New York Yankee Notes: Fan Behavior At Forefront

Here are some New York Yankee notes for your Tuesday afternoon. In the wake of Texas Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg making critical comments about Yankee fans Monday some of these, appropriately, touch on that.

Unfortunately, Chuck Greenberg's comments about Yankees fans aren't completely off the mark
Whatever role Lee's free agency may play in Greenberg's comments, however, there is a larger theme at work here. I'm not sure where he saw the apathy he mentioned, but the violent behavior, at least in terms of anger and incivility, is surely real.

Let's face it, there is a segment of Yankee fans that seems to think being obnoxious is part of the job description.

Mike Francesa Defends Violent Yankee Fans | The Big Lead
Mike Francesa has New York hoodlums backs. "You don’t make statements that can come back and bite you in the rear end. You don’t wanna call the Yankee fan base violent because then you’re going to be asked to back up what violent means. They’re going to have to retract violent because the Yankee fans were not violent. OK? They might have been discourteous but they were not violent. Violent is a ridiculous word…"

Violent Yankee Fans Brawl During Game 5 ALCS v Texas Rangers [Video] " BobsBlitz.com
"You don't make statements that can come back and bite you in the rear end. You don't wanna call the Yankee fan base violent because then you're going to be asked to back up what violent means. They're going to have to retract violent because the Yankee fans were not violent. OK? They might have been discourteous but they were not violent. Violent is a ridiculous word..."

Yankees' organizational meetings begin with emphasis on budget, free agents | NJ.com
The New York Yankees’ organizational meetings to address offseason plans are under way.

As Rangers Pursue Lee, a Lesson in Overpaying - NYTimes.com
Cliff Lee is almost ready for the showroom, a sleek sports car with a steep sticker price. The Texas Rangers have five days to sign him before other teams can make free-agent bids, and they know the Yankees will be waiting. The Rangers would be wise to back away.

When the Yankees are desperate and armed with a checkbook, they almost never lose. And if the Rangers needed proof about the danger of paying full price for pitching, they need only look at the team that beat Lee, 3-1, to win the World Series on Monday.

The San Francisco Giants reign in baseball, with a homegrown crop of dominant pitchers and a lineup whose cleanup man, Cody Ross, was claimed on waivers. Their most expensive player is Barry Zito, who pitched his way off the postseason roster down the stretch.

What Went Wrong: Chad Ho Moseley | River Avenue Blues
Every team has a few of them every single season; replacement level relievers, or worse. Most of the time these guys are buried in the back of the bullpen, throwing low-leverage innings once or twice a week when his team had a big lead or a big deficit. The Yankees were (un)lucky enough to have three guys like that this year, and they even came with a cheesy nickname: Chad Ho Moseley. Let’s review…

Patterson reportedly set to interview for coaching job | The Lohud Yankees Blog
Gil Patterson will be among those interviewing for the Yankees pitching coach position.

Position to Watch: Yankees’ Catcher | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball
During this offseason, the Yankees’ catcher "battle" will be one of the more prominent positional competitions to keep an eye on. Barring a free agent addition, which seems unlikely, the Yankees will go into 2011 with three distinctly different catchers, all of whom could have some value to your team. Here they are, in no particular order.

Mattingly learning to manage in Fall League - NYPOST.com
A trip home to Indiana would have been nice after six weeks of spring training, a 162-game schedule and the underachieving season the Los Angeles Dodgers had.

Don Mattingly just didn’t have time for it.

The former player known as Donnie Baseball had more baseball to coach, more on-the-job training to get after being named the Dodgers’ next manager.

So, after the season was over, Mattingly headed to the desert to honor his commitment to manage in the prospect-rich Arizona Fall League, the training ground for his turn in the spotlight next year when he takes over for the departed Joe Torre.

"It’s been really good for me," Mattingly said. "It’s kind of the price you pay to get where you’re going."