2013 AB4AR Comment Of The Year

There were more comments this year than I've gotten since I started AB4AR in the summer of '09, but there was one that stood out head and shoulder above the rest.  It came from a post I did on the idea of trading Robbie Cano in February and it captures almost everything I want to see in my comments.  Here it is again, in its full glory:

"THAT'S IT!!!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!! I've listened attentively to all your pessimistic bullshit all winter and now you've gone over the edge. Maybe you just don't have anything to write about and are wallowing in some kind of self-induced hysteria. But I am up to my neck with your gloomy outlook and all the dire, negative nonsense coming out of your blog this off-season and I've had enough. So, I'm casting off! All this negative energy is really really bad for the brain Brad - and it's no wonder nobody is responding anymore to your rantings. It's just poison. If you were a Cubs or Astros fan, I could see where you would be down and out, but these are the FUCKING NEW YORK YANKEES you're talking about! MY TEAM! GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS!!!! So goodbye for now! There must be some people out there who are looking forward to an exciting season, but you are not one of them. Since October your blog has been bile! I'll check back in with you in a few months when your meds starts kicking in again."

Outstanding.  Just outstanding.  Don't get me wrong, I would prefer that the comments on this site be a little more analytical and I'm always down to engage in a little back-and-forth debate with anybody who takes the time to comment here.  But in terms of just sheer, unbridled emotion, it doesn't get any better than that.  It's got everything: all caps, multiple exclamation points, profanity, insults towards me as a writer and a person.  It's brilliant.  To know that something I wrote elicited an emotional fan response of that nature is absolutely terrific because that's exactly the type of fan and writer I used to be when I started this site.

Shout out to my man James for taking home the first ever AB4AR "Comment of the Year" award.  Your free non-existent AB4AR t-shirt is in the mail.  And everybody else take note, I want more of this next year.  If I'm pissing you off that much, feel free to let me know about it.  I probably won't respond to it as quickly as I would a more calm, rational comment, but I'll at least get a good laugh out of it.

Joe Takes 4th In The AL Manager Of The Year Voting

He was never going to win the award, not after John Farrell took his club from worst to first in the division and then to a 3rd World Series title in 10 years and not after Terry Francona led his club to the playoffs and greatly overachieved what most thought they would do this season.  But Joe still had a solid showing for himself yesterday when the BBWAA announced the winners of the 2013 Manager of the Year awards.  He finished 4th overall, behind surprise winner Francona, Farrell, and Bob Melvin, and even managed to sneak into the top 3 on more than a few ballots.

It's good to see Joe get some of the recognition he deserved for a job well done this year.  Managing the Yankees always comes with a heaping helping of high expectations and precious few "atta boys" when the team does well, and Joe had a helluva lot to deal with this season.  It would have been interesting to see how much better he could have done on the ballots had the team managed to make it to the postseason, but all in all a 4th place finish and a couple of 2nd place votes for managing a club that finished 85-77 with a negative run differential is pretty damn good.  Plus it gave me another excuse to post the best Yankee-related gif of the year.

Robbie Cano Wins His 4th Straight Silver Slugger

(Courtesy of USA Today Sports)

And 5th in his career.  Led all AL second baseman in games played (160), batting average (.314), OBP (.383), SLG (.516), wOBA (.384), wRC+ (142), HR (27), RBI (107), intentional BB (16), fWAR (6.0), and bWAR (7.6).  Ho-hum.  I'd say he earned that new watch.