All Things Bubba: For those who have asked...

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Yes, we have "Bubba Burgers" here in New York.

No, I've never tried them. I'm not really the frozen burgers type. Plus, there's no way a box that size would fit in my freezer. (I really should go in there sometime before Christmas, and clear out the anonymous icy blobs and half-eaten cartons of Ben and Jerry's that have probably been there since about the time the Yankees last won a World Series...)

There's still no news on Bubba. We may not hear anything until after Christmas. However, it shouldn't be too much longer than that. It's only 60 days until spring training.

Some rampant speculation...

Often players in Bubba's situation go back to one of their former teams, where they have connections. I suppose it's possible he could return to the Yankees, but it doesn't seem likely. The Yankees DFA'd Sardinha, which suggests they really don't have room for Bubba. Plus Bubba has said he thinks the NL is a better match for his talents, and I think he's right.

There's the Reds, which I wouldn't mind. The Reds are a very convenient team for New Yorkers to follow. But Bucky Dent (who I suspect was the guy who wanted Bubba) is no longer with Cincinnati. Plus, Cincinnati seems pretty set for outfielders, especially lefties.

Which leaves...the Dodgers. The team that drafted Bubba, and the team Joe Torre now manages. And it's a NL team. It wouldn't be very convenient for me, I must say. West coast games are brutal for us east coasters. Their Triple-A team is the Las Vegas 51s, which is a PCL team, of course. They'd never play here in the northeast as an IL team would. At least their spring training is in Florida (though it's moving to Arizona after next year).

And Torre probably wouldn't give Bubba any more of a chance than he gave him in NY.

/Rampant speculation...

Poking around eBay today, I found this auction. It's a Yankees jersey signed by Bubba. The jersey is in "mint condition," so obviously it's not game-worn. At least, not by Bubba.

Another thing I noticed on eBay today: there's yet another player the baseball card dealers are confusing with Bubba. They already mix up Bobby Crosby and Bubba Crosby. Now there's a minor leaguer named Bryan Crosby who's being confused with Bubba.

What are the odds? There are only three Crosbys in pro baseball, and their names are Bobby, Bubba, and Bryan!

Sounds like the Yankees' pursuit of Santana is heating up again. Haren has been dealt to the D-backs, so the Yanks don't have him as a fallback option any more. Bedard is the best pitcher available other than Santana, but the Orioles have made it clear they won't trade him within the division. (Though he may land with the Reds.) Given what Haren cost, the price for Santana is going to be steep. And the Yanks just might pay it.

Andy Pettitte has confessed to using HGH. He says it was only to heal faster, not to improve his performance. I call bullcrap on that. A big reason players use PEDs is to heal faster. It's a long season, and players often play at less than 100% even when they don't miss games. You think healing faster doesn't help? Bubba basically lost his roster spot with the Yankees because of a hamstring injury. "Healing faster" would have been a big help for him.

But at least Andy admitted it. I have more respect for him than for Clemens, who is claiming innocence.

We're scheduled for another huge storm, starting at about midnight. It's predicted to be even worse than the last one. Rather than all snow, we're supposed to get high winds and snow turning over to ice. Ugh. Sounds like a recipe for power outages.

The technical difficulties Bubba-Crosby.com suffered earlier this week should be fixed. If you encounter any problems, let me know, and I'll put my web hoster on it.

posted by BubbaFan, 8:17 PM

12 Comments:

So you're a Hannaford shopper? I prefer Price Chopper :P

Sturtze signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers, I suspect Torre had something to do with that. I wonder if Bubba's comments about Torre would come back to hurt him here. Hopefully he'll get a chance somewhere.

rice fans would love to have bubba play here w/ the astros, but i don't see it happening...

It'd be cool to see Bubba, Andy, and Reese all go to the same team (hint: Marlins).

I usually shop at Hannaford because they are the only supermarket around here that doesn't use "loyalty cards." I hate those cards. They're evil.

Bubba really didn't say anything bad about Torre. Quite the opposite. PeteAbe just likes to be inflammatory.

I think Sturtze left on much worse terms than Bubba. They were pretty ticked with him because he lied about his injury.

I just shop at PC because it's so closer to where I live.

I don't think he said anything too bad. The media definitely made it worse than it was. I don't remember word for word what he said. But didn't he pretty much say Torre's way of managing went against his game? I don't know if it was Torre's way of managing as much as the league and team he was on.

Torre was ticked at Sturtze for lying, but I don't think it hurt their relationship much. Sturtze did go back and apologize. As ticked off as Torre was for Sturtze hiding his injury, I think part of had to understand why he did it. They seemed to have a father/son relationship.. at least according to Sturtze.

This is what Bubba said:

"Even being a fifth outfielder for a National League team, you're going to get three times as many at-bats as I would if I were with the Yankees again," Crosby said. "It's exciting to know I can play my game. Sometimes I'd get the green light, but I'd get the stare from Joe (Torre) that said I better be sure. Then you hesitate and just wait for (Hideki) Matsui to hit a two-run homer."

He wasn't ripping Torre or the Yanks, he was talking about the difference between the AL and the NL. He actually said some very nice things about Joe Torre and the Yankees; Trent just left them out of the article. Trent said this was more representative of the tone of the interview:

"It was an honor that Joe had enough faith and trust in me to throw me out there. In 05 I started three of the five games of the postseason. But if an offensive situation came up and it was me or Bernie Williams, Bernie was going to hit. I understood that role."

Torre does seem to have a father/son relationship with the players. He once said Bubba was like his own kid.

Bubba should run for President. There aren't any decent candidates in either party.

LOL. Alas, Bubba is not old enough to be president. He's just barely old enough to be a US senator.

Yeah, like I said - the media made it out to be worse than it was. The part that stuck out in my mind was: Sometimes I'd get the green light, but I'd get the stare from Joe (Torre) that said I better be sure. Then you hesitate and just wait for (Hideki) Matsui to hit a two-run homer." Probably because that's what the media took and ran with.

I agree, he does seem to take on father/son role with certain players. You can just tell by how emotional he gets when talking about his guys.

Bubba's game is all-out, crash-into-walls, circus-catches, etc... anything less isn't him.

I heard on the radio that the Braves may bring in Bubba.

Interesting. Thanks for the tip!

I've never been a Braves fan (that dopey chop - arrghhh). But the Braves would be a convenient choice for me. They're in the eastern time zone, their Triple-A team (the Richmond Braves) play in the IL (and aren't that far away from NY), their spring training is in Florida.

And they are in the NL, which is what Bubba said he wanted.