Dynasty Rules

     

                                                 

       Yesterday, the Hahn, Humpty, and Canty show was at the Mariano Rivera Charity Golf Tournament. While on my lunch break, I happen to get a glimpse of the guys interviewing Mariano Rivera. They were asking him to compare his dynasty to what appears to be a budding Yankees dynasty. What stood out to me the most was the he said that everyone chipped in, it was not one person over another. The current Yankee club is not where the mid to late 90’s club, but it appears to be heading in that direction. The question appears to be what makes a dynasty and how can this Yankee club evolve into one.

   Let’s take the what exactly is a dynasty in sports. A dynasty comprises a group of core players who develop together to eventual win for years to come. In baseball, you would have 1 or 2 pitchers anchoring the rotation, followed by key pieces behind them. The bullpen would have a shut out closer with key component pitchers in the bullpen.The position players would be a mix between up and coming stars and veterans. A dynasty is about a team that grows together and learns how to win together. The current team that fits this description perfectly is the Golden State Warriors.

   The Yankees of the late 90’s and early 2000’s were a dynasty everyone wishes they can replicate. They had the perfect fit of stars, role players, and coaches. Today, if a team has money that can overpay for a bunch of players, but it does not mean that it will work out. The team I thought that was close to being dynasty-like was the Royals, but apparently that was not the case. If the Houston Astros can win a few World Series, they could be baseballs next dynasty. The question that comes to mind is if the Yankees have what it takes to create another dynasty.

    They have a lot of young players set in place on the Major League roster like Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, and Did Gregorius. They also have a lot of prospects in their system waiting to come up like Clint Frazier and Dustin Fowler. They also have the pitchers in their rotation and farm system. We see the Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery are performing better than expected.  Knocking on the door is Chance Adams and eventually Justus Shiefield. Right here we have a young nucleus that could provide that excitement for years to come. The other part is the veterans.

    For every dynasty of young core players, there are a few veterans that are there for leadership skills and to provide for the team other intangibles. During the 1996 championship run, the Yankees had Wade Boggs, Paul O’ Neil, and John Wetland. The last image I have is Charlie Hayes catching that last out and Wade Boggs riding around Yankee Stadium on a horse. The veterans are seasoned and know how to play the game differently than the younger players. With the mix of right veterans to compliment the young players, the team can bud into a dynasty.

   The current Yankees team has the foundation for years to come as far as being a dynasty is concerned. The only concern for me is if they will have the right leadership guiding them. Joe Girardi can guide the them, but will they place the proper veteran presence around them. For every Derek Jeter you need a Paul O’ Neill and every Andy Pettite you need a Roger Clemens, which is something they currently do not have. Brett Gardner, Chase Headley, and CC Sabathia are all nice players, but I do not think they are what the Yankees are looking for in veteran pieces. Once we see a complete and clicking team, they will be unstoppable for years to come. This is just the infancy stage of this dynasty, once it gets to its teenage years, as they say in New York, “Fugget About it!!!”

Kris vs. Phil

   Thursday night, June 22^nd, is the 2017 NBA Draft. There is a lot of action and speculation leading up to draft night. Boston and Philadelphia swapped picks, with Boston getting a future 1^st round pick. The Lakers traded D’Angello Russell and Timofy Mozgov to the Nets for Brook Lopez and the 27^th pick. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Jimmy Butler and Paul George playing anywhere but their homecourt rumors are still flying. Up until today, there was talk of the Knicks potentially moving up from the 8^th pick to to try and take Kansas star Josh Jackson. Something else happened today involving the Knicks that really bothers me. If you are saying to yourself, “Kristaps Porzingas trade rumors,” you are correct.

    This infuriates me on so many different levels. On Draft Day 2 years ago, the Knicks had the 4^th overall pick. They chose Kristaps. As everyone remembers, we had that 12 year old boy crying in the stands because he didn’t want him on the team. A 19 year old lanky kid from Latvia that no one knew anything about. That whole thought process then went away when KP’s rookie season was much better than anticipated. He was even runner up in the ROY voting behind Karl-Anthony Towns. My first thought was “Phil Jackson got something right for once.” Last season arrived and even though there was a small dip in production, there was still those flashes of brilliance that he showed the previous season.

                                            

  After this past season is where the real dysfunction came with KP and the team. Every single member of the team, even Melo, showed up for the exit meeting, except for Porzingas. When I first heard this news, I was thinking maybe he thought “Exit Meeting” means you exit after meeting the season's end. Then he says he missed it intentionally due to the dysfunction of the Knicks. That’s when I really started scratching my head here. I said to myself, “Does he know what Phil Jackson did to Melo and he still showed up??” Who the hell is he to miss his exit meeting? He is no Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, or Kobe Bryant. He has played decently for 2 years on a horrible Knicks team. Phil Jackson was trying to build around you! He was trying to trade Melo to put the proper pieces around you!

   Granted that Phil Jackson has not been anything close to Executive of the Year, but he had made it clear that you were untouchable. . . until today. As I was getting on the train to go to work this morning, I heard the rumor that teams have inquired about Kristaps Porzingas. I said to myself “Ok that’s normal, but there is no way Phil screws this one up.” They already have Porzingas and Willy Hernangomez to build around. As the day moved along, I heard more about the rumors and if the right deal presented itself to the Knicks for a trade they would consider it.

    Honestly, Kristaps Porzingas is the one wrong here. He should have showed up to the exit meeting regardless of what he thought of the Knicks structure and dysfunction. This is what erked me. He put himself on the map by pulling this stunt. His brother, who works for his agent's company, came out and said that he wants to win and in New York. I have not heard from KP since the season ended. If he wants to play in New York and win here, he has understand that unless you have LeBron James on your team, things do not turn around overnight. If this attitude continues, no one will want to play with him.  He had another building block in Hernangomez, but he has all but flushed that away. Intially, the Knicks were looking at French point guard Frank Ntilikina, but are now looking at Arizona power forward, Lauri Markkanen(obvious replacement for KP). 

     If the Knicks are wise enough, they gauge the offers from teams but they do not actually pull off a trade.  If anything, they use this a punishment for Kristaps for blowing the exit meeting and saying what he said. What they should do attempt to do is pull a trade with the Celtics for the number 3 pick. Maybe Melo, Hernangomez and the Number 8 pick for the Jae Crowder and the Number 3 pick? If there is a trade involving the Knicks, it will involve the other star forward on the team. Phil, I really hope you are doing this as a scare tactic. Kris, I hope you have learned your lesson and should apologize and make up with the team, ASAP!

  

What is GOAT?

  When the discussion for the Greatest Of All Time(A.K.A. GOAT), what do people think makes them the greatest of all time? How many championships they have won? Their stats? Length of their career? There are so many factors that you have to consider when thinking about the GOAT of not only each sport, but each position in each sport. When you think of the Mt. Rushmore of any sport, it so hard to decide. Different sports, you may only have Mt. Rushmore of a certain position, like baseball for pitchers and position players or football quaterbacks and all other positions. What is it that puts these players at the immortality of their respective position and sports?

    As mentioned, every sport is different in this category. Let’s start with baseball. Baseball is so tough to choose simply due to the fact of its lengthy history. If you want my honest opinion, you have a Co-Goat. You maybe thinking, Co-Goat(this will be football too, read down), huh? In baseball, everyone in the sport except the DH(who I would not even consider a GOAT of the sport) plays the field. You have 9 fielding spots, including the pitcher. No matter what defense is such a strong category in baseball. You have the gold glove award just for this reason. Omar Vizquel and Ozzie Smith could bat at behind the pitcher if they wanted, but they were number 1 on the field they were so good. You could say they were the best 2 defensive shortstops to ever play the game, but they weren’t great offensively.   

   Then there is batter vs. pitcher, which is where our Co-GOAT comes into play. Offensively, you have a hefty amount of categories including Home Runs, Hits, RBI, Runs Scored, and Batting Average just to name a few. There have been so many position players that were so good with that bad, I can’t count those on my toes and fingers. I have had this argument with many people before on who is the greatest. Pitcher’s are the same way. You have most strikeouts, wins loss record, fewest walks allowed, ERA, and K/9 ratio to name a few categories.

     If you want to name a GOAT for a position player, you have to take all of the above into consideration and more. For a position player, you take into his defense, offense(what kind of offensive player was he power or contact), did he win any awards(ROY, MVP, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger etc). You can take winning in to account, but please just look at Ted Williams, he is one of the greatest to play the game but never won a World Series. Even though baseball is the penultimate team sport(another time), 1 player could change the dynamic of a lineup(look at Babe Ruth). If you want my honest opinion, the GOAT among position players is Babe Ruth. He transformed not 1, but 2 teams(Red Sox and Yankees). He hit for power, he played his position well, he was one of the first 5 inductees of the Hall of Fame the year after he retired!

    For the Goat Pitcher, it is a lot more complicated than what you may think. Today, we have 2 types of pitchers, a starting pitcher and relief pitcher. Up until the early 1960’s, 2 things occurred that did not occur today, starters pitched more often than every 5 days and relievers were not used as much or as popular. While thinking about the GOAT, you have to think about this situation as well. If you want to say that Mariano Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher of all time, you can say so, but I would not put him in the top 10 pitchers of all time. For a pitcher, you also have think of the stats he puts up including wins, strikeouts, ERA, innings pitched, and strikeouts/9 innings to name a few. You also have to think of the awards they receive(ROY, MVP, CY Young, Gold Glove). You would also have to think about the length of time they were dominate. Look at Sandy Koufax, for the first 5 years of his career he was a horrible pitcher, all of a sudden in 1960 he turned it around and was so dominate no one even thought about the first years of his career, but he was forced to retire at age of 30. If you want my opinion, the greatest pitcher of all time is Randy Johnson. He is top 2 in all time strikeouts, multiple Cy Young and no hitters and has over 300 wins. He had an extended career which certainly helped.

   In football, you can go a similar direction. You have the defensive end of the ball and the offensive end of the ball. How can someone say Tom Brady or Joe Montana is the greatest football player of all time if they only played 1 position on 1 end of the ball? If you want to debate that they are the greatest quarterback or offensive football player of all time I understand that, but aren’t you taking away the chance of saying someone like Lawrence Taylor, Warren Sap or Dieon Sanders is the greatest of all time? You can certainly say any of those players is the greatest DEFENSIVE player of all time.

     Think of it in this light,  an offensive or defensive player can player their side of the ball and Special Teams, but they still have less in common than a pitcher and position players who BOTH play 2 sides of the ball(defense and either offense or pitching). If you want to say Tom Brady, Jim Brown or Reggie White are in the top 10 players of all time based on stats, length and other characteristics. Football is one sided on both ends of the ball.

    Everyone has to rethink what the meaning of the Greatest of All Time means in every sport. It is certainly fun to have this debate. I have it all the time with my friends, we argue all the time. Everyone should take advantage of watching the generational greats. I got to watch Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. If you were able to say you watched them play, then you are the lucky one.

NBA Lottery

  Every sport has their draft. In 3 of the 4 major North American sports, the team with the worst record gets the first overall pick in the following years draft. Makes sense to me. Worst team gets best young players, best teams get "worst" young players(they aren't really bad players). The only sport that does not do this is basketball. They have what we know is the draft lottery. The worst14 teams are put in a lottery ball machine and they pick the order of the draft. The team with the 8th worst record can have the number 1 overall pick. I am going to tell why this is genius ONLY for the sport of basketball.
   When it comes to the major sports, teams have time to develop their young plays no matter how they draft. Baseball has minor league systems to develop the players. There are 3 levels of minor leagues and they help to develop the players. Football has the biggest roster of any of the sports with a 53 man roster. Aaron Rodgers stood behind Brett Favre for 3 years before becoming a starter. Look how that turned out. These sports have time to develop players and it may take 3-5 years to start winning(look at the New York Giants). Basketball is different.
  Yes, there is a D-League for basketball but there's not much of an impact on on of the teams. The basketball draft has the biggest impact on the right now for the respective teams. Look at Lebron being drafted by the Cavs, Michael Jordan on the Bulls or Larry Bird on the Celtics. They all became instant contenders and winners. This year there is no LeBron, MJ or Larry Bird, but there is a plethora of above average ball players. Will they have an impact on the team that drafts them, posisbly. Will they be draft busts(Deangelo Russell), possibly. We don't know yet. Why would a team like the 76ers tanks for all those years and draft Noel Norleans, Joel Embiid and Jahillil Okafor, who all play the same position. Look how that turned out for them. They traded Noel,  Okafor has been a bust, and Embiid is showing promise. They tanked to try and get the number 1 pick for a while and they only had it once. These teams should be trying to put together the best team they can with where they draft. This is where the draft lottery comes in.
   The lottery ensures that the teams that try and tank do not necessarily try and get number 1 pick. In baseball and football its very hard to tank, most teams just try and win and develop who is on their roster. The lottery is a punishment to those teams. A team like the Nets may not have tanked, but they do have some talent that could have placed them better than their record showed. The lottery is based on luck for all non-playoff teams. Let's hope they don't change this any time soon. Good luck to those teams.

Number 2, Derek Jeter

 

 

 

When you think of Derek Jeter, what's first thought? Number 2? The Flip Play? Mr. November? Derek Jeter has a lot of positive attributes when it comes to his professional baseball career. He's top 10 in almost every Yankees offensive category, even top 6 on the all-time hits list. Derek Jeter was the face of baseball for his 20 year career, some may even say he still is the face of baseball. He may be the last captain the Yankees have for quite some time. If you think about it, he's the last captain George Steinbrenner appointed before he passed away.

  Can you imagine if you #2 was with a team like the Reds or Astros, things would be so much different. In Cincinnati, he would have replaced a legend in Barry Larkin. In Houston, who knows who he would have replaced. Gene Michaels knew what he was doing and so did Tony Fernandez. You may be thinking, "Well that's just rude as well." Think of it this way, Tony Fernandez, already an All-Star shortstop, goes down with an injury. He was set to become a free agent after the season anyways. He gets injured, he gets paid anyways and Jeter comes up. He knew he wasn't with the Yankees past the 96 season anyways. Jeter was pushing his way through the minors. Jeter shows he is made for the Bronx.
  His first big moment as a Yankee came in the ALCS against Baltimore in 1996. Most people know it as the "Jeffery Maier Home Run", to be honest with you it was not guaranteed that Tony Tarassco was catching that ball in the first place. He hits the home run, the Yankees win the game and eventually the pennant. 1996 was just a magical season in itself. Derek Jeter came up at the right time and never looked back. He not only captivated his team, but the whole city of New York(my dad even said he's the last great Yankee and he watched Mantle play).

  We all know that throughout his 20 year career, he had so many moments I could write a whole book on them. The real reason I am writing this post is to say Thank You to Derek Jeter. His number is being retired this Sunday night. He deserves this and to be the first unanimous Hall of Famer. Derek always showed his poise on and off the field. His teammates raved about his leadership. He never even had off the field drama(at least from what we know about). He recently said in an interview that we should not be afraid of failure. He is right and that's why he succeeded. Thank you for playing he sport of baseball. Thank you for being a Yankee. Thank you for showing up in everyone's lives!!