Thursday’s Bitties: Jeter Responds to UPenn Study, Plus Other Bits…

You guys love my bits… admit it:

• First, Kevin Kernan at the NY Post has Jeter’s response to the recent UPenn study that labeled him as one of the worst shortstops in the entire game. Jeter says there are a variety of unmeasurable variables that factor into his play that could not be included in the study (the underlying yet overarching elements) and Gene Monahan, the Yanks’ senior advisor, also goes to bat for Jeter’s play. Statheads beware.
• Next up, the media are saying that A-Rod’s comments earlier in the day were rather misleading and open him up to some self-induced controversy. Apparently, when speaking about steroids, testing, how he’s never used PED’s, etc., A-Rod stated that he’d been tested “9-10 times” last season. At first, nobody really thought too much about this comment, but later, many sportswriters were wondering how A-Rod could, in fact, be tested (randomly) that many times. A-Rod responded saying that it was simply hyperbole(in passing), although some beat writers don’t see it that way since A-Rod didn’t look like he was exaggerating. Seriously, and people wonder why A-Rod steers clear of the baseball media. See that, even when A-Rod doesn’t test positive for PED’s (and just gets tested) he makes the news.
• Next up, a really unsubstantial bit, but it’s still a nice little blurb about one of my favorite ex-Yankees, Gary Sheffield. When asked about the Yankees, Sheffield actually said that he misses the team. I know many people may not like Sheff after his controversial Joe Torre/racism talk from last year, but, I must say that Sheffield will always be one of my favorite Yankees (even if he was only with the team for a brief period). When Sheff hit the ball, hell, I would duck even when I was sitting in the cozy confines of my own living room. It’s fun to see a guy like that play.
• Finally, I know the first bit railed on the statheads and sabermetric guys over at UPenn (I didn’t write it), but, for those of you who have stuck around to see this final bit, Murray Chass has an update for you on all of the main guys that the Oakland A’s drafted in the famous read, Moneyball. It’s a good read if you’re a fan of the book and love Billy Beane’s baseball methods. I was actually sad to hear that Jeremy Brown retired. He sounded so excited (according to the book) when he heard he was getting drafted in the first round… that was great stuff.

That’s it for the morning. Expect more info/commentary/randomness, later.