WilmasPimp
06-02-2004, 12:10 AM
The Koch story is classic.
(From Dirt Dogs):
6.1.04 Exclusive: A friend of ours had dinner with Peter Gammons the other night. As always, don't shoot the messenger:
"- A-Rod, not Theo, John Hart or John Henry, initiated the talks b/w The Sox and the Rangers... always wanted to come to Boston... thought it'd be great for baseball to have him in Boston and Jeter in NY... wanted to keep Boras out of it b/c he didn't want it to get F'd up... just wanted out of Texas. Happy to be in NY but would rather be playing in Boston.
- At one point during the whole saga, A-Rod was talking to Gammons as he walked through Downtown Crossing and people were shouting things like "What's gonna happen?" and "Is it gonna get done?" at him... he held up his cell phone and was like "Do you hear this?" and A-Rod was all fired up about the passion of the city and the Sox fans.
- Did A-Rod bastardize his career by moving to 3B? Yes.
- Schilling is tough to take in the clubhouse... not surprisingly, he's got an opinion on everything and it rubs a lot of guys the wrong way. Some of the Dbacks who weren't fans of his were out w/ PG once and spoke glowingly about the Big Unit and what a good guy he is... and every one of them, to a man, said if they had to win one game, they'd want Schilling out there.
- Mussina, when he was coming up on Free Agency, told his agent, "I'm going to Pennsylvania (his home), make sure I end up with the Yankees... we shouldn't take less than $10M/year so anything you can get on top of that is fiction anyway... just make it happen" end result --- $15M/year deal.
- Of the four Sox F.A's, it'll be Martinez and Varitek that re-sign with the team.
- Kris Benson and Billy Koch, while at Clemson, were taking an exam together... both were struggling with it and Koch looks to Benson for some help. Benson was little, if any, help... Koch gets up and hands the blank booklet to the professor, walks back and says to Benson "see you in the Major Leagues" ...Gammons said that they use that phrase every once in a while on Baseball Tonight and that's what they're referring to.
- David Ortiz is most likely older than his advertised 28. His lockeroom presence can't be overstated... keeps everyone loose, the whole team loves him.
- He thinks Arn Tellem wanted Nomar to take the $15M/yr for 4 when it was offered but Nomar's so competitive, he wanted to be paid like Jeter since he's had more production and is a better fielder.
- Last off-season, Steinbrenner took Sheffield and Gooden out for dinner and over a bunch of bottles of wine, they agreed to a handshake deal to bring Sheff to the Yanks... it was only afterwards that Sheff figured out what "deferred compensation" means and backed out. A few weeks later, Cashman had a deal w/ Vlad Guerrero more or less ironed out w/ only some language to be tweaked before making it official... only to have Big Stein come in and squash it, saying "we're signing Sheffield, not Guerrero."
- Back in the mid 80's when Boggs and Mattingly were vying for the batting title, the Yanks played the Sox in the last series of the season. Boggs was ahead of Mattingly by a few percentage points and sat a few games out with a "bad back"... in the last game of the series, Mattingly needed to go 6-for-6 to beat Boggs... first at-bat, he homered, 2nd at-bat, he doubled... 3rd at-bat, he lined out to RF... on his way back to the dugout, Dewey Evans ran by Mattingly and said something to the effect of "It's too bad, we were all pulling for you". Boggs = Bad guy.
- Jim Rice will be voted into the HoF by the veterans committee.
- Dwight Evans was as good of a defensive outfielder as PG has seen... cut-off throws, angles taken on balls, etc... he also referenced Guerrero as a terrible defensive RF who every once in a while will make a eye-popping throw but more often will miss cut-off guys.
- Carl Everetts' wife got into a fistfight with Bernard Gilkie's wife outside Fenway the day that he head-butted the umpire.
- Team has a gag order regarding Nomar's diagnosis but clearly they got it wrong out of the gate. He also said that anyone who thinks he's trying to stick it to the team by sitting out longer than necessary is crazy... he's hyper-competitive and has too much pride.
- If he had to win one game, this would be his line-up SP - Schilling C - Posada 1B - Pujols 2B -Giles SS - (would be Nomar if healthy) Renteria 3B - A-Rod LF - Bonds CF - V. Wells RF - Can't remember... I think he got sidetracked and never got to RF Closer - Gagne.
- When Manny showed up for camp this year, the 3 owners along with Theo sat down with him to clear the air and at one point, Ramirez thoughtfully asked Gammons if he thought Manny was a "cancer" in the clubhouse, as it had been written. Gammons thinks this off-season caused him to do some real soul-searching and has re-dedicated himself to enjoy the game more and embrace Boston rather than keeping it at a distance.
- In reference to the steroid scandal, instead of talking about hitters and power numbers, he focused mostly on pitchers and how velocity is markedly down from starters to relievers... another thing he mentioned is how desperate guys in the minors and overseas are to have just a few seasons earning Major League money... therefore the desire to stay competitive and do whatever it takes.
- While Mo Vaughn was MIA a few seasons back, a member of Mets management received a phone call from a guy in Chicago who was with him... at Scores, the strip club.
- Canseco (biggest waste of talent he's seen) thought the ball hitting his head and bouncing over the fence for the home run was funny and that it'd make a good highlight... the pitchers on that team hated him for that. Also, when he pitched in some extra-inning game later in his career, his arm was dragging so much so that he could barely lift his arm above his head weeks afterwards.
- Gammons was staying at the same hotel in Hawaii that Mia and Nomar (and actually Mia's seats are right next to Gammons' at Fenway so he's pretty tight with her)...they saw on Sportscenter that it looked like he was being traded, that's the first they heard of it.
- Sox brass is keen on Frank Catalanotto from the Jays.
- If Mets are out of the playoff race, don't be surprised if Al Leiter comes up to Boston to pitch at Fenway for the last few months of the season.
- Players in general LOVE Theo... has a way about him that's very approachable and is always super-prepared for any and all discussions. Theo loves to have people surrounding him who will take the other side of arguments re: player ideas, etc.
- Foulke could've got the same money from Oakland but liked Boston b/c he liked the way Theo and the mgmt treated him... Bruins game, etc.
- I hate to mention it but in Game 7 of the ALCS last year, Grady Little unequivocally told Pedro he was done after the 7th inning but then during the top half of the 8th, decided he wanted Pedro to face Nick Johnson only... obviously, he faced more than Nick Johnson… and the rest is history."
(From Dirt Dogs):
6.1.04 Exclusive: A friend of ours had dinner with Peter Gammons the other night. As always, don't shoot the messenger:
"- A-Rod, not Theo, John Hart or John Henry, initiated the talks b/w The Sox and the Rangers... always wanted to come to Boston... thought it'd be great for baseball to have him in Boston and Jeter in NY... wanted to keep Boras out of it b/c he didn't want it to get F'd up... just wanted out of Texas. Happy to be in NY but would rather be playing in Boston.
- At one point during the whole saga, A-Rod was talking to Gammons as he walked through Downtown Crossing and people were shouting things like "What's gonna happen?" and "Is it gonna get done?" at him... he held up his cell phone and was like "Do you hear this?" and A-Rod was all fired up about the passion of the city and the Sox fans.
- Did A-Rod bastardize his career by moving to 3B? Yes.
- Schilling is tough to take in the clubhouse... not surprisingly, he's got an opinion on everything and it rubs a lot of guys the wrong way. Some of the Dbacks who weren't fans of his were out w/ PG once and spoke glowingly about the Big Unit and what a good guy he is... and every one of them, to a man, said if they had to win one game, they'd want Schilling out there.
- Mussina, when he was coming up on Free Agency, told his agent, "I'm going to Pennsylvania (his home), make sure I end up with the Yankees... we shouldn't take less than $10M/year so anything you can get on top of that is fiction anyway... just make it happen" end result --- $15M/year deal.
- Of the four Sox F.A's, it'll be Martinez and Varitek that re-sign with the team.
- Kris Benson and Billy Koch, while at Clemson, were taking an exam together... both were struggling with it and Koch looks to Benson for some help. Benson was little, if any, help... Koch gets up and hands the blank booklet to the professor, walks back and says to Benson "see you in the Major Leagues" ...Gammons said that they use that phrase every once in a while on Baseball Tonight and that's what they're referring to.
- David Ortiz is most likely older than his advertised 28. His lockeroom presence can't be overstated... keeps everyone loose, the whole team loves him.
- He thinks Arn Tellem wanted Nomar to take the $15M/yr for 4 when it was offered but Nomar's so competitive, he wanted to be paid like Jeter since he's had more production and is a better fielder.
- Last off-season, Steinbrenner took Sheffield and Gooden out for dinner and over a bunch of bottles of wine, they agreed to a handshake deal to bring Sheff to the Yanks... it was only afterwards that Sheff figured out what "deferred compensation" means and backed out. A few weeks later, Cashman had a deal w/ Vlad Guerrero more or less ironed out w/ only some language to be tweaked before making it official... only to have Big Stein come in and squash it, saying "we're signing Sheffield, not Guerrero."
- Back in the mid 80's when Boggs and Mattingly were vying for the batting title, the Yanks played the Sox in the last series of the season. Boggs was ahead of Mattingly by a few percentage points and sat a few games out with a "bad back"... in the last game of the series, Mattingly needed to go 6-for-6 to beat Boggs... first at-bat, he homered, 2nd at-bat, he doubled... 3rd at-bat, he lined out to RF... on his way back to the dugout, Dewey Evans ran by Mattingly and said something to the effect of "It's too bad, we were all pulling for you". Boggs = Bad guy.
- Jim Rice will be voted into the HoF by the veterans committee.
- Dwight Evans was as good of a defensive outfielder as PG has seen... cut-off throws, angles taken on balls, etc... he also referenced Guerrero as a terrible defensive RF who every once in a while will make a eye-popping throw but more often will miss cut-off guys.
- Carl Everetts' wife got into a fistfight with Bernard Gilkie's wife outside Fenway the day that he head-butted the umpire.
- Team has a gag order regarding Nomar's diagnosis but clearly they got it wrong out of the gate. He also said that anyone who thinks he's trying to stick it to the team by sitting out longer than necessary is crazy... he's hyper-competitive and has too much pride.
- If he had to win one game, this would be his line-up SP - Schilling C - Posada 1B - Pujols 2B -Giles SS - (would be Nomar if healthy) Renteria 3B - A-Rod LF - Bonds CF - V. Wells RF - Can't remember... I think he got sidetracked and never got to RF Closer - Gagne.
- When Manny showed up for camp this year, the 3 owners along with Theo sat down with him to clear the air and at one point, Ramirez thoughtfully asked Gammons if he thought Manny was a "cancer" in the clubhouse, as it had been written. Gammons thinks this off-season caused him to do some real soul-searching and has re-dedicated himself to enjoy the game more and embrace Boston rather than keeping it at a distance.
- In reference to the steroid scandal, instead of talking about hitters and power numbers, he focused mostly on pitchers and how velocity is markedly down from starters to relievers... another thing he mentioned is how desperate guys in the minors and overseas are to have just a few seasons earning Major League money... therefore the desire to stay competitive and do whatever it takes.
- While Mo Vaughn was MIA a few seasons back, a member of Mets management received a phone call from a guy in Chicago who was with him... at Scores, the strip club.
- Canseco (biggest waste of talent he's seen) thought the ball hitting his head and bouncing over the fence for the home run was funny and that it'd make a good highlight... the pitchers on that team hated him for that. Also, when he pitched in some extra-inning game later in his career, his arm was dragging so much so that he could barely lift his arm above his head weeks afterwards.
- Gammons was staying at the same hotel in Hawaii that Mia and Nomar (and actually Mia's seats are right next to Gammons' at Fenway so he's pretty tight with her)...they saw on Sportscenter that it looked like he was being traded, that's the first they heard of it.
- Sox brass is keen on Frank Catalanotto from the Jays.
- If Mets are out of the playoff race, don't be surprised if Al Leiter comes up to Boston to pitch at Fenway for the last few months of the season.
- Players in general LOVE Theo... has a way about him that's very approachable and is always super-prepared for any and all discussions. Theo loves to have people surrounding him who will take the other side of arguments re: player ideas, etc.
- Foulke could've got the same money from Oakland but liked Boston b/c he liked the way Theo and the mgmt treated him... Bruins game, etc.
- I hate to mention it but in Game 7 of the ALCS last year, Grady Little unequivocally told Pedro he was done after the 7th inning but then during the top half of the 8th, decided he wanted Pedro to face Nick Johnson only... obviously, he faced more than Nick Johnson… and the rest is history."