Who's Your Papi?

Spying on the Evil Empire. I heard stories that Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman admitted that his phone rang more than once during the ALCS, with George Steinbrenner on the other end, complaining: "Why isn't that man (David Ortiz) a Yankee?!" I had to see the source for myself, so I hunted down a recent New York Newsday article.

Ortiz never made sense for the Yankees, who never buy low, never buy on the come. Ortiz had just been cut by the Twins, for crying out loud. You'd have to have ESP - not just ESPN - to know you should try to sign a player who'd never hit more than 20 home runs in the Homerdome and didn't have a position (his defense still isn't good enough for him to play the field for Boston).

This article also reveals, thankfully, that the Yankees are not pursuing Jason Varitek. Yankees GM Cashman said, "It's the same reason we didn't sign Miguel Tejada last year; we already had a shortstop. It's the same reason we aren't going after a rightfielder this year. We have Gary Sheffield."