This Day In New York Yankees History 9/15: And the Oscar Goes To....

Derek Jeter has had an illustrious career with the New York Yankees including 14 All Star appearances, a 1996 Rookie of the Year award, 2000 All Star Game MVP award, 2000 World Series MVP award, Hank Aaron awards, Babe Ruth award winner, Roberto Clemente award winner, Lou Gehrig Memorial award, five Gold Glove awards, five Silver Slugger awards, and many other notable achievements and awards in his career but on this day in 2010 Jeter gave an Oscar worthy performance.

Jeter was awarded first base by the umpires after what appeared to be a hit by pitch by pitcher Chad Qualls. Video replay showed that the ball clearly hit the knob of the bat but Jeter's acting got the shortstop on base in a close game with the Tampa Bay Rays. After the game, a 4-3 loss to the Rays, Jeter admitted to pretending to get hit by the pitch to get on base. So much for Jeter's squeaky clean persona.

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/15: And the Oscar Goes To....

Derek Jeter has had an illustrious career with the New York Yankees including 14 All Star appearances, a 1996 Rookie of the Year award, 2000 All Star Game MVP award, 2000 World Series MVP award, Hank Aaron awards, Babe Ruth award winner, Roberto Clemente award winner, Lou Gehrig Memorial award, five Gold Glove awards, five Silver Slugger awards, and many other notable achievements and awards in his career but on this day in 2010 Jeter gave an Oscar worthy performance.

Jeter was awarded first base by the umpires after what appeared to be a hit by pitch by pitcher Chad Qualls. Video replay showed that the ball clearly hit the knob of the bat but Jeter's acting got the shortstop on base in a close game with the Tampa Bay Rays. After the game, a 4-3 loss to the Rays, Jeter admitted to pretending to get hit by the pitch to get on base. So much for Jeter's squeaky clean persona.

Brian McCann Wins Sixth Silver Slugger Award

Brian McCann has won his sixth Silver Slugger Award of his career tonight. McCann won five Silver Slugger Awards with the Atlanta Braves and has won his first with the New York Yankees and in the American League. McCann finished the 2015 season with 26 home runs, a career high, and 94 RBI, which tied a career high. McCann's triple slash leaves much to be desired, .232/.320/.437, but his OPS was third highest in the AL among catchers with a .756 OPS.

Congrats to McCann on his first Silver Slugger Award since 2011.

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/15: And the Oscar Goes To....

Derek Jeter has had an illustrious career with the New York Yankees including 14 All Star appearances, a 1996 Rookie of the Year award, 2000 All Star Game MVP award, 2000 World Series MVP award, Hank Aaron awards, Babe Ruth award winner, Roberto Clemente award winner, Lou Gehrig Memorial award, five Gold Glove awards, five Silver Slugger awards, and many other notable achievements and awards in his career but on this day in 2010 Jeter gave an Oscar worthy performance.

Jeter was awarded first base by the umpires after what appeared to be a hit by pitch by pitcher Chad Qualls. Video replay showed that the ball clearly hit the knob of the bat but Jeter's acting got the shortstop on base in a close game with the Tampa Bay Rays. After the game, a 4-3 loss to the Rays, Jeter admitted to pretending to get hit by the pitch to get on base. So much for Jeter's squeaky clean persona.

Jason Giambi Calls it Quits

Former Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies and Major League Baseball player Jason Giambi has decided to hang up his spikes and retire after 20 MLB seasons.

Giambi spent seven seasons in New York and compiled the below stats:

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	Awards
2002 ★	155	560	120	176	34	41	122	109	112	.314	.435	.598	1.034	172	AS,MVP-5,SS
2003 ★	156	535	97	134	25	41	107	129	140	.250	.412	.527	.939	148	AS,MVP-13
2004 ★	80	264	33	55	9	12	40	47	62	.208	.342	.379	.720	90	AS
2005	139	417	74	113	14	32	87	108	109	.271	.440	.535	.975	161	MVP-18
2006	139	446	92	113	25	37	113	110	106	.253	.413	.558	.971	148	MVP-14
2007	83	254	31	60	8	14	39	40	66	.236	.356	.433	.790	107
2008	145	458	68	113	19	32	96	76	111	.247	.373	.502	.876	128
	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	Awards
NYY (7 yrs)	897	2934	515	764	134	209	604	619	706	.260	.404	.521	.925	143

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Giambi finished his career, however much tainted by steroids, with 440 home runs, a 50.0 WAR, an MVP Award in 2000, the 2nd place MVP Award in 2001, two Silver Slugger Awards and five All Star Game appearances.

Giambi released a statement thanking his fans and such and was quoted as saying the following:

“I want to thank the fans for being a part of this incredible journey. I especially want to thank the fans that gave me a second chance to let me show you the human being you see today.”

Starting Pitchers Should Not Be Allowed to Win the MVP Award

It was reported on Thursday evening that Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won the MVP Award for the American League and Clayton Kershaw won the award for the National League. I made this same argument when Justin Verlander won the award a few years back for the Tigers and I will make the same argument today, a starting pitcher should not be allowed to win the MVP Award in my opinion.

Starting pitchers have their own award that they can win and it’s called the Cy Young Award. How is it fair that Kershaw, who undoubtedly was the most valuable player in the league, can win the award for pitchers and the award predominantly for the positional players. If a positional player could win the Cy Young Award or the Mariano Rivera Award and such I would have no problem with it but they can’t. The relievers have their award, the pitchers have their award, and the positional players should have their award.

While I understand that the positional players have Silver Slugger Awards that does not carry the same weight as being the most valuable player in the league. It seems like a one-way street that only the pitchers can take in my opinion and it doesn’t seem right with me. As a member of the IBWAA I had an MVP vote and I refused to vote for Kershaw for that exact reason, I voted for Giancarlo Stanton.

This is a debate that will rage on forever I think and a debate that most feel extremely passionate about one way or the other. I won’t win this debate with anyone and I’m not interested in a debate because you won’t win one with me either. This is my opinion and my opinion is that a starting pitcher who pitches every fifth day and has their own prestigious award should not be allowed to win the MVP.

Discuss. 

This Day In New York Yankees History 9/15: Derek Jeter Deserves An Oscar

Derek Jeter has had an illustrious career with the New York Yankees including 14 All Star appearances, a 1996 Rookie of the Year award, 2000 All Star Game MVP award, 2000 World Series MVP award, Hank Aaron awards, Babe Ruth award winner, Roberto Clemente award winner, Lou Gehrig Memorial award, five Gold Glove awards, five Silver Slugger awards, and many other notable achievements and awards in his career but on this day in 2010 Jeter gave an Oscar worthy performance.

Jeter was awarded first base by the umpires after what appeared to be a hit by pitch by pitcher Chad Qualls. Video replay showed that the ball clearly hit the knob of the bat but Jeter's acting got the shortstop on base in a close game with the Tampa Bay Rays. After the game, a 4-3 loss to the Rays, Jeter admitted to pretending to get hit by the pitch to get on base. So much for Jeter's squeaky clean persona.

Robinson Cano Wins Fourth Consecutive Silver Slugger

Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees has won his fourth consecutive Silver Slugger award tonight. Cano easily won the award with a .314/.383/.516 triple slash with 27 home runs, 107 RBI, 41 doubles, and 190 hits overall. Omar Infante was the only other second basemen to have a higher average when he batted .318 this season and no second basemen in the running had a higher on base percentage or OPS than Cano. Dustin Pedroia had three more hits and one more double than Cano but Robbie had 10 more home runs than any other finalists and 23 more RBI's then his closest competitor. Congratulations to Robbie!

Derek Jeter's New Contract Explained, Finally

It is official thanks to Joel Sherman that Derek Jeter's new contract will indeed cost the New York Yankees money on their $189 million luxury tax AAV and not save them money. The original deal had Jeter simply accepted his player option would have been for a $10,750,000 AAV and this new deal is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $12,810,000. The Yankees were not concerned with AAV and the luxury tax threshold but more worried about making Derek happy and not having an awkward or drawn out negotiation like the last time Derek was a free agent.

Derek's new contract also includes incentives which could push the deal higher including $4,000,000 for a MVP award and $2,000,000 if he finishes anywhere between second and sixth place. Also Derek could make an additional $1,500,000 if he wins the Silver Slugger award, $500,000 for winning the ALCS MVP, another $500,000 for winning the World Series MVP award, and finally $500,000 more for winning the gold glove.

Now that we have that settled we can move on to qualifying offers...