Shocker: Derek Jeter decides to become a St. Petersburg Squawker!

Of all the things Derek Jeter could do after retirement, he is going to be a blogger? Hey, that's my territory! And guess what? After less than two days in the biz, he is already doing damage control. Good grief.

Anyhow, I read with great interest Jeter's announcement Wednesday that he was starting his own blog, or as he calls it, a "platform," called the Players' Tribune, where athletes could get to speak their minds with "no filter." He also gave sportswriters a big ol' middle finger after they kissed his tuchis for the last two decades, basically saying that he avoided saying anything of interest for 20 years to avoid being misquoted or having his quotes taken out of context. Now he says, "I do think fans deserve more than 'no comments' or 'I don’t knows,'" he said. "Those simple answers ave always stemmed from a genuine concern that any statement, any opinion or detail, might be distorted."

He also announced to the world that he is "not a robot." Who knew?

So Derek has started his own blog platform to, as he puts it, for athletes to have the tools they need to share what they really think and feel," so that they can "connect directly with our fans, with no filter."

Obviously, I have more than a few opinions on this endeavor:

First of all, this is not a new idea. In fact, didn't Curt Schilling do this, like, a decade ago with his 38 Pitches blog, way before social media? And don't athletes already have Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and their own web pages these days to communicate with fans? Heck, Richard Sherman even has his own weekly column with MMQB.com!

Second, there actually will be a filter -- the "editors" and "producers" Jeter acknowledges will be involved with the product, making decisions on everything from proofreading to choice of article topics. There will also be PR professionals involved, no doubt, to protect these players' brand and make sure they don't say anything interesting. Not to mention smoothing out those rough edges. It will be the verbal equivalent of Kim Kardashian's and Beyonce's "candid" Instagram shots that are actually Photoshopped to death.

Do you know what happens to athletes with no filter who "share what they really think and feel"? They usually get in trouble with the public. Heck, even with editors involved, athletes can get in trouble. Remember how David Wells got fined for daring to write in his autobiography that he was still half-drunk before his perfect game? Remember how Charles Barkley claimed he was misquoted -- in his own autobiography?

Heck, Jeter is already having to do damage control with sportswriters after his initial manifesto, telling Jimmy Fallon that the site "is not trying to eliminate sportswriters," and that "sportswriters are what make sports great and fun to watch." Heh.

I also would like to know exactly when/where Jeter thinks that reporters misquoted him. Because he literally received 99% positive coverage over the past 20 years. Also, thanks to televised post-game press conferences, players already have the ability to communicate to the fans directly. Yet Jeter still didn't say anything interesting in that spot.

Also, if Jeter is going to speak out now, he had better answer more interesting questions than he did in his snoozeworthy #AskJeter Twitter live chat. Maybe if I were 12 years old, I might want to know #2's favorite flavor of ice cream or whether he preferred chicken to beef. But I think people are more interested in things like how he really felt about A-Rod, a question I and many others asked him online in the chat, yet were ignored.

Something else Jeter is not acknowledging when it comes to being allegedly unfiltered is this: celebrities who talk about real issues stir up controversy and can suffer a financial hit. After Oprah Winfrey campaigned for Barack Obama for president, she lost a good chunk of her audience who never came back to her show. Rosie O'Donnell lost millions of fans and her reputation as the "Queen of Nice" when she got involved with political hectoring.

As Michael Jordan allegedly put it at one point when asked to wade into politics: Republicans buy sneakers, too. Are Jeter and other athletes going to risk potentially damaging their endorsement contracts, or their product sales, by truly saying what they really think? I doubt it. Heck, they are not even going to have a comments section on their articles!

In fact, Jeter also told Fallon while other athletes "like to share with the people, everything about them. I, personally, have not done that, and I personally will not do that." He insisted, "this is not about me, this is about an avenue for the players.” So even with his own blog, Jeter still isn't going to say anything interesting. Move over, Richard Neer. We have a new Sir Sominex!

Are Derek Jeter and the Yankees just not that into each other?

"He's just not that into you" was one of the most famous lines in the hit HBO show "Sex and the City." It was so well-known -- and had such resonance in explaining male behavior -- that it spawned a best-selling book and a hit movie. For our non-SATC readers, the idea behind the expression is that women make all sorts of excuses when guys aren't as interested as they'd like them to be, when it often really comes down to this little phrase, "He's just not that into you."

Anyhow, Squawker Jon and I were wondering yesterday what the heck Jeter and the Yankees could have been talking about for five straight hours Tuesday. Jon and I have known each other for a decade now, and we know each other's stories all too well. Heck, we've heard each other's jokes so many times that we've talked about assigning numbers to each joke, so we can save the time and trouble of retelling them, and just shout out, "47!" "23!"

So what the heck did the Yankee brass and Jeter talk about for five hours? Surely they know each other's points by now, after all this time. Does Jeter just shout out "5!" for his number of rings, and the Yankees respond with "205" for the number of millions they've already paid him?

Jeanne from New York, one of our longtime readers, was pondering the very same thing. She sent me an email with her thoughts about the situation:

As an adult female of a certain age, I have heard many times that “men don’t talk much”. The other day I read a factoid that said “On average, women say 7,000 words per day. Men say just over 2,000”. Don’t know if that has been proven scientifically, but for a moment let’s say that’s it’s true.


What on earth then could the “baffled” Jeter camp and Yankee management talk about for five hours? Were Jeter and his agent doing all the talking (think of Fidel Castro and his famous speeches via radio that reportedly went on for hours)?

The man has been with this organization for literally half his life, what is it about him they don’t know? That he's afraid of clowns? He doesn’t like to eat green peas? He has dreams of being a concert pianist? He’s got some serious issues with the Yankee third baseman (ah, we’re getting to something now, aren’t we, Dr. Phil….).

Seriously, if after five hours (there had to be a lunch AND a nap in there somewhere) Derek is still banging his sneaker on the table (ala Nikita Khrushchev at the UN in the 60’s)  saying this contract offer is a travesty, about how he wants respect because he’s a Yankee icon, face of the franchise, HOF’er etc. etc., it’s a wrap.


The Steinbrenner boys need to walk away call Eduardo Nunez and tell him to be ready to be the shortstop next spring.


At this point as an employer why would they want him back? Who wants a disgruntled player on their team? It is clear that he’s not happy with what they are offering to pay him for his services. Add to that having to play every day next to Alex renders that stuff about “this is a dream come true” and the Yankees being the “only team I ever wanted to play for” meaningless.


If those feelings were true and sincere, a deal would have been signed or announced after this five-hour meeting.


Instead we get the news report stating that there is at least  a $40M “gap”.


Lisa, that’s not a gap, that’s a chasm.


As Yogi, says it's “getting late early”. Sometimes a change of scenery is good for all parties involved.

I’m predicting there will be a divorce announced sometime before Christmas if not sooner (Hank's comments not withstanding).

From the comments I’ve heard from Yankee fans I know (shoot, I heard some guys saying three years is “too much” and they would have done two years only (LOL!), we’ll be fine, the media (especially in NY) will not be. Oh well……

Good points, Jeanne. I have to say I cracked up at the idea of Jeter banging his sneaker (Nike, I'm sure!) on the tabletop!

We're hearing rumors today that the Yanks slightly upped their offer, and Jeter slightly lowered their offer. I have to say that the longer this goes on, the less chances I think it has of happening. Like I noted earlier today, when the Yankees re-signed A-Rod, it took a very short time to get the deal done. Heck, all re-signing David Wells took was one Christmas Eve lunch at Shorty's. What's the holdup here with Jeter and the Yankees?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Shocker! I actually defend Joe Torre (a little) on something!

David Wells took potshots at Joe Torre last week, calling Torre a "coward" for benching him in the 1997 ALDS, and having pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre tell him the news. Only thing is, Wells started Game 3 of that series!

Even I, somebody who has no love lost for Saint Joe of the Bronx, thought this was a bit ridiculous, and unfair to Torre. So I wrote a piece about it for The Faster Times over it.  It's not just that Wells criticized Torre for something that never happened that irked me. It's also that apparently nobody in the media took a look at a stats site to see if Wells' story was true. And even Torre didn't exactly defend himself well over Wells' charges.

Anyhow, please check out my article on it!

Bronson Arroyo (!) thinks what A-Rod did is no big deal

Even though you might expect Bronson Arroyo to take offense at Alex Rodriguez's supposed breach of unwritten rules against Dallas Braden, the Cincinnati Reds pitcher thought it was no big thing.

The victim of A-Rod's infamous 2004 slap play told MLB.com his opinion on the issue:

Arroyo, discussing Thursday's incident in Oakland when the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez ran over the pitchers' mound after a foul ball prompting a stern reaction from A's pitcher Dallas Braden, said it was really no big deal.

"Honestly, the thing about running across the mound, I vaguely know that the rule is there," Arroyo said. "I've never been on a team where it happened and somebody got fired up about it. I wouldn't think twice about A-Rod running across the top of my mound."

Not surprisingly, this quote hasn't gotten any coverage. I found it buried in a roundup-type piece on MLB.com. Of course, if it had been a negative quote, it would have been front-page news. And people wonder why I complain about the sports media's bias!

That's not all. Two big-name Atlanta Braves players thought Braden was completely in the wrong. Check out these quotes, buried in the middle of a Mets notes piece:

Both Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones thought A's pitcher Dallas Braden went overboard with his verbal salvo against A-Rod after the Yankee star crossed the pitcher's mound while returning to first base.

"To be honest with you, I think it's a little much," said Hudson. "That's not an unwritten rule. Obviously Braden wanted to make a point. ... It looks a little bit silly. I think (Braden) might have took two or three cups of coffee too deep that day."

Added Jones: "I didn't realize that pitchers got that upset. I think it was blown out of proportion. Seemed pretty childish to me. There are better ways to handle it, I think. ... I'll go out of my way to avoid the mound now."

So yeah, most baseball fans aren't aware of those quotes, or even of the way that Derek Jeter and other Yankee teammates have had their third baseman's back.

On the other hand, David Wells' criticism of A-Rod was treated by the media like he was the Oracle of Baseball or something. Given the way that he helped cost the Yankees the 2003 World Series by his inability to take care of himself - or to tell Yankee management his back was hurting - I wouldn't give his words any credibility whatsoever. But the New York Post's George King does, giving them more play than anybody else in an article on the issue.

"A-Rod is full of [bleep], that he never heard of that," Wells told The Post from San Diego yesterday. "He has been around the game long enough to know that."....

"I hated it when runners did that. I yelled at plenty of them," Wells said. "It's one thing to cross in the front of the mound before it goes up, but on top of it, that's wrong. The cleats [mess] up the mound. Pitchers don't go in front of fielders and put their spikes in the dirt.

"I totally agree [with Braden] 'Get off my mound.' I would have done the same thing with A-Rod, or anybody else. [Bleep] it."

I have two questions for Wells:

* If it's such an unwritten rule that everybody knows, then why did so many runners in your day do this to you?

* And if it happened so often that you "yelled at plenty of them," can you please name one of the players who did this? Thanks!

Something tells me that if any reporter probed Wells further, he'd have nothing to back up his claims. Kind of like the way he had to backtrack on his own autobiography!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

David Wells lowers the boom on Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of David Wells' perfect game, and the hefty lefty was in the Stadium to do the Yankee-Twins broadcast with Ron Darling for TBS. And Wells didn't just cover the news - he made the news by unleashing on steroids.

Wells suggested that steroid users be banned for life on the first offense:

"Just ban them right out of the get-go; I think that would be great," Wells said. "No 50-game suspension. Ban them right away, that would stop it in a heartbeat -- especially with the money they are giving out today. It would be incredible if they did that. You wouldn't have to worry about steroids or HGH."

Yeah, other than that there is no test for HGH! Everybody focuses on increasing the punishment for steroids as being a deterrent, but the reality is that almost nobody fails the PED test.

Only two MLB players failed it for the 2008 season, and three in 2009. And of those three, none of the players suspended so far this year - Manny Ramirez, J.C. Romero, and Sergio Mitre - were caught with actual anabolic steroids themselves in their system. Ramirez was nailed for his high testosterone level and the prescription for the female fertility drug, while Romero and Mitre were busted for banned supplements.

So MLB could raise the penalty to not just a ban from the game, but a sentence of being forced to listen to Celine Dion 24/7, and it wouldn't matter. Most players using PEDs would still figure out a way to do their thing without getting caught.

Wells did crack me up with his comments on Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens. Regarding the homers A-Rod hit off him as a Ranger, Boomer opined:

"He claimed he was on the juice so, no, they shouldn't count," Wells said.

What a solipsist. Wells doesn't want all the 156 homers A-Rod hit in those years removed from the record books, just the ones against him! Funny.

Wells also got his revenge against Roger Clemens for the Rocket calling him "Eli" all those years - a contraction for "He lies":

Wells said he last saw Clemens at a Toby Keith charity golf event in Oklahoma, greeting him with the old Yankees clubhouse nickname of "Eli." He grinned when asked about the reversal in their stances -- during their playing days, Clemens was lauded for his intense workouts while Wells rarely performed more physical conditioning than running and what he called "12-ounce curls."

"For years, he called me 'Eli,'" Wells said. "You know, whatever comes out of Boomer's mouth, 'He lies.' Well, I got payback. Actually, it was great. ... And Roger didn't like it very much, but he came over and said hello."

Heh! You know Wells was bitter about that whole Eli thing - I remember reading how Clemens bragged to reporters about that clever nickname he came up with for Boomer. So I did find it funny that he got to throw it back in his face.

What do you think of David Wells? Leave us a comment!