1996-2001.

The Yankees lost the World Series in 2001. They almost won, but they lost. Kind of like the Yankees in 2003, when the team consisted of selfish, lazy mercenaries like Giambi, Sierra, and Contreras leading the way.

When people talk about the success and toughness of the Torre-era Yankees, why is 2001 included?

Just for accuracy's sake, it should be the 1996-2000 Yankees, even though the 2001 Yankee roster included O'Neill, Tino, and Brosius.

Four Ring Club.

" '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.' "

One of the weirdest defenses of Torre's book is that everybody knew this information already. Well, if that's the case, then why write a book, and why would anybody bother buying the book?

Also, the source is everything. I can make fun of my brother, but you can't.

Also, he's currently the manager of the Dodgers.

Torre definitely has the "right" to say whatever he wants. Nobody is suing him or putting him in jail. But, just like he has the "right" to say whatever he wants, everyone else has the right to call him a fraud and a punk.

Here's a guy who likes to dish it out, but sure isn't used to taking it.

Joel Sherman takes off the gloves.

My only gripe is that this sort of negative analysis is years late.

I sort of understand why writers don't criticize their subject. They need access. But the price they pay for that access is credibility.

To be fair, it's quite possible that Sherman has mentioned this stuff in the past and it just seems more harsh because it's all concentrated in one place.

But my guess is that the writers are all pouncing on Torre now because Torre is in LA.

I'm not actually keeping score ...

... but I think Lupica is the last pro-Torre holdout.

Even Peter Abraham has joined the Winning Team:

"When the smoke clears, the supposedly gory details of The Yankee Years will prove not so gory. Book publicists are good at what they do and some reporters are only too glad to take a baited hook. It beats actually doing any work.

But 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.

...

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.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking it will change. It could get very ugly when Derek Jeter’s contract expires. Or if Mo decides he want to keep pitching in 2011. You want to be the guy who tells Posada he can’t catch anymore? Wear his mask when you break that news.

Torre is not the best person I ever covered. I had more pleasant one-on-one conversations with Joe Girardi in a month last season than I had with Torre in a year But Torre understood how his job related to my job better than anybody else. Readers benefited from that. Once again, he is showing how well he knows the media landscape. Torre picked a great writer and served up the details that will sell books by the truckload. The convertible he drives around in those commercials couldn’t stay on the high road."

I know it's the off-season, but shouldn't the manager of the Dodgers be doing Dodger-Managery stuff?

Talk about a phony.

Mr. Torre, I will give you $100 right now if you can name the teams in the NL West:

" 'I don't think I said anything about A-Rod that I didn't say already.' Torre is the co-author of the book, but it contains both his thoughts and independent reporting, according to Verducci.

Torre told the Times that 'knowing that my name is on it, I know I'm going to have to answer for it.'

He later told the Times: 'I'm comfortable with what I contributed to the book, even though I'm probably going to get more credit or more blame than I deserve, whichever way you want to look at it.' "

I must say, for a man who didn't throw one pitch or get one hit during the Yankees' late-'90s success, I think you know from getting more credit than you deserve.

I am not worried about Mariano Rivera's shoulder.

"The Yankees are a sure thing to win it all, the way they have been in a lot of baseball winters, unless you are worried about Jorge Posada's shoulder, Mo Rivera's shoulder, the outfield defense and no center fielder."

Hey, Mr. Snooty, the Yankees never said they were a sure thing.

Also, I'd like to point out that you have expressed concern about Mariano Rivera every single season since 1996.

Every year, I take the opposite view and every year I am right and you are wrong.

One year, you will be right.

It won't count.

Put his face on Mount Rushmore.

He's still the classiest person in the history of the world.

If "classy" means childish, petty, hypocritical, self-absorbed punk.

They ought to get Grady Sizemore.

"Playing center field for the Yankees is one of the most hallowed jobs in sports, sort of like being the tailback at USC or linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers."

I always think of Dave Collins and Omar Moreno. But that's just me.


"Multiple Hall of Famers, including two of the biggest names in baseball history in Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, have roamed center in pinstripes, and All-Stars such as Bernie Williams, Bobby Murcer and Mickey Rivers once owned the position, too."

Mickey Rivers was an All Star one time. He was often replaced by Paul Blair for defensive reasons.


"But in 2009 - if team executives are to be believed - the Yankees will take a different approach. Rather than filling center with a star, Brett Gardner, an unproven rookie, and Melky Cabrera, last season’s flop, will compete for the job when spring training opens next month. "

Different approach compared to what?

Melky Cabrera has been the Yankees' starting center fielder for almost three full seasons. Last year, he was benched and replaced by Brett Gardner. Bernie Williams hasn't played a lot of CF since 2002.

So, the hallowed ground has showcased Charles Gipson, Karim Garcia, Kenny Lofton, Bubba Crosby, and my personal favorite, Tony Womack.

Put another way: Bernie Williams is certainly a worthy successor to the Yankee CF greats. Bernie is a very strong HOF candidate. But he stopped putting up HOF numbers after the 2002 season.

The Yankees have not had a premier CFer since 2002.

What exactly is different in 2009?


"And, historically, high-level talent in center has been an integral part of Yankee success.

The last time the Yankees won the World Series without a big-name player as their primary center fielder was 1943 - DiMaggio was in the Army Air Forces that year because of World War II and Roy Weatherly (68 games), Johnny Lindell (55 games) and Tuck Stainback (43 games) split the position."

Well, okay, if you insist. It sure can't hurt to have players like Mickey Mantle and Joe Dimaggio.

I adored Mick the Quick. I even twirled my wiffle bat when I hit a foul ball. But he was absolutely not a superstar CFer.


In any case, the entire argument is moot.

Let's say the Yankees really need a superstar in CF. How are they going to get a superstar CFer?

I mean, the only replacement who is even mentioned is Mike Cameron, who pretty much stinks.

Middle Infielders.

"Not sure if you saw it, but former Met great Jeff Kent retired yesterday. Now we ask, is he a Hall of Famer?

There’s a guy who works here at The Daily News who insists Kent is Cooperstown bound. No doubt about it, he says. I hear the same sentiment on radio and TV. Believe it or not, I disagree."

I don't believe it.


"Kent has 74 more homers than Ryne Sandberg, a Hall of Famer, who, until Kent broke it, held the record for HRs by a second baseman. If you judge him solely as a second baseman, he’s in, no questions asked."

He should be judged as a second baseman because never regularly played any other position. But he's hardly a definitive HOFer, "no questions asked."

This is a very odd argument.

I don't know where this is heading.


"But I say Kent cannot be looked at as a second baseman, especially in this day and age where middle infielders all over baseball are putting up numbers usually posted by outfielders and third baseman."

Thirty teams, two middle infielders per team. That's sixty middle infielders, more or less. I can think of three who put up big power numbers: Ramirez, Utley, and Uggla.

ARod doesn't play shortstop anymore. Tejada and Garciaparra used to put up big numbers.

You know how many shortstops had 100 RBIs last year? Zero.


"We have to start judging players - other than catchers - as all part of the same pool. Is Nomar Garciaparra a Hall of Famer because he put up big numbers at shortstop?"

Unbelievable. He's actually comparing Kent to Garciaparra.

The precise reason Kent is a HOFer and Garciaparra is not is because Kent did it for a long time. Kent is a second baseman who accumulated 1,500 RBIs. Garciaparra only has 920 RBIs, maybe 700 as a shortstop.


"Kent was never a great fielder. He had to hide somewhere and most teams chose to put him at second base."

That makes no sense at all. That is completely illogical and uninformed.


"Albert Belle has more homers (381) than Kent. Is he a Hall of Famer?"

I think Belle is a HOFer, but you can't compare him to Kent, because he played OF while Kent played 2B.


"Gary Sheffield has more homers (499), hits (2,615) and RBIs (1,633) than Kent. Is he a Hall of Famer?"

Yes, of course Sheffield is a HOFer. But again, you're comparing and OFer to a 2B. It's not a fair comparison and you keep saying it is and every time you do it you are wrong.


"Andres Gallarraga (399), Dale Murphy (398), Joe Carter (396), Jason Giambi (396), Vlad Guerrero (392), Graig Nettles (390), Dwight Evans (385), Harold Baines (384), Larry Walker (383) and Matt Williams (378) all have more homers than Kent. Only Guerrero has a legit shot to make it to Cooperstown."

Zero second baseman in the list.

Oh, and Larry Walker will probably make the HOF. Jeff Kent, too.

I know it was cold, but ...

"One year ago, this weekend, Eli Manning had one of the greatest performances by a quarterback I’ve ever seen, in miserable conditions in Green Bay in the NFC championship game."

21-for-40, 254 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT.

That is one of the greatest performances by a quarterback that Ralph Vacchiano has ever seen.


"The Giants are going to have little choice here. Prices go up and a year ago the Steelers made Ben Roethlisberger the seventh member of the Million Dollar Quarterback Club when they handed him an eight-year, $102 million deal with $36 million in guarantees."

I think you mean "seventh member of the Hundred Million Dollar Quarterback Club."

But it's funny that you wrote "seventh member of the Million Dollar Quarterback Club."

As if only six NFL QBs make a million dollars.


As for your NFL QB observances: I think Jim Kelly played about 300 regular season games, and if he ever went 21-for-40 for 254 yards, he would have quite football on the spot.


I remember a game where Jim Harbaugh and the Colts beat the Dolphins 41-0. I remember Harbaugh had over ten yards per attempt. It was one of the greatest physical achievements by a human being ever in the history of human achievement. Which is probably why I can remember it so well.

I just think you don't like the Yankees.

Lupica transcribes Brodsky:

"You may want a new Yankee Stadium, or you may not. But whatever side you come down on, remember that it's your money that's going to build it. The Yankees are alone in insisting that it's Yankee money. Even NYC officials now admit the truth of what we've been saying, that taxpayer dollars are tearing down The House That Ruth Built, and replacing it with The House That You Built.

Here's how they do it. The city sends the Yankees a property tax bill like everyone else gets. The Yankees write a check (about $70 million a year) to the city for that amount, just like everyone else. But next, unlike you or I, the city winks and sends that check to the Yankees' bankers to pay off the $1.4 billion mortgage, plus the $1.4 billion in interest on the new Stadium. You or I can't get that deal, but the Yankees did."

See, if you're saying the taxpayers are paying for it, and then you're saying that taxpayer is the Yankees ...

"And they got a lot more. The [sic] got an additional $575 million directly to build parking garages and sewers and other stuff for the new Stadium. They don't have to pay sales tax and mortgage recording taxes that every other taxpayer pays, and they get interest rate subsidies. That's an additional taxpayer subsidy of about $350 million."

I still don't believe that's the same thing as a subsidy.

Even though, obviously, the Yankees are asking for sweet deals from the government because the government is expecting a major return for this investment, economic and otherwise.


Like, what's an "interest rate subsidy"?

A NYC resident's tax rates are increasing because of the new Yankee Stadium? No.

The Yankees are paying taxes, just at a reduced rate.

I guess the argument is whether or not the Yankees are paying their fair share, and perhaps that's a fair argument. But this is not free money.


When I contend that this is simply another example of anti-Yankee hysteria, consider this as Exhibit A:

"The Mets’ request for $82.3 million in tax-exempt bonds to complete Citi Field was approved unanimously with little debate."

Really?

What about the straphanger and the fairness and the unwillingness to recognize the pain that New Yorkers are now undergoing?


You know what's weird? I don't recall a single demand for a salary cap when the Angels offered Teixeira $160 million.

MLB needs a salary cap.

On the same day that Circuit City closes, the Red Sox pay Kevin Youkilis almost $100 million.

Kevin Youkilis is nothing more than a monument to greed and avarice.

I am disgusted that the Red Sox can keep spending money while the rest of the world is tightening their collective belts.

My understanding of tax-exempt bonds.

The Yankees borrow money from a government entity, repay it with interest, and the interest that the investors accumulate is not subject to taxes.

These bonds are sold to public investors seeking a low-risk investment.

There's a lot more going on here in terms of politics, etc.

But tax-exempt bonds are an easy way for a government to make a little money. Not a lot of money in the scheme of government entities, but a little bit of money.

I don't know if the new Stadium is worth the cost. The Yankees will profit; the Bronx probably will not profit too much. More of a pride thing than an economic thing.

Seriously, though, what the heck is Richard Brodsky even talking about? Does he not have a basic understanding of how bonds work?

Or maybe I don't. I thought I did.

They're like stocks except they're lower risk and lower return. Lower risk because, basically, a government entity can never truly run out of money (it's exceedingly unlikely). Worse comes to worse, they'll just print more money or, you know, raise the cost of a parking ticket rather than default.

So, the bond is issued, maybe it's a 5% annual return over 10 years (I'm making that up) and, you know, your IRA has tanked 49% this calendar year, so you opt for municipal bonds instead.

This is not a subsidy. A subsidy is different. Stop calling a bond a subsidy.

Living in the past is a good way to run a baseball team.

"The Yankees can find nearly a half-billion dollars to pay three players who, as brilliant as they've performed elsewhere, have yet to do a thing for this franchise."

Hi, I think $420 million is almost $500 million.

But I'm not paid to be smart.


"After blowing their bankroll on Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, the Bankees now claim that $10 million - a pretty damn good paycheck for anyone these days but still, a $6-million pay cut for Pettitte from last season - is as high as they are willing to go for a pitcher who won some of the most important postseason games in their recent history."

1) I don't think they blew their bankroll.

2) If they really blew their bankroll, then that explains why they don't have additional funds for Andy Pettitte.

3) 2003 was the last time Andy Pettitte won a postseason game for the Yankees. That's not "recent."


"(Pettitte went 13-8 in the postseason for the Yankees, who never lost an ALCS game he started. But because they haven't been to the ALCS in quite a while, it's possible they forgot that stat.)"

Exactly. It's ancient history.


"Plus, it would be a tremendous PR coup for the Mets, who frankly have looked like jerks the past few years watching the Yankees rescue their castoffs (Gooden, Strawberry, Cone, Nady) but now have the opportunity to return the favor."

Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and David Cone?

Gooden last pitched for the Yankees in 2000; Strawberry last played for the Yankees in 1999; Cone last pitched in 2000 for the Yankees and last pitched in 2003 for the Mets.

"The past few years" is a decade ago if you're Wallace Matthews.

Wallace Matthews is talking about the 1986 Mets. But it's 2008 and this is supposed to be a discussion about Andy Pettitte.


"And best of all, Pettitte doesn't cost you all that much, in money or years. One year at $12 million to $14 million, maybe with an option, probably gets it done, and that's perfect. No long-term entanglements with a head case like Perez, or a hospital case like Sheets. No five-innings-and-out, at best, like you'd get from Pedro.

What you get is a low-maintenance, no-drama professional who's here for one reason only: To help you win now, this year, not promise you things down the road that he will likely never deliver."

Ha ha.

Let's not mention the "no-drama" cheating or the injury history.

That's just weird.

I'd take him.

With friends like this ...

"I have voted for Rice annually on my Hall of Fame ballot. I always understood that he was a borderline candidate."

Ummm, okay.


"Believe me, I understand the demerits people want to give him about his home/road splits, the times grounding into double plays, the shortcomings as a baserunner and a fielder, and the fact that he essentially was finished as an impact player at age 34."

"Pay attention to nothing they say and everything they do."

I like how Andy Pettitte is a loyal Yankee except for the time he wasn't. Try that logic with your girlfriend:

"By the way, every time a guy like Mark Teixeira signs for more money than anybody else is offering, you can make book that there was some Yankee hero he had as a boy and that he's going to want to tell us all about it.

Or, in Jason Giambi's case, it's a dad who was a Mantle guy.

The money is always just a side issue, of course."

Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking about Andy Pettitte.

I wish I had $10 million of nickels and dimes.

Likes Eli Manning, doesn't like Yankee management:

"The Yankees aren't trying to nickel-and-dime Andy Pettitte because they think he deserves to have his 2008 salary nearly cut in half.

That is just a shell game.

The Yankees, who spent all that money on Sabathia and Burnett and Teixeira, are desperate to somehow come in at around $200 million in payroll or even under it so they can tell everybody how frugal they are.

So this isn't about what's right with an old Yankee hero like Pettitte.

It's about how things look."

I agree with one thing: Andy Pettitte is old.

My first post of 2009.

Probably sounds a lot like my first post of 2004:

"But Pettitte is not like other players, and the Yankees are not like other teams. Pettitte has pledged his loyalty to the Yankees, and the Yankees have spent lavishly this winter at a time when many clubs are scaling back."

A pledge from a disloyal cheater and liar, huh?


"A reunion seemed inevitable at the start of the off-season, but now it is uncertain."

A reunion seemed so unlikely, that I started deducting Pettitte's salary from the payroll last August.


"Pettitte might wonder why the Yankees offered a pay cut at a time when they spent a combined $243.5 million on C. C. Sabathia and A. J. Burnett. If he is, though, Pettitte has not said so. Reached by The New York Times on Dec. 3, he said he wanted to return but was leaving the matter to his agent, Randy Hendricks, who did not respond to e-mail messages Monday."

Well, I'm not sure if reporting what Pettitte might be thinking even qualifies as reporting.

Pettitte didn't return any of my emails or phone calls, either. He also hasn't accepted my friend request on Facebook.

If he did, I could easily explain why the Yankees offered a pay cut at a time when they spent a combined $243.5 million on CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

14 wins and 14 losses is why.