Bryce Harper will be a Yankee

In 2010, after the Nationals drafted Bryce Harper with the first overall pick, he signed a seven-year deal worth 18.9 million dollars. This means Harper will become a free agent after the 2017 season. At this point in time, the 19-year-old superstar will be a young 25 years old.

Bryce Harper has already shown he has what it takes to be a star in the Major Leagues and as long as he stays healthy the Yankees will definitely pursue him. They also have the means to do so. After the 2017 season, Alex Rodriguez’s mega deal will expire. This will free up the Yankees player salary and allow them to pursue Harper and offer him Arod money. I’m not saying they will offer the youngster a 10 year 250 million dollar offer, but if the Yankees needed to, they definitely could and if Harper is already a superstar at the age of 25, look for the Yankees to offer a deal similar to the one they offered Arod in 2007. 

Additionally, Mark Teixeira’s current deal of 8 years $180 Million ends after the 2016 season. Also ending after the 2016 season is CC Sabathia’s contract of 7 years $161 Million which made him the highest paid pitcher in baseball. With all these mega deals expiring after 2016 and 2017, there is no reason the Yankees won’t go after Harper for the 2018 season. He has the perfect swing for Yankee Stadium and could thrive in the small ballpark. He also idolizes Mickey Mantle and there would be no better way for the youngster to follow his idol than donning pinstripes just like number 7 Mickey Mantle did for so long. So if Harper lives up to the hype and is the best player in baseball after the 2017 season, don’t be surprised if Bryce Harper is wearing pinstripes in 2018.

He's Back

On Sunday May 13, 2012, Andy Pettitte returned to the mound at Yankee Stadium to make his first major league start since the 2010 season. During that season Andy was 11-2 with a 3.28 ERA at the age of 38. After that season, Pettitte retired to spend more time with his family.

Evidently, his family got real sick of him and Pettitte announced his comeback in March 2012 and signed a one-year deal on March 16, 2012. Pettitte took the mound on May 13, to a roaring ovation from the fans at Yankee Stadium. After Andy settled in, through the first three innings he was looking like the Andy Pettitte of old allowing no hits over the first three innings. However, the next three and one third innings did not go over as well. The first hit he allowed was a homerun off the bat of Justin Smoak of the Mariners.

As the game went on and Andy got tired the Mariners started to get to him. Andy finished the day allowing four runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings with two strikeouts. Which really is not a terrible line for someone who has been out of baseball for over a year. However, it was not good enough for the Yankees to get the win and the Mariners’ offense is sub-par at best. Nonetheless, one thing is certain. Regardless of how Pettitte pitches in the regular season, he will perform when it matters most in October for he holds the record for most postseason wins all-time in baseball history.

The Over Managing of Joe Girardi

Don’t get me wrong, I love Joe Girardi as a manager and I think he does a great job of getting players ready for the games and does a great job with the many day-to-day responsibilities that an MLB manager faces. He brought the Yankees their 27^th world championship in only his second year managing the team and in my book that cements his place in the history of the storied Yankees franchise. However, when it comes to managing in game situations, especially late in games, frankly he sucks. I almost feel like I could do a better job managing the team in late game situations. It seems like he’s thinking too much and trying to make everything perfect and have everything play out like a script. But the fact is that baseball games are ever changing and the great in game managers have great instincts, they just know what to do and what calls to make. Joe Girardi lacks this ability.

There are plenty of good examples of this and one perfect example was earlier this year in the first inning of the year against the rays. There were runners on second and third with two outs and CC Sabbathia, the Yankees ace, was on the hill. Sean Rodriguez was at the plate and the dangerous Carlos Pena was on deck. Joe Girardi thought it was a good idea to intentionally walk Rodriguez in this situation. I understand what Girardi was thinking, but I couldn't agree less with this decision at this point in the game. He was thinking that it was a good idea to walk the righty Rodriguez against the lefty Sabbathia to get to the lefty-lefty match-up against Pena where the pitcher statistically has the advantage. Sean Rodriguez also has better numbers against Sabbathia than Pena does, but in a sample size that small you can pretty much throw statistics out the window. Anyway, he walk Rodriguez and Pena hit a grand slam to put the Rays up 4-0. The first inning of the year is not the time to worry about match-ups. You let your ace pitch and let him do his job. Maybe he gets out of the inning against Rodriguez, maybe he doesn't, but you gotta give CC the chance their to pitch his way out of it. I am confident that Joe Girardi is the only manager in the MLB that would have made that call, because he over manages games. He needs to take a step back and let his players do their jobs.

What happened afterwards was pretty funny. Girardi got a whole lot of criticism for the move (a lot more than he would have 20-30 years ago). The Yankees blogosphere blew up in reaction to the managing style. It ranged from "he needs to relax" to "we need to fire him immediately" but none of the reactions were good. This is what the internet and the increased sharing inhibits. There is no relief for a manager or a player if they screw up, especially in New York. There is heightened scrutiny for anything a player or manager does and the internet and blogs has a lot to do with that.

Bleacher Creatures

The title of this blog, The View From Section 203, is the section that the Bleacher Creatures sit in at the New Yankee Stadium. The bleacher creatures are a group of die-hard Yankees fans that are there for all 82 Yankees home games every year and sit in the same seats every time. They are the most die-hard Yankees fans out there and they truly live and die by the successes and failures of the Yankees. The name was given to these fans in 2004 when a columnist for the New York Daily News, Filip "Flip" Bondy, did a piece on these crazy fans. These bleacher creatures were said to be found by Ali Ramirez who was said the be the "original bleacher creature" in the 80s and 90s when the yankees weren't all that good. He died on May 8, 1996 and on May 14 the Yankees front office dedicated a plaque to Ali Ramirez on the seat where he was for every Yankees game. It read "This Seat is Taken, in memory of Ali Ramirez 'the original bleacher creature'." The cool thing about this is that the day they put this plaque on his seat Dwight Gooden pitched a no-hitter, one of only 11 in franchise history

The bleacher creatures are know for their many cheers and chants, most notably the roll call to begin each and every home game. It stats of with Bald Vinny, one of the bleacher creatures, yelling out to who ever the center fielder (currently Curtis Granderson) "Yooooo, Curtis!!"After that the entire section chants the starters names (except for the pitcher and catcher), which is followed by the players acknowledging the chants. Some of the players get very into this and come up with their own unique way to acknowledge the fans. My favorite one is Nick Swisher. After they chant his name he turns around and salutes the bleacher creatures. After this is over they break into a chant of "Box Seats Suck" except when the red sox are in town and then it becomes "Boston Sucks". Here's a Video of the roll call


With and influx technology the bleacher creatures have been able to continue the cheering for the yanks and the heckling of the opponents even when there isn't baseball being played. Many of the bleacher creatures have twitter accounts and Facebook pages where they continue to show their love for the yankees. fans tweet pictures of players and bring what happens on the field to social media, like this picture of Curtis Granderson acknowledging the fans (http://yfrog.com/obeidxuj). The Bleacher creatures are the heart and soul of Yankee Stadium and they represent all of the die-hard fans everywhere who are watching onTV, listening on the radio or following on their computers. They embody what it means to be a true fan of any team. They are passionate about what they do and they love their Yankees.

Opening Day

Opening Day is all about excitement and anticipation. Everyone involved feels this excitement and anticipation whether it's the players, the management, the fans, or even the bat boy. It's about a fresh start where any imaginable success is still possible. Opening day is the time when every team, and every teams fans think their team will be the one to win the world series. Opening day is baseball's New Year. It represents a fresh start for every team where they can throw all their past failures out the window. Here's a little video from ESPN that highlights that excitement of opening day

 

 

The Yankees had their opening day last Friday against the Rays in Tampa. But today is their home opener. The home opener is the first time that the fans get to see this years team. We get to see all the fresh faces of new acquisitions form the offseason. Although, this year there weren't many fresh faces except for Raul Ibanez (who is absolutely ancient at this point and a shell of the player he used to be),  the overrated acquisition of Michael Pineda who came into camp as a fat piece of shit and found himself on the DL to start the year, (please tell me again why we gave up our best prospect for this guy?) and the under the radar but in my opinion the best acquisition of the offseason Hiroki Kuroda. We also get to see how the returning players changed in the offseason such as the A-rod knee surgery (thanks Kobe) and the slimmed down Mark Teixeira.

Some changes in technology recently have made it even easier to follow your favorite teams. The internet and portable devices like IPhones and IPad make it possible to follow your team anywhere you are. MLB has an application on apple devices that let you follow gamecasts of the games and even watch live games (if you pay a little money). Even if you are not in front of a TV you can still follow your teams and get live updates in seconds. I think these creates more and more fans and can only be good for the sport. More people will have a rooting interest and follow baseball since games are now easier to follow and can be done on the go.

With all these changes sometimes it's easier to forget that the best part about opening day is the thing that never changes. And while it may sound a little corny, yes, the fans are the best part of Opening Day. After a long offseason of waiting and anticipation Yankees fans show up in full force to root for their team. Opening Day is one of the loudest days of the year because all of the the waiting and anticipation of the die hard fans shows itself with 50,000 screaming and yelling fans. That is my favorite part of Opening, the atmosphere. It doesn't get any better than this.

 Let's beat the Halos!

The Polarizing Figure That is Alex Rodriguez

Everyone knowns that Alex Rodriguez is a great baseball player with an immense amount of talent, but with that talent he also brings a lot of extra baggage to go along with that talents. You either love him or hate him, there is no middle ground. If he is not on your team most likely you hate him and you may not even like him if he is on your team. A-rod's career has been a roller coaster ride both on and off the field. His inconsistent play in key situations, such as late in games and in playoffs games, has caused some yankee fans to hate the man.e His off the field scandals such has his steroid use and alleged affair with madonna and subsequent divorce have caused most of the non-Yankee population to deeply hate this man. From the start of his Yankee career he was destined for dislike. He came to the yankees in 2004, and Immediately started butting heads with beloved yankees captain and icon Derek Jeter. Because of this when he started to struggle on the field, fans were all over him, booing him for any strikeout or error. When A-Rod admitted to the steroid use, recently, that everyone was suspicious of his career and numbers automatically became tainted.

Despite all of these issues, I'm hear to tell you that A-rod's career should be celebrated for his talent and amazing accomplishments even with all of the controversy surrounding him. A-Rod took steroids at a time in baseball when the majority of players were using and it was not illegal to do so. Everything A-rod has done in his career has been under a microscope especially playing in the New York market where his every move is looked at and scrutinized. His off the field issues should not have an effect on how you view his play on the field. Alex Rodriguez is on the the best baseball players of his generation and he should be remembered for his incredible accomplishments

Burt Reynolds and Social Capital

Recently the Yankees signed Burt Reynolds (No not that Burt Reynolds). This Burt Reynolds is the cousin of Yankee Superstar Robinson Cano. Burt Reynolds is a Utility man who has played both in the Outfield and Infield. He was drafted in the 30^th round of the 2006 MLB draft by the Nationals and has seen limited success in professional baseball. He has bounced around playing for the Nationals, Rays, and most recently with the Independent league Neward Bears. Last year with the Neward bears he hit .232/.291/.445 (batting avg/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) with 13 home runs and 95 strikeouts in 286 plate appearances. You may be wondering how someone who has played so poorly at all levels of baseball could get a deal with yanks. Well, he has one thing going for him (other than having an awesome name), he is Robinson Cano’s cousin.

His signing with the Yankees is a perfect example of social capital. Social Capital is all about who you know and the relationships you form with others, whether it is a bridging or bonding relationship. It is often believed that who you know is more important that what you can do. This was definitely the case for Burt Reynolds.  He was able to sign a deal with the Yankees based in large part to the fact that he is Cano's cousin. He was able to create a great opportunity for himself with the bridging relationship he had with his cousin.