Is Bronson Arroyo auditioning to be a Yankee?

I wrote a piece for The Faster Times about Bronson Arroyo's very candid USA Today interview, where he copped to using supplements, andro, and amphetamines. His father even weighed in and said in the article that his son started using supplements at the age of five! Unreal.

I've never been much of a Bronson (or, as A-Rod calls him, Brandon) Arroyo fan, but I applaud his  candor. He didn't just talk about PED use - he also talked about baseball's spending. Yankee fans will be particularly interested in this tidbit:

“People don’t own teams to lose money,” he said. He suggested that “if you ask any owner whether they would rather make $20 million and come in last place or lose $20 million and win a World Series, there’s only one guy who honestly would take that championship: George Steinbrenner (of the Yankees). Nobody else.”

Hmmm. Arroyo cleared waivers earlier this month. Would I be surprised to see the Yankees try to trade for him as a No. 5 starter, especially given that Chien-Ming Wang could be out for a year? No, I would not.

Arroyo has a ridiculous contract. And while I respect his truth-telling, I don't want him as a Yankee. But I wouldn't be surprised if somebody in the Steinbrenner family looks at that quote and thinks that Arroyo would be a great fit for the Yankees.  

Could he be a better fit as a No. 5 starter than Chad Gaudin or Sergio Mitre? Of course. But he's also owed $11 million next year. Yikes!

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In other news, how about that Yankee walkoff victory yesterday? No matter what the odds, this team just keeps on coming back!

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez both got hit hard - literally - in yesterday's game. Should they have pulled a Youk?

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

More on Kevin Youkilis, who acted like a moron this week

Nothing gets Squawker readers agitated like a Red Sox gone wild. So my post on Kevin Youkilis is got a ton of page views, and many comments on both sides of the issue. And 70% of our readers voted "ridiculous" in our poll about him. 

Youk claimed to be sorry afterwards about what he did, and how it looked to children. And he did not appeal the five-game suspension, which I will give him a modicum of credit for. (But Rick Porcello should not have gotten a five-game suspension for his part in the fight; what was he supposed to do when Youk charged the mound? Start a "Sweet Caroline" singalong or something?)

But Youkilis also said this:

“I think I could have gotten six, or more [games suspended]. I think the league understands and knows that I’m not the type of player that does that. 

C'mon now. I get that Youkilis is the kind of player that you love if he's on your team, and hate if he's the opposition. But he also has a really bad temper, and this isn't the first time it's gotten him into trouble. Remember how he got all peeved at Johan Santana? Remember how he even ticked off Manny Ramirez by all of his dramatics? 

Whether Youkilis is sorry afterwards isn't really the issue. Milton Bradley is also usually sorry when he loses control as well. (For what it's worth, I don't think Bradley is evil - he's just got a bad temper, and doesn't handle adversity well.)

And I don't think Youkilis is evil, either - he's done some great things for charity, including speaking from the heart at a suicide prevention event. But he's awfully annoying, too. And as time goes on, Yankee fans are finding him more and more insufferable.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Kevin Youkilis: Righteous or Ridiculous?

Kevin Youkilis is rapidly rising up the Most Hated Red Sox chart, if our Yankee fan readers are any indication. And him starting a brawl last night will only add to his rep, such as it is.

While Jonathan Papelbon garnered 58% of our readers' votes for the Red Sox they like the least, Youk is in second at 22%. And even David Ortiz getting exposed as a Fenway faker couldn't move more than 6% or our readers to vote against him.

Here are the results for the least favorite Red Sox poll:

David Ortiz - 6%
Jonathan Papelbon - 58%
Dustin Pedroia - 7%
Jason Varitek -5%
Kevin Youkilis - 22%

What's funny to me is that other players find Youk just as annoying. Manny Ramirez and other Red Sox players couldn't stand his constant temper tantrums in the dugout, and Joba Chamberlain and Youkilis aren't exactly BFFs.

The latest player to get tired of Youkilis' act is the Tigers' Rick Porcello, who tossed a charging Youkilis to the ground like a sack of potatoes last night. The great Yankee blog Fack Youk has inducted the Detroit pitcher into their Hall of Fame for this act. I agree!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks to me like the Red Sox - as usual - started this fight. They think they can plunk other team's stars and not face any repercussions. Monday they hit Miguel Cabrera, and Detroit hit Youkilis in retaliation. Then Junichi Tazawa, who has been in the majors for all of five minutes, hit Cabrera again and ended up knocking him out of the game. So when Youkilis got hit again in retaliation, he didn't take kindly to it, throwing his helmet and puffing up like a blowfish.

It's sooooo obvious what the Sox are doing here - trying to stir up a brawl to rally around. That's why they went after A-Rod twice on Saturday. They really think that the A-Rod/Varitek brawl turned their 2004 season around, even though they actually went .500 in the week after that fight. No matter.

So now it's up to Youkilis to fire up their team. Now they're all pleased that they won. As if they achieved something great. Not so shockingly, when you knock out the other team's starter, you can often beat up on their bullpen. What do they want, a cookie?

What kills me is that the Sox have been playing this beanball game for years, but whenever they get retaliated against, like when Dustin Pedroia got plunked for payback about A-Rod getting hit the last time around, they get all hysterical. Dustin threw the mother of all hissy fits the other day, and now Youk is playing the tough guy act. But he sure doesn't look very tough in the above photo from the brawl!

As for the Yankees, I missed the game last night - believe it or not, I was at The Bacchae at Shakespeare in the Park - but I'm glad, of course, that the Bombers won. But seeing the Youk video was the highlight of the evening!

I find Youkilis extremely annoying, but what do you think? Vote in our latest poll!