Yankee ticket deals available for holiday season

The New York Yankees are the premier franchise in all of professional sports having won an unprecedented 27 World Series Championships throughout their storied history. As such they have rarely offered discounted ticket specials. However for 2014 season they have decided to reward their loyal fan base by offering some fantastic deals for the upcoming season. Beginning at 12 pm EST on Black Friday (November 29) and lasting until December 24th, the Yankees, in conjunction with MasterCard, will offer three different promotions for fans to purchase tickets.

MasterCard Preferred Pricing

• $15 off select seats when purchasing tickets with your MasterCard. 
  
• Available for every home game through June.
  
• New for the 2014 season! 

MasterCard Holiday Buy 2, Get 2

• Save 50% on select seats (Terrace Level, Grandstand Level or Bleachers) for the following games:
  
• Must be purchased with a MasterCard between 12 pm EST on Black Friday (11/29) through Cyber Monday (12/2). 
• Entering the promo code “MCB2G2” at check out. 
  

Offer available for these games:

• 4/8 vs Baltimore Orioles 
• 4/9 vs Baltimore Orioles 
• 4/15 vs Chicago Cubs
• 4/16 vs Chicago Cubs
  
• 4/29 vs Seattle Mariners
• 4/30 vs Seattle Mariners
• 5/1 vs Seattle Mariners

MasterCard $5 1/2 Priced Games

• Tickets available in select areas of the Stadium in the Terrace Level, Grandstand Level or Bleachers
  
• Tickets must be purchased with a MasterCard.
• Tickets can be purchased on the day of the game.
  

Offer available for these games: 

• 4/9 vs Baltimore Orioles
• 4/29 vs Seattle Mariners
• 4/30 vs Seattle Mariners
• 5/1 vs Seattle Mariners
• 6/3 vs Oakland Athletics
• 6/17 vs Toronto Blue Jays

To take advantage of these great deals on 2014 New York Yankees tickets, click here. 

A-Rod provides great radio/TV watching on WFAN's Mike Francesa

I was home sick from work yesterday when I heard about Alex Rodriguez storming out of the MLB hearing on his case, throwing a hissy fit over Bud Selig not having to testify. I then heard about his appearance on Mike's On, Mike Francesa's WFAN sports radio show with the dated theme song. (Mike, it's 2013, not 1986!)

Anyhow, I ended up getting to watch the replay on the YES Network of A-Rod's appearance. (Here's a link to watch the video of it, and here's a link to text with the highlights.) It was pretty compelling radio listening and TV watching, even though I think A-Rod is not telling the truth in a lot of it. (For one thing, I don't believe that he just used Tony Bosch to get weight loss supplements and nutrition!) But here is what I agree with him on:

A-Rod said: "[Selig] hates my guts ... 100 percent this is personal. I think this is about his legacy and it's about my legacy. He's trying to destroy me....He's retiring in 2014 and to put me on his big mantle on the way out, that's a hell of a trophy."

My thoughts: True! And Bud Selig *should* be compelled to testify. Bud is the one who made this personal, getting a second investigative team after Rodriguez, and paying $$$ to get the Biogenesis records. And he was the one who has been badmouthing A-Rod for months. It was, of course, also Selig who decided to give A-Rod a suspension 161 games bigger than anybody else. If they have all their ducks in a row, then why not have Selig talk?

A-Rod said: "If I had one more year at $12 million, would someone throw 211 games at me? Or would someone be this severe at me? I don't think so." 

I agree! And I can't help but be a little cynical on this issue, when I see the Bill Maddens of the world suggest that the Mets sign Jhonny Peralta and Nelson Cruz, saying things like "there is one other added advantage in signing Cruz or Peralta. Both of them have demonstrated they know how to beat a drug test." Not to mention Cruz and Peralta (and Marlon Byrd, another PED user) getting such big interest in the free agent market. If steroids are bad, then why aren't teams shunning all of them?

A-Rod also said he was "angry" at the Yankees -- would have loved to have heard more about that, specifically about what Randy Levine said to him in emails about taking PEDs.

Anyhow, if you haven't checked out the interview, please do so. It's great theater!

2013 BBA awards ballot - American League

The following are Squawker Lisa's AL picks:
 
Connie Mack Award - Top Manager: John Farrell, Boston Red Sox

Willie Mays Award - Top Rookie: Wil Myers, Tampa Bay Rays

Goose Gossage Award - Top Reliever: Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees

Walter Johnson Award - Top Pitcher: Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers

Stan Musial Award - Top Player: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers

2013 BBA awards ballot - National League

Before getting to my awards picks, congratulations to our Red Sox fan readers on Boston winning the pennant! (All Squawker Lisa has to say about it is to ask me why I don't have a playoff beard.) And congratulations to Carlos Beltran, so underrated as a Met, finally getting to the World Series. But  though I'm pulling for the Red Sox, I'd just as soon see someone else besides Shane Victorino be the hero.

2013 Baseball Bloggers Awards Ballot - National League

Connie Mack Award - Top Manager: Clint Hurdle, Pittsburgh Pirates

Willie Mays Award - Top Rookie: Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins

Goose Gossage Award - Top Reliever: Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves

Walter Johnson Award - Top Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

Stan Musial Award - Top Player: Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates

What's up with Hal Steinbrenner's magical mystery tour?

So I see that Hal Steinbrenner made the media rounds yesterday, telling reporters and sports yakkers gems like "I think Brian [Cashman] did a great job" as general manager. (What high standards, eh? If Cashman did a great job this year, then I would hate to think what Hal considers a bad job?) I wonder what took Hal so long to finally speak out about the season. After all, it ended 10 days ago. (And it ended pretty much exactly like I predicted in March -- I said the team would not finish higher than third place, or win more than 86 games, and that is virtually what happened.)

 After all, Mariano Rivera tributes aside, this season was a debacle. And Hal, while giving lip service to the team's goals about a championship, sounded pretty blase about the whole thing. He seems to think that if you clap your hands and believe in fairies, that is enough. He told Joel Sherman this about the quotes about his father posted around Yankeeland:

“My favorite is Churchill who said: A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity and an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty,” Hal said, leaning forward for the kind of emphasis that would make his old man proud. “My job is to be an optimist.”

Hal, here are a few other Winston Churchill quotes you ought to pay attention to:

“It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often."

"It's time for Brian Cashman, Randy Levine, and Lonn Trost to go." (Okay, Churchill didn't really say that, but I bet he would have if he were still alive!)

Anyhow, the whole reason, it seems to me, for Steinbrenner's magical mystery tour yesterday is to put pressure on Joe Girardi to re-up as manager ASAP. I think Joe has less than a 50-50 chance of returning, though -- that's what I said on Facebook on the final game of the year.

The Yanks want him to re-sign without hearing what other teams have to say, though -- they have refused to give him permission to talk to other teams. I have to agree with Wally Matthews of ESPN in wondering what the Yanks are afraid of here. Matthews writes:

If it's fair for them to ask Girardi to make up his mind before the end of the month, then it is fair to grant him permission to talk to whoever else might be interested in him. That is what constitutes a good-faith negotiation. And you would think that the New York Yankees, who drink from the richest font of sports revenue in the world, would have nothing to fear from going up against smaller-market clubs like the Cubs and Nationals. 

Run, Joe, run! Away from this team. The Yanks are going nowhere next year.

If Brian Cashman is really taking full responsibility for the Yankees, then why does he still have a job?

So New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman had a press conference Tuesday in which he claimed to take full responsibility for the Yankees' failure to make the postseason this year. Of course, to my knowledge, none of the lapdogs in the New York media bothered to ask him this followup question -- why aren't you quitting or being fired if it is your responsibility?!

Look at this, from the presser:

Q. "Who do you put the ultimate responsibility on for the team not being good enough?"
A. "Me."
Q. "Nobody else?"
A. "It’s my responsibility."
Q. "Were you given all the resources necessary in the winter to build a winner?"
A. "Yes."

Well, in the words of Michael Kay, shouldn't Cash be saying "See ya!" and jumping out of an airplane and out of his job or something? He failed at his job despite being given $230 million, and he ought to be fired, or at least show some dignity (ha!) and quit.

But of course that isn't going to happen. Cashman has to pay over $1 million next year in alimony to his ex-wife, so he's not going to walk away. And the Yankees aren't going to fire him, either. After all, they still owe him $3 million for the 2014 season.

(An aside: is there any organization more penny wise and pound foolish than the Yankees? They did the same thing when it came to keeping Joe Torre for another season, choosing to keep him long past his sell-by date because otherwise they'd have to pay him $8 million. They never consider the money they lose and do not make by essentially giving up on the season to save a few bucks.)

The thing is, there is no logical argument for keeping Cashman in. I predicted in March that the Yankees would not win more than 86 games, and would not finish higher than third place, and I was right on both counts. With the poor way this team was constructed, that record was not a surprise to anybody who paid attention. Not to mention that woeful farm system. Cashman demanded complete control of that in 2005. What does he have to show for it? The Yanks had 56 players on the field in 2013, and there was not one future star -- or even just future everyday player -- in any of the prospects. The problems with this team rest at Cashman's feet.

Yet Hal Steinbrenner is apparently so afraid of being seen like his dear old dad, that he won't ever actually hold anybody accountable. So Cashman is coming back, as are Randy Levine, Lonn Trost, and all of the other dunderheads in Yankeeland.

Almost nobody even argues anymore that Cashman is a great GM -- all they can say is that his replacement could be worse. Well, that's the excuse for staying in a bad relationship -- your boyfriend or girlfriend may treat you badly, but your next boyfriend or girlfriend could be worse. People who talk that way have a failure of imagination and a fear of change. It never occurs to them that the replacement could be better!

And who couldn't be better than Brian Cashman? He has a stated mandate to win the World Series of that year. In 12 of the last 13 seasons, he has failed at that goal, and this year, his team didn't even make the playoffs, despite having its highest payroll in history.

But the no-talent clown still gets to keep his job, and tell lies like this, like what he said yesterday when asked about A-Rod's PED appeal hearing (emphasis added):

“I operate on the assumption that I have him until they tell me otherwise. I’m not really in a position to talk about the Alex stuff. We’re not a party to it. I know from the media reports it was supposed to start yesterday and for a while there, until I looked on Twitter and saw certain things about people coming and going I wasn’t even sure if it had started or not. Because that’s how out of the loop I am on it. There’s not much to say on it. At this stage I’m not a participant in any way.”

Really, Bri? You're really claiming this nonsense? If you really didn't know, then you ought to lose your job just for that -- being an ignoramus!

Yankees won't make postseason, mess up Bobblehead night, couldn't manage a two-car funeral

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the thing that irritates me most about the Yankees these days is the breathtaking lack of accountability. Hal Steinbrenner is content to keep incompetent knuckleheads like Brian Cashman, Randy Levine and Lonn Trost in high positions, and never fires anybody. Mediocrity and failure is never punished.

So now the $230 million New York Yankees are officially out of the postseason race, but I will be surprised if anybody loses their job over it. Heck, forget about playing baseball for a second -- this team cannot even correctly manage a promotional giveaway, something Single A minor league teams can do with ease. And yet they all think they're so wonderful and competent and smart. Good grief, as Charlie Brown (last night's bobblehead) would say.

The Mariano Rivera bobblehead giveaway was nothing short of a disaster. And what does Jason Zillo, the Yankees' PR maven, say in response? He appears to be infected with that "Ain't I great" attitude so endemic in Yankeeland. He tells this to the New York Post:

“It’s a testament to so many people in the organization that we accomplished what we did,” said Yankees’ media relations director Jason Zillo, “given the hand that we were dealt.”

What hand were you dealt, Jason? Your team left no wiggle room for anything to go wrong with the delivery. That is a "you" problem, not a "we" problem. To top it all off, you all couldn't even figure out how to properly distribute the bobbleheads when they did arrive. Instead of handing them out after the game, you had one bottlenecked spot, where people waited as long as seven innings to get their bobblehead.

To top it all off, the rich people in the Legends seats didn't even have to wait on line -- Yankee staffers personally brought them their bobbleheads, something Zillo professed not to know about.

But this screwup is the Yankee way, the way the organization was surprised that A-Rod needed surgery, and that a 39-year-old shortstop might not be 100% on Opening Day.

Wally Matthews of ESPN New York wrote a great column on the issue -- he tried to interview Levine and Trost, but wouldn't you know it, they didn't want to talk.

Anyhow, the Yanks are a mess, but as long as the money keeps on rolling in, don't expect Hal to make any changes. In fact, I'll bet the big shots in this organization will throw themselves a big ol' party after the season, is over to celebrate a job well done. Accountability is for suckers.

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Cheap New York Yankees tickets

How I (legally) got to sit in $300+ field-level seats behind home plate for Yanks-Red Sox for the price of a $37 ticket

The Yankees, along with one of their sponsors, have figured out a rather ingenious method to get some of those empty field-level seats filled. And Thursday night, I was one of the beneficiaries! (I will write about the game itself later on today, but here's how I got to see this exciting, but ultimately infuriating, game up close!)

Here's the scoop. A few weeks ago, I bought a ticket to last night's game for Section 418,  between home plate and first base, but very high up -- it cost me a little over $37 when you figure in service charges. Anyhow, I got to my seat about a half-hour before the game, and I saw a very curious announcement. The Yankees ran an ad on their scoreboard which said that if you had an AT&T phone, and went to Section 331, you could exchange your current seats for field-level seats. I do (it's a "dumb phone," as I lost my iPhone on the subway, and am waiting to get a new iPhone later this month, but my dumb phone is all AT&T! Needless to say, I left my seat as fast as I could and moseyed on down to Section 331 to see what was what. 

I expected a torrent of people, but there were only a few folks ahead of me. So I asked the AT&;T folks, "What's the catch" about these tickets? Turns out there really wasn't a catch -- just had to show them my phone and give them my mobile number. 

When I got the field-level tix, I figured  that I would be sitting in those left-field or right-field field level seats that are near the bleachers, but cost much more money. Imagine my surprise when I realized that my seat for Section 120B was right behind home plate, about 10 rows behind the moat! And yes, those seats retail for around $311 plus service fees! I was so excited, I felt like that dad in the Booking.com ads, 

Now, unlike the moat seats, no free food was included. But they did have waiter/waitress service to bring food to your seat, which was cool. What wasn't cool was that the food was as lousy as ever, but I digress.

Anyhow, this is arguably the most fan-friendly idea the Yankees have *ever* been a part of in my lifetime, and I am more than a little surprised that more people didn't take AT&T up on their generous offer. I have never gotten such a great view at a Yankee game ever, and the fact that I got it for the price of nosebleed seats makes it all the sweeter. Oh, and the field-level seats are cushiony and comfortable, too! Sweet!

I have no idea how long this promotion has been going on, but it's a great idea. It fills up prominent seats with passionate fans, and gives them a great experience. Talk about a win-win!

With the great seats I had, it's too bad, of course, that the game has such a lousy outcome, and the Yanks didn't win-win! I will squawk on that tomorrow, but suffice it to say that I didn't lose hope after a five-run deficit, but I did lose hope (and scream "Noooo!) after I saw that Joba Chamberlain was coming into the game!

It's about time: Yankees are really ready to rumble

Are the New York Yankees really in it to win it? Finally, this team is acting like a playoff one – and so is Joe Girardi, who is finally making the moves you need to make if you want to see this team make it into October.

Aside from the Yankees’ great play as of late (they should have won all six games in this homestand so far if it weren’t for that bullpen implosion) a few other things give me hope:

Phil Hughes is knocked out of the starting rotation

Fortunately, the Phil Hughes Experience is coming to an end, which is good news for Yankee fans who actually want to see their team win and not be knocked out of the game by the second or third inning. Hughes is leading the league in one thing this season – the most games where he was knocked out before the end of the fifth inning!

It was shocking to me that Girardi had him start the game against the Chicago White Sox on Monday, given that pretty much every game is a must-win these days. Why put your team out of it by putting Hughes as the starting pitcher? Fortunately, the rain cooperated, and kept Hughes from finishing his start, which gave the Yankees the chance to put up that epic eight-run inning, the inning White Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson said was the worst he had ever announced.

Anyhow, David  (I nearly wrote Aubrey) Huff is starting against Boston this weekend, which at least gives the Yanks as good a chance as any to win. Hooray!

Mariano Rivera pitching in the eighth

I was also pleased last night to see that Mo was brought into the game in the eighth inning when David Robertson couldn’t get out of a jam. With so few games left, every single one is a must-win, and I am glad Girardi took action instead of watching the lead totally disappear. Besides, it’s not like the Yanks have to keep Rivera fresh for next year – this is it.

Joba Chamberlain being banished to Never-Never Land

I try to find good in every Yankee, but it is very hard with Joba these days. IMHO, he should have been DFAed after his trampoline disaster. You know what you need to know about Chamberlain as a person? Pretty much every single team and opposing player to face the Yankees this year has said or done something to honor Mariano Rivera, from all the gifts he had received, to the reaction of the players on both teams at the All-Star Game. Even Squawker Jon was on his feet when Mo came into a Yankee game we attended earlier this year as a sign of respect. 

Yet Joba gets into a squabble with Rivera in front of reporters, telling him not to shush him when he was being a loudmouth. It takes a special kind of jerk to be against Rivera, but that’s our Joba!

Anyhow, after Sunday’s debacle, when Joe Girardi actually thought it was a good idea to pitch him in a close game, I never want to see Chamberlain in a game for the Yankees again. Enough already. At the very least, it appears now that Girardi will not ever put him in an important situation again. Nor  should he.

·  

* *  *  *

* 

I will be at the game tonight, to see the first of the four Yankees-Red Sox games in the Bronx this weekend -- will watch the other three games on TV. This is the first time in a while that the games have any real buzz – partly due to the standings, and partly due to Ryan Dempster. Incidentally, if the Yanks win the World Series this year, should they cut Dempster a playoff share?

I am wondering if David Ortiz will gets plunked tonight. It will be interesting to see what happens!

Was Brian Cashman for the Alfonso Soriano trade before he was against it?

What is Brian Cashman up to these days? Monitoring the New York media and reading columnists "the riot act" for not casting him in the most positive light is apparently a huge priority for him these days. (If only he monitored players for the MLB draft with such precision!)

Here's what I am talking about: I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I saw a Wallace Matthews Yankees' blog entry on ESPN New York. In a blog entry today entitled "First Pitch: Sori, Hal," Matthews wrote the following in the original version of the piece, noting how Cashman opposed trading for Alfonso Soriano:

This is what a lot of New York Yankees fans should be saying today: Sorry, Hal Steinbrenner, for criticizing the decision to bring Alfonso Soriano to the Yankees at the trade deadline. 

While we're at it, GM Brian Cashman might want to offer his apologies as well, after saying publicly that he was against the deal. 

Because now, a little more than a month into his second go-round with the Yankees, Soriano doesn't just look like a bargain, he looks like a steal. 

This evening, here's what the article looks like:

This is what a lot of New York Yankees fans should be saying today: Sorry, Hal Steinbrenner, for criticizing the decision to bring Alfonso Soriano to the Yankees at the trade deadline. 

Because now, a little more than a month into his second go-round with the Yankees, Soriano doesn't just look like a bargain, he looks like a steal. 

Notice that the middle paragraph is missing, and the fact that Cashman opposed the trade is gone from the column!

Instead of just putting the missing paragraph down the ol' memory hole, Matthews does explain the situation on Twitter:

For the record, Brian Cashman never said he was against the Soriano deal, only that he was against trading Corey Black. I apologize
— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) August 28, 2013

GM read me the riot act, and fair is fair. My bad in today's blog
— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) August 28, 2013

So I wrote the following on Twitter to Matthews: I linked to "Cashman anti-trade & overruled — again," Joel Sherman's July 27 New York Post column on Cashman, which I wrote about at the time, and said this:

@ESPNNYYankees Sounds like revisionist history on Cashman's part, especially given this article: http://t.co/qv6xhMnWeE
— Subway Squawkers (@subwaysquawkers) August 29, 2013

In Sherman's original article, he wrote the following (emphasis added):

Alfonso became the second straight Soriano that Brian Cashman advised Yankees ownership not to acquire — and was overruled on nevertheless.

Just as with the signing of free agent Rafael Soriano, the general manager believed Yankees assets could be spent better than on Alfonso Soriano, two executives not affiliated with the Yankees told The Post.

Cashman would not directly confirm what he advised Hal Steinbrenner, but told The Post: “I would say we are in a desperate time. Ownership wants to go for it. I didn’t want to give up a young arm [Corey Black]. But I understand the desperate need we have for offense. And Soriano will help us. The bottom line is this guy makes us better. Did ownership want him? Absolutely, yes. Does he make us better? Absolutely, yes. This is what Hal wants, and this is why we are doing it.”

That reads like Cashman is publicly taking a stand that he was against the trade. But I never understood why Cashman would be against the trade in the first place -- Soriano was old, made a lot of money, and looked washed-up -- three things that Cashman usually loves to get in his players! I wrote at the time that I thought that Cash made a big stink about being against acquiring Soriano to get the media on his side again, having them write sympathetic articles about how a big bad Steinbrenner is meddling again. The irony is, of course, that if Cashman hadn't made such a stink, he wouldn't have to do all this revisionist history, because we never would have known this was an issue.

Matthews disagreed with me on the meaning of what Cashman said, and we went back and forth on it on Twitter -- you can see the conversation here. While I didn't agree with Matthews, I was impressed that he took the time to talk with me, and that he was cordial, too!

Incidentally, I don't know how many Yankee fans opposed trading for Soriano -- I was against it, because I thought they ought to rebuild, not commit any more payroll to 2014,  but I was in the minority. And I am happy to admit that I was wrong!

At any rate, I have to agree with what my friend Steve of WasWatching.com says when it comes to Cashman: "The Thin-Skinned GM Strikes Again"!