Mike Lupica should be an agent.

Whenever the Yankees start recruiting a big free agent, the best part, every single time, is the hilarious notion that it's not about the money, it's about the relationships.

Right. This observation from one of the clows who thought Steinbrenner should have phoned Andy Pettitte. Like Pettitte and Clemens went to Houston for respect.


"Brian Cashman has now flown to Arkansas to meet Cliff Lee and Mrs. Lee and Lee's agent, just to get to know them. Maybe tell them that hardly anybody will try to spit on Mrs. Lee when she's sitting in her own suite. Before getting down to asking the only question that ever matters in this process:

When the time comes, after they've established a relationship and had so much fun getting to know each other, will Lee be willing to take a whole lot more money than anybody else is offering to come pitch for the Yankees?"

Err ... Brian Cashman is doing his job.


"We were actually expected to believe a couple of years ago that Cashman and CC Sabathia had practically turned into a buddy movie when Sabathia and not Lee was the big lefthanded pitcher in play. That it was the bonding and not the money when the Yankees ended up paying Sabathia $160 million and the next biggest offer on the table was $100 million."

Who says we were expected to believe this?

I read 100,000 articles that talked about the money. I don't recall one comment regarding the budding friendship between Cashman and Sabathia.


"Now when it's all over, we don't just hear about how it was always somebody's dream to wear the pinstripes, it was the sales pitch, too. It was the way the Yankees, especially Brian Cashman, were interested in them as people. It was Cash's persuasiveness, and winning personality."

Yes, that's true. The guy who signs with a new team always acts excited about it at a press conference.

Doesn't mean anything.

Hack writers should stop acting like it means something.


Cliff Lee and Mark Teixeira would play for the Red Sox if the Red Sox paid them one extra dollar. Same goes for Derek Jeter and Joe Dimaggio.