The Dodgers almost promised to get Grady Little, Raffie Furcal, Nomar, and Damon or Reggie Sanders. They've delivered half the promise, looks like it will be 3/4 by the ed of the day. BTW, Peter Gammons called it. He said that we'd see Nomar in a Dodgers uniform by the end of Friday.
The awful shame of it is, one freakin' fastball into his wrist in a meaningless game at the end of the year pretty much ended his career as a future HOF shortstop. He missed most of the following season, and while competent was a shadow of his former self when he got healthy enough to put 120+ games in. Nomar was outstanding. He had 30HR as a rookie, along with 200+ hits, 98 RBI, and 122 runs... batting leadoff!!! The guy hit .372 for god's sake, won two batting titles in a row with 1.000+ OPSs, at the start of what should have been his "prime" years. He had Boston fans thrilled- he was going to be the greatest Boston player in decades: a hitter as good as Boggs, if not someday even Ted Williams (Ted even commented, "I'm looking at someone who is going to be as good as anyone who has ever played this game. I say that, and boy, I believe it, too."), and a slick-fielding shortstop to boot! I recall back in those days how clueless Jeter fans couldn't understand that Jeter wasn't fit to clean Nomar's jockstrap, much less A-Rod's- the shortstop holy trinity was decidedly uneven. Now? Fuck. How sad. Of the 3, Jeter is now the best shortstop- since A-Rod is inexplicably at 3rd, and Nomar can't hardly play a full season. Watching Nomar fall is like watching Junior. Griffey was going to topple Mays, then Ruth, the Aaron- the guy who was going to powder 50+ a year every year, with that smooth effortless .300 swing, and perform feats in centerfield like you'd never seen before. Now, his stubborn refusal to be a gym rat or conditioning freak in his early years have bit him; his knee injuries have robbed him of his leg strength, which results in a Rob Deer style of uppercut, swing-for-the-fences one dimensional power hitting that makes us yearn for the exciting player of old, the one who could race around the bases with ease, the one who slashed doubles to all fields, then popped a graceful arcing shot into the bleachers when his team seemed to need it most. It's just so depressing to see two people who were such phenomenal talents get struck down by injuries that left them a pale shadow of their former selves. And it's too small a sample size to be meaningful, but I'm pretty sure both of those players were "clean", making it all the sadder (no one cries at the loss of Jose Canseco's career, after all). Maybe they should allow players to use doctor-monitored substances currently banned by the league: one might ask if the human body is meant to take the damage of a pro sports career, and whether a carefully monitored program of these chemicals can boost a player's ability and resistance to injury/recovery time without any significant side effects.
well said hal.
The Yankees don't need Nomar for power. If healthy, his batting average and on-base percentage will be huge. He's still a fantastic, clutch hitter, and in a lineup like the Yankees have, he'll be protected anywhere they put him. There's no downside to signing him no matter how you cut it. The team's not expecting him to come in and lead them.
There's no downside to signing him no matter how you cut it. How about the last two seasons, two and a half seasons, of him being often injured?
How about the last two seasons, two and a half seasons, of him being often injured? Then he's on the DL. They put Giambi back on first. So what, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I doubt they'll go broke because of it.
one freakin' fastball into his wrist in a meaningless game at the end of the year pretty much ended his career as a future HOF shortstop. I get depressed everytime I think that. Thank you Al Reyes and thank you Brady Anderson.
