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- While the Yankees didn’t end up adding anything through the waiver wire last month, it’s not like they weren’t trying. Brian Cashman and company were, apparently, singularly focused on bolstering the team by adding to the bullpen. As we recently learned, the Yankees made a waiver claim on one David Robertson, though Robertson was eventually pulled back from availability by Chicago. Robertson wasn’t the only player the Yankees went after – the team just wasn’t able to snag anybody. It seems we’ll have to wait for the offseason to see the team make major moves.
- George A. King, who threw some proper shade at Rob Refsnyder yesterday, reports CC Sabathia is feeling good and is evidently raring to get back to pitching. Sabathia, who has earned $23 million this year while tossing up a 4.83 FIP, seems confident he can finish off the rest of the year in the rotation without further injury. In an extensively detailed quote, he told the press yesterday, "No pain; I’m excited." Then, pulling an Alex Rodriguez-level troll move, Sabathia lit a cigar and rode out of the clubhouse on a unicycle. This last bit didn't actually happen, but what if it did?
- It’s unclear when Mark Teixeira will be back. A bone bruise that was supposed to keep him out only for a matter of days has left him more or less sidelined for two weeks. (Since August 17, Teixeira has started in one game and pinch hit in another.) Teixeira will now be on crutches, and the official word is he’ll be out for two more weeks at best. This situation is, shall we say, not what you want.
- Joe Girardi suggested that Saturday’s game against the Braves should have been halted after Gregory Murrey’s fatal drop from the upper deck. "Obviously it's in the hands of baseball and the Braves," Girardi said, "but I know some of our guys said it was hard to concentrate. And that's another thing you worry about."
- In what can only be described as news, former Yankee Curtis Granderson does not believe humans have been to the moon. In an interview with Steve Serby, Granderson was moved to share his feelings on the matter when asked to say something controversial. (You know you’re a good interviewer when you pose orders like "Now say something controversial" and questions like "More sex as a Yankee or Met?" to your subject.) Granderson issued this fact-laden observation:
. . .If we landed on the moon, how come we’ve never been back? I think there might be some conspiracy stuff to that. . . . We haven’t been back, it’s been [43] years, technology’s all gotten better, and I’ve actually looked that one up a little bit and saw something on the NASA website and it said something that that space shuttle that was made back then is no longer made any more. . . . You always hear of spaceships landing: oh, so-and-so just got back from its mission… where’d they go, you know? No one else in the world has ever been, so…
I’m not 100% certain what a retired space shuttle has to do with people landing on the moon, but there you go. Granderson could, of course, just Google "Why haven’t we been back to the moon?" – the first link from io9 is a pretty good explainer – but I suppose that’s neither here nor there. The short answer to this complex question is, basically, that people got way bored with the moon after more or less the first (maybe second) time we landed there. - As an aside, if you’re interested in a plus-plus evisceration of the moon landing hoax fairytale, I recommend Moon Base Clavius, which is basically a point-by-point takedown of the conspiracy theory. Favorites include the complaint that there were no stars in the photos – it was daytime on the Moon – and WHY IS THE FLAG FLUTTERING, a claim which is always yelled hysterically and has not once been put forward in a regular tone of voice.
- Meanwhile, separately, Steve Serby also interviewed Joe Girardi. Serby, who we now understand is an inquisitor on par (if not superior to) David Frost, asked piercing questions like "Are you lighter than you were when you played?" and "Favorite inspirational or motivational sayings?" and "He’s turning 69 at the end of the month," which isn’t actually a question, but is presented as one when it is printed as "Q: He’s turning 69 at the end of the month." The interview is largely vapid, but read if you’d like to see Girardi give scouting reports on his family – daughter: "very focused;" son: "like a Labrador retriever," and so on.