Posts Tagged ‘Rocco Baldelli’
Rocco Baldelli - March 2009 (Photo by Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission)
So I’m minding my own business, sleeping actually, and I hear a notification alarm coming from the iPhone. I pick it up and see it’s from someone on Facebook. I read it and this is what I see:
Rocco Baldelli
just came to a mutual agreement with the New York Yankees..now I get to see what the Yankee side of the rivalry is like after witnessing the Boston side in 2009
It’s an odd way to wake up. My first thought was, “I’m pretty sure I’m not Facebook friends with Rocco Baldelli” and my second thought, when I realized the update was coming from a fan page was, “Why would the person who runs the Rocco Baldelli fan page make up such a stupid lie”?
Also, the profile photo for Rocco’s fan page has been replaced with the logo for the Yankees, and his “affiliation” and “location” have changed to “New York Yankees” and “Bronx, NY”. It looks to me like the person who started the fan page is just someone looking to rile people up. A quick Google search of Rocco’s name and you get a link to Rotoworld who links to this blog entry by Pete Caldera. Here’s the money quote:
There is some mutual interest here, according to a source, but nothing has advanced yet past that. Given his injury history, and his talent, Baldelli would fall under the High Risk/High Reward category. But his candidacy as a potential left fielder vs. lefty pitching is something to seriously consider.
So “a source” tells one guy in New Jersey (who specifically asked about Baldelli) that there is “some mutual interest” and suddenly Rocco is wearing pinstripes? I never say never, and a Baldelli and MFY marriage isn’t the craziest idea I’ve ever heard thrown around (funny that it hasn’t been touched on by anyone of interest on Twitter yet) but I’d prefer my “official” pages for information actually have the correct information and not just throw crap to the wall to get people to comment on your page.
I’m not buying Rocco to the Yanks until I hear it from a source more reputable than a guy in Jersey who floated the idea and wants credit for it or, especially, someone more credible than an anonymous person on Facebook.
Quick edit: I no sooner hit “publish” on this entry and I find this at the LoHud Yankees Blog:
There is a Facebook page attributed to Rocco Baldelli that says Baldelli “just came to a mutual agreement with the New York Yankees.”
“That would be false,” Brian Cashman said.
Such is the world of the Internet.
Cashman acknowledged that the Yankees are talking to several players – ”We’re trying to assess our legitimate choices in the sandbox we’re playing in,” he said — but the team has reached an agreement with none of them.
We lost Greg Montalbano in 2009. Kelly O'Connor took this photo of him at the Lowell Spinner's Alumni Dinner in January 2009 (Used with permission)
Just a note of warning: This entry is long and although I want it to be all-encompassing, I’m sure I’ve missed few things. But this is pretty much how I remember 2009!
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2009 was a fairly eventful year for me personally in both the good and bad categories. Sadly more bad than good which is probably why I initially avoided writing any kind of recap for the blog. But while I was writing my recap of the Red Sox decade (and I’ll have that up as soon as I finish it!) I realized I should probably write something about the final year of the decade as well. So here goes.
January: I started blogging at WEEI.com. Looking back on my entries for this month, I’m genuinely surprised I found so much to write about (it didn’t stop new readers from complaining that I was writing “drivel” though. Should have been a sign!). Personal highlights in January: The ongoing Jason Varitek saga, the signing of Rocco Baldelli, Kyle Snyder getting picked up by the Mets, the beginning of the MLB Network and Jim Rice finally gets voted into the Hall of Fame!
February: Bombshell of bombshells for MLB. Selena Roberts exposes Alex Rodriguez as a steroid user. The MLB Network cuts its teeth on this one and, unlike Peter Gammons and ESPN, doesn’t disappoint with their coverage. Unafraid of losing access to the players (again, unlike Peter Gammons or ESPN), they go full throttle on this story and introduce us to their newest addition to the network: Bob Costas. I wrote a lot about MLBN in 2009 and a bit about Sl*ppy. I would have written much less about the two, most likely, had this story not broken. Personal highlights in February: The Caribbean World Series on MLBN (I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it!), Truck Day, pitchers and catchers reporting and Joe Torre’s book about the Yankees.
Chapter 10: The End of the Curse. When asked by Regis Philbin the other day what happened to the Yankees over the past 7 years, Joe responded “The Red Sox happened”. That will go down as possibly my favorite Red Sox/Yankee-related quote ever.
March: I spent a lot of March writing ‘rants’ and pointing folks toward baseball-related Twitter accounts. Must have been resting up for April! Personal highlight in March: The WBC. I spent a lot of time ranting about players getting hurt and how I didn’t care who won only to be totally sucked into it by the end.
April: The beginning of the season! Lots of liveblogging and picking up more WEEI readers (with mixed results!). Personal highlights in April: Going to both Sox/Mets exhibition games at CitiField, attending Opening Day at Fenway and high-fiving JD Drew and Hideki Okajima during their introductions, being at Fenway for the walk-off win against the Yankees, Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home on Andy Pettitte, Tim Wakefield taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning (thus setting the table for his All Star selection), watching Jonathan Van Every pitch while Javier Lopez floundered in right field then eventually getting DFA’d (watched on television, not in person), the Patriots Day game where Luke Scott got all pissy and some idiot fan threw a ball onto the field and “Toeing the Rubber” getting nominated for a New England Sports Blog Award in the category “Best Red Sox Blog”. Relatively speaking, a great month except for one thing that really hit the baseball world hard and made the month miserable: the death of Nick Adenhart.
But I don’t cry because of any personal connection I have to Nick. I don’t cry because a future baseball star is dead. I cry because parents lost a son today. Many people lost a friend. And the world lost someone who could have potentially been great. Not just at baseball but at life. No drunken ass has the right to take that away from us. This doesn’t “put things into perspective” for me. I hate when people say that. I’m forty years old for God’s sake, I’ve seen enough death and tragedy in my life to have proper perspective, thank you. I don’t watch baseball and think that what goes on down on that field is life or death and more important than anything else in my life. I’d argue that most sports fans, even if they act like they have no perspective, have exactly that. Baseball is an outlet to forget about the realities of life for a few hours.
May: Getting to see Daniel Bard’s first Major League appearance (after having seen him pitch in Pawtucket) was very special. Finding out that Jerry Remy was recovering from cancer was sad and a little frightening. Personal highlights in May: Seeing Kyle Snyder with the Bisons at Pawtucket, Javier Lopez signing Steve the Ferret’s “Lopez” jersey (also at Pawtucket), Aubrey Huff fistpumping to Joba Chamberlain, appearing on “The Baseball Show” on Comcast SportsNet, crying (literally crying) over Big Papi’s first home run of the season, getting to meet metsgrrl and “paloozaing” with a huge group of people I love during the Mets/Sox series at Fenway.
Yesterday was an amazing day spent with friends (most of whom I haven’t seen in quite a while or hadn’t met yet!). There are many amazing tales to tell (but not here!) – my favorite being when our friend Susan noted that we could start singing “O Canada” except no one knows the words past “O Canada!”. Standing up and singing loudly and proudly, a group of us proved her wrong. That our serenade didn’t get us thrown out still kind of surprises me.
June: This month brought us the end of interleague play, the end of Jonathan Van Every’s season (thanks to knee surgery), Tim Wakefield hitting ten victories with his torn labrum, John Smoltz making us all wonder why we were so excited to have him on the team while Dusty Brown makes his major league debut. Personal highlights for June: Derek Lowe returning to Fenway with the Braves, Nick Green’s walkoff against those same Braves, sitting in Fenway during a mind-numbing rain delayed game that turned into a loss for the Sox (okay, that one is a lowlight, really) and the Sox capping off 7 wins in a row against the Yankees with an eighth.
 Rocco Baldelli earlier this month. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net. Used with permission. |
I bought a book today. Alyssa Milano’s autobiography, “Safe at Home“. Dig me, I know.
I haven’t started to read it yet but the plan is to have it finished before the season begins. That’s if I can even crack it open. I’m trying. I’m REALLY trying to attack this with an open mind. We’ll see how it goes. Let me just say this for now: Alyssa Milano has had a reputation for years as an athlete… well let’s just say someone overly fond of athletes. She claims this is a label falsely attached to her, yet she’s has capitalized off it, first with her clothing line and now with a book. Interviews like this one won’t help her cause. Here’s Alyssa on why she dated Carl Pavano:
“This was right after he won the World Series. So he was kind of baseball royalty. It was before he came to the Yankees…and became the Carl Pavano you know.”
Can’t imagine why people think she is (or was) a groupie.
Okay, I lied. Here’s one last word on Alyssa until I read the damn book. It has been pointed out to me by people who know her that she’s a lovely, generous and warm-hearted person. This all very well may be true; I have no reason to think it isn’t. But she also happens to be a large part of the reason women sports fans will always need to spout off stats and recite sports history in order to prove their fandom is rooted more deeply than just “I think the players are hot”. If she didn’t try to represent herself as the quintessential female baseball fan, I wouldn’t be mentioning her at all. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
For now.
Oddly enough, I watched Carl Pavano pitch tonight (the Indians were on MLBN) and he didn’t suck. I actually found myself rooting for him. So look at that, Alyssa might have actually helped him gain a fan.
Speaking of pitchers (smooth segue, eh?), precious little info on Kyle Snyder for now. If my addition is correct, he could be pitching either Tuesday or Wednesday (I’m thinking, more likely, Wednesday, if at all before the end of the week). The Bisons’ last game is Thursday and then everyone is coming up North. I haven’t been able to find out what the deal is regarding rosters for the exhibition games in New York, but I still hold out a thread of hope that Kyle might be at Citi Field this weekend. I am, as ever, the optimist. Come the regular season I’ll be like the PBS fundraisers, begging Bisons fans for Kyle info between Red Sox entries.
Red Sox lost today but Rocco Baldelli hit a home run! Take the bad with the good, right? Especially pre-season. Tuesday brings a 1:05pm game versus Tampa Bay. Sox play out the week (Wednesday v the Pirates, Thursday against the Twins) – the game against the Rays is their last “home” game of Spring Training. I know it’s sad for the folks down there who look forward to the ST games, but I am full of excitable energy in anticipation of the games that “count”.
 Rocco Baldelli is a front-runner for my favorite this season. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net. Used with permission. |
After I posted the photo of Kyle Snyder last night, it occurred to me that I don’t have a “favorite” player, yet, on this year’s Red Sox team.
I don’t know how it works for everyone else. Do you watch a game, see a player make a fabulous play or pitch a great game and decide “That’s the guy. He’s my favorite!”? It doesn’t work that way for me. I know a lot of people actually shy away from even having a favorite. Support the whole team and that’s the end of it. That doesn’t work for me either. I do support the entire team. When push comes to shove I almost always go along with what’s best for the team not with what’s best for the individuals. But I’m only human and I’m driven by my emotions. I don’t really choose a favorite player as much as they choose me.
Listen, I’ve never been shy about saying that certain players are attractive. And I’ll never deny that, when I started watching the Red Sox, the cuteness of Fred Lynn is what kept me coming back game after game. But that only takes you so far. Hell, I can’t deny that Jacoby Ellsbury is a good-looking guy. I’m pretty sure that people who can’t see even know he’s a looker. But it doesn’t change how I feel about him. I don’t consider him a ‘favorite’. I like him. I want him to do well. None of that means he automatically falls into favored status because he’s pretty. Pretty doesn’t hurt, mind you, but it isn’t the end all for me. This is where I state, again, that I enjoy being a straight woman who is also a baseball fan. I love baseball. I don’t care who is playing, I love watching the game of baseball. But I also get the added benefit of watching good-looking guys play a game I love. It’s a win-win. You guys who feel the need to ogle the Heidi Watneys of the world can’t give me grief for finding more than one way to enjoy a baseball game.
One of the ways I enjoy the game is by having some favorites. I still watch Bronson Arroyo in Cincinnati and I’ll be watching Kyle whether he’s playing with the Mets or the Buffalo Bisons, but that doesn’t help with Boston. Mike Lowell, David Ortiz and Hideki Okajima (also known as the three guys in my banner) are some of my long-term favorites. Guys you have to love for the way they play the game. I feel that way about most of the team. But I still am looking for that one guy who I see and think “Man, I hope it’s his year!”. Part of me thinks Rocco Baldelli will be that guy but it hasn’t clicked yet. Maybe I’m looking too hard before a game has even been played. I’ll have to revisit this next Wednesday night after NESN has aired their first Spring Training game.
 Rocco Baldelli screengrabbed by me |
After I saw Rocco Baldelli at the Boston Baseball Writer’s dinner earlier this month, I wrote to friends that he was “…officially my 2009 player no one shall badmouth in front of me lest I punch them in the throat”.
I tend to get protective of the players I favor. And I tend to favor the players who come across as genuinely good guys (which will explain why I am still a fan of Kyle Snyder even though he isn’t signed anywhere yet – and will continue to be regardless of where he ends up signing).
At the dinner, Rocco was gracious and appreciative and seemed a little overwhelmed. I didn’t know it at the time, but the Red Sox had introduced him earlier that evening and announced that he’d be wearing the number “5″. Rocco knew that the Sox hadn’t given that number out since Nomar wore it in 2004 and had the proper perspective on his being allowed to take it over:
“It was brought to my attention that obviously this has always been a special number in this town and I recognize that as much as anybody …” Baldelli said. “I accept it and I think it’s great and I am very happy about it.”
I defy you to listen to Rocco speak for a few minutes without coming away thinking he’s a good guy with his head on straight. And true to that, the word has spread that Rocco took out an ad thanking the Rays fans in today’s St. Petersburg Times. You can see a copy of the ad here.
To the fans of Tampa Bay.
Nine years ago you welcomed me into your community. You greeted me as a name and embraced me as a person and I leave you now as a friend.
Giving thanks is a difficult thing to do as I have crossed paths with so many extraordinary people, but I will try.
I will always think of the Tampa Bay area as my second home and I would like to thank everyone for accepting me and for making my time here as enjoyable as it was.
I will never forget.
Thank you once again.
This ad in the paper was a handwritten note and it’s obviously heartfelt. I hope the Rays fans appreciate the person Rocco seems to be. This isn’t Johnny Damon shooting off an ad after getting ripped by the media and the fans and hoping to mend some fences or save some face. The Rays didn’t intend to re-sign Rocco and he knew it. He signed with a team he knows a lot of Rays fans won’t be very happy about. Rays/Sox isn’t quite Yankees/Sox, but there’s a lot of bad blood there. So instead of ignoring it. Instead of jumping on a place out of Florida and forgetting where he came from, he does this. I hope it helps smooth things over for the Tampa Bay fans who were so upset with him for going to the Red Sox.
Rocco continues to impress me and he hasn’t even played a game for the Red Sox yet.
Work is absolutely insane and I’m just worn out. But the news about Jim Rice, the John Smoltz and Rocco Baldelli signings, and an opportunity to meet Bronson again have kept me happy throughout the insanity.
Sadly, it all hasn’t helped my brain much so I’m still struggling to be coherent. 
Given that my EEI gig probably begins some time late Wednesday or Thursday this week, the timing couldn’t be worse – BUT I’m out of work from Thursday through Monday, so that should give me plenty of time to get focused and start pumping out the entries again.
In the meantime, I’m taking the easy way out.
* It was pointed out to me in comments on the previous post that I didn’t make any mention of Rickey Henderson making the Hall of Fame. I like Rickey and I’m happy he was elected into the Hall. But the story there would have been if he WASNT picked to make the Hall this year. My focus was on the man who deserved to be elected in many years ago but had to wait until his last year of eligibility before he got bumped over to the Veterans Committee. I make no apologies for that.
* Raise your hand if back in 2001 you thought in 2009 Derek Lowe would get a four year, $60 million contract. If your hand is up, you’re a liar.
* Rob Bradford is reporting that Alex Cora has agreed to a one-year, $2 million deal with the New York Mets. Cora is one of those “average” players that I have a strong affection for. It saddens me that he won’t be with the Red Sox, but I’m happy that the New York team he landed with doesn’t play in the Bronx.
* Seriously. How is it January and I haven’t heard ANYTHING about Kyle Snyder’s status? There’s no one out there who can hook me up with some information? Goal for 2009: Score an interview with Kyle. Hey, it could happen!
* Greg Montalbano was at the Lowell Spinners Alumni dinner last night. It was inspiring to see him there, looking so well and speaking so fondly of his time playing baseball. We need more Greg Montalbano stories. We need to hear more about the unsung heroes in baseball and not just the superstars.
* Unrelated to baseball: Watching Bill Hicks tonight and then catching about 5 minutes of Dane Cook made me miss Bill Hicks (and good comedy in general) immensely. Really, people, stop lining Cook’s pockets.
* Kelly O’Connor took some fabulous photos at the Boston Baseball Writer’s dinner AND the New Stars for Young Stars event. Go see her amazing photos here.
Finally, by popular demand: (This is from last year, not this year’s show, but it serves its purpose!)
