Though George Steinbrenner is ready to fire Joe Torre, he isn’t absolving others from the ALDS loss to the Indians. And GM Brian Cashman knows it.
“I never feel secure in my position,” said Cashman, who received kudos for not trading Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain at the trade deadline but is also responsible for signing “American Idle” Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa for a combined $86 million. “All I can tell you is I will try and do the best job I can to get results. They have allowed me to run the operation the way I wanted to run it.”
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Cashman shot down two reports yesterday, saying there was no merit to a report that the front office ordered Torre to start Chien-Ming Wang in Game 4 over Torre’s wishes to give Mike Mussina the ball.
“That would never happen,” Cashman said.
Concerning a report that claimed the Yankees talked to the Twins about a deal for Johan Santana two hours after the Yankees were eliminated Monday night, Cashman said that wasn’t true.
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Shelley Duncan will see a doctor today and is leaning toward having hernia surgery. . . . Ross Ohlendorf‘s education as a reliever will continue in the Arizona Fall League in about a week.
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Former Yankee Kenny Lofton irritated Indians teammates during the clubhouse celebration Monday night. As the Tribe was showering each other with champagne and whooping it up, Lofton yelled, “Let’s wrap it up, I have a tee time tomorrow.” That rankled more than one Indian.
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Doug Mientkiewicz on free agent catcher to be, Jorge Posada: “He’s the backbone of what goes on around here, in my opinion,” Mientkiewicz said. Posada is expected to take advantage of the Tigers picking up a $13 million option on Ivan Rodriguez yesterday. Posada, who will file for free agency, earned $12 million this year when he batted a career-high .338 with 20 homers and 90 RBIs.