Yankee Brass Looks To The Team Captain To Bail Them Out Of Their Overpriced, Slow-Selling Luxury Seats

Hopefully we won't be struck down for posting a link to NY Post's Page Six, but here we go. Apparently, Derek Jeter has purchased one of the overpriced luxury suites for his family to call home at the new Yankee Stadium:

Derek Jeter has so many friends and family who want to see him and his teammates play, the Yankee captain leased a luxury suite for the season in the new stadium. A team spokesman said the box was big enough for 12, but wouldn't say how much it cost. But he said that Jeter, one of the highest-paid players in the Major Leagues, paid full price for a suite of its size, which range in cost from $600,000-$850,000 -- and he didn't even get an employee discount.

Could Jeter be bailing the Yankees out of their ticket mess in hopes that the Yankees will pay him back when he becomes a free agent and demands far more money than he is worth?

We always enjoyed seeing Jeter's mom and dad sitting among the common folk in the box seats behind the Yankee dugout. There are no longer common folk in those seats, so it looks like the Jeter family decided to take advantage of the captain's wealth and get themselves some luxury accommodations. Can anyone blame them? Read the full post, after the jump

Jeter and Pedroia getting a little too close during the WBC?

http://soxanddawgs.com/2009/03/09/pedroia-pokes-fun-at-jeter/

If you're a Boston Red Sox fan, you know how much of a trash talker Dustin Pedroia can be. His latest victim is none other than New York Yankees and Team USA captain Derek Jeter.

Being a (bleep)-talker, Pedroia hasn't let Jeter escape his good-natured ribbing. The defending MVP has posted a copy of Jeter's deodorant ad in his locker. It's the one of Jeter outside Fenway Park waving confidently at a group of booing fans.

"I've got it up in my locker to give him a hard time," Pedroia said. "He's awesome, man. We have a good time. To get to know him has been pretty special for me."

Above is an exclusively look at the alteration that Pedroia made to the ad, before posting it in his locker. A simple. efficient way to illustrate a man-crush. Well done, Dusty, well done. Read the full post, after the jump

Two A-Rod posts in a row- We Must Be The NY Media!

Let us go through some of the things A-Rod has been accused of in the 24 hours, and some logical explanations that the NY Media would HATE to bring up:

1) Creating a PR stunt to coincide with his daughters visiting him at the World Baseball Classic
A-Rod's family is considerably closer to the location of the Dominican workout facility than to Tampa. It was an opportunity for his young daughters to see him in his home country's uniform. Like it or not, he is from the Dominican Republic.

2) Soliciting Katie Couric for advice on what team to play for prior to opting out of his contract in late 2007.
Rodriguez was likely speaking in jest. Absolute non-story manufactured by the media.

3) Insulting Derek Jeter by complimenting Jose Reyes.

Here is what A-Rod said:

"I wish he was leading off on our team, playing on our team," "That's fun to watch. Anytime you have that type of speed... I mean, we have a guy in (Brett) Gardner that'll be fun. That's probably the most you can have, watching those guys run."

He was responding to a question about Jose Reyes taking an extra base and then stealing third in an exhibition game against the Marlins.

He was clearly just saying that Reyes is an exciting player. He probably should have said "I wish there was a spot on the Yankees for Jose Reyes." Have we not learned that A-Rod isn't the best speaker by now? Did anyone ever stop to think that English WAS NOT Alex's first language? This is going the extra mile to defend him, but the fact remains that he is an athlete, not a professor, and English is his second language. Can we ever cut him a break? By the way, how was what he said not more of a slight to the leadoff hitter of the Yankees, Johnny Damon. Last we checked, JD had an OPS+ of 118 last year and stole 29 bases - not too shabby!

The fact is, the NY media NEEDS to have an A-Rod story every day, because they are too lazy to research or investigate other stories. Some of them have personal vendettas against A-Rod such as George King III or Peter Abraham. It is just surprising they lumped all of this filler garbage in one 24 hour period - think of all the papers they could have sold if they spread this "news" out!

Talk about it in the Stadium Insider Forums!

Tax Season is here - Save By E-Filing Your Taxes and tell 'em Stadium Insider sent you - Only $19.95! Read the full post, after the jump

Andy Pettite to pitch Opener at New Stadium?

With the Yankees rotation all but settled, our new section-buddy BuckyBadger weighs in on who will pitch the first game at the new Stadium for the Bombers:

Andy Pettitte has signed on to be our 5th starter. The 10th game of the season is the Yankees home opener. Anyone see where I'm going with this? The first man to officially throw a baseball off the mound at the new cathedral of baseball will be someone who truely(sic) deserves it.

I hope Pettitte pitches the home opener as well, but I certainly don't think he deserves it anymore than Wang, or Sabathia would. But wouldn't it be something if Pettitte, the only remaining starter from the dynasty years, gets a win in the opener?! Better yet, in a game where Jeter and Posada both homer, and Mo notches a save. Ahh, dynasty wet dreams!

Talk about it in the Stadium Insider Forums! Read the full post, after the jump

Don't worry Derek, its just Spring Training.... Right?!

Derek Jeter is having a Spring to forget. In 50 plate appearances, DJ has 0 RBIs. To put that in perspective, Wilson Betemit has 9 RBI and is batting under .200. OK, so as rotoworld.com points out, that is probably more of a statistical oddity than anything to be concerned about.

However, with 4 GIDPs in 50 PAs, Jeter is among the league's worst in Spring Training. Check out the list here:

link

Being that he has less ABs than most of those guys, he has among the worst DP rates. Lets hope it is just a Spring aberration and not a continuation of a trend that began last season. We all remember watching Derek appear to age before our eyes in 2007 as he was among the league leaders with 21 GIDPs.

It isn't time to hit any sort of panic button over Spring Training statistics. What will be VERY interesting is to see what sort of a start to the season El Capitan has.

Talk about it in the NYYSI Forums! Read the full post, after the jump

History in the NEW Yankees Stadium... Predictions pt 1.

In just over a year, our heroes that don the pinstripes will move across the street to their new stadium. The dimensions of the stadium will remain the same, as will the uniforms, the hats, the logos, and almost everything else “Yankees”. The fans will love the new, spacious, accommodating stadium. But what about the memories? Ya know… the “mystique” of Yankees Stadium, the “ghosts”. In other words… The history.
Well I’m here to tell you… within the next 10 years, you will see history. There are gonna be milestones, championships, and many other memorable moments. Here are my predictions for great moments at the new stadium:

Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit
Coming soon to a stadium near you. This gets a bit interesting, and I’ll tell you why. Jeter is 644 hits away from 3,000. His career average of hits per season is 208, which means if he follows that same trend, he’ll fall 20 hits short of 3,000 in the 2010 season. Now I know your saying, dude… Why is that interesting at all? Well, I’ll tell you why. Derek Jeter is a free agent following the 2010 season. Now I know, I know, the Yankees won’t let him finish his career elsewhere… But just some food for thought: Jeter could get his 3,000th hit and finish his career in another uniform. It won’t happen… This is when it will

PREDICTION: Since it would take Jeter averaging some of the best seasons of his career over the next three from a hits standpoint, there is no way he does it before 2010 is finished. But get your tickets ready for May 14, 2011 when Jeter grabs his 3000th his. Everyone celebrates!

Alex Rodriguez’s 3000th hit
This one isn’t gonna come as soon as Jeter’s, but it’s on its way. Look, A-Rod is not gonna average a ton of hits per season. At some point during this contract, his hitting for average will decrease. Probably not before he snags his 3,000th hit, though. Over his 4 years with the Yankees he’s averaged a bit over 178 hits per season. He currently lies just 750 hits from 3,000. I believe he’ll keep the same or a similar pace as he has until at least the point that he nears 3,000. Let’s look into the magic 8 ball.

PREDICTION: June 11, 2012. No further comments necessary. Again, print your tickets. It’s happening.

Chien-Ming Wang’s 100th Win
I can’t say for sure whether or not Wang will be a Yankee a few years down the road. He has 46 wins currently and needs 54 wins to reach 100. He’ll get there, barring injury. But in order to get there during the 2010 campaign, he’ll need to average over 18 wins a season. I know he’s posted 19 in the past 2 seasons, but he isn’t a dominating pitcher, and will have a rough time repeating those numbers.

PREDICTION: He’ll be sitting at 99 when the season closes in 2010. So he’ll grab 100 in his first start of 2011… That’s April for those not paying close attention.

Alex Rodriguez becomes the all-time home run king?
Oh this is what you’ve all been waiting for. You wanna know when, so you can prepare to sit your nerdy ass in left field praying that A Rod hits that damn ball right into your hands so you can meet him, and give him a hug, and give him the baseball. Maybe join him and the stripper? Dammit. That’s what I wanna do. Pretend I never said that.

PREDICTION: Alright. He’s about 240 homers short of the record…. He’s averaged 44 HR per season to this point. Over the last 7 years he’s averaged around 47 homers a year. Way I see it… at worst, over the next 5 seasons he averages over 40 HR’s a season… Which will have him hitting his record breaking HR on July 27, 2013. Happy birthday Alex. He’ll be turning 38 that day. Wanna hear something crazy? That’ll be his tenth season with the Yankees.

See plenty of history! Those 4 milestones will all occur within the first 5 seasons at the new stadium! Histttttory!

Talk about it in the NYYSI Forums! Read the full post, after the jump