Quick Hit: A-Rod Hosting/Producing His Own Show

Alex Rodriguez has begun a tour since retiring from the New York Yankees and it has been aptly named “I’m not that bad after all.” In all seriousness there is no tour, but that doesn’t mean that the former Yankees third baseman has not made it a point to repair his image with the media and the sport of Major League Baseball since retiring. Alex has covered the sport for both Fox Sports and for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball in recent years and with his latest endeavor he will host and produce an ESPN mini-series called “Pivot.”

Pivot will feature one-on-one interviews with current and former big-name athletes each episode and the interviews will be conducted in “an environment relevant to each athlete’s personal story” per an ESPN news release. This will be a four-part series. The interviewees and the schedule for the shows release have not been announced at the time of this writing.

The concept sounds interesting enough and, truth be told, since it has Alex Rodriguez I will watch it regardless. Stay tuned.

Quick Hit: Alex Rodriguez to Expand Role as FOX Analyst

Alex Rodriguez’s days as a player are officially over, although next time he sneezes or goes to a sports store there will be some dumb ass blog or news publication out there “wondering” if it’s because he is gearing up for a comeback, but his days as a FOX Sports analyst are just beginning. According to a few reports Alex is getting his role with the network expanded in fact which may further confirm that his playing days are over.

After spending each of the past two postseasons as a guest studio analysts for FOX the former Yankees third baseman and DH will now be a game analyst and feature reporter for both FOX Sports and FS1 while also working in the studio as he did before.

Alex signed a multi-year deal with the network but none of the terms were obviously disclosed.

Most Popular Article of the Week: Yankees Open to Dealing Gardner, Headley

Here’s a quick hit to end your day and a bit of a hot stove rumor that could be percolating. The New York Yankees are reportedly open to trade either one or both of outfielder Brett Gardner and third baseman Chase Headley. It seems as though the Yankees are at least comfortable with the idea of continuing their youth movement and cost cutting measures, at least temporarily, into this winter while continuing to build a strong farm system.


Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports was the first to report that the Yankees would be willing to trade these two veteran players over at FoxSports.com. Both players are over that 30-year old plateau and both have two years remaining on their current deals which may motivate the Yankees to move them now rather than later. New York has been open about their plans to try and get under the luxury tax threshold after the 2017 season and moving the contracts of Headley and Gardner can only accelerate that plan.


Neither deal has a no-trade clause written into it so moving them will not be the issue, finding a taker who is willing to pay Brian Cashman’s kinds ransom will be though in my opinion. Stay tuned ladies and gents. Stay tuned.

Yankees Open to Dealing Gardner, Headley

Here’s a quick hit to end your day and a bit of a hot stove rumor that could be percolating. The New York Yankees are reportedly open to trade either one or both of outfielder Brett Gardner and third baseman Chase Headley. It seems as though the Yankees are at least comfortable with the idea of continuing their youth movement and cost cutting measures, at least temporarily, into this winter while continuing to build a strong farm system.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports was the first to report that the Yankees would be willing to trade these two veteran players over at FoxSports.com. Both players are over that 30-year old plateau and both have two years remaining on their current deals which may motivate the Yankees to move them now rather than later. New York has been open about their plans to try and get under the luxury tax threshold after the 2017 season and moving the contracts of Headley and Gardner can only accelerate that plan.

Neither deal has a no-trade clause written into it so moving them will not be the issue, finding a taker who is willing to pay Brian Cashman’s kinds ransom will be though in my opinion. Stay tuned ladies and gents. Stay tuned.

Which MLB Ball Park Should You Visit?

Let's say you only have time to see one more MLB stadium before you go, which stadium should it be? That's a hard decision to make for some. Sure, you have the stadium of your home team but it's likely that you've been there a few hundred times in a lot of cases. What about a rival's stadium? You may or may not have visited this stadium but do you really want to head into enemy territory for your final stadium visit or ultimate stadium visit? Decisions, decisions, decisions but that's where Fox Sports is here to help. 

Fox Sports has developed a quiz that asks a few questions about your ultimate stadium viewing and visiting experience and chooses the stadium that you should cross of your bucket list and head out to visit. To take the quiz CLICK HERE and you can see below for an example of the results as the quiz gave me Yankee Stadium. I kind of thought that was coming by some of the questions asked but I answered honestly anyway and this is what I got. Leave your choice in the comments section below or tweet us them @GreedyStripes. 

www.foxsports.com

Only the Coliseum in Rome can match the grandiose of Yankee Stadium. It's massive, grand and a tribute to the House That Ruth Built. Though it's not the historic ballpark that sat across the street, it's still a must-see for any baseball fan.

John Oliver… Point Made…. Move On

Apparently John Oliver, HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” host and comedian, was not a fan of the comments made by the New York Yankees, Lonn Trost specifically, in their whole debacle and debate with StubHub and print-at-home tickets. None of us were really happy with those comments or the decision truth be told, and when I say “us” I mean the fans, but none of us have taken it as far as Mr. Oliver has.

Oliver has seats directly behind home plate at Yankee Stadium and has looked to shake things up a bit in the Bronx during this three game home stand to open the season. After the Yankees basically told their fans in not so many words that they don’t want those who can’t afford the premium seats, the poor AKA the working man and woman, sitting with those that can afford the seats. So what did Oliver do? He pledged to sell his pair of seats to fans for a quarter, 25 cents, if they agreed to dress up in costumes during the game.

On Opening Day the Bronx faithful were blessed with the protection of a pair of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and for the second game there were two young women dressed in unicorn costumes with two others in shark costumes a couple rows behind them. Oliver has set out to prove a point to the Yankees and the point has been made, it’s time to move on.

Now I know on his next show he will talk about it again and recap what he’s done, that’s the whole premise behind his show and it’s very much his right to do so, but after that he needs to just let it go. What does he think he is proving? Is he going to change the hearts and minds of the Yankees organization? Nope. You know why? He paid full price for those tickets, the Yankees got their money and the Yankees are in it for one thing. Money. In fact New York is probably laughing all the way to the bank because of these costumes, free publicity. The costumes are all over MLB Network and ESPN as well as FOX Sports and such.

Oliver, nice work sticking up for the fans and the ones seemingly getting screwed by this print-at-home tickets decision. Just don’t beat it into the ground like a dead horse, that’s when it gets counterproductive. 

Randy Levine Complains About the Luxury Tax Again

When Randy Levine talks I usually find the nearest mute button, pair of headphones or loud gun and/or explosion to go listen to instead. It’s nothing personal Randy I just don’t agree with a lot of the things you say and I don’t believe you speak for the Yankees fan. Maybe you speak for the suits that run things but suits don’t cheer and suits don’t pay the bills but anyway that’s another blog post for another day. Today’s blog post focuses on what Mr. Levine had to say regarding the New York Yankees, the New York Mets and the luxury tax that both teams have to pay.

In an interview with Fox Sports Levine said that it was “unfair” that the Yankees have to pay so much more in luxury tax than the Mets. Here’s the exact quote:

“What is very burdensome to us – and is unfair – is the amount of money we have to pay in revenue sharing compared, for example, to teams in our market that pay 10 times less than us,” Levine said. “Hopefully that is something that will get looked at in the next labor agreement.”

So let me get this straight. The league set a bar that currently sits at $186 million and said if you go over this total you’re hit with a tax. The league also mandated that the fine and penalty would worsen for consecutive seasons over the luxury tax threshold until or unless you get under the cap for a full season. Either the Yankees didn’t get a certified copy of the rules book or they knew what they were doing when they blew past the mark every year since its inception. Tell me again, please try anyway, how it’s “unfair” that the Mets don’t have to pay for blatantly disregarding the rules while the Yankees do. I’ll wait.

And I’m also wondering how Levine is confused by the whole revenue sharing thing as a whole. The Yankees are worth $3.4 billion, far and away the most in MLB, and the whole system was designed to steal from the rich and give to the poor. The Mets are poor, they are more in debt than the United States of America (almost anyway), and the Yankees are rich. But don’t worry Randy there is a silver lining in this all and how the team has been run recently. At the trend it’s going it won’t be the strongest, most desired or richest brand in all of North American sports anymore. That’s what losing and not reinvesting in your future will do to an organization. 

FYI: Comcast Drops the YES Network

Is your television provider Comcast? If so I have some bad news for you that you may or may not already know. Comcast is set to drop the YES Network immediately leaving you without your home for the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Nets and New York FC soccer club. Due to a dispute over fees, imagine that, Comcast is blacking out the YES Network in certain areas of Northern New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

According to the report I read approximately 900,000 cable customers have been affected by the blackout as many missed the New Jersey Nets game against the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday.

YES is said to be asking for a 33% fee increase that Comcast doesn’t want to pass down to their customers. Just as an FYI it is FOX and no longer the New York Yankees and the Steinbrenner family that owns the majority in the YES Network. Fox owns 80% of the YES Network while the New York Yankees control the rest.

Here is a direct quote from YES:

"Comcast's reputation for poor customer satisfaction is well known, but this surprise development represents a new low. YES and Comcast reached an agreement in principle on the key points of a new contract many months ago, and YES continued to operate in good faith under that arrangement through the entire Yankees and NYC FC seasons and into the Nets season.

"Unfortunately, because YES will not yield to Comcast's demands for special treatment and anti-competitive terms, Comcast has decided to drop YES Network and its coverage of the NY Yankees, Brooklyn Nets and the New York City FC." 

Christine Brennan, It’s Time to FORG1V3

Christine Brennan is a writer for the USA Today, a website that I frequent quite often as you probably already know, and a personality that I used to respect. A personality I used to respect up until she took, in my opinion, a hypocritical stance regarding Fox Sports decision to bring Alex Rodriguez into the fold for their postseason and World Series coverage and analysis. Brennan didn’t hold back whatsoever in her piece, which I was so ever graciously link HERE because I’m not a hater, but I personally believe she missed out on a few key points that I will try and cover here and yes, Christine, I will leave my Yankees fandom at the door.

Christine wasted no time pulling punches in her article as she called Alex Rodriguez the “worst” baseball player and expert they could have picked to join the Fox Sports crew. Of course it didn’t take more than two or three lines to bring up Alex’s steroids suspension and PED use but nowhere in the article does it mention that he did his time, apologized and has done everything in his power to turn his image, and more importantly his life around. Christine brings up the image that we as a society are sending to the children by using “the guy” for steroid use, what about the message that everyone makes mistakes? That everyone is entitled a second, and sometimes even a third or fourth chance, if they earn it? What about the image that no living man walking this Earth is perfect? What about the message of forgiveness?

I have children, one of which is old enough to watch and understand baseball but not quite old enough to understand the severity of steroid use and such yet, and while I will never prop up Alex Rodriguez as a role model or someone I want my son to emulate I will not merely throw him by the wayside either because of past mistakes. There are two sides to every story and every situation, there is also a high road and a low road. I prefer to take the high road with anyone who earns that, and Major League Baseball and Alex’s peers have him up for the AL’s Comeback Player of the Year Award so I’m obviously not the only one who thinks he’s earned at least something back, while you Mrs. Brennan decided to take the low road. What will your children think and the children of others think about the message being sent by a judgmental and hypocritical article like the one you wrote this week?

I have used the term hypocritical multiple times in this article but I haven’t fully explained what I thought was hypocritical. To quote your article you were quoted as saying “this tells us that the game, and Fox Sports, will do anything to get attention. Anything.” What exactly do you think you’re doing as a writer for the USA Today when you write what is more than likely going to be a controversial article about Alex Rodriguez? Are you not doing it to get attention, to get clicks and to look good for your publication? Of course you are, if you weren’t you wouldn’t be getting paid for it. No one is blaming you for that either, I just prefer to call it like I see it and call it fairly for both sides which is something that you showed you were incapable of in this article.

Be the change you want to see in the world. Gandhi said that, Alex Rodriguez is doing that and you, Christine, are everything that’s wrong with the world. Again, that’s just my opinion. Carry on. 

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Minnesota Twins 7/26

Sunday afternoon game time Yankees family, let's get it. Hopefully the offense, much like they did on Friday night, doesn't lull us all into a nice little Sunday afternoon nap. Anyway, the Yankees will face off with the Minnesota Twins in the finale of their three game set in just a few minutes inside Target Field this weekend. New York will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound to face off against the Twins starter Kyle Gibson. The game will be played at 2:10 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, Fox Sports North and MLB TV.

After this game you have just seven more opportunities, four games in Texas and three games in Chicago against the White Sox, to click the Yankees tickets link at the top of the blog to grab your Yankees tickets before the team returns home to Yankee Stadium. Until then be sure to jump on Twitter and give @GreedyStripes a follow to root for the home team while they are playing out west.

I am definitely interested in this start for Eovaldi as I wonder if he will make yet another good start for New York or whether I'll be stuck defending him on Twitter on Monday morning. Either way, Go Yankees!

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Minnesota Twins 7/26

The New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins will finish off their three game set this afternoon inside Minnesota's Target Field with another great pitching matchup. The Yankees will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound looking for yet another good start for the club while Kyle Gibson makes the start for the home town Twins. The game will be played at 2:10 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, Fox Sports North and MLB TV.

• Eovaldi has made the best of his last two months worth of starts as he continues to evolve from a guy that throws 100 MPH with a straight fastball to a true pitcher. Eovaldi doesn't go deep enough into games to be relied upon aisde from being a fourth or fifth starter, he hasn't made it past the sixth inning since June 10th, but he has been one of the more reliable starters in the last nine or so starts. 

• Gibson was one of Minnesota's best pitchers in the first half of the season which was evident by his 0.86 ERA. The first half was then but the second half is a new season and Gibson struggled in his first start after the break. Gibson allowed six runs in five innings against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim which resulted in his first loss since June 21st. 

The Yankees will play this afternoon's getaway game before making the trip west to Texas to face off against the Texas Rangers in a four game set. New York needs to take advantage of this softer schedule by grabbing as many wins as possible and while also grabbing a player or two off the trade market. That continues this afternoon inside Target Field, Go Yankees!

Independence Day Eve & Potential A-Rod Compromises

EDIT: The New York Yankees and Alex Rodriguez have agreed to donate $3.5 million to various charities to end the dispute. Bravo to both sides, bravo.

While many were preparing for their Independence Day cookouts and trips to see the fireworks Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports was reporting that the New York Yankees and Alex Rodriguez were discussing a solution to the $6 million bonus the team may or may not owe Rodriguez.  While this may seem like an original idea to solve a problem and avoid a grievance it's not, I had this idea back in April. Now while I admit was probably not the first to come up with this idea I haven't seen it put on paper before I had it and I think that counts for something.

On April 28th I asked the question whether Alex's milestones were marketable or not, SEEN HERE, and again brought up the idea of donating the money to a charity on June 17th almost three weeks later.

Representatives from the Yankees, Rodriguez and the MLB Players Union have stated that while a deal is not considered close the group has made "quiet progress" in coming to an agreement that could redirect the money "owed" to Alex. The early details of the decision would have the $6 million, and only this $6 million not the next milestone for trying Babe Ruth at 714 home runs, divided and spread across charities hand-chosen by both Hal Steinbrenner and Rodriguez.

This deal could come together rather quickly or it could completely fall apart, that is the bad thing about this deal and how sensitive any agreement would be. I guess you'll have to stay tuned but I will say this either way: I'm glad that Alex did the right thing and continued his PR makeover and I'm also appreciative that the Yankees are willing to avoid more distractions and turmoil with one of their players that is so valuable to the team in 2015.