Today’s news is brought to you by someone who knows how to properly admit the truth about his taking PEDs:

(I’m not gonna inundate you with A-Rod news conference links, because Alex and Cliff have done and will continue to provide related content.  But here are a couple to tide you over …)

• PeteAbe provides the text of Rodriguez’s opening statement (via the AP).
• Jayson Stark points out the inconsistencies in A-Rod’s answers to Gammons’ questions, and what he said at the news conference.  For example:

Nine days ago, A-Rod didn’t know what kind of drug (or drugs) he was taking — even though he says he took it for three years.

Now, nine days later, he knows it was something called “Boli.” Which, best we can tell, is another name for Primobolan, the exact drug he was asked point-blank by Gammons whether he had taken.

Nine days ago, there wasn’t one word uttered about any mysterious cousins who were procuring this stuff and helping him inject it. …

Nine days ago, A-Rod was implying that whatever he was taking, he was buying it down at the mall …

Now, he’s admitting his cousin was the one doing the purchasing. And although he continued to say this drug was bought “over the counter,” we now know that counter was located in the Dominican Republic …

Nine days ago, there was no mention of any other “substances.” But on Tuesday, Rodriguez admitted to ESPN’s Hannah Storm that he also used to take Ripped Fuel, which was later banned — at least in its original ephedra-based form — by both baseball and the FDA.

And nine days ago, Rodriguez was angrily accusing universally respected Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts of “stalking” him. Now, it turns out, he just had a “misunderstanding of the facts.” So never mind.

Now let me ask you: Would a man whose mission was simply to tell the truth do that much zigzagging in a nine-day span? Sorry. That’s tough to accept.

[My take: Alex should have taken one more injection … truth serum.]

• Alan Schwarz of the Times blogged the A-Rod news conference, and had this to say at the end of it:

Rodriguez has said, in many different ways, “I’m ready to get this behind me.”….

I have my own personal Pete Rose Rule, named after the Hit King who denied he bet on baseball for (something like) 14 years before finally admitting it and saying, in effect, “It’s good to get this off my chest, and it’s time to move on.” Seems to me that if you admit to something after lying about it for 14 years, you get 14 years before others let you “move on.”

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Today’s news is powered by a younger, more innocent Alex Rodriguez, as seen in this video:

• Jayson Stark takes us behind the scenes of the soon-to-be circus atmosphere of A-Rod’s news conference:

Have I mentioned that Mark Teixeira pulled into this clubhouse for the first time Monday? If you’re wondering, he was 8½ minutes into his first chat with the media before he got a single question fired at him that WASN’T A-Rod-related.

Later on, the manager plopped into a chair in his office for his daily dose of press banter. The conversation with Joe Girardi lasted 14 minutes. I timed it.

He took one question about his overpopulated outfield, and another about whether he expected all of his players to report on time. EVERY other question was about his third baseman.

So think about how much Girardi and that talented little $200 million baseball team of his can’t wait for this melodrama to be over. Hey, good luck on that.

But at least the manager has that part figured out. Asked Monday if there was a “danger” that this story might linger after A-Rod leaves the witness stand — er, news conference — Girardi never blinked.

“Obviously, I think it’s going to linger,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to have a press conference [Tuesday] and then it’s just going to disappear.”

• ESPN ombusman LeAnne Schrieber takes a hard look at her network’s Gammons/A-Rod coverage.

My own assessment is that Gammons asked the hard questions — Did you take steroids? For how long? Where did you get them? Did you lie to Katie Couric? — but that after getting Rodriguez’s opening admission of guilt, he did not press hard enough when Rodriguez gave evasive or self-serving answers to the what/where/when/why questions. I also think Gammons’ lack of follow-up was attributable, in large part, to his genuine sympathetic engagement in the human drama of what the viewer somewhat cynically called “Rodriguez’s first step toward personal redemption.”

• SI’s Jerry Crasnick rates the Yankees OF situation as one of the top 9 position battles to be settled this Spring:

Johnny Damon, whose 118 OPS+ a year ago tied the best single-season mark of his career, will get the bulk of the left field at-bats, which leaves Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher in the mix in right and Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner competing for time in center.

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Since today is President’s Day, the news is powered by this video:

• PeteAbe has an article detailing that Rivera pitched with some discomfort during ’08:

During his annual state-of-the-closer address, Rivera revealed that he pitched much of last season in pain because of a bone spur on top of his collarbone. The lump, which was visible through his skin, caused discomfort even when he slept.

“I felt it all day,” Rivera said. “I don’t want to go through that again.”

Dr. David Altchek shaved down the bone on Oct. 7, but only after Rivera had appeared in 64 games and recorded 39 saves. Rivera had a 1.40 ERA and allowed only 41 hits over 70 2/3 innings. He struck out 77 and walked six.

In a superlative career, it was one of Rivera’s best seasons.

“It was painful but I did it,” said Rivera, who said the worst days were the ones when he pitched more than an inning or for the third game in a row.

[My take: Carl Pavano strained his ego reading that article.]

• Ken Davidoff reflects on the void in Yankeeland left by the departure of Boss George from day-to-day operations:

He sure made life difficult for everyone. Yet in virtual absentia, Steinbrenner’s stature has only grown. It has become painfully apparent that for all of his flaws, he has left an immense void. One that is even more noticeable when the organization is under siege, like right now.

“Those are some big shoes to fill,” said Rich Gossage, here as a guest instructor. “There is only one George Steinbrenner, I can tell you that. The current regime, it’s going to take a while for the transition to happen.”

• PeteAbe also blogs about Day 2 of camp, including this tidbit:

Joe Girardi mentioned that he wants to carry a long reliever. But it would hurt the development of Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy to use them in such a fashion. “Those guys need innings,” the manager said. Hughes and I had a little talk about it. “The paychecks would be great but that’s not what I need,” he said. “I’m good with pitching in AAA if that is what happens and being ready for when they need me.”

You watch, he’ll get 10-15 starts in the majors this season.

• At least Hughes is saying the right things:

“As long as I pitch well, I think I’ll have an opportunity,” Hughes said Sunday after his first bullpen session of the year at Steinbrenner Field. “And if all five of our starters go through the year and make every one of their starts, great. That’s obviously what they’re looking forward to. I’m just trying to work hard and find a place to fit it somewhere.”

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, today’s news is powered by this video (don’t worry, there’s no sex :-)):

• Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports on the Yanks’ first day or camp down in Florida, including this chuckle:

Noted extrovert Joba Chamberlain was already in midseason form, heading for the locker of the big man on campus and trying on CC Sabathia’s size 56 pinstriped jersey.

[My take: Brett Garder could use it for a tent.]

• Here’s a photo to make you happy … C-MW on the mound.
• Over at ESPN.com, Jayson Stark offers the results of a survey regarding best and worst off-season moves.  The Yankees figure prominently in the “best” categories.
• At BP.com, Kevin Goldstein is out with his annual listing of the “Top 100 Prospects”.   Jesus Montero is one of only two Yankees to make the list, at #38.  Austin Jackson (#46) is the other.
• Also at BP.com, Marc Normandin lists the top fantasy second basemen for ’09.  Robby Cano comes in at #14.
• The Yanks signed Brett Tomko to a minor league deal, writes Tyler Kepner.

[My take: Fun fact … his name anagrams to BOTTOM TREK, which sort of describes this signing.]

• In PeteAbe’s reporting of the Tomko signing, he includes this A-Rod news:

Meanwhile, in an incredible case of bad timing, the University of Miami named its baseball field after Alex Rodriguez this evening. A-Rod donated $3.9 million to refurbish the facility. He had planned to attend Miami before signing with Seattle out of high school.

The stadium is now called Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. How a park can be at a field, I’m not quite sure. But for $3.9 million, it doesn’t really matter.

[My take: Any truth to the rumor that Alex is now claiming he didn’t know exactly what he was putting his money towards (a park or a field), and that he’s sorry and remorseful and ready to move on?]

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In recognition of it being Friday the 13th, and all the news regarding a certain similarly-numbered Yankee, today’s news is powered by this clip … ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Stevie Wonder

Here’s the news

• Would the Commish really suspend A-Rod after his admission of steroid use?

[My take: That’s the LAST thing the Yanks need.  A fidgety A-Rod sitting on the pine for what … 50 games?]

• If you care to read Selig’s statement on the admission.
• TampaBay.com has some interesting Cashman quotes on the mess:

“From (2004) on, we’ve had the testing procedures in place — that’s the best I can go off of,” Cashman said. “I’m not here to represent that I’m confident about anything of anybody. I think we’ve lived through a tough stretch that shattered that confidence level. If you asked me that question five years ago, I’d be giving you a different answer. But I’ve been educated quite a bit, unfortunately, over this course of time. So I’m not gonna maybe make the same mistakes I’ve made in the past … so I’ll give you a blanket, ‘I’m not confident about anything in the past anymore.’ ”

Asked if he knew then what he now knows about Rodriguez, would he have re-signed the All-Star third baseman, Cashman said, “you can’t take us back that way.”

• Would Alex be willing to speak to youth about the dangers of performance-enhancing substances?  A congressmen wants to know:

A congressman has extended an invitation to baseball star Alex Rodriguez to discuss steroids — at an anti-drug event in Maryland.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) wrote a letter to the New York Yankees slugger this week, asking him to attend the “Powered by ME!” conference in Timonium, Md., this April. Cummings is a senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which heard pitcher Roger Clemens last year deny he used steroids or human growth hormone. The FBI is investigating whether Clemens lied when he made those denials. …

“In light of your recent acknowledgment that you used steroids in the past,” Cummings wrote, “I believe you are in a unique position to send a strong message out to our young people that they should refrain from using performance-enhancing substance.” The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter Thursday.

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Powered by this timely video ….

Here’s the news:

• At the News, Mark Feinsand profiles 19-year-old Jesus Montero, the supposed heir apparent to Posada:

Though there’s been speculation that Montero, a burly, 6-3, 230-pound Venezuelan, might have to switch positions, the Yankees say they are committed to him as a receiver.

“That’s our intention and, more importantly, that’s his intention, too,” said Mark Newman, the Yankees’ vice president of baseball operations. “Right now, he hasn’t shown us anything that tells us he can’t do it. He improved his throw-out percentage last year. He’s a big boy, so he’s got to maintain lower body flexibility, but he’s got very good arm strength and he’s very bright, so he’ll run a game very well.”

“The conventional wisdom might be that he’s too big. But our attitude is that he can do it and we expect him to do it. He’s a catcher and he’s nothing beyond that, at this time.”

Montero, who played in the Futures Game at Yankee Stadium last summer, had a huge season at Charleston, the Yankees’ low-Class A affiliate in 2008, batting .326 with 17 homers and 87 RBI. It was his first full season. Montero likely will move up to high-A Tampa in 2009, Newman said.

• Joba Chamberlain is yet another teammate to support A-Rod:

Even though Rodriguez might have a long process to go through, from the possibility of scorn from his own teammates and fans and insulting chants in opposing ballparks, Chamberlain feels confident he will thrive, baseball-wise. “He’s still going to go out and play the game,” Chamberlain said. “He’s going to be the Alex that we’ve counted on and he’s going to be there for us…. He’s one of the greatest players to ever play, so he’s going to continue to do what he does.”

• Teixeira has thrown his support behind Rodriguez too:

“I know he’s going through a rough time right now, and I think his apology said it all,” Teixeira said. “He’s disappointed in himself, he made a mistake and we’re all going to move on … I’m just going to open up my arms, give him a big hug, tell him I love him and we’re going to get through this.” …

“I’ve never touched steroids or any of those kinds of things — it’s something I feel very strongly about — but at the same time I’ve made mistakes, I’m not perfect, no one’s perfect.”

(more…)

Hey A-Rod … George Hamilton saw you on ESPN, and called to say he wants his suntan back!

Today’s news …

• Torre on A-Rod’s admission:

“I had never really heard anything in connection to him. When you watch his work ethic, the time he puts in at batting practice and in the weight room, I had no reason to question him. He has the most ability of any player I’ve seen,” Torre said through Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch. “It’s going to be tough for him but I’m happy that he came out, faced the music and took responsibility for it.”

• Will A-Rod be going to see (Rep. Elijah) Cummings?  Newsday reports that Rodriguez would get an invite to talk to the same folks who grilled McGwire, Palmeiro, et. al, if Rep. Cummings had his way.
• However, SI.com is reporting the head of that Congressional committee doesn’t foresee a need to have Alex in for a chat.
• The Post quotes Joe Girardi saying the Yanks will rally around Alex:

“I think we will rally around him. I think teammates have already started to rally around him,” Girardi said on WFAN this afternoon.

“I kind of look at it as a relationship you kind of have with your kids. Sometimes kids do things you wish they didn’t do, but you don’t stop loving them, you don’t stop caring for them, you don’t stop being their friend or their teammate. And that’s the thing.”

[My take: Every season … the Yanks get to rally around someone who decided to stick a needle in themselves …. Giambi, Pettitte, now A-Rod.  That’s at least one more rally than they had during the 2008 regular season (ba-dum-bum).  And Joe … A-Rod is not a kid … he’s an adult … he absolutely knew what he was doing … the consequences and risks involved … and now the rest of the team has to “suffer the fool” for another nine years.  That’s a heavy burden to carry … I wouldn’t be surprised if some Bombers have already grown resentful of the continuing adventures of A-Rod.]

• PeteAbe of LoHud reports that Chien-Ming Wang feels good and is ready for the season:

Wang said his foot has totally healed and he is ready to go. I asked him about the Yankees adding CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

“Great for us,” he said. “We have a good rotation. I was glad.”

Wang has long resisted the idea of being considered the ace of the staff. Part of it is his personality, part of it is cultural. He defers to older players and always has. The guy is a competitor on the mound but quiet off it. Look for him to have a big year as he tries to make up for missing so much time. He also was relieved not to face another arbitration hearing.

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Powered by one of my all-time favorite “ESPN Radio” commercials …

Here’s the news (hopefully not “All About Alex”)

• Bill Madden suggests the Yanks just eat the remaining $270+ million left on A-Rod’s contract:

Now that A-Rod’s pursuit looks as counterfeit as Bonds’, they should do what’s best for the organization:

Cut him loose – no matter the cost.

As difficult as it is to imagine eating $270 million, the Bombers will be making a statement, not just for the Yankee brand but for baseball as a whole.

They will be applauded for it.

The Yankees operate under two basic tenets: The relentless pursuit of championships and the fierce protection of their brand. If they are going to remain true to both, then they have no choice but to sever ties with Rodriguez.

[My take: Pass the TUMS …..]

• Mike Lupica has a couple of juicy comments regarding the awkward marriage of Alex and the Yankees:

“The amazing thing about Alex,” an American League manager said Sunday, “isn’t that the Yankees traded for him in the first place. It’s that they re-signed the guy after he walked away from them the way he did.

“Because that means they drank the Kool-Aid twice.”

The same guy then said: “I hear people saying Jeter is probably down in Tampa laughing his a– off because of this drug story about Alex. Are you kidding? Jeter’s crying his a– off, because he knows he’s got to spend the rest of his career playing alongside [Rodriguez].”

• Over at LoHud, PeteAbe thanks Alex for driving a lot of traffic to the site.
• Pete also has actual non-Alex baseball news! (from Brian Cashman):

The Yankees will use Joba Chamberlain as their No. 5 starter from the start of the season. There are no plans to pitch him out of the bullpen. “That is why bringing Andy (Pettitte) back was so important,” Cashman said. …

Cashman said he “absolutely” likes the idea of keeping Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher on the roster. While a trade is possible, there is value in roster flexibility. “Nady can cover us in left and right. Swisher can play first, left, right and center in an emergency. It gives our manager a lot of choices,” Cashman said. …

· There are high hopes for Melky Cabera to reclaim center field. “Melky played well in winter ball and he has to show the competitiveness to put last season behind him,” Cashman said. “The good ones always find a way.”…

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Since its Saturday morning … this post is powered by a cartoon.  Not just any cartoon mind you … but perhaps the cleverest, “works on multiple levels” cartoon of the past 15 years (excepting “The Simpsons”, of course).

(And yes, its part 2 of 2 … I can’t find part 1 … but its still worth it).

Ladies and gentlemen …. I give you “The Powerpuff Girls” in “Meet The Beat Alls”

• Leading off …. here is a Boston-based book review of our favorite new tome:

Torre and Verducci spend much of the book chronicling the rise of the Red Sox and fall of the Yankees, and note that “Athens would prevail over Sparta at last.” The authors rightly contend that the shift in the balance of power between the teams was the result of bad decisions by Cashman and extraordinarily sound ones by Red Sox GM Theo Epstein. …

Those not deterred by its length will find “The Yankee Years” an insightful and non-hagiographic look at a legendary manager and team during one of baseball’s most transformational eras.

• The Post’s Joel Sherman gazes into the future of Derek Jeter’s next contract … and shudders:

But know this – Yankee officials already talk privately about dreading D(erek)-Day.

After all, what team official wants to tell Jeter he has to take a pay cut or has to move positions or – gulp – just has to move on? How would you like that on your baseball epitaph: You were the Yankee executive who told Derek Jeter thanks for the memories? Derek Jeter

Of course, the alternative is not too appetizing either. Because kowtowing to Jeter’s legacy by paying him lavishly and keeping him at short means tying yourself to a late-30s icon well beyond his expiration date.

As if the matter needs complications, Jeter will conclude his current 10-year, $189 million contract on the doorstep of 3,000 hits, a total never reached by a Yankee.

And, really, do we need complications? He is Derek Freaking Jeter. He is the very definition of Yankee. How do you explain being tied to Alex Rodriguez for 10 years, but cutting relationships with Jeter?

[My take: Has any reporter even approached Jeter with the question of whether he’d be willing to switch positions, try CF, if the team asked him to/needed him to?  Maybe Jeter’s performance in ’09 and ’10 will be poor enough that the public outcry over letting him go will be softened a bit?  (Admittedly, that would probably mean the Yanks miss the playoffs those years.) Perhaps he’d like to rejoin Torre with the Dodgers in 2011?]

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Powered by quite possibly the greatest three minutes in WKRP (and perhaps all of sitcom) history …

WKRP in Cincinnati: Thanksgiving Turkey Bomb! @ Yahoo! Video

• OK … I’m guilty of having been …. ummm …. overly optimistic … regarding the able-bodied viability of Ben Sheets as an answer to the Yanks need for a fifth starter. He’s probably gonna have elbow surgery.

[My take: And he was pushing for a two-year deal during the off-season?]

• The Bombers offered Andruw Jones an NRI to Spring Training, and he turned them down, reports SI.
• Derek Jeter will be facing his Yankee teammates, as a member of the US WBC team, in a March 3rd exhibition.

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Powered by quite possibly the best 5 minutes ever in “Taxi” …

Here’s the news:

• Brian Cashman states he’ll never write a book like Torre’s latest, and has some other interesting tidbits from a charity event in Pleasantville:

Someone skeptically asked if Cashman was really satisfied with the situation in center field, and he responded that he expected Melky Cabrera to bounce back after a dismal season last year.

“At the same time,” he said, “I’ve got a kid named Brett Gardner that’s hungry and wants that job.”

• Over at Newsday, Tom Verducci states his case on the merits of the book, including this:

“He told me he didn’t want to tell any tales or have it be a tell-all book,” Verducci said. “That’s exactly what we told publishers.”

Things got more complicated when Torre left the Yankees, and Torre did tell some tales many believe violated the sanctity of the clubhouse.

Verducci said he warned Torre “people will pull things out of context,” but he dismissed the notion the book crosses any lines.

“I don’t think the book goes into any rooms that were unlit,” Verducci said. “He may illuminate things further, but you think about Alex Rodriguez fitting into the clubhouse; was that a surprise he had trouble?

[My take: Detailing that Kevin Brown was found hiding and curled up in the corner of a room after an awful pitching performance isn’t (almost literally) “going into any rooms that were unlit”?]

• The News’ Vic Ziegel doesn’t understand what the fuss is about with the book:

There was hardly a shock in the well-written pages, no reason to stop a single press, nothing hotter than PG-13. OK, here’s one thing that might have a shelf life: Expect a bunch of headlines this season playing off the nickname A-Fraud.

A-Rod needs careful handling? David Wells isn’t David Niven? The night Kevin Brown cried? (Who knew the indifferent Brown had tear ducts.) Torre and Brian Cashman were drifting apart? None of that should have surprised even the casual baseball fan.

For some reason, though – maybe because the book was touted as an inside-out look at the Yankees – a few pre-publication leaks suggested the perfect storm. No, sorry, “The Yankee Years” is no tsunami.

If there’s a mystery here, or a complaint from the e-mailers who love to complain, it’s why this book was written in the first place. Why did Torre, who insisted everything that happens in the Bronx stay in the Bronx, decide to break the 11th commandment and violate the sanctity of the clubhouse? Funny, but Torre doesn’t think he was The Great Violator.

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Powered by this really creative use of Legos, here’s the news:

• The Joe Torre book publicity tour (such as it is) made a stop in midtown Manhattan Tuesday.  MLB.com covered it:

While the “A-Fraud” talk was among the more prominent issues that made waves, Torre rejected the idea that he had broken the time-honored code of the clubhouse — in short, what you see here stays here, a message that Torre himself sent to players during his 12 years.

“I don’t think I really volunteered anything in this book that at some time or other — sitting in the dugout, sitting in the clubhouse, talking to media — that they haven’t heard before,” Torre said.

In part to assure that, Torre said that he had “read and re-read” the final text, making changes along the way with his co-author, Verducci.

[My take: Well … the “they” in that 2nd paragraph excerpt refers to the media and players, not to the buying public.  If Torre HAD said some of those things in front of the media, why hadn’t the media passed it onto the public?  Some media person would have “leaked” something during the past 12 years, don’t you think?  How many of us (the general public) knew of “A-Fraud”, or Damon’s “burnout” or some of those juicy quotes BEFORE this book?  Count me on the side of “he broke the code of the clubhouse”.]

• Sam Borden (pinch-hitting for a vacationing PeteAbe) reports from the scene of the Manhattan book-signing.
• Here is the Times recap of it.
• Harvey Araton also reports on the event, and offers his opinion on Torre’s attitude toward the reaction to the book:

I don’t blame Torre for writing a book, for being proud of what he achieved in New York. The Yankees treated him shamefully at the end and were classless in excluding him from the Yankee Stadium finale. I just wish Torre would say he told it as he saw it and stop pretending that there is nothing in “The Yankee Years” more incendiary than a rundown of his starters for a four-game series in August.

He continued on Tuesday to characterize the “A-Fraud” reference to Alex Rodriguez as an inside joke, “tongue-in-cheek, in front of him.” Even if that were the case, now that Torre has revealed it publicly in a book receiving spectacular national attention, how humorous will it be for A-Rod when he is serenaded with the chant on the road next season and possibly at home for leaving the bases loaded with two out in the eighth?

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I am sad today.  As Alex posted here, Baseball Toaster, the former home of Banter and many other cool blogs, is closing up shop.  I wish the proprietors of these blogs only the best in their future endeavors.

Now onto the news:

• With football season now over, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com recaps the Yanks off-season, and looks ahead to Spring Training.
• The L.A. Times has a very positive review of Torre’s book, including this bit:

And yet, “The Yankee Years” masterfully interweaves these larger issues into a detailed account of the rise and fall of Torre’s dynasty, a team that won four World Series in the first five years he was managing — and then did not go all the way again.

The credit for this belongs to Verducci, senior baseball writer for Sports Illustrated and SportsIllustrated.com. He is, if truth be told, the real author of “The Yankee Years,” which is not a memoir, regardless of how it’s been portrayed.

Written in the third person, the book is more an extended piece of reporting interspersed with long quotes from Torre and many others, which at times makes for an interesting tension between the manager’s recollections and Verducci’s broader point of view.

[My take: My cynical side thinks that the Times gave a positive review in order to keep on Torre’s good side … keep a nice friendly “working relationship”.  But then I realize that the reviewer isn’t part of the sports department … he’s the books editor, and my cynicism can rest easy.]

• Joel Sherman of the Post takes a look at the Yankees bench, and has some concerns:

But the Yankee second level is not impressive at present, unless they keep both Nady and Swisher. They still have the same all-field/no-hit backup to Posada in Jose Molina. The backup infielder will either be Cody Ransom or Angel Berroa. And the backup outfielder would be the loser of the already dubious center field battle between Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner. I see some defensive ability with Molina and Berroa, speed with Gardner, a flawed switch hitter in Cabrera and perhaps some righty pop with Ransom. But for a $200 million payroll, this is poor insurance. Jose Molina Melky Cabrera

But if the Yanks keep Nady in right and Swisher as a super-sub, it gets, at least, a little bit more attractive. Swisher is an above-average defender in left, right and at first. He is a switch-hitter with power and patience. He could play center field in an emergency.

[My take: Sherman is preaching to the choir here … we Banterites have been barking about the subpar bench for a few years now, especially in light of the massive payroll invested in an aging roster.]

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That was a good Super Bowl … but let’s get back to business …

• The Times‘ Tyler Kepner offers up a blog entry on Bobby Abreu’s unemployment, including a quote for his former GM in Philly:

… Wade was G.M. of the Philadelphia Phillies when Abreu played there, and he called him “one of the most underappreciated players in the game.”

“He’s a sabermetrician’s dream, from the standpoint of what he produces statistically,” Wade said. …

“Aaron Rowand came in there and in one year found the only exposed piece of metal in the ballpark and ran into it; some people wanted to build a statue in his honor,” said Wade, recalling the former Phillies center fielder who famously crashed into a wall at Citizens Bank Park.

“Aaron Rowand is an outstanding player and he brings that blue-collar type of energy to the field, and that’s great. Fans gravitate to that, especially in Philadelphia. Bobby’s so good at what he does and so smooth at doing it, he tends to be underappreciated.”

• Bill Madden critiques the Torre book, wonders what Joe “holds sacred”, and has this amazing excerpt:

Torre said he stands behind everything in the book, even though it is written by Verducci in the third person. That means, he fully approved Mike Mussina’s insensitive critique of Mariano Rivera on Page 312: “As great as he is, and it’s amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I’ve been here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished the four years before. He blew the World Series in ’01. He lost the Boston series. He didn’t lose it himself, but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them and he doesn’t do it there. . . . That’s what I remember about the ’04 series.”

(more…)

Roger Clemens … and liniment … (shudder) …

Here’s the news:

• The News reports that Joe Torre and Randy Levine were not bosom buddies during the latter years of “The Yankee Years”:

Meanwhile, Torre seems to believe Levine had it in for him, going back to an organizational meeting in spring training of 2003. The meeting, which included several team executives, as well as Steinbrenner, was held in Tampa during spring training to discuss how David Wells should be punished for writing his book that had embarrassed the organization.

Steinbrenner wanted Torre to put Wells in the bullpen as punishment, which Torre said he wouldn’t do. Torre argued it was management’s role to punish Wells for such an off-the-field issue, but Steinbrenner repeatedly argued that it was Torre’s job to discipline the players.

“You know what, I’m sick and tired of this —,” Torre told Steinbrenner. “You keep pounding at me, pounding at me, pounding at me, and it bothers me. I probably shouldn’t tell you that, but it bothers me.”

At that point, according to the book, Levine, who was listening via speaker phone from New York, began to speak, but Torre quickly cut him off.

“Randy, shut the — up,” Torre said.

The meeting resumed after an awkward few seconds of silence, but years later Torre seems to think Levine held a grudge. “I found out Randy had been trying to get rid of me from that moment on,” Torre says in the book.

• David Wells doesn’t seem too enamored with Mr. Torre either, reports the News:

Torre, who was critical of Wells when the pitcher published his book “Perfect I’m Not” while still a Yankee, remained critical in “The Yankee Years”, which he co-authored with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci.

“The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells,” Torre says, “is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to.”

Wells admitted to clashing with the manager, saying that Torre would often turn off his music in the clubhouse without ever asking him to turn it down. How’d Wells respond? He’d blast the music again and tell Torre, “If you got a problem, go in your office and shut the door.”

“I wasn’t there trying to make Joe’s life miserable, I was there trying to win,” added Wells, who used the loud music to pump himself up before games. “He fined me for wearing a Babe Ruth hat, that’s pretty shallow. I threw the money at him and said, ‘Go buy a pair of rims for your car.'”

(more…)

Powered by the treif that is the “Bacon Explosion“, here’s the news:

• Tyler Kepner offers up more tidbits from the book, including this gem:

The Yankees should have talked to Tim Raines before signing Carl Pavano. Raines, the former Yankee who was coaching with the White Sox when Pavano signed, had played with Pavano in Montreal. During Pavano’s first Yankees season, Raines told Borzello: “He didn’t want to pitch except for the one year he was pitching for a contract. I’m telling you, he’s not going to pitch for you.”

Of course, by then, the Yankees already had a bad feeling about Pavano — team officials were startled to see him rudely rebuke his mother in April, using a mild curse word. Why? He was angry at his mother for wearing a Yankees’ NY in face paint on her cheek to the game.

• Newsday’s Wallace Matthews has news of a potential “confidentiality agreement” that might be introduced into future Yankee contracts:

The Yankees are considering including a “non-disparagement clause” in future player and managerial contracts in order to prevent any more tell-all books such as “The Yankee Years,” co-written by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Yankee official said yesterday that some members of the front office staff already are required to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to protect “proprietary knowledge of our business model.” The proposed clause is intended to ensure that future books about the Yankees are “positive in tone,” and “do not breach the sanctity of our clubhouse.” …

The Mets are believed to have included similar clauses in their contracts with former manager Willie Randolph and former pitching coach Rick Peterson. Up to now, the Yankees never have included them in the contract of a player or manager.

• Matthews also has some of the fallout from the book, from Yankee insiders:

But the fact that he chose to tell it at all, and in a way that Yankees insiders say is, well, unfaithful to the facts (a pack of lies,” one Yankee said) is why the Bronx is burning today.

“I think his ego’s gotten so big that he thinks he can do no wrong,” a Yankees source said. “And the Dodgers winning the division was the last straw. I think he truly believed he had the Midas touch, that he could do no wrong.”

Instead, Torre may have committed the one sin the Yankees find virtually impossible to forgive.

“The same thing he was so upset with Wells and Jose Canseco about, he did himself,” the source said. “He violated the sanctity of the organization, the sanctity of the clubhouse. He broke the trust we had in him.”

• Tyler Kepner was also at Sacred Heart University on Tuesday night to hear Joba Chamberlain and the Sox Jon Lester address a group of students.  Chamberlain responded to a question about his DUI arrest as follows:

“It ain’t hard to make a phone call,” Chamberlain said. “It ain’t hard to give someone else the keys. As a man, you have to fess up when you do something wrong. A lot of people would run from it, and I would never, ever run from it.”

(more…)

I write the posts that make the Banter sing
I write the posts of news and links to things
I write the posts that make the hot stoves fry
I write the posts, I write the posts

(yes, I’m a bit delirious … I blame it on Torre and Verducci)

Anyway … here’s the news:

• The Times’ Jack Curry has some quotes from Torre on the initial reaction to the book:

“Knowing that my name is on it, I know I’m going to have to answer for it,” Torre said of the book’s contents.

Although Torre feels that betrayal is an inappropriate word to use to describe his feelings toward Cashman, there is no question that “The Yankee Years” leaves the impression that Torre was disappointed that Cashman was not a vocal supporter during the fateful “take-it-or-leave-it” contract meeting that Torre had with the Yankees after the 2007 postseason. …

… (But) Torre clearly felt Cashman could have done more. “There’s stuff in there where, from my angle, I looked at it one way and I’m sure, from his angle, he probably looked at it a different way,” Torre said in the telephone interview.

• Over at ESPN, Buster Olney takes Torre to task for the quagmire of authorship of the book:

… Those passages were based on Verducci’s reporting. They were written by Verducci. But it’s Torre’s book. And within the pages of this book with Torre’s name on it, some former colleagues are demeaned, and that was his choice. Verducci said in a radio interview on WFAN on Monday that all this is not really new, that everybody has known for years that Rodriguez has had difficulty assimilating with the Yankees’ veterans.

Here’s what’s new about it: The stories are in a book authored by Joe Torre. This is hardly a new concept. The fact that former first lady Nancy Reagan could be difficult was hardly a new concept, but when Ronald Reagan’s former chief of staff, Don Regan, published a book detailing that, well, it became a very big deal. The suggestion that the run-up to the Iraq war included misinformation was something posed by many reporters — but it became something very different when posited in a book by former White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The book is in Torre’s name. Says right there on the cover. By Joe Torre and Tom Verducci.

• The News has some second-hand A-Rod reactions to the book:

A-Rod also told people that nothing Torre could say would be more revealing of how he felt about his player than the act of batting him eighth in the lineup in Game 4 of the 2006 playoff series with the Tigers.

“Alex was really hurt by that,” one friend of A-Rod’s said Monday. “He believed that Torre did that to embarrass him and he knew then what Torre thought of him.

“So anything that comes out now wouldn’t compare to that. He’s just surprised that Torre would talk about these kinds of things because he always told the players the clubhouse and the bond with teammates was sacred, and not to be broken this way.”

(more…)

To paraphrase a good song, “Ghost writers . . . in . . . the . . . skyyyyy!”

To quote another good song …

May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
We’re gonna have a problem here.

Here’s the news, linked/reported entirely by me, in the first person:

• It looks like the Yanks won’t have to resort to Jason Johnson or Freddy Garcia as a possible fifth starter … Pettitte is a Yankee again:

Andy Pettitte and the New York Yankees agreed Monday to a $5.5 million, one-year contract that brings the left-hander back to New York.

Pettitte can make an additional $6.5 million on performance bonuses and bonuses based on time on the active roster.

“There was never another team brought up,” Pettitte said during a conference call. “I wanted to come back to the Yankees.”

[My take: If Andy has recovered from his physical ailments of late ’08, the Yanks rotation could be the best in the AL East.  Welcome back Andy … you put us through a lot these past few weeks, but we’ll see you soon!]

• Here is MLB.com’s coverage of the Pettitte agreement.
• PeteAbe of LoHud steps us to the plate with his assessment of the Torre/Verducci (or is it Verducci/Torre?)  book:

Now we have Torre, the man who restored the luster to a faded powerhouse, prostituting himself for the sake of a book and another few million.

… Torre clearly traded some secrets for money. Nobody wanted to read another warm tale about his brother in surgery or Don Zimmer cracking jokes, so Joe and Tom Verducci threw a few players and team executives into the fire. Verducci is an elegant writer and a terrific reporter. The book will be compelling and 100 percent true.

But that’s not really the point. We wanted Bernie Williams Day at the old Stadium. You’d like to see that old warhorse Clemens in Tampa teaching Phil Hughes how to bust somebody inside. And many Yankee fans would weep at the sight of Torre getting his number retired, fat tears running down his face again as Mo, Jorgie, Tino, Paulie and the Captain gather around. …

It just never ends well. Maybe it’s the money that saps them of their dignity. For others it’s the attention or the lifestyle. But our heroes so rarely walk away at the right time. They kick and scream and claw.

[My take: Verducci states its a third person account not just of Joe Torre but of the entire organization during the Torre years.  If so, why have Torre on the cover and give him top billing (or any billing for that matter).  If much of the meat of the book comes from Torre’s recollections, then how it can it NOT be a Torre “expose”?  Why title a book something as non-descript and generic as “The Yankee Years” unless it dealt specifically with one particular person’s “Years”.   If Torre is indeed the “mass” around which the Yankee universe “spun” for a 12-year period, why not call it “The Torre Years in Yankeeland” or something more descriptive and … dare I say it … truthful.

Further clouding those questions is the fact that it is Torre, not Verducci, doing the book tour (at least per the publisher’s website).

Also, why would a seemingly classy guy like Torre consent to writing (or merely contributing to?) this book while he is still managing in the Majors?  I know the Yanks won’t be facing the Dodgers this year (unless its 1978 World Series deja vu), but why talk about active players, coaches, management, etc. of a former employer while you still interact with them to some extent?  This isn’t like an autobiographical  “come with me as I recount the great season we had last year” book.  Nor is it a sportswriter penning a “a season of  team X’s complete and utter failure” book.

Something just doesn’t seem right about the “need” for this book at this particular time.  Maybe it IS all about the Benjamins.]

• Richard Sandomir of the Times does an excellent job examining the morass of the “Verducci/Torre” book paradox, as follows:

Torre is cast as the leading character in Tom Verducci’s narrative — not as “I or me,” but in the third person as “Torre.” This isn’t Norman Mailer playing with alter egos like “Aquarius,” but a device that lets Torre recede now and then …

If the structure is not confusing (Torre’s quotations are all over the place), readers may occasionally wonder: what did Torre say that does not appear in quotation marks? When, if ever, did Torre (or Verducci) mute the manager’s strongest views to let other characters voice them? When Verducci asserts that some Yankees called Alex Rodriguez “A-Fraud” (which you don’t doubt because of Verducci’s great reputation), is Torre’s concurrence implicit in more tempered assessments?

(more…)

Everyday I write the book (and I’m NOT Joe Torre) … here’s the news:

• Joe Torre has been a busy man, apparently.  As you’ve read this past weekend, he’s got a tell-all book about his 12 seasons with the Yanks coming out next week.
• ESPN reports that though Torre supposedly has some unkind things to say about Brian Cashman, Cashman seems to be alright:

When reached by ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney on Sunday, Cashman said that he had spoken to Torre by phone. He said that the manager told him to wait for the book to come out, that they are friends and will always be friends.

“Joe was a great manager for us,” Cashman said. “I’m glad he called me. I’m very comfortable with my relationship with him.”

• Michael Schmidt of the Times covers the release of the book, and it seems that A-Rod is going to have the spotlight shone on him again come Spring Training:

The book quotes Mike Borzello, a former Yankees bullpen catcher who is described as a “close friend” of Rodriguez’s, and says that Borzello was constantly having to boost Rodriguez’s ego because he felt that he was competing with Derek Jeter for attention.

“It doesn’t help,” Borzello said, referring to Rodriguez’s awkward relationship with Jeter. “You would rather that the stars are in the same place, pulling together, but I don’t think it affected the other players. It just affected the feel in the clubhouse.”

Borzello added that he used to tell Rodriguez all the time that Rodriguez was coming to the stadium and trying to get everyone to look at him, but that they were already looking at him: “You’re Alex Rodriguez. I don’t understand that.”

• Torre is going to be in the metro area touting the book.
• The Times has an article on Tim Raines, who will be the new manager of the Newark Bears, and on the state of the team and league it plays in:

Raines …  adds a splash of celebrity to the Bears, but he has been given a mandate to assemble a winning team.

If the Bears win, Wankmiller contends, they will draw more fans. By his reckoning, the refurbished corporate suites, virtually empty last year, will become more popular for entertaining, and the Bears could sell more advertising.

But there is a long way to go. According to the league, the Bears drew only 181,240 fans last season, seventh in the league. Their average crowd of 2,746 was about half the size of the average at Somerset Patriots games in Bridgewater. (The Patriots, the league champs last season, are managed by another ex-Yankee, Sparky Lyle.)

“We think baseball can work here,” said Joe Klein, a former big-league general manager and the executive director of the Atlantic League, whose offices are in Camden. “We’re confident people will come to games. Maybe people at first will come to games because of Tim Raines, but that’s O.K.”

• Also in the Times, Harvey Araton laments the lengthy timetable for the demolition of the old Stadium, which puts the neighborhood’s needs on the back burner:

“That’s going take at least two years because the city’s priority is the Yankees, not the neighborhood,” said Joyce Hogi, a member of the Community Board 4 parks committee.

She and her colleagues fought a long, losing battle of preservation best evidenced by two stadiums at the expense of cherished parkland, to be replaced here and there and on terms mostly beneficial to a private enterprise already worth in excess of $1 billion. All while the old and the new stand side by side, towering over what is commonly called the nation’s poorest Congressional district like some supersize baseball mall.

(more…)

Lights … camera … links! Here’s the news:

• Mooooving Day at the Stadium: MLB.com has all the details on the Yanks moving their offices into the new Stadium.  They’ve got a photo gallery and a video report.
• LoHud’s PeteAbe has some photos from the move.
• RiverAveBlues offers up a nifty virtual tour of the new park.
• Jon Lane of YES Network provides a pro/con analysis of the contenders for the fifth spot in the rotation.
• The Post reports that Astros’ owner Drayton McLane believes that Andy Pettitte probably won’t be pitching for them in ’09.
• Bernie Williams will be back in New York … this Sunday night.  He’ll be an honoree, and a performer at the annual BBWAA dinner at the Hilton (YES Network).
• If you have at least $33,275 to spare, you can bid on a signed team photo of the 1927 Yankees.
• Heard of Arodys Vizcaino?  Keith Law thinks he’ll be the Yankee prospect to make the jump into his Top 100 prospects next year.
• Over at the Post, Kevin Kernan summarizes the off-season to date for the Mets and Yanks.
• 2-tour Yankee Neil Allen turns 51 today.  He was purchased from the Cards in July of ’85, traded to the ChiSox in ’86, released by them in August of ’87, and picked up by the Bombers again for the last month of ’87.
• Tim Stoddard, a teammate of Allen’s in ’87, turns 56.  Stoddard was acquired from the Padres in exchange for the failed free agent experiment known as Ed Whitson.
• On this date in 2000, Yankee prospect D’Angelo Jimenez suffers a broken neck when a car he is driving collides with a bus. Jimenez is not paralyzed but will miss the 2000 season.

See you Monday!