Top News:
Bill Madden / NY Daily News:
Torre dishes Yankee dirt — From left, Joe Torre comes out swinging in new book, which tells his Bronx tale about life with The Boss, Brian Cashman and ... Joe Torre's place in the Baseball Hall of Fame is secure, but his place in Monument Park at the new Yankee Stadium may not be.
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New York Post:
TORRE RIPS ‘A-FRAUD’ & BOSS' BRASS BOZOS — Scorned skipper Joe Torre is blasting the Yankees - calling many of his former players prima donnas, confessing he stopped trusting the powers that be years before he left the team and charging that general manager Brian Cashman betrayed him.
Discussion:
Sports Illustrated, Yankees Blog, Subway Squawkers, SPORTSbyBROOKS, YanksBlog.com, The Crawfish Boxes, YFSF, MLB FanHouse, Deadspin, Heartland Pinstripes, AwfulAnnouncing, WasWatching.com, Sliding Into Home, The Joy of Sox, Kranepool Society, River Avenue Blues, matsuifan.com, Can't Stop The Bleeding and bronxbanterblog.com
ESPN.com:
Reports: Torre book reveals bitter Yankees rifts — Joe Torre didn't need “incentives” to lead the New York Yankees, so he left. — Torre's incentives to expose the salacious side of his former team is another story. — According to two newspaper reports, Torre blasts the team he managed …
Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Torre sounds off on Yanks in new book — Former Bombers skipper especially critical of Cashman, A-Rod — NEW YORK — Joe Torre is opening up about his tumultuous managerial career in New York and messy divorce from the Yankees, striking back in a tell-all book.
Discussion:
Bombers Beat
John Shabe / New Jersey Online:
Joe Torre's tell-all blasts A-Rod, Cashman, the Boss, reports say — Joe Torre's new book “The Yankee Years” is making headlines this morning well before its February 3 release date. — The juiciest morsels are splashed all over The New York Post front cover and are on NYPost.com.
Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
Today in The Journal News — Robinson Cano made an appearance in Westchester last night and Josh Thomson has the story. — Cano has worked on his conditioning, improved his stance and is ready for a bounce-back season. He's also looking forward to playing in the WBC.
Discussion:
Lady At The Bat
ESPN.com:
Braves prospect denies HGH use, takes blame — Jordan Schafer, one of the top prospects in the Atlanta Braves' system, has ended his silence about his controversial 50-game drug suspension last season, telling reporters that he never took HGH but saying his punishment was deserved. — Schafer
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Jeff Schultz / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Braves prospect Schafer denies using HGH — If Jordan Schafer was concerned that his reputation in baseball would forever be tarnished by last year's 50-game suspension for using human growth hormone, the cleansing process probably started Saturday. — Schafer, the Braves' top prospect …
Discussion:
Talking Chop
Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
Contradictions in Book Seem to Benefit Clemens — One week before Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens testified before a House committee at a contentious public hearing last February, McNamee sat down for a deposition with committee investigators. — Behind closed doors in a Capitol building office …
Discussion:
My Pinstripes
Jeff Fletcher / Bay Bridge Baseball:
The great Matt Holliday experiment — I had this theory about Coors Field. Everyone knows the players who play there don't do as well on the road as at home, but it's not just because of what happens in Colorado after you hit the ball. It's also because of what happens after the pitcher throws the ball.
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
Teams wait for a discount — Free agents didn't bargain on lowball — Nearly 100 major leaguers are still available in free agency, which, according to several baseball officials, could ignite a frenzy of cheap signings, and even minor league deals, from now until well into spring training.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
Mark Sheldon / MLB.com:
Gonzalez healthy for Spring Training — Shortstop missed 2008 season following left knee surgery — CINCINNATI — An examination of Reds shortstop Alex Gonzalez's left knee on Saturday brought some positive news. — Gonzalez, who missed all of the 2008 season with a compression fracture …
Discussion:
Redleg Nation
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Tony Massarotti / Boston Globe:
Movement in Varitek talks? — Roughly three months after the end of their 2008 season and fewer than three weeks before the start of spring training, the Red Sox have made a formal proposal to catcher Jason Varitek that could end a winter-long stalemate. — One way or the other.
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