The New York Times' Murray Chass has an article in today's paper, and in the same way that the Washington Post's editorial page reflects the thinking of the Bush Administration, Chass's article offers a glimpse into what the thinking may be inside the Yankee's management.
Chass starts out with a discussion of the Yankees payroll numbers, with emphasis on the luxury tax and revenue sharing fees that the Yankees, with the highest payroll in baseball, are forced to dish out. There's the usual complaint that some teams, the cubs in particular are named here, don't use their revenue sharing the right way. What's even more interesting is that the Yankees are still taking shots at Joe Torre, who is mocked for feeling insulted for turning down a contract offer that was obviously intended to be a last minute, take it or leave it insult.
There's also some discussion of a possible trade for Johan Santana. The Red Sox are mentioned as also possibly in the hunt for Santana, but dismissed because they already have a solid pitching rotation and are thus obviously "in the bidding only because the Yankees are in it".
This is where we really see Chass's article for the Yankee propoganda piece that it really is. The Red Sox do have a good pitching staff, and if they traded for Santana, the combination of Santana and Josh Beckett could give them the dominant edge over the Yankees for the next five or six years, a prospect that should be giving Yankee management more than a few sleepless nights. At the same time, dismissing the chances of a Red Sox/Twins trade serves the double purpose of trying to manipulate the Twins into thinking the only choice they have is to take whatever the Yankees are willing to offer.
Somehow, I don't think either the Red Sox or Twins are going to let the Yankees dictate to them what their respective trade policies ought to be.
Keywords: Cubs, Joe Torre, Johan Santana, Josh Beckett, Red Sox, Twins, Yankees
