Bad Day for '90s Yankees Class Perception

The '90s Yankees, loved and hated as they were, were perceived to be classy around the league. They played the game the right way. A sacrifice fly in a key situation was valued as much as a big home run. They played the game with one goal: to win. So anything that devalues that perception of class and determination affects everyone's perception of that dynasty, and two new stories have emerged that threaten that glamor.

Much of the respect the organization received emanated from manager Joe Torre. He is seen in baseball as a player's manager, a calming presence that managed to shut down the sensationalism of the New York media market. But apparently Torre has forgotten that important part of his image and has opted to publish a tell-all book about his time with the Yankees. While the book isn't viewed as a smear campaign, he tells some hard secrets about Alex Rodriguez and vents about his relationship with General Manager Brian Cashman.

Apparently A-Fraud, as the book claims the Yankees called Rodriguez in the clubhouse, is unfazed by Torre's going public. I, on the other hand, am fazed. I am up and down on A-Rod myself, and frequently have referred to him as "Sally Girl" when he strikes out or grounds into a double play in a clutch situation, but that doesn't make it okay for his former manager to tear him a new one for trying to fit in in New York. The guy isn't Pacman Jones. He may be phony, and he may be sleeping with a woman almost twice his age who peaked in the 1980s and early '90s, but I never got the sense that he was a particularly bad guy.

This book should undermine Torre's credibility throughout the game, particularly with former Yankees players and his current Dodgers' roster. You don't want to be Jose Canseco, and this move feels more like something he would be more likely to do than Torre. Nobody likes a snitch, especially one who has built a reputation as a trustworthy authority figure. There was simply no reason for him to go "Deep Throat" on this issue.

As for the players, well Dwight Gooden and David Justice have both been accused by former Mets' clubhouse assistant and George Mitchell darling Kirk Radomski of taking steroids. They both have refuted his claims. I don't mean to cast doubt on either of them, and we should wait for more information before we assume anything, but it definitely has been the case that this type of accusation has usually turned out to be true so far.

"Doc" Gooden was the redemption story of the 1996 Yankees. He came back from a well-publicized addiction to crack cocaine to win 11 games for that World Series team. He pitched a no-hitter along the way. That Radomski claims to have taken urine tests for him is an upsetting blow. It isn't specified when this occurred, just that it was 1990s.

As for Justice, he was a midseason acquisition for the 2000 Yankees who carried the left-handed power hitting role for that team. He hit 41 home runs for Cleveland and the Yankees that season, on the way to 305 dingers for his career. And Radomski claims to have sold him steroids.

Justice was mentioned in the Mitchell Report. He claimed he received HGH from Brian McNamee, not knowing what it was, after McNamee told him it would help him recover from an injury. Once he saw that the drug was administered by needle, he claims, he could not do it. He admitted that he probably would have done it if it were a pill.

These new allegations by Radomski make that version of the story seem less credible. The fact that he claimed his transaction with Justice happened right after the 2000 World Series puts his whole season in doubt. No one likes to think that one of the Yankees' key players was juicing in a historic season that saw the Yankees beat the Mets in the Fall Classic.

The fact that Justice has popped up twice like this leads me to doubt his version of events. I feel a little more sympathy for Gooden because he has been so forthright about his addiction to crack. It seems to me that he has already owned up to his mistakes, and he may be more likely to be honest in this type of scenario. Either way, it hurts the reputation of the entire organization and that of the gritty teams that won four championships in five years to end the last decade.

Between this and Joe Torre's bush league, kick 'em where it hurts book, the '90s Yankees lost some luster today.

WBC Provisionals Star-Studded, Irrelevant, or Cuban

The World Baseball Classic provides Major League Baseball fans with a new periodic reminder of the status of baseball around the globe. Some teams, like the Dominican Republic and the United States, are comparable to All-Star teams in overall big name talent. Japan mixes stars from MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball. Others, like the Netherlands, Australia and Italy have a few familiar names, but simply don't have the talent to compete with the top class of the world's teams. And then there are the surprises...like Cuba, Taiwan and Korea, who use mainly unknown players, but come from rich baseball-playing cultures.

Here are my breakdowns of the familiar names, by position:

USA

SP- Jake Peavy, Roy Oswalt, Scott Kazmir, Justin Verlander, John Danks

RP- Jonathan Broxton, Scot Shields, Brian Fuentes, J.P. Howell, Joe Nathan, J.J. Putz, B.J. Ryan

C- Brian McCann, Chris Iannetta, A.J. Pierzynski

1B- Kevin Youkilis, Derrek Lee

2B- Dustin Pedroia, Brian Roberts

3B- Chipper Jones, Evan Longoria, David Wright

SS- Derek Jeter, Jimmy Rollins

OF- Grady Sizemore, Ryan Braun, Carlos Quentin, Curtis Granderson, Ryan Ludwick, Vernon Wells

My take: Solid all around. One of the best two bullpens in the Classic. Disappointing rotation given the depth of American starters, but there is less patriotism with American pitchers than with other countries. Salary is the primary concern, so why play for free and risk injury? And I thought that John Lackey was on this roster. What happened? He would really help. Another question is who will get the lion's share at third? If it's Chipper, can you honestly say he's the best out of the group? They could use one of those guys at another position, if someone played one. Rollins is better than Jeter at this point, but won't play as much supposedly. Great hitting outfield. They will undoubtedly be good. But come on, boys, win this one for Obama.

Dominican Republic

SP- Edinson Volquez, Ervin Santana, Francisco Liriano, Fausto Carmona, Pedro Martinez

RP- Juan Cruz, Damaso Marte, Rafael Perez, Jose Arredondo, Carlos Marmol, Fernando Rodney, Jose Valverde, Francisco Cordero

C- Miguel Olivo

1B- Albert Pujols, Carlos Pena

2B- Robinson Cano, Placido Polanco

3B- Alex Rodriguez, Aramis Ramirez

SS- Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes

OF- Vladimir Guerrero, Alfonso Soriano, Jose Guillen, Willy Taveras

My take: Scary-high potential in that rotation. Better bullpen than the USA. Weaker at catcher, outfield and at second, probably better everywhere else. This is my favorite team in the Classic, but then again, they were last time, too.

Puerto Rico

SP- Javier Vazquez, Ian Snell, Jonathan Sanchez, Joel Pineiro

RP- Kiko Calero, Javier Lopez, Pedro Feliciano, J.C. Romero

C- Geovany Soto, Bengie Molina, Ivan Rodriguez, Yadier Molina

1B- Carlos Delgado

2B- Felipe Lopez

3B- Mike Lowell, Ramon Vazquez

SS- Mike Aviles

OF- Carlos  Beltran, Alex Rios, Bernie Williams

My Take: Solid players everywhere, but not top-flight on the world stage.

Venezuela

SP- Johan Santana, Carlos Zambrano, Felix Hernandez, Anibal Sanchez, Armando Galarraga

RP- Cesar Jimenez, Renyel Pinto, Rafael Betancourt, Jorge Julio, Francisco Rodriguez

C- Dioner Navarro, Ramon Hernandez, Max Ramirez

1B- Miguel Cabrera

2B- Jose Lopez

3B- Carlos Guillen, Melvin Mora

SS- Omar Vizquel, Cesar Izturis

OF- Magglio Ordonez, Bobby Abreu, Juan Rivera, Carlos Gonzalez

My take: That rotation is filthy. Besides Rodriguez, the bullpen is short. Weak at shortstop, and slightly weak in the outfield. This team is a contender. They would probably win it all if the pitch limits were not so strict strictly due to the presence of Johan, Zambrano and King Felix. 

Mexico

SP- Matt Garza, Yovani Gallardo, Oliver Perez, Alfredo Aceves, Jorge De La Rosa

RP- Dennys Reyes, Oscar Villarreal, Eddie Guardado, Joakim Soria

C- Rod Barajas

1B- Adrian Gonzalez

2B- Edgar Gonzalez

3B- Jorge Cantu

SS- Jerry Hairston, Jr.

OF- Scott Hairston, Karim Garcia, Alfredo Amezaga

My Take: This team is not a joke, but they aren't going to go that far either.

Canada

SP- Rich Harden, Jeff Francis

RP- Jesse Crain, Eric Gagne

C- Russell Martin

Infield- Justin Morneau, Joey Votto

Outfield- Jason Bay, Mark Teahen, Matt Stairs

My take: Some really solid players have crossed the border to the South to play in the bigs. Unfortunately, some of the best ones they have seem to be concentrated in redundant positions. 

Japan

SP- Daisuke Matsuzaka

RP- Masa Kobayashi, Hideki Okajima

C- Kenji Johjima

Infield- Akinori Iwamura

Outfield- Ichiro Suzuki, Kosuke Fukudome

My take: This list may look short, but don't let it fool you. At least not again. It is no fluke that Japan won the last WBC. Okay, maybe it was a fluke, because they didn't look like the best team to me. But the Japan League is very good, and some unknowns (at least for us) will definitely shine a la Dice-K in '06. Everyone seems to be betting it's Yu Darvish this time.

Panama

Manny Corpas, Carlos Ruiz, Carlos Lee

My take: No Mariano Rivera, no chance. In fact, no chance anyway.

Korea

Jae Seo, Byung-Hyun Kim

My take: Boring. But they will probably win some games, because they were strong last time with a similarly snore-inducing squad.

Taiwan

Zilch

My take: They need to clone Chien-Ming Wang and teach some of his clones how to hit. And I don't care how many times you call it Taipei. It's Taiwan to me, because that's what the products I love say.

Italy

Lenny Dinardo, Jason Grilli, Mike Napoli, Frank Catalonotto, Robert Fick, Nick Punto, Chris Denorfia.

My take: Ragtag assortment of never-weres and Mike Napoli. Not promising.

Australia

Grant Balfour.

They aren't winning the World Baseball Classic. But I bet they'd have a pretty good shot in a drinking contest.

Netherlands

Jair Jurrjens.

My take: When colonialism ends, so too does the Dutch baseball enterprise. Well, it's not all that alive anymore now that Andruw Jones can't hit a moose with a Jeep.

Cuba

Nobody who made it to the USA...guaranteed.

My take: Cuba is fascinating. When they play in international tourneys, we get a glimpse of some very talented players who would otherwise likely not be known to us. Well, barring a succesful defection and a minor league contract.

South Africa

Yuck.

My take: No. There will not be a South Africa in the second round this year.

China

No one you would know.

My take: Do I need to write about this one?

Remember, these rosters will be cut down to 28 by the time the Classic starts. And some big names will likely be barred by their employers.