Blogs are poor excuses for street corners.

I’m always being reminded of that in my neighborhood.

“Baseball blogging doesn’t take any courage,” my friend Javier was telling the guys gathered outside the bodega near the corner of Gerard Avenue and East 157th Street. “Ballplayers have the courage to put it on the line every day in front of a million people. If you don’t have the guts to toss your opinions around on the street and risk getting a fist in the face then you shouldn’t write them on a blog.”

“Agreed,” I said.

“I wasn’t asking some sissy blogger,” Javier snapped.

Nobody ever asks me, but…

I love grown men who spit sunflower seeds, chew bubblegum and answer to: Jete, Mo, A-Rod, Josey, Domo, Mattie, Melk, CC, A.J., Swish, Brew, X-Man and The Wanger.

If Joba Chamberlain was a banker, they would call him Justin Chamberlain instead of Joba the Hutt.

I know most people doubt Orlando Hernandez these days. He is old and hasn’t been healthy enough to pitch in a long time. But I still believe El Duque can do anything.

The best part of the World Baseball Classic is getting to see the Cubans play.

It seems like there are more Americans backing out of the World Baseball Classic every day. The players’ concerns need to be addressed if this tournament is ever going to be what it should be.

Jason Whitlock of The Kansas City Star is one of the best sports columnists in the country. I just wish he covered more baseball.

Joe Posnanski covers a lot of baseball for The Kansas City Star. He also does fine work for Sports Illustrated and on his blog.

The Kansas City Star deserves the best writers since that’s where Ernest Hemingway got his start.

There used to be a great sportswriter in New York named Mike Lupica. Whatever happened to that guy?

Josh Hamilton made year-end lists in GQ and Esquire. He also has a new book out called “Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back.” He had a fabulous season and deserves everything that comes his way.

Milton Bradley had a pretty good season, too.

According to some baseball writers, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro may be locked out of the Hall of Fame just like Mark McGwire.

Will there be any reason to still call it the Hall of Fame if all that talent joins Pete Rose on the outside looking in?

I say the Yankees are the team to beat.

The Crown Diner on East 161st Street has the best chocolate donuts in the world.

Two of my favorite places to watch baseball are Falcon Park in Auburn and Dunn Field in Elmira. And I will always love the long-gone MacArthur Stadium in Syracuse and the soon-to-be-gone Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. But the best place to see a ballgame is wherever you’re watching one that day.

I think Mark Teixeira is a great talent, but Manny Ramirez has ripped my heart out so many times that I wouldn’t mind having him on my side for a change. Part of it is that he grew up just across the Harlem River in Washington Heights and the rest of it is the big bat he swings. I’ll carry any baggage as long as he carries that lumber.

Tony Pena will bring a lot more to this team as the bench coach. And I’m not just saying that because I like the Tony Pena codfish-salad special at El Nuevo Caridad in Washington Heights.

My best friend Michael Allen recently gave me a copy of “Nobody Asked Me, But… The World of Jimmy Cannon.” I’ve never owned the book, but have checked it out of the library about a million times. That gift will save me a pile of money in late fees.

Blogs will always be poor excuses for street corners, but I told Javier that it would be warmer in front of my computer than on the corner of Gerard Avenue and East 157th Street.

“You online guys are real sissies,” Javier said. “But since no one punched your lights out I guess it’s okay to blog it.”

Snow and then rain has covered New York since Friday morning and I’ve been home sick since Thursday. Yesterday, Em and I went off to get our new kitten, Mo Green. Into the country snow. The senior cat in our crib, the Divine Mrs. Tashi, is none too thrilled, as you can imagine. And Mo is just as cute as he is wild.

Still not feeling too well, I slept on the couch, next to a little box we’d set up for Mo, last night. From 3-5 am he was a wild man. Ah, the joys of parenthood. I’ll have a picture of the little bugger up in the coming days.

I did catch the CC, AJ press conference the other day and came away amped about next season for the first time. I think CC has an easy personality, he’s got some charm. What’s not to like? Then, the fan in me, tore loose as I realized that the Yankees’ best starting pitcher is a six-foot-seven brother. I mean, his size alone is unique, but how many good black starting pitchers have the Yankees ever had? Al Downing, Rudy May, Doc Gooden. It’s not that many. Which isn’t to say that race is a reason to like or dislike a guy. I’m just noting the facts. I wonder how many city kids that normally don’t care about baseball will be wearing 52 jerseys next year.

CC is a new-age pitching version of Darryl Dawkins “Chocolate Thunder.”

I thought it was fascinating to hear Brian Cashman disclose that last winter the Yankees were either going to deal Hughes, et al to the Twins for Johan Santana, or they were going to wait and hope to nab Sabathia this winter in the free-agent market. They rolled the dice, got the situation they wanted, and then signed their man. That is satisfying.

I was almost even more impressed by Burnett. Now, he’s a guy that I’ve loved rooting against for years. The charge against him–he’s all talent, no polish, a million dollar arm with a ten cent head–was something I could never see past, even when he shut the Yankees down time and time again. But in the press conference, and then later to reporters, Burnett attributed much of his injury history to arrogance. He loved his “stuff” so much, he said, that he’d try and throw every pitch 98 miles an hour. If you got it, flaunt it, was his motto. He didn’t know how to prepare, physcially or mentally, for a long season. But he remembers making the playoffs in ’03 and not being able to pitch.

Burnett gave Roy Halladay a lot of credit with turning him into a pitcher not just a chucker. He sounded like a guy who has finally figured it out for himself. Now whether or not he’ll continue to harness his gift (and if he does, he has the best pure stuff of anyone on the staff), or will he be hurt all the time and continue to be uneven? Time will only tell. But for me, it’s going to be easy to pull for him, at least at the outset, than I had imagined.

Burnett was almost deferential to Joe Girardi, the Yankee manager, who told reporters that CC and AJ were his Chirstmas presents this year. “No, I’m sure I’ll get a few gifts,” he added so as not to offend his wife. He went on to say that he is aware that the Yankees’ playoff run came to an end on his watch and he was eager to start a new streak. You could see how geeked he was with the new talent he’s got to work with and who can blame him?

When it’s all said and done, provided everyone is healthy, the Yankees 2009 starting pitching staff is going to look like a red, hot, shiny muscle car. Will it run like a GTO or an Edsel, that’s the question.

To a good pitcher, a great character, a true survivor, and a strong, caring man.

Rest in Peace, Doc Ellis.

I’ve run this before, but here is my favorite Doc Ellis story. From Doc Ellis in the Country of Baseball by Donald Hall.

In spring training 1974, Dock Ellis, felt that his Pirates had begun to loss some aggressiveness.

“You are scared of Cincinnati. That’s what I told my teammates. Every time we play Cincinnati, the hitters are on their ass.”

In 1970, ’71, and ’72, he says, the rest of the league was afraid of the Pirates. “They say, ‘Here come the big bad Pirates. They’re going to kick our ass!’ Like they give up. That’s what our team was starting to do. Cincinatti will bullshit with us and kick our ass and laugh at us. They’re the only team that talk about us like a dog. Whenever we play that team, everybody socializes with them.” In the past the roles had been revered. “When they ran over to us, we knew they were afraid of us. When I saw our team doing it, right then I say, ‘We gunna get down. We gonna do the do. I’m going to hit these motherfuckers.'”

Sure enough, on May 1st, the Reds came to Pittsburgh and Dock Ellis was pitching.

He told catcher Manny Sanguillen in the pre-game meeting, “Don’t even give me no signal. Just try and catch the ball. If you can’t catch it, forget it.”

Taking his usual warm-up pitches, Dock noticed Pete Rose standing at one side of the batter’s box, leaning on his bat, studying his delivery. On his next-to-last warm-up, Dock let fly at Rose and almost hit him.

A distant early warning.

In fact, he had considered not hitting Pete Rose at all. He and Rose are friends, but of course friendship, as the commissioner of baseball would insist, must never prevent even-handed treatment. No, Dock had considered not hitting Pete Rose because Rose would take it so well. “He’s going to charge first base, and make it look like nothing.” Having weighed the whole matter, Dock decided to hit him anyway.

“The first pitch to Pete Rose was directly toward his head,” as Dock expresses it, “not actually to hit him, ” but as “the message, to let him know that he was going to get hit. More or less to press his lips. I knew if I could get close to the head that I could get them in the body. Because they’re looking to protect their head, they’ll give me the body.” The next pitch was behind him. “the next one, I hit him in the side.”

Pete Rose’s response was even more devastating than Dock had anticipated. He smiled. Then he picked the ball up, where it had falled beside him, and gently, underhanded, tossed it back to Dock. Then he lit for first as if trying out fro the Olympics.

As Dock says, with huge approval, “You have to be good, to be a hot dog.”

As Rose bent down to pick up the ball, he had exchanged a word with Joe Morgan who was batting next. Morgan taunted Rose, “He doesn’t like you anyway. You’re a white guy.”

Dock hit Morgan in the kidneys with his first pitch.

By this time, both benches were agog. It was Mayday on May Day. The Pirates realized that Dock was doing what he said he would do. The Reds were watching him do it. “I looked over on the bench, they were all with their eyes wide and their mouths wide open, like, ‘I don’t believe it!’

“The next batter was [Dan] Driessen. I threw a ball to him. High and inside. The next one, I hit him in the back.”

Bases loaded, no outs. Tony Perez, Cincinnati first baseman, came to bat. He did not dig in. “There was no way I could hit him. He was running. The first one I threw behind him, over his head, up against the screen, but it came back off the glass, and they didn’t advance. I threw behind him because he was backing up, but then he stepped in front of the ball. The next three pitches, he was running. I walked him.” A run came in. “The next hitter was Johnny Bench. I tried to deck him twice. I threw at his jaw, and he moved. I threw at the back of his head, and he moved.”

With two balls and no strikes on Johnny Bench—eleven pitches gone: three hit batsmen, one walk, one run, and now two balls—[manager, Danny] Murtaugh approached the mound. “He came out as if to say, ‘What’s wrong? Can’t find the plate?'” Dock was suspicious that his manager really knew what he was doing. “No,” said Dock, “I must have Blass-itis.” (It was genuine wildness not throwing at batters—that had destroyed Steve Blass the year before.)

“He looked at me hard,” Dock remembers. “He said, ‘I’m going to bring another guy in.’ So I just walked off the mound.”

My favorite Doc moment as a Yankee came shortly before he was traded in 1977. He left the clubhouse when George Steinbrenner came down to address the troops one day. “I’m not going to listen to that High School Charley shit.”

Nope, they don’t make ’em like that anymore.

I found myself waiting for the 2 train at Chambers Street last night. My Yankees cap was pulled low and I was reading a newspaper filled with everything about CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

The pictures of them smiling in their new uniforms made me think about baseball in the summertime. I saw fastballs and sliders and curveballs and changeups coming from the left and the right.

A train came, but I ignored it and kept reading. Then another train came and another and another. I let them all pass and dug deeper into the newspaper.

“Why don’t you go home and read where it’s warm?” I finally asked myself.

“Because I’ve got no place go,” said the voice next to me.

Robbie Sanchez used to have a job like mine and an apartment like mine and a life like mine. He had a dozen Derek Jeter T-shirts and shared a season-ticket package with some friends. Depression used to set in when the Yankees lost, but he always slept it off in a warm bed.

These days he stays warm by moving.

“I’ll hang around here until someone throws me out,” Sanchez said. “Then I’ll head to Penn Station because there’s a guy at one of the food stands who gives out coffee on cold nights.

“I’m just between lives right now,” he continued. “The key is to hold on until you make it to the other side.”

The Yankees strengthen his grip.

“Baseball lifts my spirits,” Sanchez said. “Things don’t seem as bad when you’ve got something to look forward to. The Yankees didn’t make the playoffs last year so they’re doing something about it. CC and A.J. will get the job done and I’ve got to do the same.”

“Let’s go to Penn Station and get some coffee,” I said.

“Sure,” Sanchez said. “Are you done with that newspaper?”

Powered by Time magazine’s Best Websites of 2008 (cause you know … we don’t spend enough time surfing the web …), here’s the news:

• MLB.com reports that A.J. Burnett credits Roy Halladay for helping him develop a more efficient training/throwing program:

… one that permits him to conserve energy over the long haul by cutting down on the amount of mandatory work between starts.

“Roy pounded it in my head that I don’t have to throw 98 [mph] every day, that I don’t have to go full tilt to win ballgames and be successful,” Burnett said.

“I always just showed off what I had when I felt good, and it got me in trouble. Now I know when to throw and not to throw. Some days I might not touch a ball; it doesn’t mean anything’s wrong. You just don’t need to do it all the time.”…

Burnett said that he has learned how to budget his body so it is ready to go at all times, instead of displaying the youthful exhibitionism of ripping off throws just because his arm felt good.

“We’re hopeful that that’s the guy who has emerged and grown, and learned to harness his ability,” Cashman said. “He’s a bona fide front-line starter when he’s healthy. I know there’s risk attached to it, based on the past history. We’re hopeful that luck will be on our side.”

(My take: $82.5 million of hope and luck.  Whatever happened to investing in “sure things”?  Then again … the “sure thing” aisle was pretty barren at the “Free Agent Supermarket” this year.  Derek Lowe? Steady … dependable … but he’s priced himself a bit too high perhaps (rumored to be asking $66M over four years) … and how many groundballs could we stand to see dribbling past Cano and Jeter.  Randy Wolf? Talk about barely above league average! A career WHIP of 1.347 and an ERA+ of 101.)

• Mark Teixeira may still yet be a Bostonian, write Peter Gammons and Buster Olney over at ESPN.com.

Red Sox executives flew to Texas on Thursday believing they were close enough in negotiations to complete a deal with Mark Teixeira. But after they arrived, they were informed that their offer to Teixeira — something in the range of $165 million to $170 million — was short by upwards of $20 million.

With that, the Red Sox stepped away from the negotiating table.

Executives involved in the Teixeira negotiations, however, noted that Red Sox owner John Henry, based on the statement he issued to The Associated Press late Thursday night, did not unequivocally end talks about the first baseman. And executives from other interested teams fully expect the Red Sox to re-engage Scott Boras, the agent for Teixeira.

“It’s a poker game,” said a high-ranking official for one of the teams involved in the talks. “Unless Teixeira is ready to make a deal now, he’ll be talking to Boston again.”

(more…)

Following baseball for nearly 40 years has taught me at least one principle: no deal is ever done until both sides have announced it. The failed Mike Cameron trade reinforces that notion. Just a week ago, some media sources were proclaiming it a done deal. A week later, it has been declared dead, apparently over the Yankees’ unwillingness to pick up all of Kei Igawa’s exorbitant salary. So for now, Igawa and Melky Cabrera remain Yankee property—for good, bad, or indifferent.

I have to admit I was lukewarm on the rumored acquisition of Cameron. Yes, he would have been an immediate upgrade over Cabrera and company, and would have come with the bonus of allowing the Yankees to be rid of Igawa, who seems to have no clue about pitching in the major leagues. Yet, the 36-year-old Cameron would have represented only a short-term solution, probably two years at the maximum. He also would have affected the offense’s continuity, with his rather alarming windmill propensity at the plate. Cameron piles up strikeouts the way that Bobby Bonds once did, but without the levels of power and patience that Bonds once displayed during an all-star career.

With Cameron apparently off the board, I’d like to see Brian Cashman resurrect talks for one of three younger center fielders available in trades: the Dodgers’ Matt Kemp, the Cardinals’ Rick Ankiel, and Kansas City’s David DeJesus. Of the three, Ankiel might be the most realistic. He’s available, mostly because he’s a Scott Boras client who is one year removed from free agency. The Cardinals don’t think they can sign him by next fall, at which time Boras will likely send Ankiel spiraling full throttle into free agency.

Cashman talked to the Cardinals about the 29-year-old Ankiel during the recent winter meetings (which once again proved to be a disappointing flop and an unmitigated bore, but that’s another story). The Cards expressed interest in Ian Kennedy, whom they really like as a rotation option for 2009. If the Yankees could package Kennedy with Cabrera and perhaps a fringe minor league prospect (someone like Chase Wright or Steven Jackson), maybe a deal could get done.

If the Yankees could sign Ankiel past 2009, he would provide several long-term benefits. He has real power (he hit 25 home runs in 2008, a remarkable achievement considering that he has been an everyday player for only four seasons). He also has a Clementian throwing arm that could play well in either center field or right. The Yankees could use Ankiel in center while Austin Jackson develops at Triple-A and then shift him over to right once “Ajax” is ready for prime time delivery.

Because of his late start as an outfielder, Ankiel might not hit his prime until he’s in his early thirties. By then, he may have improved his patience at the plate and his fundamentals in the outfield. Even if he doesn’t, he looks a lot better than what the Yankees currently have in center field…

(more…)

CORRECTION: Before I get into this week’s topic, I’d like to correct the item from my last post. I mentioned Scott Boras as C.C. Sabathia’s agent, when it’s Greg Genske. Thanks to the readers who brought that to my attention. I should have caught that.

* * * * * *

The Yankees have officially committed $243.5 million over the next seven years to C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Much has been written and said over the last 10 days, and in truth, I expected the coverage to be more rancorous, particularly given the economic climate. (Kudos to Diane Firstman for being on top of every link and bringing it here.)

Once the Burnett signing became official, I couldn’t help but think of the article in The Onion from a few years ago with the headline “Yankees Buy Every Major League Player: Ensure World Series Title,” and photos of Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza and just about every other All-Star in the game. The signings, on one hand, were necessary. The Yankees had to do something, but was this the correct route? The consensus seems to be yay on Sabathia and a vociferous nay on Burnett. That nay could turn into battery-throwing fits if the Red Sox sign Mark Teixeira before Christmas, which they seem poised to do, according to reports by Peter Gammons and Buster Olney.

I make a concerted effort to take off my fan hat when I read, watch and assess the coverage and conjecture at this time of year, as well as during the season. This time more than ever, I looked for reasons to have the Yankees be likeable. My takeaway: the signings of Sabathia and Burnett fill a hole, to be sure, even if the money thrown at the duo is ghastly. But the money, considering how many people are hurting – people in the Yankees’ fan base, season ticket holders who they’ve priced out – creates a PR mess that incites anger and resentment.

The television broadcasts don’t help. The back-and-forth on Yankees Hot Stove on YES Thursday night, coupled with the dual press conference itself, brought me back to every major press conference I covered or assisted in covering between 2002 and 2008. My eyes are still rolling. The only material differences are the players, obviously, and Yankees PR man Jason Zillo emceeing the event (although Zillo’s vocal inflection is eerily similar to that of his predecessor, Rick Cerrone). Every major Yankees official except for COO Lonn Trost speaks. Randy Levine does everything but put his thumbs in his ears, stick his tongue out and give a playground jibe to the effect of, “Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah! We got them and you didn’t!” If you did a shot every time the word “win” or “winning” was mentioned, you’d be wasted in 10 minutes.

(more…)

Powered by the numerology of Sabathia getting uniform #52 (is he the “Ace” in the Yankees “deck”, or is it really just a “house of cards”?) and Burnett getting #34 (as in, “that’s how many starts you made last year A.J., and that’s how many we need from you for each of the next five seasons”), I bring you the news:

• ESPN.com‘s Buster Olney reports on the Sabathia portion of the news conference, and gives some background on the wooing of the pitcher over the past few weeks:

Sabathia was phoned twice during his negotiations by Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter — recruiting calls — and Jeter told him about how much fun it was playing in New York. The day after he reached his agreement with the Yankees, he called Jeter, and the friends talked again about what it would be like to play together.

Two days before Sabathia made his decision, Reggie Jackson had been in Las Vegas at the winter meetings as part of the Yankees delegation that met with the left-hander. Sabathia, who grew up in the Bay Area, found himself distracted by the presence of the Hall of Famer: “I was just thinking, ‘Would it be weird to ask [Jackson] for an autograph?'” It wasn’t until subsequent meetings that Sabathia got to dig in and, without Jackson around, ask questions about the Yankees and New York.

• The News has a basic rundown of the news conference.  The one interesting note in it deals not with the players, but with the new stadium:

The new ballpark may generate an extra $200 million in revenue annually, according to Vince Gennaro, author of the book, “Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball.”

• Tyler Kepner of the Times reports on the press conference, with a quote from A.J. Burnett and a quite interesting name thrown into the discussion:

“I’m not going to say money wasn’t an issue,” Burnett said. “I’m not going to lie; of course money had something to do with it. But I have a chance to win five years in a row. Whether you admit you love them or hate them, everybody wants to be a Yankee.”

Burnett also got a positive report on New York from an unlikely source: Carl Pavano, his former teammate with the Florida Marlins. During a conversation in September on the field in the Bronx, Pavano raved about the Yankees.

“He recommended I come here,” Burnett said. “He believed that I had to come here to really blossom and really start something special, that I really would belong here.”

(more…)

The Bombers introduce their Winter Meetings booty this afternoon at a 1 p.m. news conference.  We welcome your comments on the proceedings during and afterwards.

Powered by the thought that in seven days, we won’t have to be subjected to any more “we know the economy sucks but you should still buy our products” Christmas commercials, here’s the news:

• Ding-dong the deal is dead:  MLB.com is reporting Doug Melvin as stating that the Cabrera/Cameron deal is “dead”:

What a change from a week ago at the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, where Melvin and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman were close to swapping center fielders. The Yankees would have received Gold Glover and run-producer Mike Cameron, and the Brewers would have received a left-handed bat in Melky Cabrera, probably left-hander Kei Igawa and a bit of cost savings to pursue free agent pitching.

But Melvin and Cashman have not spoken since the morning of Dec. 11. That signaled a dead deal to Melvin.

(My take: If Cabrera can make any sort of progress–both emotionally and with the bat–in the Winter League, and he appears to be doing well down there … see link later on in this post, then perhaps the Yanks can afford to hold onto him till at least the middle of ’09, then deal him if need be.  Otherwise, what CF candidate is out there?  I’m a big Rocco Baldelli fan, and now that his “condition” has been discovered to be less serious, perhaps he’d be worth a flyer.  And no … I don’t want Jim Edmonds.)

• At the Times, William Rhoden waxes poetic over what Sabathia brings to the Yankees, beyond his athletic prowess:

Sabathia represents a potential breath of fresh air in a stale, cliché-ridden Yankees clubhouse, one with little personality and even less passion, and no recent championship runs to compensate for those deficiencies.

Sabathia is a good-natured star who has strong feelings about issues and isn’t afraid to share them. This is an anomaly in a clubhouse famous for antiseptic professionalism.

In 2007, for example, Sabathia complained about the lack of African-American players in the majors. He even pointed a finger at Major League Baseball for not doing all that it could to increase the numbers.

Sabathia, who was traded from Cleveland to Milwaukee last season, bemoaned the lack of black Americans in baseball. “There aren’t very many African-American players, and it’s not just in here, it’s everywhere,” he told The Associated Press. “It’s not just a problem — it’s a crisis.”

• The News‘ John Harper wants the Yanks to sign Manny, even with the warning signs:

I have to start by saying I thought Bud Selig should have suspended Manny Ramirez for the way he so blatantly quit on the Red Sox last summer to force his way out of Boston. Earning instant hero status in Los Angeles doesn’t wash away the stain of what amounted to the height of unprofessionalism.

Indeed, Ramirez has proven that he can never be fully trusted as a teammate because he might just lay down on the job again.

Yet I still think it makes sense for the Yankees to take a chance on Manny. If they’re not going to get the guy they really need, a young, team-first slugger such as Mark Teixeira, then they should sign the best clutch hitter in the game and hope for the best.

… in the pursuit of a championship and nothing less, Ramirez is a gamble the Yankees can afford to take. The money is practically irrelevant to them, but if they can get him for a three-year contract, you have to figure they will get a solid effort from the mercurial masher for at least a couple of years.

(My take: That tactic sounds even riskier than giving Burnett a five-year deal.  You’re gonna throw $50-$75 million at someone and  “hope for the best”?)

(more…)

Joe Posnanski has an entertaining re-cap of the winter meetings in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated:

The king of this year’s baseball winter meetings in Las Vegas is an 81-year-old scout for the Kansas City Royals named Art Stewart. He is barely 5’7″, and he never played at a level higher than semipro in Chicago, but he’s the Sinatra of the baseball bat pack, the chairman of the hoard, the guy behind the guy behind the guy. He has been coming to the winter meetings for 45 years, going back to his scouting days with the New York Yankees, back when he signed the outfielder Norm Siebern by throwing in a working stove for Norm’s mother. Art knows everybody, and everybody knows Art, and he will admit that the game has changed, the money has changed, even the baseball people have changed. But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, one rule that never changes, and it is this: The secret to the winter meetings is to stand on your own piece of carpet.

“Don’t stand on the bare floor,” he says. “You have to protect your feet.”

You laugh? Don’t laugh. See, it’s midnight at the Bellagio, and what’s happening? All those people who did not find their place on the carpet, all of those eager baseball men who have spent the last five or six hours downing drinks and recalling ballplayers who haven’t played in 20 years and proposing deals and standing on the marble floors, well, now their feet hurt. Look at them shifting back and forth. “They’re dropping like flies,” is how Art puts it, and he adds that over his many years, he’s seen countless good guys make bad baseball trades simply because their feet hurt.

“There are tricks to the trade,” Art says. “You bet. Tricks to the trade.”

Man, it must feel good to feel needed, huh? Take Mark Teixeira. I think he’s an excellent player and he’s going to get a ridiculous contract before all is said and done this off-season. I don’t know if he is a great player, but he certainly is good.  And boy, is he ever wanted.

Over at SI.com, Lee Jenkins writes about why the Angels need to sign Teixeira while at Fox, Ken Rosenthal writes that if the Yankees really want to stick it to Boston, they’ll sign Teixeria, dollars and years be damned.

One thing for sure, if the Red Sox do sign him, I think the Yankees will bring Manny Ramirez, baggage, bat and all to the BX.

Karl Sharperson woke up to rain pounding off his apartment window on Jerome Avenue. It was well before dawn, but he quickly splashed water on his face, brushed his teeth and pulled on his lucky T-shirt: Alex Rodriguez number 13. He added two sweatshirts and a coat before heading downstairs to meet the weather.

“I knew it was gonna be cold and wet,” he said. “But it’s no big deal because I heard that CC and A.J. are in the neighborhood. The word is that there might be a big press conference soon. That will be the beginning of something big and the end of something bad.

“I’ve dealt with four years of lousy Carl Pavano jokes,” he continued. “I’m Karl with a K. He’s Carl with a C. That’s C for candy-ass.”

Karl with a K is happy that’s all in the past.

“We’re gonna have a strong starting rotation this year,” he said. “No more buttock bruises or car crashes with garbage trucks. Nobody could line up a string of injuries like Pavano had. Nobody.

“I’m free from all the jokes and this team is free from a lot of drama,” Karl with a K continued. “So let’s get CC and A.J. announced and then sign Andy and get ready to play ball.”

Karl with a K pulled up his collar and yanked down his hat to keep off the rain.

“I hope the weather is better on Opening Day,” he said. “At least we know the good stuff is on the way.”

Powered by the thought that American ingenuity is not dead (as “proven” by this ) …. here’s the news:

• MLB.com reports that the BoSox have made an official offer to Mark Teixeira, but points out that adding Tex to the lineup could cause a logjam:

The Red Sox have Kevin Youkilis at first base and Mike Lowell at third. To open a spot for Teixeira, the Red Sox might have to trade Lowell and move Youkilis across the diamond.

However, Lowell, coming off right hip surgery, is likely to have to prove his health in Spring Training if he is to be dealt. Last winter the Red Sox re-signed Lowell, the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 World Series, to a three-year, $37.5 million contract.

The Red Sox control Youkilis contractually for the next two years, so it’s highly doubtful he would be moved. …  David Ortiz … is a 10-5 man … meaning he could veto any trade.

(My take: From a public relations standpoint, it would be hard for the Sox to trade the beloved Big Papi.  Youkilis is too valuable to trade in that he plays both corners well, and is insurance for the “old skill set” Ortiz.  The “rational” Sox rooter would understand trading the older, recovering Lowell, although I would think the Sox would have to pay some of Lowell’s salary to move him.  The Twins have a void at third, but even if the Sox paid a good portion of Lowell’s salary, I couldn’t see Lowell’s back holding up on that unforgiving Metrodome turf this season.)

• Could Manny be Manny AND be an Angel?: MLB.com reports that should the Angels not be able to re-sign Teixeira, they may set their sights on Manny Ramirez.  Manager Mike Scioscia thinks Manny would be OK in Anaheim:

Asked if he’d be for it if things could be worked out with Ramirez, Scioscia said, “Absolutely. Talent like Manny’s is real. He’s a winner. Whether it happens or not remains to be seen. But we would not rule him out.

“We have discussions obviously on character and makeup. We would not rule Manny out. When he’s motivated — and he showed that in the last part of the season — this guy is one of the best talents in the game.”

(My take: Dear Mr. Scioscia … couldn’t it be that Manny was motivated during the last part of the season because he was playing for a new contract?  Isn’t it a prerequisite that players are self-motivated during most of the season anyway?  Aren’t you worried that Manny will coast if he ends up on your coast?  Wouldn’t an outfield with both Vlad and Manny make Torii Hunter’s head [and hamstrings] explode?)

• Over at SI.com, Jon Heyman notes that it appears the Yanks are falling behind in the race for Teixeira, and may therefore go for Manny:

There are those suggesting the Yankees are only in the running for Teixeira to either monitor the rival Red Sox or drive up the price for the switch-hitting slugger. But while it’s true the Yankees don’t appear as eager to sign Teixeira as the Angels and Red Sox, they do appear willing to sign him at the right price. After already signing CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett for $243.5 million combined, the Yankees appear disinclined to offer $200 million for Teixeira, which is what it may take to get him.

That’s where Manny may come in.

While the Yankees have a trio of accomplished corner outfielders — Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Xavier Nady — they appear to love the idea of Manny and could still utilize Damon in centerfield on occasion.

• Meanwhile, the News is reporting that there is a split in the Yankee front office over whether to pursue Ramirez:

One baseball official told the Daily News that the Yankees’ interest in Ramirez is more than cursory, that they see the slugger as the perfect complement in their lineup to Alex Rodriguez, forming a 1-2 punch like he did in Boston with David Ortiz.

The official believes that the Yankees are “going hard” after Ramirez, to the point where they are willing to give him a three-year deal worth from $22 million to $25 million per year.

Two other officials are skeptical that the Bombers would commit three years to the enigmatic Ramirez … (however) if the market is limited, the Yanks will try to jump in with a two-year, $50 million package.

According to a source familiar with the Yankees’ thinking, Brian Cashman has been lukewarm to the idea of signing Ramirez, but the rest of the front office – most notably Hal and Hank Steinbrenner – believes he is precisely what the Yankees need to bolster a lineup that underachieved in 2008.

(My take: The Yanks must choose.  Will they go for an eight-year, $200 commitment to a young elite first baseman, a position at which they are at a distinct competitive disadvantage currently, and who would make their fiercest division rival even more formidable if he signed with them instead.  Or, will they opt for a two to three-year, $50-75 million or so commitment to a 36-year-old, moody, below-averaqe outfielder with an occasionally cranky knee who would have to patrol a spacious left field, and seems to turn himself on and off as he sees fit.  As Alex, Cliff and Anthony McCarron discussed, the age of the Yanks roster and the length of some current contracts results in perhaps a three-year “window of opportunity”, which would seem to lean for signing Ramirez, but how do the Yanks pass up the chance to lock down first base well into the 2010s?)

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Bert Campaneris--1983 Topps Traded

In the second game of the 1972 American League Championship Series, Oakland A’s shortstop Bert “Campy” Campaneris stepped into the batter’s box against Detroit Tigers reliever Lerrin LaGrow. Campaneris, a thorn in the Tigers’ flesh throughout the early portion of the series, had done considerable damage in his first three at-bats, with three hits, two runs scored, and a pair of stolen bases. At the direction of their manager, Tiger pitchers had thrown fastballs in the general direction of Campy’s legs, in an attempt to brush him back off the plate, or perhaps even injure the Oakland catalyst. Predictably, LaGrow threw his first pitch—a fastball—down and in on Campaneris, hitting the Cuban shortstop in the ankle.

Most of the Oakland players knew that one of the A’s’ batters, given the Tiger struggles in the early part of the series, would eventually become the victim of a deliberate brushback pitch. “I was in the on-deck circle,” said A’s left fielder Joe Rudi, “and I feel the Detroit pitcher threw at him. Campy had run the Tigers ragged in the first two games, and when [Billy] Martin gets his ears pinned down, he’s going to do something about it.”

Other members of the A’s agreed with Rudi’s analysis, including Oakland first baseman Mike Hegan, who observed the fateful pitch from the Oakland dugout. “There’s no question in anybody’s mind,” says Hegan, “and I think if the truth be known, I think we saw something was gonna happen, but didn’t know exactly what it was gonna be. Those orders to Lerrin LaGrow came right from Billy Martin—to start something, to do something. We had won the first game, and I think Billy Martin wanted to light a fire under his ballclub, and Campy was the guy that they were going after because he was the guy that set the table for us. There’s no question that Billy Martin instructed Lerrin LaGrow to throw at Campaneris.”

When LaGrow’s fastball struck the bone of Campaneris’ ankle, the A’s’ shortstop staggered for a moment, glared at the Tiger pitcher, and then, in an unusually violent reaction, flung the bat toward LaGrow. Spiraling about six feet off the ground, the bat helicoptered toward the pitching mound. The six-foot, five-inch LaGrow ducked down, barely avoiding contact with the bat, which ended up a few feet behind the mound.

Almost on cue, Billy Martin led the charge of Tiger players and coaches from the dugout. Martin ran directly toward home plate, but three of the umpires managed to hold back the Tiger manager, preventing him from completing his assault on Campaneris. Nestor Chylak, the home-plate umpire and crew chief, ejected both Campaneris and LaGrow, while attempting to calm an infuriated Martin. “There’s no place for that kind of gutless stuff in baseball,” seethed Martin. “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in all my years of baseball… I would respect him if he went out to throw a punch but what he did was the most gutless [thing] of any man to put on a uniform. It was a disgrace to baseball.”

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Kevin Sanders headed downtown to collect on a bet yesterday morning. A horse he liked – Toga Tiger – outran the field in the second race at Aqueduct.

“Word on the street had him a sure winner,” Sanders said. “I like fast horses when my money is riding on them.”

Toga Tiger paid off big and the money felt good in Sanders’s hand. But it didn’t feel good enough to pass on some poker.

“I live by the words of my father,” Sanders explained. “‘You can’t win if you’re not in the game.’”

Sanders sat at a table in a back room on the Lower Eastside and was up big for awhile. But he lost some hands and came home with nothing.

“You win some and you lose some,” Sanders said. “I’d rather lose a few than play it safe and never win big. Everything is a gamble: horses, cards and even baseball.”

Baseball is Sanders’s true passion.

“I bet my heart, my soul and my life on the Yankees,” he said. “But I never bet money. Baseball is too important for that.”

Building a baseball team is a different kind of gamble.

“I know that signing a guy like A.J. Burnett is a risk,” Sanders said. “He has had injuries in the past, but he also has shutdown stuff when he’s right. I think you’ve got to bet on him being ‘right’ if you want to win.”

And that’s all Sanders really cares about.

“I don’t mind taking losses at the table or even the track as long as the Yankees keep winning the arms race,” he said. “That’s gonna get us back to the World Series.”

Sanders smiled.

“Bet on it.”

Inspired by Alex’s post on a great “last-minute shopping” baseball book, I’m listing a few others that look interesting (though I haven’t gotten to read these …yet):

• “When Baseball Went to War“: “Drawing on the resources of The National World War II Museum and richly illustrated with many never-before-published photographs, (this) is a fitting tribute to the players of the Greatest Generation–heroes who saved America’s Game thanks to their efforts on the battlefield and on the ballfield.”  Also includes an audio CD featuring interviews with the players of the era.
• “First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson“: ” …presents a full picture of the man whose grace and confidence on the field were matched (if not surpassed) by a voice that spoke out, long and loud, for the equal opportunity, civil rights, and humanity of all Americans.  Jackie Robinson’s letters are a rich and invaluable contribution to his singular legacy and to the dynamic history of the civil rights movement.”
• “Baseball’s Greatest Quotations Rev. Ed.: An Illustrated Treasury of Baseball Quotations and Historical Lore“: The author of the “Dickson Baseball Dictionary” is back with a new edition of the best baseball quotes.  “One unique feature of this revised edition is the inclusion of pull-out sections featuring quotations by and about many of the game’s most quotable characters. Included are extended lessons in Stengelese, Reggiespeak, Earl Weaverisms, and famous announcers’ home-run calls …”
• “Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball“: “Wally Yonamine was both the first Japanese American to play for an NFL franchise and the first American to play professional baseball in Japan after World War II. This is the unlikely story of how a shy young man from the sugar plantations of Maui overcame prejudice to integrate two professional sports in two countries.”
• “Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back“: Josh Hamilton tells his story of immense talent derailed by drug addiction, and the subsequent spiritual journey which led to his getting a second chance.

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My wife is a photographer. 

Recently, she started her own website: bluepearprints.com, featuring a lovely selection of originally composed and designed photo note cards.

And now, she’s got a holiday sale cookin.

Peep, don’t sleep.

Let’s play the name game … Teixeira, Rivera, Cabrera …. ok, enough of that … here’s the news:

• Has Andy been playing coy with the Bombers?:  SI.com’s Jon Heyman reports that “Pettitte’s people apparently are telling folks he has a $36-million, three-year offer from another, unnamed team.”
• Buster Olney at ESPN.com trots out the cautionary tale of A-Rod’s signing with the pedestrian Texas Rangers as a way to argue that the Orioles and Nationals should stop with the notion of signing Teixeira:

But history tells us, over and over and over, that winning — as in contending — is what really draws fans to your ballpark, not some shiny bauble. Cal Ripken single-handedly drew fans to Camden Yards at the end of his career. With all due respect to Teixeira, he is not Ripken. He is not Barry Bonds. Few players have that kind of box-office allure.

Alex Rodriguez did not. After the Rangers drew 2.5 million people to their ballpark and finished with a record of 71-91, they went out and spent $252 million to sign A-Rod. The next year — when A-Rod did his part, slamming 52 homers and driving in 135 runs — they went 73-89 and drew 2.8 million. In other words, adding the best player in the game made only a slight difference in the Rangers’ attendance because they still weren’t winning. Inevitably, A-Rod’s salary became an enormous weight on the Rangers, wrecking their payroll flexibility. In order to retrieve that flexibility, they cut a deal with the Yankees in which they had to eat almost 40 percent of Rodriguez’s contract.

(My take: Baseball Prospectus pointed this out quite well in their book “Baseball Between the Numbers”.  It isn’t worth it for a middling team to make a mega-million investment in one player, as it only takes them from X games out of the playoffs to maybe X-Y games out of the playoffs.   And the playoffs (not the regular season) are where many teams make their profits for the year.  Attendance (and therefore revenue) will increase in the years following a playoff appearance, so teams should make that one player mega-million investment when there is a very good chance it will make the difference between making and not making the playoffs.)

• ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer tries to sort out for prospective new teams whether Jake Peavy would be be “all that” away from Petco:

Is Peavy going to post the same ERAs with some other team as he has with the Padres? No, he’s not. Not consistently, anyway. But unless his employers are expecting that, they shouldn’t be at all disappointed. If you adjust Peavy’s ERA over the last five seasons to account for his home ballpark — granted, in something of a crude fashion (my note: “ballpark index“)– he still winds up seventh best in the majors, right between Roy Oswalt and Carlos Zambrano. Is there any team that wouldn’t be thrilled with any of those three?

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