Vinik's Vetting Vexes Vinny Votary*

As I dragged myself out of bed this morning to settle down for a morning reading of the paper along with my tea and oatmeal I was happy to see that the Lightning had a front page, above-the-fold headline on the sports page. Unfortunately it wasn’t about their solid play of late, it was about the latest ownership drama. Immediate reaction across the internet has been doom and gloom (as usual).

For those not familiar with the ownership drama that Lightning fans have been subjected to over the past two seasons, the two main owners – Oren Koules and Len Barrie – don’t like each other and have been scrambling to pay the bills since they’ve bought the team from the Davidson Group. About a week ago it came out that they had to borrow on their TV deal to make payroll last year and had to have a portion of their league revenue sharing forwarded in January to make payroll this season. Good times!

Now it appears that head honcho of the NHL – Gary Bettman is looking to bring someone else into the picture. Jeff Vinik, the main man behind Vinik Asset Management and a minority owner of the Red Sox, has “vetted” the Lightning and according to the Hockey News is “a front-runner to buy the team and is serious in his offer”.

As a hedge fund manager Vinik is known in the financial circles as an aggressive investor who finds high-risk, high-reward projects. In their current financial state the Lightning definitely qualify as high-risk. As for the high-reward portion of the equation that depends on a lot of factors, not the least would be the NHL securing a new television deal and working out a new CBA.

With his ties to the Northeast the “Tampa-to-Hartford” conspiracies should run rampant should he buy the team. Is it possible? Sure, but it’s also possible that the Tampa-to-Orlando high speed rail project makes money. Possible doesn’t mean likely. Bettman wants to keep the NHL in Florida and Tampa has a better fan base than Miami.

With a new name popping up in the latest round of ownership talk the usual rumors about slashing payroll and trading players has begun anew. At the forefront of that talk is the captain and holder of the $10 million salary – Vincent Lecavalier. The “fans” are clamoring at their keyboards to reignite the Vinny to anywhere but here rumors.

The Wizard from Ile Bizard can’t win. If he struggles on the ice then he’s “lazy”, “Le-casual”, or “uninterested”. If he’s hot (like he has been since the start of the second half) then he’s playing well so that other teams will be interested in him or selfishly piling up his stats.

His repeated comments about wanting to stay, management’s repeated statements about him not being on the market are ignored. The anonymous commenters on-line, with their clever names and horrendous spelling know more than the people have dedicated their lives to hockey. So they raise their indignant voices to the high heavens in outrage and threaten to cancel their season tickets.

It becomes repetitive to list the reasons why the chances of Vincent getting traded are slim no matter who owns the team, but I’ll run them down again quickly.

- The no movement clause. Unlike Dan Boyle, the Lightning captain has complete control over his destiny. The team cannot threaten to expose him to waivers in order for him to waive his no-trade clause. To paraphrase Seinfeld – the team has “no hand” in this relationship.

- Vinny likes Tampa. I know that’s a shock to all Canadians out there. How can a native son not want to play in Montreal? He likes the sun, the golf and the relative anonymity. Which leads to the next (and possibly biggest point).

- The media spotlight in Tampa pales in comparison to the rest of the hockey world. In a town where the biggest star in the NHL – Alex Ovechkin – can take a cab to McDonalds and not get harassed, Vinny can go about his business without much hassle. If he goes two games without a goal, there’s minimal grumbling but no one is jumping off the Skyway. If he is traded to Montreal, New York, Toronto, Edmonton or Vancouver then every game he doesn’t score is going to be dissected and analyzed in the papers and on the radio. With a new child on the way does he really want that pressure?

-The salary cap. The same contract that is an “albatross” to the Lightning also makes it hard for another team to bring him into the fold. Let’s take a look at the two teams that have generated the most talk:

Montreal – Salary Cap committed to next year - $44,892,143
New York – Salary Cap committed to next year - $48,596,667

I’m pulling the numbers off of the hockeybuzz.com website. From what I’ve seen they are fairly accurate. Other sites might have some slightly different amounts, but they are all in the same general ballpark.

There is a chance that the salary cap might come down in the next few seasons based on the revenue being generated in the league right now.If that happens neither team has flexibility to bring on a $7 million cap hit. They also don’t have any large salaries that the Lightning would be willing to take on in return. Speaking of the return, certain Lightning fans are deluded as to what Vincent would bring back.

He’s not going to bring in multiple high level prospects, high draft picks and NHL-ready players. If a team is going to take on his money they aren’t going to kill their farm system at the same time. In all likelihood he’ll bring A prospect and A high pick. There might be a NHL player in the package as well for salary cap purposes, but not an ugly contract like Wade Redden’s.

Why would the Lightning take Redden’s $6.5 million cap hit when his salary is also $6.5 million for the next two seasons as well as $5 million for the two years after that? Vincent might cost more money, but he is also on track to put 80 points on the board.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a supposed fan base so eager to trade away the best player in the team’s history. Yes, I said it. Marty St Louis may be the heart of the team, but it only goes as far as Vinny does. He is the stick of sugarcane that stirs the Mojito in Tampa.

Without him, the Lightning are down to one line, and let’s see how Stamkos does when the other teams can focus on him 100%. The kid has all the talent in the world, but also has the benefit of having another line that teams have to worry about.

Lightning fans might want to be more worried about St Louis moving at the deadline instead of Lecavalier. There are a lot of teams looking for a winger that are going to miss out on the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes. With a relatively light cap hit ($4 million) for one more year he has the type of contract that can bring a solid return.

New ownership rumors are fun for the internet and talk radio, but fans have to remember that at this point it is all speculation. Vinik can still walk away if he doesn’t like what he sees. If he does invest in the team wouldn’t it be in his best interest to keep a viable product on the ice? Trading the captain isn’t going to improve their play, and most importantly it won’t improve their attendance.


*Votary - noun, a devoted follower or admirer

Check it out...

I just updated my "Wanted" list. I added a couple of new sets. So if you're wondering what to trade me - just take a gander. It's over there on the right of the screen....look down...little bit further...there ya go!

Time to See What Hath the Mailman Bringith

I know some people don't like maildays, but hey part of the reason I have this blog is to showcase trades and acquisitions. The generosity of the people out there should be showcased. So here we go:


This first one wasn't sent in the mail, I actually picked it up at the flea market a week or so ago.



A Peter Bondra 1998-99 Pacific Aurora Atomic Laser. I'm not sure what I like more - the die-cut holes (to make the card more aerodynamic I guess) or the sparsely attended arena in the background.


The next was an e-bay pickup. Good bless having money in a paypal account.



A 2008-09 Vincent Lecavalier Black Diamond Quad Diamond base card. These are short printed (about one a box I believe) so I know there is no way I was ever going to pull it from a box. On a side note the shipper sent this in a top loader, wrapped in a printout of the auction information and then placed in a white envelope. I don't mind the white envelope, but don't charge me $3.00 in shipping for that.

Another ebay pickup.


2005 Carl Crawford SPXtreme Stats relic. It's numbered to 130, making it the second lowest print run of a Crawford card that I own. All for $.99! The corner is a little dinged, but since it's a personal collection card I don't mind too much.

Thanks to the Troll for getting me one card closer to completion on the 2008 Allen & Ginter. I've made arrangements to make sure the set is completed within the next week or so.

Cards That Need a Good Home

So at some point last year I decided to give Topps 206 a whirl. I picked up a rack pack at the local Target and ripped it open. I thought it was ok, but decided not to persue it. So I have some cards that are looking for a good home. First come, first served. Leave a comment and we'll work out the details.

The cards are:

18 Kenji Johjima
104 Mark Melancon
130 Honus Wagner
131 Kosuke Fukudome
172 Michael Young
247 Huston Street
293 Troy Tulowitzki
35 Erik Bedard - Copper Border
74 Greg Golson - Copper Border

Fan Fest Weekend - Better Than a Day Working on the Condo

Thanks to the good people of Southwest Airlines (and my frequent trips to Las Vegas and Baltimore last year) I had a free flight burning a hole in my pocket. Originally I was going to use it for a trip to Las Vegas sometime this summer, but never being very good at practicing self control I used it this weekend to fly to Baltimore.

The purpose of the visit was two-fold. One – to visit the Greatest Niece in the World, who I haven’t seen since last summer; and two – the Baltimore Orioles Fan Fest 2010. The journey was a success on both fronts.

The GNitW has graduated to walking and single syllable noises since I last saw her. I was pretty sure she threw in an HOLA at one point as well. No doubt the product of spending some time with her Aunt Jojo.

As for the Fan Fest I wasn’t sure what to expect. Having only attended Fests down here in laid back Florida I didn’t know what to expect from a good ol’ Northeastern gathering. By the end of the day I was fairly impressed. There were about 12,000 fellow Orioles fans wandering the halls of the convention center on Saturday and from what I saw it all went pretty smoothly.

Accompanied by my brother-in-law and his brother we arrived at about 11.00, which was when the gates opened. Braving the chilly (at least for this Florida boy) temperatures we wandered around the convention center until we found out what door to enter. Plopping down $10.00 got us in and we were immediately handed a black and orange MASN bag to throw our goodies in.

I had brought some cards to get signed, basically whatever Orioles cards I could find the night before I flew into town so I wasn’t as prepared as I usually am for the Rays fests. It didn’t help that there wasn’t an autograph schedule posted until the day of the fan fest, which was probably smart since it didn’t allow fans to sand bag lines waiting for the popular players.

We headed downstairs to the lower half of the exhibit where the affiliates and partner companies of the team had booths set up. We picked up schedules for the minor leagues, my brother-in-law’s brother was planning on hitting all of the minor league teams stadiums this season with his father so he wanted to start planning right away.

Not being young enough to hit whiffle balls in the miniature stadium that was set up we found the line where prospect and hopeful ace-in-waiting Chris Tillman was taking photos with fans for a small donation. It would end up being the smallest line we would find all day. He seems to be a nice guy and smiled and introduced himself to everyone in the line.

Following that we wandered back upstairs to see who was signing. The organizers had set up a system whereby they would announce who was signing at a particular station an hour before time and then they would let the first 250 people to show up at that station get in line. Everyone who made it into the line was guaranteed to get an autograph from that group of signers.

The fallback was that you usually had to wait at least an hour to get an autograph and the lines filled up quickly. At that point we just decided to get in a random line and hope for the best. We missed the bearded ones – Nick Markakis and Luke Scott, but did luck out with Chris Tillman, Jason Berken and Kam Mickolio (who was there with his hot wife/girlfriend/ friend).

While we were waiting in line, the news broke that the O’s had signed Miguel Tejada to a one year deal. At $6 million it seems a little steep, but if he hits .275 and knocks in more than 50 runs it will be worth it while the future third baseman (Josh Bell) has another year to improve his game. It was amusing to see all of the fans whipping out their cell phones to entertain themselves while waiting – whatever did we do before handheld internet devices were available.

Once the players arrived the line moved fairly quickly. I had Tillman sign the photo that was taken earlier and the other two signed team provided cards. Three new autographs for the collection was good enough for me. We ventured to the room next door which had a ton of game/batting practice used jerseys and gear for sale.


We had undoubtedly missed the good stuff, but there were a ton of Lou Montenez shirts left. I almost pulled the trigger on an orange Juan Samuel (third base coach) jersey, but thought better of it. I also briefly contemplated picking up a vinyl “This is Birdland” sign for $20, but was pretty sure that wouldn’t go over well with the significant other. The boys bought game used batting helmets, possibly for autographs next year and after a reheated pretzel and god awful chicken fingers we were on to the last phase of the day – the clubhouse tour.

For me this was definitely the highlight. I don’t know what’s so fascinating about wandering around the locker rooms of the rich and famous ballplayers, but it was fun. The clubhouse guides were of good cheer and extra information (umpires used to use tobacco juice to rub down the baseballs before Lena Blackburne’s Original Baseball Rubbing Mud came along in 1939).

We were led through the training room, the locker room and then out to the dugout itself. I knew there was a memento of Cal Ripken Sr in the dugout, but didn’t know that there was also a tribute to Earl Weaver as well. You can’t say that the organization ignores its history.

We snapped some photos sitting on the bench and also of the field. The ushers were adamant about not touching the grass as it was “fragile” from the cold weather. They also explained that the seats in the lower level were removed because the concrete was being retreated. After 17 seasons or so Camden Yards was showing some wear and tear so they were repairing some cracks.

Exhausted after a winter day filled with baseball we hiked back to the car and headed out for some Chinese food. I then hopped the train down to D.C. to watch a Caps game with an old friend of mine. It was truly a good day.



Nope. No performance enhancing drugs in here!


Jason Berken once struck out 200 batters in a season simply because his locker was next to Matt Wieters.


Simply one of the best views in all of baseball.


The first of many calls to the bullpen?

If I Was in Vegas..

...I'd be going broke right now.

Last week was not good. 1-3 and the only win was a loss for my favorite team, the Ravens. Oh well, I can still put a winning record on the table by sweeping the next three match-ups. Since I'm not in town this weekend, well not in my hometown anyway, the odds are presented by Yahoo.

Here we go:

AT INDIANAPOLIS (-8) vs New York Jets - I see this as a carbon copy of the Ravens match-up last week. Revis will shut down Reggie Wayne, but Peyton will beat the pressure with short screens and quick routes. The defense will do enough to pressure Mark Sanchez into a couple of key turnovers.

AT NEW ORLEANS (-4) vs Minnesota - This is the game that bad Brett Favre comes back to haunt the Vikings. I still don't trust him. The Saints may not smother you on defense, but they are very opportunistic and force turnovers. I think they win going away. Maybe if Prince's Vikings song had been better I'd pick them, but for now I'm going with the Saints.

So there you are. Now I'm off to the Orioles Fan Fest and then a Caps game tonight. Good times!

Slug in a ditch!

The worst loss I ever witnessed personally was a 10-2 loss vs the Rangers in November of 1998. I'm so glad the Lightning tried to match that effort in futility tonight.

Listless.
Uninspired.
Lacking in desire.
Just plain awful.

Even those words don't adequately explain what happened on the ice in Madison Square Garden. I'm sure there will be the usual post game responses from the players:

"We have to put tonight's game behind us."
"We were just outplayed tonight."
"I don't know what happened, we just didn't have it tonight."
"Frankly, I had the over on goals scored so winner, winner chicken dinner!"

O.k. so we probably won't hear anyone admit to the last one, but for all intents and purposes (what a silly phrase when you type it out) the season is over for the Bolts. They don't have the extra gear needed to make a playoff run.

Is that disappointing? A little, but it's not the end of the world. Despite inconsistent play they have improved over the last two seasons. This team is on the right path and with the right moves during the trading deadline and in the off-season they could seriously make a run next year.

So, the point of this post, which I admit is typed in haste and the disillusionment that follows a nasty defeat, is that I'm declaring the season over. No playoff revenue for the hometown boys this season. If the Lightning prove me wrong and go on a sudden hot streak I'll be the first to admit I was wrong, but I don't see that happening.

I'm upset with the loss and the inconsistently that they've displayed this season, but I'm not going to curse Tocchet's name or carry on about how certain players are lazy and nonchalant about the team's affairs.

Nor am I going to call for the owners' heads or question Brian Lawton's manhood. Because deep down I believe that they are focused on building a winning team. Whatever their motivation may be, be it pride, money or a sense of community, they all have vested interests in putting a winning team on the ice.

Fans tend to forget who's money is at stake. We might shell out a couple of a hundred of dollars, perhaps even thousands on season tickets and merchandise, but that pales in comparison to the millions the owners put up - even if it's not as many millions as they said they would put up.

Thank you for listening to a mini-rambling rant about a team you don't care about. By the way, the title is a reference to how TV versions of movies used to dub over curse words. In the Michael J Fox/ James Woods blockbuster "The Hard Way" one of the stations dubbed in "Slug in Ditch" for the more vulgar Son of a B*tch. It was funny only because there was a scene where it was repeated about 6 times in a row....hmmm maybe you had to be there.