Players Weekend Archives - River Avenue Blues

Saturday Links: Singleton, Players’ Weekend, Pride Events

August 11, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Singleton circa 1983. (Owen C. Shaw/Getty)

Weather permitting, the Yankees and Rangers will continue their four-game series this afternoon at Yankee Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for a little after 1pm ET. Here are some links to help you pass the time until the game begins.

Singleton returning in 2019

Ken Singleton is reportedly postponing his retirement. According to Randy Miller, Singleton will return to the YES Network next year on a reduced schedule. He’ll work about 24 games rather than his usual 55, with a heavy dose of games in Baltimore and Tampa, where he has homes. Singleton will also do one other road trip plus some games at Yankee Stadium. Nothing is official yet, but Kenny pretty much confirmed he’s returning on this week’s R2C2 podcast.

Earlier this year Singleton announced 2018 would be his final season as a broadcaster. It wasn’t speculation. He announced it. Apparently the head honchos at the YES Network put on the full court press and convinced him to come back. Singleton said he wants to spend more time with his family and grandchildren, and the reduced schedule will allow that. Next season will be his 50th (!) in big league baseball. He played 15 years and has spent the last 35 as a broadcaster. Hell of a baseball life. I am very glad Singleton is returning. He’s my favorite broadcaster.

Players’ Weekend returns for 2018

Prepare yourself for another weekend of outrage from baseball purists. Earlier this week MLB announced the second annual Players’ Weekend will take place from Friday, August 24th, through Sunday, August 26th. The Yankees will be in Baltimore that weekend and they have a doubleheader that Saturday, so they’ll get to rock their Players’ Weekend uniforms for four games instead of three. You can see all the jerseys here. Here’s the Yankees’:

Same as last season. The Yankees didn’t change the jerseys at all. Boring! Last year they were at home for Players’ Weekend and those jersey tops looked weird with white pinstriped pants. I reckon they’ll look much better with the road gray pants this year. As for the uniform nicknames, you can see all of them right here. They really should’ve gone with each player’s Didi Gregorius emoji. Brad Boxberger will have emojis on his jersey. Yankees should’ve done it. Alas.

Yankees planning events to commemorate Stonewall Riots

The Yankees are planning “significant events” both inside and outside Yankee Stadium next season to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, report Andy Martino and George King. No details have been announced yet, though the events will be something that provide more meaningful engagement and interaction with the community than a simple LGBTQ Pride Night at the ballpark.

The Stonewall Riots were a watershed moment for gay rights in New York. The Yankees were the last team in baseball to announce plans for an event celebrating gay rights — the Mets have held an annual Pride Night since 2016, for example — which is disappointing, especially since they play in the largest and most diverse city in the world. Better late than never.

Saturday Links: Jeter, Postseason Schedule, Players Weekend

August 12, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

The Yankees and Red Sox continue their three-game weekend series with the middle game later today. It’s a 4pm ET start. Here are some links and notes to check out until game time.

Jeter agrees to purchase the Marlins (again)

A few weeks after his agreement to purchase the Marlins with Jeb Bush fell through, Derek Jeter has another deal in place to buy the team, reports Barry Jackson. Jeter teamed up with rich dude Bruce Sherman and several other minority investors (including Michael Jordan) to buy the team. The sale price is $1.2 billion — that’s the second most ever paid for an MLB franchise, behind the $2 billion the Dodgers sold for a few years back — and Jeter is kicking in $25M.

Jackson says Sherman will be the “control person” while Jeter will run the business and baseball sides of the organization, so he’s going to have a lot of responsibility. The sale is not yet final — two other potential Marlins sales have already fallen through this year, so this isn’t a formality — but Jeter and Sherman do have all the money in place and everything else is order. Now MLB needs to give their approval and the other 29 owners have to vote. That’s going to happen at the quarterly owners meetings in October, apparently.

2017 postseason schedule announced

It’s getting to be that time of year. Earlier this week MLB announced the 2017 postseason schedule, and since the Yankees are in the race this year, this information is pretty damn relevant. Much better than being on the outside looking in like three of the last four years. Here is the full postseason schedule and here are the dates potentially relevant to the Yankees:

AL Wild Card Game: Tuesday, October 3rd
ALDS (both of ’em): Thursday, October 5th through Wednesday, October 11th
ALCS: Friday, October 13th through Saturday, October 21st
World Series: Tuesday, October 24th through Wednesday, November 1st

The regular season ends Sunday, October 1st, so there’s only one off-day between the end of the regular season and the AL Wild Card Game this year. That could cause some headaches for teams trying to line up their ace for that winner-take-all game. The NL has two off-days between the end of the regular season and the Wild Card Game this year.

Also, homefield advantage in the World Series is no longer decided by the All-Star Game. That’s good. I hated that. (Even though the AL won this year.) Now homefield advantage will go to the pennant-winner with the best regular season record. That’s how it should be, I think.

MLB releases Players Weekend jerseys

A few weeks ago MLB announced that, later this month, the first (annual?) Players Weekend will be held from August 25th to the 27th. The Yankees will be home playing the Mariners that weekend. Teams will wear unique uniforms (hats, jerseys, socks, etc.) and the players will be allowed to wear nicknames on the backs of their jerseys. It’s pretty awesome. Here are the Yankees:

This is so great. All-Starlin! A-A-Ron! Head and Toe! Aaron Judge told Erik Boland he was originally planning to put “AJ” or “Judge” on his jersey, but Todd Frazier talked him into All Rise, so here we are. Love Judge, but he could use a little more personality. Maybe pimp a homer every once in a while. (Looking at you too, Brett Gardner. “Gardner” on the jersey? Really?)

Anyway, as someone who may or may not have already purchased KRAKEN 24 and SIR DIDI 18 shirts, I love this whole Players Weekend idea. It’s fun. Baseball’s supposed to be fun. I couldn’t be any more tired of hearing about tradition and the way things have always been. Give me Players Weekend, The Judge’s Chambers, Clint Frazier’s bright red hair, finger points into the dugout, give me all of it.

Yankees have not pursued Granderson

According to Joel Sherman, the Yankees have not pursued Curtis Granderson this month. He cleared trade waivers last week. The Yankees did try to acquire Jay Bruce from the Mets a few days ago, though that didn’t work out because the Mets wanted full salary relief. Granderson, like Bruce, is a left-handed power hitter, but he can only play the outfield. Bruce has some first base experience.

Granderson, 36, is in the final season of his four-year, $60M contract. He’s making $15M this year and it stands to reason the Mets will look to unload his salary at some point. Granderson is hitting .221/.327/.452 (105 wRC+) with 16 home runs overall this season, but since May 1st, he’s put up a .261/.384/.548 (143 wRC+) batting line with 15 of those 16 homers. The Yankees have an opening at designated hitter and could really use another lefty power bat, which Granderson would provide. Doesn’t sound like it’s going to happen though.

Saturday Links: Judge, Home Run Derby, Players Weekend

June 17, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

This nightmare of a West Coast trip continues this afternoon with the third of four games against the Athletics. I look forward to seeing what creative way the bullpen lets a late lead slip away in this one. Anyway, here are some random bits of news and notes to check out while you wait for the game.

Judge not yet invited to Home Run Derby

In about three weeks, MLB will officially announce this year’s Home Run Derby contestants. Aaron Judge, who leads MLB with 23 homers, has not yet received an invite, he recently told Brendan Kuty. “I haven’t even thought about it. I’ll wait to the day (I’m invited), I guess,” he said. Here’s what Joe Girardi told George King about Judge and the Home Run Derby:

“From watching BP, I have a better idea. Some guys don’t have the power to all fields like Aaron Judge has,’’ Girardi said before the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Angels in 11 innings on Tuesday night. “When you watch his BP, there are a lot of homers going to right and lot of homers going to center. Sometimes you worry about them doing something they don’t do during the course of a game. To me it would just be a normal BP.’’

As I said a few weeks ago, I am 100% on board with Judge participating in the Home Run Derby, and it would be a great thing for MLB and the Yankees. People can’t take their eyes off this guy. He’s someone you want front and center in one of the game’s biggest events. I couldn’t be any less worried about some sort of Home Run Derby hangover effect either. You see how this guy makes adjustments? Put Judge in the Home Run Derby.

MLB will have a “Players Weekend” in August

According to Jeff Passan, MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to hold a “Players Weekend” from August 25th to 27th in which uniform rules will be relaxed. Players will be allowed to put nicknames on the back of their jerseys, wear bright cleats, and put a personalized patch on their jersey. The jerseys will be sold afterwards with proceeds going to the league’s Youth Development Foundation.

Gimmicky? Sure. Harmless? Yep. Will the Yankees allow players to put a nickname on their back of their jersey? I mean, this was negotiated by MLB and MLBPA. I don’t think teams will be able to refuse it. Imagine Michael Pineda on the mound with a BIG MIKE jersey, or Gary Sanchez with KRAKEN. We might see it! Could be cool. The Yankees will be home to play Robinson Cano and the Mariners that weekend, by the way.

Judge has top selling MLB jersey

Speaking of jerseys, Judge now has the No. 1 selling jersey in baseball, according to Josh Kosman. A few weeks ago MLB announced Kris Bryant had the top selling jersey — followed by a whole lot of Cubs — with Judge nowhere to be found in the top 20. (Sanchez was ninth overall and the best selling AL player.) Judge has since smashed a bunch of dingers and jumped to the top of the jersey sales rankings. Pretty awesome.

Also, Kosman says the Yankees will soon start selling souvenir white wigs with Judge’s name at Yankee Stadium. Between that and The Judge’s Chambers out in right field, the team is marketing the hell out of him. As they should! Judge is everything you could want in a franchise player, right? He’s great on the field and humble off it. He represents the Yankees and MLB well. They should be slapping this guy on every billboard possible.