I haven’t had a chance to do this in a long, long time. I’m working off the comments in yesterday’s Daily Nunez post:
Thirty-seven percent of all articles Steve now writes are about Derek Jeter. Sad. Jeter was once a great short stop, and Steve Goldman once used to write interesting articles. All good things… (RobMer)
Thirty-Seven is Casey Stengel’s number, and I’m always happy to be associated with it. In any case, it seems to me that Jeter’s impact on the 2011 race, the impact of his chase for 3000 on Joe Girardi’s decisions, and his impact on the future of the franchise given his everlasting gobstopper of a contract is THE story this year, and it’s what I’m interested in more than anything else. Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln, Jeter, in how the rest of his season plays out, shall nobly save or meanly lose the 2011 pennant. And then 2012 as well. Also, 2013. Maybe 2014, even, given the contract option, but I very much doubt it. I will endeavor to be more “interesting” to you in the future (a dirty word, interesting, in my dictionary), both here and at Baseball Prospectus, where yesterday I compared the way the Mariners intend to watch Michael Pineda’s pitch counts to the hamfisted Joba Rules.
You are losing it, my friend. You are putting your credibility at risk with such venomous posts. Check your self, bro. Nuni isnt even that much better considering sample size.
8 Errors in 20 games started, YES! This is pure hatred. Did Jeter date someone close to you or something? (Al)
Nunez may not be “the one” anymore than Nixon was. As I have written many, many times, I don’t believe he is the shortstop of the future, first because his bat will ultimately prove to be inadequate, even in these times in which few teams have shortstops (and that’s going to get worse–look at the minors) and his glove may be too inconsistent as well, as evidenced by all those errors. Yet, I have been intrigued by what has been happening these last two weeks, not because I hate Jeter–I don’t hate any ballplayer; I don’t think that way. Hate is an extreme emotion and no ballplayer deserves that for trying his best and failing (nor for trying his best and succeeding for the Red Sox or any other rival–it’s just a game, kids). Even if I did, no true baseball fan could hate Derek Jeter. What I dislike is having to watch his decline phase and be told night after night that he’s still a special performer and that his search for 3,000 hits–a personal, not a team goal–has anything to do with winning another championship.
Now, if the old fellow comes back and hits .350 the rest of the way, I will watch as happily as anyone else, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, and even if it does, it’s not going to happen again next year. As such, Colonel Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston, we have a problem, and I am very interested to see what solutions and alternatives present themselves. And I am amused, giddy even, at the idea that Nunez, whose starter possibilities I had mostly written off, might exceed my low expectations. That’s not hate for Jeter; it’s enthusiasm for Nunez. I’m sorry if I offended you by liking someone else. Last I checked, I’m married to my wife, not Derek Jeter, and while I might have taken her forsaking all others, I don’t recall making a similar vow where Jeter is concerned.
Parenthetically, despite all of Nunez’s errors, Yankees pitchers are allowing fewer runs than they did when Jeter was around. Think about this: Nunez’s occasional errors are not equivalent to Jeter’s lack of range. Maybe Nunez makes an error every two games, but Jeter let’s a grounder or two go by him every day. If you called the balls that an average shortstop would reach but Jeter just waves at “errors,” you wouldn’t be able to find his fielding percentage with a bloodhound and a microscope. Nunez is throwing more balls away, but he’s also getting to more balls overall. So far, the tradeoff has worked in the Yankees’ favor.
From what I gather by reading scouting reports and general opinion around the game, Nunez tops out as a solid all-around shortstop on both sides, a decent defender with a bat that’s good enough to start, almost certainly (for the Yankees at least) batting 9th. At absolute best, I think they’ve got a guy who’s slightly above league average for a SS. The crux of the argument, however, is that the days of young ARod, Jeter, Nomar and Tejada are long gone, and that’s the best you can hope for in the forseeable future, unless your shortstop is named Tulo, Hanley or Elvis. There simply aren’t any other options out there but a 9-hole hitter who can hopefully hit an empty .290. (Jesse From NY)
That’s exactly right, and it’s why I keep looking forward to solutions instead of back to the past. Because apres Jeter comes not le deluge but le desert. Like global warming, that future is knocking on the door now, not five or 50 years from now, and it’s not too soon to worry obsessively about filling the position. Keep in mind, as dry as the shortstop position is around baseball, it’s not so dry in the AL East. The Orioles will likely have J.J. Hardy for awhile, followed by Manny Machado. The Jays have secured Yunel Escobar. The Red Sox have patched decently with Jed Lowrie and Marco Scutaro, and even if Jose Iglesias proves to be a poor hitter, he is reputed to be an outstanding defender. That leaves the Yankees and the Rays on the outside looking in–and the Yankees don’t have a shortstop prospect as good as Tampa’s Hak-Ju Lee. Earlier this week, my BP colleague Jason Park said of him, “The total package could be an All-Star with a plus glove, the ability to hit for a very high average (not empty average), and enough strength to work the gaps.”
As such, it’s not such a bad thing if Nunez stakes a claim to the position in the future. Unfortunately, that’s just not a priority right now, not for the Yankees, not for many fans. Jeter wasn’t going to get Wally Pipped even if Nunez had hit .500 and fielded flawlessly, because the history and the 3000 hits thing is more important for some reason. I have great respect for that history, but yesterday is gone, and if you’re going to toss away a pennant race on a player’s quest for self-aggrandizement, you might as well dig Babe Ruth out of the ground, prop him up at home plate, and see if he can pick up the 49 home runs he needs to reclaim the all-time lead from Barry Bonds.
Again, I don’t think that much of Nunez’s chances, but as Jesse here points out, in this era, an empty .290 from your shortstop ain’t bad. Rooting for that possibility isn’t disloyalty to Derek Jeter, it’s loyalty to the idea of a winning Yankees baseball team.
Man, that felt good. I missed doing that! The Pinstriped Bible: Going to the Mats with Reader Mail since 1999 and loving it.
I sure hope you aren’t thinking about pointing out the Captain’s .648 OPS. That would be pure venom. He only needs a few more seeing-eye singles to get that magic 3000!
Nunez’ OPS is .650. Whats your point?
Al-
Where do you see me praising Nuñez? Everyone knows he’s a stop-gap measure at best. No one on Earth thinks Nuñez is going to turn into a Hall of Fame player. He’s an average player, and if we get extremely lucky he will someday be a slightly above-average player. Yet he’s still playing better than the man making $17 for the next 3-4 years. You don’t think that’s a story?
I just think it’s ridiculous that baseball writers are taken to task for writing about baseball. This site is dedicated to writing about the Yankees from an analytical, objective, statistics-based perspective. It’s not a cheerleading blog. Yet writing an article about Derek Jeter’s obvious decline in skills brings out the torches and pitchforks every day. These guys (Steven, Jay, Cliff) have a job to do. Part of that job is analyzing the players on the field. It would be irresponsible to ignore the problem that Jeter represents for this season and the next three. He’s the leadoff hitter of a potential pennant-winner, and his OBP is .324, and the only reason this is allowed to go on is that he used to be good. That IS a story. We all know he was once a great player and that he’s the greatest shortstop in team history. But that’s all in the past now. He isn’t that player anymore. He isn’t a Derek Jeter-type anymore. He’s not even a Juan Uribe-type. It makes me sad, watching my favorite player circle the drain like this. That doesn’t mean I want to read puff pieces about the guy.
Let me put it this way:
If Jeter was playing great, the guys on this site would be writing about that. If they wrote articles praising Jeter’s great play, would they be accused of “having a crush” on him? No, that would be ludicrous. But since Jeter’s playing terribly and they write about that, the writers are accused of having a personal agenda. That’s nonsense.
As long as Derek Jeter is a story, they’re going to keep writing about it. You can tell them to write different articles, but I doubt they will listen to you.
John,
You are right, its a Yankee blog, not a Jeter blog. Yes, Jeter is not hitting and its a story, but its not THE only story. Grandy and Tex are doing so well. Yankees are in fist place. Yet, Jeter is the only story, and not only, now Nunez is the big story on PSB.
I am not disagreeing that Jeter is a weak hitting SS and I am also a fan of pushing him down in the line up, which may or may not save a few double plays. I am pretty sure that if Derek was hitting 9th, it would still not amount to a single win difference over the year. That’s why I think its excessive to what extend Steven is going to point out Jeter’s struggles. All ball players struggle regardless of their contracts. How long will we dwell on his awful contract? He is signed, Yankees have a shortstop, Yankees are in first place, lets move on.
Steven,
What is the solution now? Jeter is signed. Its too late to give him a one or two year deal. Shouls he play in garbage time to give Nunez some rest? What should Joe do now except for sliding him down to an 8 or 9 hole. To bench Jeter in favor of Nunez is pointless. If Nunez was named Tulo, then we are not having this conversation, but you are talking about Eduardo Nunez, not Troy Hanley Tulomirez. Please stop writing about bad Jeter and write something good about Tex, and we know you love you some Tex.
Teixeira is having a very good year. Sitting in the stands the other day, I heard a couple of guys complaining about his ~.250 average and I wanted to ask how they were valuing that against all the home runs, which they seemed to not care about.
A-Gon has a much higher avg, but way less homers.
If you could swap those two, would you?
No way I would switch his homers for A-Gon’s average. Tex has sick #s with runners on base regardless. It seems like he is hitting with runners on and not hitting with bases empty, probably because he is seeing more fastballs during at bats with runners on. And I’m sure he has more at bats with the bases empty than he does with runners on, but when runners on are he is crushing the fastballs and the mistakes that the pitchers leave in the zone, and his numers prove that the the top of the order have been giving him base runners runners to drive in fairly consistently as well.
They really are head and shoulders above anyone else in the league in terms of defense. Tex is a switch hitter though, so I think that gives him the edge here.
I’m honored to make Steve’s Readers’ comments, and with the lead position! Yet, sadly, it’s another Jeter article, pushing his Jeter percentage toward 38. Nevertheless, it’s a good thing in this case. Recognizing an obsession is the first step toward correcting it.
Seriously (and in case it wasn’t obvious, the 37% was bit of a joke and entirely made up…I think), but the issue I have is in framing the Jeter discussion under Nunez. I do not like Nunez, Sam I am, and do not understand the fascination with him. As we know in baseball, the guy with the best tools, or who is the most athletic, does not necessarily mean he’s a good baseball player. I have questioned, and will continue to question, Nunez’s baseball instincts and his plate discipline, two critical areas of his game that I don’t expect to improve. He’s twenty-four-years old, which isn’t exactly young for a guy in his first MLB season, and has been playing professionally for years. He shouldn’t be making these type of errors. The most consistent part of his game is the consistency in which me makes fielding, running and mential errors. Some people have said that classic Jeter’s strength was his ability to slow the game down and never get lost in the moment. I understand the expression, and I also understand the other side of it. Nunez speeds the game up, which is why he continuually makes errors of all sorts. They’re not rookie mistakes. They’re baseball mistakes, on any level. I’ve followed him for years and he’s always had these problems. They unfortunately represent who Nunez is. It’s between the ears. It’s his baseball IQ I question. I hope I’m wrong.
As for Jeter, he’s Meh. League average for an AL SS. In other words, he’s not really hurting or helping the Yankees. The problem is Nunez is hurting the Yankees. There is one fWAR difference between Jeter and Nunez, in favor of Jeter. Jeter is still in the positive territory, while Nunez remains in the negative, even after getting the opportunity to play these last couple weeks at what should be his stronger defensive position.
If Nunez was really good, the Yankees would start pushing Jeter aside, just as they let Bernie walk away, and just as they told Posada he would no longer catch, and seemed within days of perhaps replacing him as DH. They’re not doing the same with Jeter for a couple reasons. First, they won’t do anything until he gets 3,000, but even then they won’t, because Jeter is still, sadly, the better option.
Another excellent blog, It’s About the Money Stupid, does a better job than me of summing it up. His feelings about Nunez and Jeter are basically mine. (And, no, I’m not Brien). It’s worth the read:
http://itsaboutthemoney.net/archives/2011/06/30/derek-jeter-is-better-than-eduardo-nunez/
Nunez’s slow progress to the majors is symptomatic of the Yankees’ typically sluggish promotion of prospects, not of any problems with Nunez as a player.
Nunez’s errors are obviously the product of a newcomer’s jitters. Judging by the large sample of his minor-league fielding percentage, those errors will abate over time–but Jeter’s permanent and ever-worsening range, which costs the Yankees far more runs than Nunez’s temporary spate of neophyte miscues.
The ball jumps off Nunez’s bat–the way it used to five or ten years ago, off Jeter’s bat. Nunez has tremendous speed on the bases and above-average range at the critical position of shortstop. He trumps Jeter in every significant particular except one: the obdurate and delusional mancrushes heaped on a fading matinee idol. That’s an interesting phenomenon of mass psychology, the games the mind can play on normally sensible people, but has nothing to do with the game played on the field.
SELF-CORRECTION OF BOTCHED SENTENCE in PARAGRAPH 2 OF MY COMMENT ABOVE:
Nunez’s errors are obviously the product of a newcomer’s jitters. Judging by the large sample of his minor-league fielding percentage, those errors will abate over time–but Jeter’s permanent and ever-worsening range, which costs the Yankees far more runs than Nunez’s temporary spate of neophyte miscues, will never abate–only become more and more of a burden to the team’s defense and pitching staff.
Agree or disagree, I appreciate any Van Lingle Mungo reference.
Mass psychology can work both ways, such as asn element of Yankee-land convincing themselves that a player, such as Nunez, is a legit prospect. I hope I’m wrong about him, but I’m sure I’m not.
The Yankees replacement for Jeter is not in the Yankee organization today. Regardless of what Cashman says, I wouldn’t be surprised if he puts in a hard push for Reyes when he’s a free agent, and then he’ll have one of those sit-down talks he had with Posada. Just because the Yankees have committed money to Jeter doesn’t mean they won’t start treating it as a sunk-cost. Just put Kei Igawa on speed-dial for just one of many examples. They’ll give Jeter more time because he’s still rates overall as a plus player (although barely at 0.5), while Nunez continues to rate below average.
As I’ve said before, there are knee-jerk reactions to Jeter from those who are fanboys and girls, and those who are anti-Jeterites. I found both sides aren’t capable of reading the situation without emotion.
These are two separate propositions:
1. Eduardo Nunez’s skill set–RIGHT NOW–is better than Derek Jeter’s skill set and is more likely to lead to Yankee victories THIS YEAR.
2. Eduardo Nunez is better than Jeter at the latter’s peak.
3. Eduardo Nunez is the best prospect the Yankees have right now at shortstop.
4. Eduardo Nunez is the best prospect the Yankees could conceivably have at shortstop.
It is possible to assert 1 without asserting 2, and it’s possible to assert 3 without asserting 4.
I take Steve Goldman to be asserting only 1, and maybe 3, but not 2 or 4. And I think he’s right.
But let’s not intentionally or unintentionally confuse or overlap these distinct propositions in the attempt to gain unearned polemical advantage.
I don’t know if he supports proposition one at all. Number three is an easy one on which most can agree. His comments are about Jeter. My comments are about Nunez.
My points are: Jeter is better than Nunez. I don’t believe Nunez is going to get much better, if at all. Hitting wise, he could get even worse. Jeter is no longer the very good player we remember, but the overall stock of SS’s in the league is weak, which is why he still rates slightly positive. The Yankees should be looking outside their organization for their next SS.
I doubt he would disagree with anything I just said, beyond the first statement, and I’m not even sure he’d disagree with that because his words have less to do with supporting Nunez than they do with Jeter.
I’m gathering Van Mungo is a supporter of Nunez. That’s fine. Maybe you’ll be right. But you won’t.
I’d rather trust my eyes and the numbers rather than your claimed clairvoyance about Nunez’s present and future.
As for what Steve Goldman thinks, I’ll let him speak for himself, but on the key issue of defense at the critical position of shortstop, Mr. Goldman concludes, just above in this thread, “So far, the tradeoff has worked in the Yankees’ favor.”
PLUS Nunez is a much faster runner than Jeter–that means extra bases taken on his own hits and others’ (and flyballs, etc.).
PLUS Nunez has some zing in his bat–he can actually hit line drives rather than just dribbling the ball through the infield or hitting into double plays.
PLUS he will likely equal or surpass Jeter’s offensive numbers given a large enough sample–and, concomintantly and critically, a steady stream of plate appearances.
My any rational calculus, that adds up to a better player than Jeter–to all but the hopelessly starstruck or the marketing departments of Nike, Gatorade, and Ford, which seem to have more influence over the Yankee lineup than the accumulated baseball wisdom of the ages.
You can indulge in all the ad hom posturing you want if it makes you feel better, but that doesn’t make your Jeter oozing any more rational or your arguments any more tenable.
This is a blog for serious baseball thinkers, not groupies. If you can’t muster an argument, go hug your Derek doll and maintain a discreet silence before you embarrass yourself any further.
I’m guessing Van Mungo is a supporter of the Yankees and like all supporters we want the Yankees to win, field the best team and not having Jeter having the most AB chances leading when he is the worst hitter and not reaching balls that Nuñez does reach.
I think you give him too much credit. I reviewed some of his other notes and realized I’m wasting my time.
RobMer wrote:
“I think you give him [Van Mungo]too much credit. I reviewed some of his other notes and realized I’m wasting my time.”
REPLY:
Robmer, you can indulge in all the ad hom posturing you want if it makes you feel better, but that doesn’t make your Jeter oozing any more rational or your arguments any more tenable.
This is a blog for serious baseball thinkers, not groupies. If you can’t muster an argument, go hug your Derek doll and maintain a discreet silence before you embarrass yourself any further.
I’ll agree with others in this thread who say that Nunez isn’t the most exciting young player out there. He’s probably not a better option than Jeter right now. At best, they will provide essentially the same value. Here’s the difference as I see it: if you assume roughly the same performance going forward, Nunez makes the team better because Girardi won’t be obligated to hit him leadoff. Granted, that’s not a huge difference, but it’s a handful of runs over the rest of the season. Why would you give that up for the sake of a declining player in pursuit of a fairly meaningless (if shiny) milestone?
During the offseason negotiations we heard two refrains from the pro-Jeter contingent:
1. “He’s Jeter, pay him whatever he wants for as long as he wants. He deserves to play as long as he wants to; anything less is disrespectful.”
2. “A pro like Jeter will make adjustments for next season. Don’t be surprised of he has a huge bounce-back year!! Won’t you feel dumb then?”
OK. Let’s take stock. The bounce-back season isn’t going to happen. Not this season and almost certainly not in any future seasons. Not when he’s hitting 80-percent of his balls on the ground. So, are you still comfortable with the “give him whatever he wants for as long as he wants” school of thought? How much longer can you all hang your hats on “well he’s still an average shortstop, isn’t that something?” Has the bar been set so low that you’re satisfied with an average shortstop with a .300 OBP leading off?
I’m a little bit late to the party here.
I don’t think anyone is going to be happy with an average SS and an OBP in the low .300s, especially younger fans in their 20s who grew up watching Jeter, and also saw A-Rod and Tejada and Nomar, and even Vizquel. There was plenty of quality at SS. Some might have been mostly bat (Tejada), some might have been more glove (Vizquel) and some like A-Rod were off the charts great.
Yet go back prior to the mid-90s, and unless a team was lucky enough to have a Cal Ripken or a Trammel or a Ozzie, they probably were struggling along at the position. The Yankees went forever and a day without a quality SS. I wonder if we are heading back to those days again.
In other words, be it older Jeter or younger Nunez at SS, Yankee fans may have to suffer with a .330 OBP from Jeter, but little power, or a little pop from Nunez, but a .300 OBP. Not too appealing.
You’re comparing a huge major league statistical sample for Jeter (even for just his last lousy year and a half) with a tiny ML sample for Nunez. Based on scouting reports and writeups in Baseball America, Nunez is a highly ranked if not “blue chip” prospect.
Unfortunately, he will not get the playing time needed to develop his potential. In another week or two, the Rodan of Baseball egos will clomp his way back into the Yankee lineup, wreaking destruction of the Bombers’ defense and offense in his path.
While I’m pleased that Nunez is hitting a bit while Jeter’s been out, I’m far from sold on the idea that Nunez is (right now) better than Jeter (right now). He might be, but I’m doubtful for the time being. Jeter has been depressingly awful with the bat (though I think his D has been ok, actually, even considering his lack of range) and it’s easy to just say stick a fork in him and go with the kid. Sure, but you’re looking at a .650 OPS either way (to date).
Regarding range, yes I’d rather have a rangey SS who makes a few throwing errors than a statue who doesn’t, but Nunez is way over a few errors. I don’t think you can casually conflate the DER of the team over the past few weeks with Nunez replacing Jeter, as there are 9 fielders and plenty of chance involved. You have to look specifically at the defensive numbers for each player and, uh oh, the sample size is waaaaaaaaay to small to draw any conclusions. Could Nunez be a better defender than Jeter? Yes – he really should be, as that’s not setting the bar too high. But I don’t think he has been to date.
The Yankees don’t really have an appealing option right now. Which is their own fault, of course, for handing Jeter that ridiculous contract and for not drafting and developing better SS prospects.
It’s obvious that Nunez’s early spate of errors was a symptom of neophyte jitters on the big stage–for example, he had the throwing yips in his first few games–those are now gone; he had the miscue yips in a few games after that–those are now gone.
If you look at the large sample of Nunez’s minor-league fielding percentage, along with creditable scouting evaluations quoted in places like Baseball America, there’s no rational reason to believe that Nunez, playing regularly, with his superior arm and range, would not be a decisively better defensive shortstop than Jeter, and probably somewhat better on offense too over the long haul.
It’s amazing to me that people presumably schooled in analytical sophistication are ready to take a rookie’s first few games and brand him with those–good thing that people that ilk weren’t judging Willie Mays when he first came up and went 0-for-12. I can just hear the PB mavens, thrust back to 1951 in the Wayback Machine: “Sure the kid has speed and a good glove, but he’ll never hit at this level.”
(For the record: I’m not comparing Nunez to Willie Mays in any respect–it’s just an ANALOGY to point up the folly of small-sample judgments about newcomers.)
Rob in CT, I agree. That’s the story. They have a fading, aging SS and there is no clear replacement. Both right now sit right at about a 650 OPS.
While the Yankees have done well wihtout Jeter, they’ve been winning because of scoring a lot of runs (none of which can be attributed to Nunez), which has masked Nunez’s continually errors, and other flaws. That will catch up to the team in time. Jeter is still the better option, as weak as he is.
It’s funny. Reading above, although some some people are pretending that there is a pro-Jeter element here, there really isn’t. Most have been arguing about what Nunez can or can’t deliver. I think that says a lot.
The debate has been caused by Steve framing the Jeter discussion under Nunez, and pretending that Nunez is a viable option. He is not.
RobMer declares:
“The debate has been caused by Steve framing the Jeter discussion under Nunez, and pretending that Nunez is a viable option. He is not.”
“He is not”–savor the subtlety and nuance and depth of that argument. It is surpassed only by the compelling logic of his earlier foray into ramrod declamation: “Maybe you’ll be right. But you won’t.”
Savor the pungent blend of stylistic influences: Dr. Suess (“He is not,” “But you won’t) and Kreskin (blanket, unsupported assertion and prophecy).
Given what this guy has to work with as client–a washed-up megalomaniac like Jeter–he’s doing the best he can.
A passionate advocate for his idol he is.
A baseball analyst? Let me quote RobMer’s own compelling words: “He is not.”
Van, you make a lot of good points, but your condescending tone undermines whatever logic you bring to the table. I also think people would take you more seriously if you didn’t engage in such wild hyperbole. Calling Jeter a “megalomaniac” has no place in a serious discussion.
I’m afraid your indignation is fatally selective. Apparently you failed to notice RobMer’s persistently nasty and hostile tone, to which I was simply administering a measured and well-deserved counterpunch.
Megalomania is the precise term for Jeter’s behavior. When DiMaggio reached Jeter’s level of performance on both sides of the glove, he retired rather than embarass himself and hurt the team, even though the Yankee ownership wanted him to stay on and would have continued to make him the highest-paid player in the game. That’s the mark of true class and true leadership, and a bracing counterpoint to Jeter’s tawdry self-promotion and greed.
Jeter, in glaring contrast to DiMaggio, having reached a comparable point of decline, wages a public-relations war to wrest a contract that is almost surreally divorced from his on-field performance and then insists on claiming his right to bat leadoff even though he is clearly the worst hitter among the regulars on the team.
According to two leading scholars in the field, “Megalomania is characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation by persons of their powers and beliefs.”
Jeter’s behavior is not just megalomania–it’s a TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE of megalomania.
Let’s see him march into Girardi’s office and ask to be placed at the bottom of the lineup for the good of the team. Let’s see him retire after this year–nay, after his 3000th friggin’ hit–instead of inflicting his steeply declining skill set on the Yankees.
Then I’ll eat all my foregoing words, starting with “megalomania.”
But not until we arrive at that Fantasy Island. . . .
Excellent work, Van Mungo. You’re a gifted writer & you hit the nail on the head with the Jeter situation.
PS: Is that you, Steven…?
Thanks, Ivan.
And no, I’m not Steven–although I must say I greatly admire his work and consider it a privilege to be able to participate in the comments section of a blog featuring him and his BP colleagues, who are doing more to elevate thinking and discourse about baseball than just about anyone else in the mediasphere.
I was informed by a friend that someone was using my father’s name on this blog.
Please cease immediately. This is an insult to my Dad’s memory.
Thank you.
Ernie Mungo
I am Clive Wilde, the great-grandson of Oscar Wilde.
It has come to my attention that you are using the given name “Ernest,” thus transparently seeking to bask in the reflected glory of my forebear’s brilliant comedy “The Importance of Being Earnest”–notwithstanding the slight variation in spelling.
I hereby demand that you cease and desist from all further public self-identification as “Ernest,” both out of respect for the memory of my great-grandfather, a martyr to the small-mindedness and pettiness of Victorian mores, and out of simple deference to basic common decency.
Of far greater concern to you than an innocent tribute to your father’s memory an obscure blog should be the flagrant attempt to cash in on your father’s good name by an unscrupulous Internet retailer justbats.com. They are selling a bat called the “fungo” bat, an unmistakable and flagrant ploy to cash in on your father’s baseball renown despite the flimsy disguise of an altered first letter.
If they do not cease and desist from any further efforts to market this “fungo” bat, I will contact my lawyers and have them launch a class-action of behalf of the entire class of Mungos and Fungos throughout this great land.
Good day, sir.
Nuñez has looked brilliant (to borrow from soccer-speak) at the plate these past few games. Such a shame to think he’ll either be relegated to the bench or shipped down to Scranton in a few days.
Steven: If you read this, could you please write a piece outlining exactly what it is that the rest of us are missing with respect to this Mitre phenomenon? Thanks in advance, and have a nice weekend.