Congrats to Clayton Kershaw and Max
Scherzer for winning the NL and AL Cy Young Awards, respectively. No real
surprise in either one of these picks, as Kershaw put up astounding numbers
overall, and Scherzer had good numbers and a great record. I’m 5-for-6 so far!
Tonight we’ve finally reached the
MVP voting. It’s going to be a tough one in both leagues, with the two sluggers
Miguel Cabrera and Chris Davis against the statistical Mike Trout in the AL,
and Andrew McCutchen, Paul Goldschmidt, and Yadier Molina in the NL. Anyone
could win it. Except Davis – I don’t think he has much of a chance with
Cabrera.
Anyways, while I’ve talked about
the free agency, there has been some funny news report in baseball that I
wanted to share.
With Mariano Rivera retiring, who
is going to take the closing role? The Yankees have such a great, young
reliever named David Robertson that is possibly one of the most unknown pitchers
in baseball. Since 2011, Robertson has put up a 1.91 ERA with 258 strikeouts as
a set-up man. Since 2011, Rivera and Rafael Soriano (who took the closing role
when Rivera was hurt in 2012), have put up 137 saves.
Robertson looks like he could be
the next big closer for the New York Yankees. But GM Brian Cashman says he’s “not
sure” if Robertson is ready for the ninth inning. With a bunch of great closers
in the free agency list (that you might have looked at here), it’s not a bad
idea to sign to pick up a great, veteran closer.
Well, Cashman can cross off one
pitcher off the list. Why? Mark Feinsand from the New York Daily News said on
Twitter:
“Brian
Wilson’s agent told Brian Cashman that Wilson won’t shave his beard. ‘Cross him
off the list,’ Cashman said.”
That’s right. Brian Wilson will not
accept any contracts because Wilson won’t shave his beard. Since the 70’s under
George Steinbrenner, it has been a Yankee tradition not to have facial hair
besides mustaches. So Goose Gossage’s Fu-Manchu and Thurman Munson’s ‘stache
are ok, but that thing on Wilson’s face is not allowed.
We saw this in the 2005 offseason
when Johnny Damon went to the Yankees from Boston and had to shave his Jesus
beard. All of a sudden, the Johnny Damon we knew and loved was some baseball
player that looked clean-shaven.
Wilson also reportedly turned down a $1 million offer to shave his beard for some advertisement.
It’s The Boss vs. The Beard. Though
Steinbrenner passed away, the policy remains intact, as does Wilson’s beard. I
don’t know how long he’s grown it, nor do I really want to know.
It’s not just Wilson, lefty David
Price has said that he would not want to go to the Yankees because of their
policy, and he just has a regular beard.
So will Wilson go to the
beard-loving, Yankees arch-rival, Boston Red Sox? I doubt it, as they have
Uehara in relief. But man would that be a great addition to the beard club.
Speaking of the Yankees, they also
have to deal with the signing of Robinson Cano. Cano is the best hitter in the
free agency, but he wants a lot of money to go with his hall-of-fame caliber
hitting (hall-of-fame caliber if he can keep it up at least). So how will the
Yankees get him if he’s only going to the highest bidder?
New York says that rapper Jay-Z
will help the discussions of extending Cano’s contract. Jay-Z is often in the
front rows at Yankee stadium, but is known in baseball for his newly-founded
Roc Nation Sports foundation. The company just agreed to a partnership with CAA
Sports. Guess who’s affiliated with them? Cano’s agent, Brodie Van Wagenen.
Cano jumped at the chance to join
Roc Nation as its first baseball client, saying at the time that he believed
the partnership would help him both on and off the field.
So yes, even rappers are making big
contributions to the MLB right now. Yankee fans, if Cano resigns, then start
listening to Jay-Z, because you owe him something.
Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any
questions/comments/concerns.
-Evan Boyd
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