R-Lev Gets Subpoenaed

Yankees' president Randy Levine was subpoenaed on Tuesday by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) to testify before a state assembly committee on Wednesday concerning monies spent on the new Yankee Stadium.

Brodsky is upset at the Yankees, and the New York City Industrial Development Authority, for what he sees as a lack of cooperation in providing documentation to back further funding requests by the Yankees.

Levine appeared on Mike Francesa's radio show to clear the air. Here are some excerpts.

Francesa: "Why has this become such a hot issue?"

Levine: "2 reasons- secondary financing, which is common and was contemplated all along... Every cent is being paid for by the Yankees"

Levine then took Brodsky to task for grand standing and distorting the facts. The facts are that the Yankees are spending 1.3 billion of their own money. New York City owns the ballpark and the Yankees are tenants. The Yankees responsible for all maintenance costs of the new Stadium.

Francesa: "The NYC Comptroller said an audit shows direct cost to the city is $325 million due to oversights and mistakes."

Levine: It's not the actual Stadium that he's referring to. As part of the arrangement, the city is building the infrastructure - brand new parks, parking garages, etc...Rising construction costs are effecting it. The Yankees get no revenue from the garages. In fact, despite spending $1.3 billion, the Yankees only get 600 parking spaces."

Francesa: "If you are paying with private financing, why going to the city?"

Levine: "The Stadium is being built with a tax exempt financing mechanism. We have a 43 year lease with the city. Since the Yankees are tenants, there are no property taxes. The Yankees will pay make payments on the bonds issued in lieu of a property tax."

Francesa: "Could this have done without the city's help?"

Levine: "No, because borrowing would have been so much higher it would have been impossible. You don't have to pay federal tax on the bonds as you would with a bank. The Yankees are also putting $225 million of their own money on top of the bond money."

So there you have it. You can listen to the entire interview on WFAN's website. The Stadium will actually cost $1.5 billion and these issues will probably be resolved pretty quickly. As Newsday reported, Mayor Bloomberg took a shot, through a spokesman, at Brodsky as well.

"I guess it makes for good political theater because it's the Yankees, but when it comes to valuable taxpayer dollars, decisions should be made on return, not rhetoric," Bloomberg spokesman Andrew Brent said.

Play Ball!

Share

The Daily Yankeeland - 10/25

Time to catch up a little on our favorite band of underachievers. You can end the speculation that Larry Bowa might return to the Yankees as third base coach. He'll be staying on in with Joe Torre in LA as will Don Mattingly and the rest of the staff. There's still talk about Milwaukee's interim manager Dale Sveum taking the job, but as we have pointed out before, Sveum held the position and Boston and did not do a good job in the eyes of Red Sox fans.

Speaking of Milwaukee, rumors has it that Willie Randolph is interviewing for the job. Good luck Willie!

Darryl Strawberry had some sage words of advice for Joba Chamberlain after the latter's DUI arrest. If anyone has learned from experienced, it's the Straw man.

Congress is reviewing allegations that the Yankees improperly received funding for additional expenses in building the new Stadium. Randy Levine told Congress that the Yankees would have left town if not for the funding they received. Sure, Randy, go work on your perm.

It may just be rumor, but word is that the Yankees and Cubs may play an exhibition game in the new Stadium before the official opener.

Share

The Daily Yankeeland

Hideki Matsui feels his surgically repaired knee will be ready to go come opening day. For Matsui that means being able to play left field. How Joe Girardi ends up using Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Jason Giambi remains to be seen.

Mike Mussina says things are not going to be easy for Andy Pettitte this season. The team is expecting 190-200 innings and 15 wins out of the left-hander, but Moose knows how much crap Pettitte will have to put up with in visiting ball parks.

Despite previous enthusiasm, it wouldn't be surprising at all if Pettitte disappeared from the public spotlight after this season.

Derek Jeter says the game has definutely taken a hit from all of the steroid controversy and is truly embarrassed by the poor publicity that the game is dealing with.

Brian McNamee's attorney Earl Ward said yesterday that Roger Clemens shouldn't worry if he ends up with jail time. That's because the Rocket's good buddy Dubya would most certainly pardon him. Rusty "JR Ewing" Hardin's response to Ward's allegations? "He needs to stop smoking his own dope."

No one should be surprised by the disgraceful split among party lines during the hearing. That's just Washington, D.C. at its' worstbest. Rep Dan Burton (R-Indiana) could definitely have his pic next to the word "hypocrite" in the dictionary. The best response yesterday though probably came from Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman:

“I think Clemens and McNamee both came out quite sullied, and I didn’t think it was a hearing that needed to be held in order to get the facts out about the Mitchell report,” Waxman said.

Then why did you have a hearing, Henry? It's your committee!

Phil Hughes has some great pics on his blog from his weekend at a NASCAR event with Shelley Duncan and Ian Kennedy. He also convinced IPK to answer some questions from fans.

Randy Levine is pissing someone(s) off for a change. This time it is Bronx Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr.. Diaz asked Levine how many Bronx residents were hired to work on construction of the new Stadium. Levine could not provide an answer, upsetting the Bronx pols.

Then Levine got into it with Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo. She wanted to know why a community foundation that was supposed to dole out 800k a year from Yankees contributions to Bronx non-profits,had taken more than a year-and-a-half to hold its' initial meeting. Levine told her to go ask Bronx Borough Prez Adolfo Carrión. A ticked off Arroyo blasted Levine and walked out of the meeting.

Keep up that great P.R. work there, Randy.

No decision yet in Chien-Ming Wang's arbitration case, but the right-hander was not upset by yesterday's proceedings, which in fact went quite smoothly.

Share

MMD Answer Levine

Mike and the Mad Dog opened their show today with a response to Randy Levine's comments in the New York Times. Levine comes off looking like an even bigger buffoon than before.

Franseca took the point since he has been the most critical of Levine over time, including well before the Joe Torre situation came up. They accurately pointed out that Levine is thin skinned and needs to toughen up if he is going to put himself in the forefront of the Yankees hierarchy.

Levine stated that MMD criticized Levine because their YES contract comes up next year. As Francesa pointed out, "how would criticizing help negotiate?".

Clearly MMD do not need YES, but they do need MMD.

Kudos, and I don't give them to MMD often, for defending Tom Verducci as well.

Share

Levine Comes out Firing

First we had Hank Steinbrenner stepping in front of the moving freight train in his defense of Daddy. Now Mr. Politico, Randy Levine, has come out with both one barrel firing at his critics. He does not address all criticism, only that which came from people who he feels have a conflict of interest.

First he attacked Mike and the Mad Dog, because Levine has been openly critical about spending money to air their show on YES, and they have a new negotiation coming up.

Then he attacked Tom Verducci, one of the most respected men in the business, because he once collaborated on a book with Joe Torre.

And finally, John Kruk, of all people, because he and Torre share an agent.

Levine had no problem though calling up a NY Times reporter, Richard Sandomir, whom he once did a major favor for, so he could be heard.

This is NOT getting any better.

Source

Share

Hank Hammerin'

Sometimes you just need to leave well enough alone. Apparently, Hank Steinbrenner didn't get that memo. Hank decided to be the bull in the china shop (actually he looks like a bloodhound) and blast Joe Torre for his comments pertaining to the "insulting" contract offer.

"Where was Joe's career in '95 when my dad hired him?" said the new Boss. "My dad was crucified for hiring him.

"Let's not forget what my dad did in giving him that opportunity - and the great team he was handed," Steinbrenner told The Post by phone from Tampa, Fla.

"You can't take credit for success when you're going good, and then not take at least some of the blame when things change," Steinbrenner said. "I'm sorry he feels insulted, but that was not the intent."

Source

Now was not the time for firing salvos back in the Torre camp. Torre was respectful of George during his press conference. Right now Randy Levine, mainly because he was the front man during the news conference, is the villain. Hank needs to learn how not to move in front of the on coming train. His actions only further infuriated the majority of the fans.

But here's the bigger issue, bean counters and politicos are now running the show. George didn't know baseball, he was a "football man", when he bought the Yankees, but he did learn over the years. These guys haven't. Levine, in particular, is strictly business and politics. He repped the owners during the '94 player's strike. He was a deputy mayor to Rudy Guiliani - (very interesting Bob Raissman piece back in March concerning that issue.); he was an integral part of getting the new stadium approved. But does he know baseball and baseball people? Fuhgetaboutit.

We're starting to read things like, "Brian Cashman has been authorized to negotiate...". This does not bode well for the immediate, and possibly future, status of the Bombers.

Share