How the hell would he know???

More sour grapes? So just what are his thoughts on the Yankees period from 1996-2000 when they won 4 World Series in 5 years with guys from their farm system such as Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Riveria, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, etc?

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Rice blames Boss, Yanks on never winning a Series

The complaint is not a new one. With the Yankees spending nearly half a billion dollars on three players this offseason - CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira - it is hardly a surprise that the Steinbrenner family again is being blamed for squashing any remaining bits of baseball's alleged competitive balance.

And it's not just the salary-cap chorus that was heard coming from the owners' meetings this past week in Paradise Valley. With mind-numbing contracts still being handed out in the Bronx despite a flat-lining economy, such talk was to be expected.

It's debatable whether the Yankees' practice of buying the sport's premier players is actually bad for baseball. What they pay in luxury tax is helping to keep other owners rich in Kansas City and Pittsburgh, though those teams remain perennial bottom-feeders.

But it was interesting to hear Jim Rice, finally elected to the Hall of Fame after a 15-year wait, blame George Steinbrenner's checkbook for The Curse of the Bambino. When asked about Boston's failure to win a World Series during his career - 1975 to 1989 - up to the Bambino-busting 2004 season, Rice pointed directly to the Bronx.

"During that time, Steinbrenner spent more money than the Red Sox," Rice said. "He had more free agents. So when you get the best free agents, and you get the superstars from other ballclubs, that's what made you have a better team. The more money you can spend, the better you should get."

Rice does have reason to be bitter. From his post in the shadow of the Green Monster, he saw the Yankees buy Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Tommy John, Luis Tiant, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson and Don Gullett.

Even now, Rice remains annoyed by the Yankees' habit of throwing money at their problems. Not surprisingly, he lauds Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein for doing things the right way. "If you look at the Red Sox now, you see them bringing guys up in the organization," he said. "That's why Theo has been the person he's been over the last couple of years. He'll bring young kids up and stay within the organization.

"The Yankees haven't won in the last eight years. What do they do? They go out and buy high-priced players in the hope to get back the winning percentage they had 10 years ago."

Obviously, Rice still bleeds Sox red, but he does have the facts on his side. Since the 2000 World Series, the Yankees have gone to the bank repeatedly for Mike Mussina ($88.5 million), Jason Giambi ($120 million), Carl Pavano ($40 million), Jose Contreras ($32 million), Johnny Damon ($52 million) and Kei Igawa ($20 million) - just to name some notable signings.

That list does not include the renegotiated $275-million contract for Alex Rodriguez or the salary-dump trades that enabled them to get Randy Johnson ($31 million) and Kevin Brown ($31.4 million).

Now, after passing on Johan Santana and stressing a youth movement that flopped last season, the Yankees have returned to the megabuck spending that Rice remembers so well.

Whatever outrage the Sabathia-Burnett-Teixeira axis has generated around the league, any salary-cap showdown between the owners and the Players Association is going to have to wait until after the 2011 season, when the collective-bargaining agreement expires. Major League Baseball remains the only sport among the Big Four without a salary cap. Even if the nation's economy rebounds by then, this dark period is not likely to be forgotten, and the impact won't be known until this season gets under way.

"I think there's a lot of owners that would like to have [a salary cap] right now," A's managing partner Lew Wolff told MLB.com at the meetings in Arizona.

Until then, Steinbrenner still will be Steinbrenner - be it George or Hal. Whether 2009 will resemble 1977, '78 or '98 remains to be seen.

Source: News Day

Baseball doesn't need a salary cap to stop Yankees

Hidden beneath the Hot Stove League, an integral part of baseball's charm, is the Hot Air Society. You've heard from them lately, lamenting the Yankees' absurd financial outlay and calling for a salary cap. Sometimes you wonder if becoming a multi-millionaire makes a person totally blind.

If you have any faith in A's owner Lew Wolff - that is, if you figure he'll eventually come to his senses and drop the Fremont pipe dream - you had to be disappointed in his recent remarks. "I think there's a lot of owners who would like to have a salary cap right now," he said. "Parity is what we're looking for. I think it's pretty good now, but it could be better."

Two things: Pretty good? And no, it could not be better.

Here comes another Hot Air fellow, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio: "At the rate the Yankees are going, I'm not sure anyone can compete with them."

Reminder: The Yankees' 2009 payroll might wind up being less than last year's $222 million, a figure that brought nothing but derisive laughter in Tampa. The Rays not only competed with the Yankees on $43 million, they went to the World Series.

That's just one example, though. This decade has given us the very essence of baseball parity. Recalling the seven World Series matchups prior to Rays-Phillies, we find Boston over Colorado, St. Louis over Detroit, White Sox over Houston, Boston over St. Louis, Florida over the Yankees, Anaheim over the Giants and Arizona over the Yankees.

In other words, seven different winners in eight years, and only three teams even appearing twice over that span. Do we see the Yankees winning any of those World Series? And who says they win it all this year because they added CC Sabathia, an all-around great guy who might eventually succumb to arm stress, and Mark Teixeira, a fine hitter who has never earned any serious MVP consideration?

Listen, it's fun to complain about the Yankees if you take the proper tone. Take Detroit manager Jim Leyland, master of dry humor: "Hey, it stands to reason that if you go into a store with $500 and I go in with $100, you're gonna come out with cashmere while I get one of those itchy tweed things."

But let's not hear owners - people who, ostensibly, built a fortune through smarts and good sense - crying, "Oh, somebody save me from my mistakes." Teams fail because of their own stupidity and ill-advised transactions, not because they're short on cash. What the Rays pulled off was no miracle, nor was it an aberration. That was just a flat-out superior team, built on dimes, nickels and guile.

Admit this about the Yankees: If you don't admire or respect them, you hate them. No sitting on the fence with these guys. That's a terrific thing, too. The Yankees are great for baseball, just as the Red Sox and Cubs enrich the landscape. They generate passion across the country, they provide compelling theater, and thanks to baseball's revenue-sharing plan, they put money in everyone's pockets.

If the NBA's salary cap is so wonderful, why do only five or six teams stand a chance of winning the title each year? Over the past 10 years in baseball, 15 teams - half, in other words - have played in the World Series. And aside from salary caps being contrary to every basic tenet of competitive American business, the NBA version collapses sadly under its own complexity.

For one thing, nobody can figure it out. I've heard extremely knowledgeable NBA writers say they hesitate to make an on-deadline call about salary-cap issues, for fear they didn't do enough research and screwed it up. The common fan doesn't have a prayer of understanding it, nor would he care to, after some of the nonsense that takes place.

To make the Jason Kidd-to-Dallas deal work last year, the Mavericks had to re-sign Keith Van Horn, who was living in retirement with no intention on coming back, and send his contract to New Jersey (I think only his hat made the trip). Just the other day, a column on the Sports Illustrated Web site noted that "the Cavaliers possess two enormously attractive (trade) assets in swingman Wally Szczerbiak and forward Ben Wallace." You're thinking, what? Then you realize it's not about their talent, but their soon-to-be-expiring contracts.

NBA trades are all about expiring contracts. You're not trading for help, you're getting people you can't wait to unload. "Hey, did you see the guys we acquired to put in next summer's trash can?" The chemistry-tortured Detroit Pistons would probably do well to unload Rasheed Wallace before the February 19 deadline, but wait - if they keep him until summer, they clear some cap space. Come to think of it, the NBA is just barely being played in real time. In our minds, we're already well into 2010, when LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade and several more top free agents have chosen new teams.

(And by the way, over the past 30 years, while 20 major-league teams have won it all, only nine have prevailed in the NBA. Another interesting stat: In 62 years of NBA championships, only 28 coaches have won.)

These whining baseball owners should realize what a salary cap really means: that you have to spend a certain amount of money. Considering the game's runaway success - a trend that just might survive the economic crisis - it would hardly be a paltry figure. If you find it an oppressive burden, you wind up signing pricey veterans just to stay around the minimum.

While Wolff and the boys stop to realize how baseball has prospered, we can all be thankful for the players' union. This will be a hot issue when the next collective bargaining agreement is hammered out after the 2011 season, and the union will have a choice: Take the NBA route or continue matching parity with golden-age growth. Easy call.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

I heard on the news that they signed Melky to a one year contract. A contract was given to someone else, but I didn't hear who it was.

The yankees should try and trade Melky I believe. They do not need him in the line up or the outfield. Maybe they can get something for him.

ds

Melky's a good center-fielder with some actual great moments. His problem is when he gets behind the plate. If he can work with the batting coaches in the spring, hopefully he'll do better this season.

Oh, and the other player was Nady. Definitely glad to see him back.

Yes, SB, they signed both Nady and Cabrera to avoid salary arbitration for both (Nady's still a free agent at the end of the season though)

I've been hearing a lot of rumors here involving the Yankees outfielders. The Giants seem to have shown interest in Nady or Swisher.

Yeah, and the Yankees should have interest in Lincecum

You don't want him, he's overrated

Na, I'll stick with him. We'll trade you Nady, Swisher, Melky, Igawa AND Matsui

If the Yankees can't get Pettitte, I'd like to see them go after Sheets for a one-year deal

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Yanks remain in the mix for Pettitte

Luring back Andy Pettitte still remains a possibility for the Yankees.

The New Jersey Record is reporting the Yankees are still having discussions with Pettitte. The question remains if the veteran left-hander will accept a one-year, $10.5 million deal. There is a belief that Pettitte will pass on the offer.

The Yankees also remain in the mix for Ben Sheets. If neither Pettitte nor Sheets signs, New York appears ready to go into Spring Training with Phil Hughes vying for the fifth-starter spot with Alfredo Aceves, Ian Kennedy and Jason Johnson, a non-roster invitee.

In 2008, Pettitte was 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA in 33 starts. The veteran has logged at least 200 innings in four straight seasons, and five of his last six.

Source: Yankees

After reading what Joe Torre said about the Yankees, I was sure there would be some comments on here.

Torre tore A-Rod a new A-hole.

No editorial comment?

C'mon... as a Yankee fan, you MUST have some opinion on this book and Torre.

How can I -- or anyone -- have an opinion on a book we haven't read yet? Who do I look like, Irishman??

Pettitte holding onto his pinstripes
Veteran left-hander signs incentive-laden, one-year deal (base salary of $5.5 million, with innings-pitched and days-on-the-roster incentives that could raise the value of the contract to $12 million)

Cool, I guess -- a true Yankee. He's always fun to watch in big games, but I hope he improves a bit on last year (14-14 with a 4.54 ERA in 33 starts)

He is a true Yankee, but I don't think we'll see an improved version. He's not at the stage of his career when you get better. Plus, he's off the banned, performance enhancing substances now. He'll eat some innings and win some games.

Read this brief interview with Tom Verducci

Why would Yankee fans need to think for themselves when they have a million writers doing it for them?

So, from top to bottom, do the Yankees boast the best rotation in baseball?

1) CC Sabathia
2) AJ Burnett
3) Chien-Ming Wang
4) Andy Pettitte
5) Joba Chamberlain

IF (and I say IF because I haven't read the book) he trashes any of the team or its management, then I will lose a lot of respect for Joe Torre. Yes, they treated him like crap after he handed over annual championships. However, he also made millions from them and from the endorsements that came with being one of the most famous names in baseball. If he was that unhappy, he should have walked away 10 years ago.

As for Pettite, he's a pig. A true Yankee? Is that why he went to Texas in his prime?? Or was he so unable to think for himself that he just followed that other pig Clemens wherever he went? I saw no reason to bring him back.

I will give Andy this - I heard him say on TV last night that he's NEVER heard any member of the Yankees call Alex "A-Fraud". I have no love for ARod, but writing that, true or not, is just completely and totally without class.

Good point about Torre, SB. As much as I would love to hear some dirt on the Yankees it doesn't seem like Torre to do this kind of thing, and he shouldn't. It must be Los Angeles getting to him.

Manny Ramirez is wearing off on Torre?

More for ya

Torre's co-author tries to clear air on radio

In the wake of the controversy over his soon-to-be released book, "The Yankee Years," Tom Verducci took to the airwaves yesterday to clarify misconceptions about his collaboration with Joe Torre.

Verducci, a Sports Illustrated writer who co-authored the book with the former Yankees manager, appeared on "The Dan Patrick Show" and WFAN's "Mike'd Up" with Mike Francesa after a story in Sunday's New York Post portrayed Torre as bitter toward Yankees brass and linked him to scathing remarks about Alex Rodriguez and A-Rod's relationship with captain Derek Jeter.

Among the more scintillating revelations, as reported by the Post, were that Rodriguez was called "A-Fraud" by teammates and had a "Single White Female"-like obsession with Jeter.

"It's funny that in the original story that came out in the New York Post, they supposedly had the book, [but] there's not a single citation of the book," Verducci told Patrick, adding that those remarks were taken out of context and inaccurately attributed to Torre.

"Joe Torre certainly wasn't name-calling, certainly didn't use the phrase 'A-Fraud' or 'Single White Female.' That's why it's important to know it is a third-person narrative."

Verducci, a former Newsday sportswriter, said the Post story contained factual errors regarding his book. "Well, they had Torre calling players prima donnas," he said. "He never does that. C'mon."

Verducci said Torre never trashes Rodriguez in the book but did say Torre saw him as someone with more "individual-driven motivation" that was different from players he had managed on four Yankees championship teams.

"No, he doesn't rip him, but he talks about how Alex came with a very different perspective, that Alex liked the attention, he craved the attention," Verducci said.

He did say, however, that while doing reporting for the book, he found that Rodriguez often was the subject of inside jokes in the clubhouse.

"Within the window of his first year in New York ... even his close friends were saying Alex tried too hard to fit into New York, to be all things to all people instead of just being himself," Verducci told Francesa about the "A-Fraud" and "Single White Female" references. "The fact of the matter is the reference is to an inside joke among teammates during his first year in New York when he tried too hard to fit in."

That shouldn't surprise anyone who has followed Rodriguez's five seasons with the Yankees, Verducci said.

"Is it shocking that Alex Rodriguez has had a tough time fitting into the Yankees' clubhouse? I don't think so. Is it shocking that Alex and Derek Jeter have issues that have affected people in that clubhouse?" Verducci asked. "I don't think that's shocking."

Verducci and Torre also co-wrote "Chasing The Dream: My Lifelong Journey to the World Series," published in 1997, the year after the Yankees won their first championship since 1978.

Source: News Day

Is there any way that this story was leaked out to generate pre-publishment interest in a book during a slow economy??

Absolutely. And it seems to have worked. This has been "the news" item for the past 24+ hours.

Torre cannot hide behind author

Some of the Yankees who found themselves on the receiving end of Joe Torre's seething scowl called it "The Stare" -- his face tight, his mouth frozen into a horizontal line, his dark eyes seemingly blackened by a slight inward tilt of his eyebrows. The Stare was reserved for capital offenses, for missing signs, for awful decisions.

Reporters sometimes got The Stare as well, most often when they asked questions Torre deemed to be driven by a quest for sensationalism, and the manager would chastise them bluntly, the way a fourth-grade teacher speaks to a wayward pupil. When I covered the team for The New York Times, he expressed particular distaste for ESPN, especially after Roger Clemens' beaning of Mike Piazza and the subsequent bat-throwing incident, because he felt the network replayed the ugliness over and over only to sell its programming.

In an honest moment today, Torre would aim The Scowl again -- into a mirror. Because this time, Torre is guilty of fostering and feeding on sensationalism, at the expense of former colleagues.

It is Tom Verducci who wrote the actual words of the book, and over the past two days, Verducci has worked to underscore this point and to note that the fragments about Alex Rodriguez, Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners are just tiny pieces of a book of almost 500 pages. The voice is third person, not Torre's, as it was the first time Torre and Verducci collaborated. A lot of the words are based on Verducci's reporting.

But here's the problem with that: It's Joe Torre's book. His name is on it. He got paid for it. He had a chance to read every word, every sentence, every paragraph. He had to approve every passage.

He had the choice, for example, whether to include this, from page 245:

Back in 2004, at first Rodriguez did his best to try and fit into the Yankee culture -- his cloying, B Grade actor best. He slathered on the polish. People in the clubhouse, including teammates and support personnel were calling him "A-Fraud" behind his back.

And it was Torre's choice, ultimately, to include this, from page 252:

In his own way, Rodriguez was fascinated with [Derek] Jeter, as if trying to figure out what it was about Jeter that could have bought him so much goodwill. The inside joke in the clubhouse was that Rodriguez' pre-occupation with Jeter recalled the 1992 film, "Single White Female," in which a woman becomes obsessed with her roommate to the point of dressing like her.

And it was Torre who approved the words in the excerpt released Monday -- after Torre had assured Cashman on the phone Sunday that they were friends and always would be friends.

Only much later did Torre start to put the picture together of what had happened to his working relationship with Cashman. The personal falling-out they had in 2006 spring training over philosophical issues, Cashman's decision not to bring back longtime center fielder Bernie Williams when his contract expired in 2006, his submission of odd lineup suggestions based on stats, his lack of regard for Ron Guidry as a pitching coach, his detachment from the "they" who were making an offer to Torre, his failure to offer any comment or support in the meeting that decided Torre's future, his failure to personally relay Torre's proposal to find a way to reach an agreement to the Steinbrenners … "I thought Cash was an ally, I really did," Torre says.

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.

In the four seasons Torre managed Rodriguez, he would never have come out in the dugout for his daily session with reporters and revealed that teammates called Rodriguez "A-Fraud," and if any reporter had asked him whether it was true that teammates compared A-Rod to the character in the movie "Single White Female," they would have gotten The Stare.

But he has gone beyond his own code of conduct with his book. In spring 2003, David Wells and a ghostwriter published a book, "Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball," and Torre was furious, angry that Wells had aired some of the Yankees' dirty laundry in the pages. Wells tried to distance himself from some of the words in the book, saying they belonged to the writer, but the Yankees' manager would not accept that. After a meeting with the pitcher, Torre said this to reporters:

"We talked to him about a lot of things today. I just sensed he was bothered by it. Not by what we said, but by how it came out. How much of it is actually what he said and how much isn't exactly what he said, I don't know.

"But there's no question: It has his name on it, and he has to be accountable for it."

Torre, Cashman and George Steinbrenner held Wells accountable -- in the end, he was fined $100,000 by the organization.

Now it is Torre's responsibility to be fully accountable for the words in the book that has his name on it, and he must stand behind those words.

If he hides behind Verducci and the suggestion that the ugly anecdotes aren't his, the explanation will have echoes of "I didn't knowingly take steroids." If he embraces the words as his own, he also should acknowledge he has been, at the very least, extraordinarily hypocritical.

Source: ESPN

I don't think I've seen Torre NOT stand behind these words. Has anybody else?

and YES is is all hype to sell this book.