Tagged: Marlon Byrd

January 1, 2010

Where Did Cashman Celebrate New Year’s?

The NY Post reported that Derek Jeter and Minka Kelly headed down to the island of Canouan to ring in 2010. How nice for them. The last time I was down there, Raffles didn’t exist and there was no electricity on the island.

But with the Yankees still without a clearly designated left fielder, I was more interested in where Brian Cashman was for New Year’s Eve. We know he wasn’t with Matt Holliday, since the Cardinals are about to announce their deal. And we know he wasn’t with Marlon Byrd, since the former Ranger is going to the Cubs. So where was he? Where is he? And what’s he been doing?

Has he been partying at home in Connecticut?

Did he go to Times Square to watch the ball drop with people wearing those oddly shaped blue Nivea caps?

Has he been planted in front of his TV watching football?

Did he fly to Hawaii to caddy for Obama?

Did he drive up to Sugarbush to learn how to ski?

Or did he end up in Tampa meeting with the Steinbrenners?

Given the fact that there really aren’t any drool-over free agents left on the market, I wonder if he spent the holiday with Brett Gardner explaining to him that he has the job until 2011, at which time it will be handed to this guy.

As for me, I went to a great party on New Year’s Eve. There was lots of food, excellent champagne, interesting people and a roaring fire in the fireplace. But the highlight for me was when I was introduced to a lawyer named Michael Cooney.

“I read about your She-Fan book in the local paper,” he said. “I’m a diehard Yankee fan too.”

Well, talk about a conversation starter. It turns out that Cooney is very friendly with Yankees first base coach Mick Kelleher and stays with him every year when he goes to spring training. I mentioned that Kelleher had been nice to me when I was at a game in Tampa last spring. (Here I am calling out to Mick and here he is smiling at me. That constitutes “nice.” At least he didn’t ignore me or tell me to go back to my seat.)

“I’m going down to stay with Mick in March,” said Cooney.

“Oh, wow. I’ll be down there in March too,” I said. Hint hint.

“We’ll have to get together,” he said. “When we go out to eat, all the other coaches come too. It’s fun to sit there listening to them talk about all the players.”

Uh, yah. I’m so there.

November 9, 2009

Window Shopping For Free Agents

Yes, the Yankees won the World Series and all is well in the Universe. But even championship teams can use a little tweaking here and there, and ours is no exception. As we all said yesterday, Damon and/or Matsui could be gone. Pettitte has to decide whether he’s coming back. Hairston, Hinske, Nady and Molina could be playing elsewhere. So I took a look at MLB.com’s complete list of this year’s free agents to see if there’s anybody I’d want in pinstripes.

First, I scanned the list for pitchers. Anybody? Either starter or reliever? Oh, my. Check out all the guys who’ve already been Yankees: LaTroy Hawkins, Jeff Weaver, Jose Contreras, Carl Pavano, Brett Bombko and Ron Villone, to name a few. Thanks but no thanks.

And then there are guys like Pedro Martinez (please), Smoltz, Penny and Paul Byrd (um, no), Jarrod Washburn (we’ve already passed on him a zillion times), and John Lackey (I don’t like him, period). Erik Bedard used to be someone I coveted – I remember when he was unhittable for a season with the O’s – but injuries make him undesirable now.

So much for pitchers. Now I’ll browse for outfielders, since we’re set at every other position. Hm, let’s see if there’s anyone tempting. Wow. How about all the aging DH-types on the market: Vlad Guerrero, Garret Anderson, Jermaine Dye, Mike Cameron, Andruw Jones. Since the Yankees are trying to go younger – and since I’d rather keep Matsui and Damon over any of these guys – I’ll decline.

There are some names that do jump out, however: Jason Bay, Matt Holliday and Scott Posednik. Bay would be an upgrade in left but I can’t imagine the Sox letting him walk. Holliday can hit, but can he play defense? Posednik is speedy and has a good glove, but would he really be a better option than Brett Gardner?

Oh, wait. I spotted an interesting name: Marlon Byrd. I was impressed with him when we faced the Rangers this year. And I remember he hit a walk-off grand slam against us in ’08. He’s 32, hit 20 homers, and knocked in 89 RBIs in ’09 – not bad. He’s had knee problems though, including major surgery. Do I want Marlon?

Oh, I don’t know. I’m just glad I’m not Cashman. I’m better at shopping for these.

ATLANTA BRAVES
B – Anderson, Garret OF
A – Gonzalez, Mike RP
Hudson, Tim ** SP
B – LaRoche, Adam 1B
Norton, Greg 1B/OF
A – Soriano, Rafael RP

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
B – Davis, Doug SP
Schoeneweis, Scott RP
Tracy, Chad 1B

BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Baez, Danys RP
Hendrickson, Mark SP/RP
Moeller, Chad C
B – Mora, Melvin 3B

BOSTON RED SOX
Baldelli, Rocco OF
A – Bay, Jason OF
Byrd, Paul SP
Gonzalez, Alex SS
B – Varitek, Jason ** C
A – Wagner, Billy RP
Woodward, Chris 3B

CHICAGO CUBS
Fox, Chad RP
A – Grabow, John RP
A – Gregg, Kevin RP
B – Harden, Rich SP
Johnson, Reed OF

CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Castro, Ramon C
A – Dotel, Octavio RP
A – Dye, Jermaine OF
Podsednik, Scott OF

CINCINNATI REDS
B – Hernandez, Ramon ** C
Wells, Kip SP

CLEVELAND INDIANS
Carroll, Jamey 2B/3B/OF
Ohka, Tomokazu SP/RP

COLORADO ROCKIES
B – Beimel, Joe RP
A – Betancourt, Rafael ** RP
Contreras, Jose SP
Embree, Alan RP
Fogg, Josh SP/RP
Giambi, Jason 1B
Herges, Matt RP
B – Marquis, Jason SP
Rincon, Juan RP
B – Torrealba, Yorvit C

DETROIT TIGERS
Everett, Adam SS
Huff, Aubrey 1B/3B
B – Lyon, Brandon RP
A – Polanco, Placido 2B
B – Rodney, Fernando RP
Washburn, Jarrod SP

FLORIDA MARLINS
B – Calero, Kiko RP
Donnelly, Brendan RP
Gload, Ross 1B/OF
B – Johnson, Nick 1B

HOUSTON ASTROS
Boone, Aaron 1B/3B
B – Brocail, Doug RP
Erstad, Darin 1B/OF
Hampton, Mike SP
A – Hawkins, LaTroy RP
Michaels, Jason OF
A – Tejada, Miguel SS
A – Valverde, Jose RP

KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Chen, Bruce SP/RP
Crisp, Coco OF
B – Olivo, Miguel C
Wright, Jamey RP

L.A. ANGELS OF ANAHEIM
Escobar, Kelvim SP
A – Figgins, Chone 3B
B – Guerrero, Vladimir OF/DH
A – Lackey, John SP
A – Oliver, Darren RP
Quinlan, Robb 1B/3B/OF

LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Ausmus, Brad C
B – Belliard, Ron 2B
Castro, Juan 2B/SS
B – Garland, Jon SP
A – Hudson, Orlando 2B
Loretta, Mark 1B/2B/3B
Mientkiewicz, Doug 1B
Milton, Eric SP
B – Mota, Guillermo RP
B – Ohman, Will ** RP
B – Padilla, Vicente SP
Schmidt, Jason SP
Thome, Jim DH/1B
Weaver, Jeff SP
A – Wolf, Randy SP

MILWAUKEE BREWERS
B – Cameron, Mike OF
Catalanotto, Frank OF
Counsell, Craig 2B/3B/SS
B – Kendall, Jason C
B – Looper, Braden ** RP
B – Lopez, Felipe 2B/3B/SS/OF
Patterson, Corey OF
Vargas, Claudio SP/RP
B – Weathers, Dave RP

MINNESOTA TWINS
A – Cabrera, Orlando SS
Crede, Joe 3B
Mahay, Ron RP
B – Pavano, Carl SP
Redmond, Mike C

NEW YORK METS
Cora, Alex 2B/SS
B – Delgado, Carlos 1B
Dessens, Elmer RP
Martinez, Ramon 2B/SS
Putz, J.J. RP
Schneider, Brian C
Sheffield, Gary OF
B – Tatis, Fernando 1B/3B/OF

NEW YORK YANKEES
A – Damon, Johnny OF
Hairston Jr, Jerry 2B/3B/SS/OF
Hinske, Eric 1B/OF
Matsui, Hideki OF
Molina, Jose C
B – Nady, Xavier OF
B – Pettitte, Andy SP

OAKLAND A’S
Crosby, Bobby SS
B – Duchscherer, Justin SP
Garciaparra, Nomar 1B
Kennedy, Adam 2B
Tomko, Brett SP

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Bako, Paul C
Cairo, Miguel IF
B – Eyre, Scott RP
Feliz, Pedro 3B
Ma
rtinez, Pedro SP
Myers, Brett SP
B – Park, Chan Ho SP
Stairs, Matt OF

PITTSBURGH PIRATES
None

SAN DIEGO PADRES
Blanco, Henry C
B – Giles, Brian OF

SEATTLE MARINERS
Batista, Miguel SP/RP
B – Bedard, Erik SP
B – Beltre, Adrian 3B
Branyan, Russell 1B
Chavez, Endy OF
Griffey Jr., Ken DH/OF
Sweeney, Mike 1B/DH
Wilson, Jack ** SS

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Aurilia, Rich 1B/3B
B – Howry, Bob RP
B – Johnson, Randy SP
A – Molina, Bengie C
Penny, Brad SP
Uribe, Juan 2B/3B/SS
B – Winn, Randy OF

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Ankiel, Rick OF
B – DeRosa, Mark 3B
B – Glaus, Troy 3B
Greene, Khalil SS/3B
A – Holliday, Matt OF
LaRue, Jason C
B – Pineiro, Joel SP
Smoltz, John SP
Wellemeyer, Todd SP

TAMPA BAY RAYS
Bradford, Chad RP
Isringhausen, Jason RP
Percival, Troy RP
B – Shouse, Brian RP
B – Springer, Russ RP
B – Zaun, Gregg C

TEXAS RANGERS
Benoit, Joaquin RP
Blalock, Hank 3B
B – Byrd, Marlon OF
Guardado, Eddie RP
Jones, Andruw OF
B – Rodriguez, Ivan C
Vizquel, Omar SS

TORONTO BLUE JAYS
B – Barajas, Rod C
McDonald, John 3B/SS
Millar, Kevin OF
A – Scutaro, Marco 2B/SS

WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Bard, Josh C
Hernandez, Livan SP
Kearns, Austin OF
Villone, Ron RP
Young, Dmitri 1B