65 seasons, 32 playoff births. So 49.2 percent of the time I do at least witness my teams making the playoffs, the Yanks boost that but let's not forget from 1986-1994 I didn't witness the Yankees make the playoffs at all, so it wasn't always like it is now. There have been 9 Pennants/Conference Championships in 65 seasons, that would put it at 13.8 percent of the time I've witnessed that. Now comes the bottom line, what it's all about. Being able to see your team celebrate to Queen "We are the Champions". It's been a grand total of 5 times in 65 seasons, that's 7.6 percent of the time.

It's really interesting to go back and think about things like this, do it with your teams and see where you stand. I have one thing to say in closing, thank god for the New York Yankees.

By Vinnie Ferrarini

Jameer Nelson out 4-6 Weeks

In what is shocking injury news out of nowhere, or maybe considering who we are talking about it shouldn't be. Jameer Nelson had to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Wednesday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. I didn't watch the postgame last night, so I didn't hear anything about a possible injury, and he did indeed finish out the game last night. Apparently the injury happened in the 4th quarter.

Nelson missed almost half the regular season last year and the entire Eastern Conference Playoffs with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. They did trade for Rafer Alson last year to help them down the stretch run and into the playoffs. However, Alston was traded in the offseason along with Tony Battie and Courtney Lee to the New Jersey Nets for Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson. The Magic did sign veteran point guard Jason Williams this summer to help solidify more depth at the PG spot and they also have veteran Anthony Johnson who was the backup point guard last year behind Nelson and later Alston.

Injuries are nothing new for Nelson. He had the torn labrum in his shoulder last year and has been sidelined at times for various nagging injuries throughout his career. Durability has always been an issue and the Magic were counting a lot on their franchise point guard to stay on the floor this year.

Hey New Jersey, you haven't won a game yet and are going nowhere, how about letting us get Rafer back, please?

Zack Greinke Wins the AL Cy Young

Zack Greinke completed his long journey back by winning the 2009 AL Cy Young award. Back in February of 2006, Greinke left the Royals Spring Training camp for personal reasons. It turned out he was suffering from social anxiety disorder and depression. There was never a question about his stuff, just a matter of putting it all together and getting his personal life back in order. In 2009 he did just that, pitching to a 16-8 record and pitching to a Major League low 2.16 ERA.

Felix Hernandez was thought to be his stiffest competition for the award. Hernandez had a record of 19-5 pitching to a 2.49 ERA. He ended up finishing 2nd in the voting to Greinke.

Greinke ended up running away with the award receiving 25 first place votes. Hernandez received 2 first place votes and Justin Verlander received 1.

Bud Adams says Titans number 1

If you want a good laugh watch the video above. 86 year old Titans owner Bud Adams was caught on tape in his suite throwing up the middle finger several times apparently towards rival owner of the Bills Ralph Wilson, after the Titans 41-17 win over the Buffalo Bills. Both owners go WAY back, owning their respective teams going back to the AFL days. On Sunday both teams were wearing their AFL throwbacks but the attention after the game was at the middle finger "throw-ups" by Adams. After the game Adams said the following "I obviously have a great deal of respect for Ralph Wilson and the history we have shared. I also understand there will probably be league discipline for my actions and I will accept those."

I'm sorry, but I can't help but crack up when seeing a tape of an 86 year old man reacting this way after his team wins, absolutely hilarious! Is it the right thing to do? Probably not. However, it's damn funny. Have fun Bud, enjoy the win!

Red Sox, Yankees and Angels for Holliday

Truth be told I'm not the biggest Matt Holliday fan. He has spent his career in the NL playing in the hitter haven known as Coors Field for the Rockies. He than came to the American League and spent a little over half a season with the Oakland A's. In 93 games he only hit 11 HRs and it started to look like he was going to struggle to even get to 20 HRs and 100 RBI, all of a sudden on came his deal to the Cardinals. He spent 63 games with St. Louis where he hit 13 HRs and drove in 55 Runs and hit a robust .353, 67 points higher than he hit in Oakland. So when you look at his overall numbers from 2009, they look good. I for whatever reason still remember that guy struggling in Oakland; especially the first couple of months of the season. I was doing the I told you so, and spouting off at the mouth about how much Colorado and a weaker NL made Holliday better than he actually was.

So now into the offseason rumors have it he wants Mark Teixeira money, which is not going to happen. However, it does look like he will be one of the most coveted bats out on the market and the race has apparently come down to three teams according to John Paul Morosi of Fox Sports. It's going to come down to the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees. I'm not so sure how much interest the Yankees do have, but it would be pretty interesting seeing him in that lineup and then if you also bring back either Matsui or Damon to go along with him, that lineup gets even more impressive. I really think it's just one of those deals where the Yankees are said to have interest because hey, they are the Yankees. Plus they'd love to simply drive up the price on Holliday for the Red Sox.

I personally still see him ending up back in the NL, but I'm torn on how good of a fit it would be in New York with the Yankees, but on paper especially if you also bring back Damon or Matsui, that lineup would be looking pretty fat if it wasn't already robust enough.