New York state of minds

Whether it's because they're from New York or just because they're good, Brian Cashman and Omar Minaya, the general managers of the Yankees and Mets, respectively, were watched closely at the baseball winter meetings by their rivals.

"I think because the Yankees have the biggest payroll and because they're apt to do something big which could change the market at any given time, sure, I think we all want to keep track of what Brian Cashman is trying to do," said an American League West GM. "We're always asking each other, 'What are the Yankees doing?' because they seem to affect what we all do."

A National League East GM had a similar comment about Minaya: "The Mets have the resources to always do something big, and Omar always thinks outside the box. Let's face it, they were the best team in the NL last year, but they didn't win it. Omar has put together the best talent, so I think there's a lot of 'What's Omar up to?' that goes around these meetings."

While deep down they probably like to upstage one another, the two GMs get along well, and anyway, there are enough tabloid back pages to go around. Both of their teams had heartbreaking endings to their seasons. Hard to explain how the Yankees lost to anyone. Hard to believe the Mets were upended by the far inferior Cardinals, who managed to win the World Series.

Minaya had done some of his work prior to the meetings when he signed 40-year-old veteran outfielder Moises Alou to a one-year deal and re-signed veteran lefthander Tom Glavine. But at the meetings, he made a very progressive deal, sending young lefty Brian Bannister to the Royals for 22-year-old righthanded reliever Ambiorix Burgos. Because he probably was going to go after Barry Zito, Minaya felt he could deal Bannister for a guy who could pitch in the bullpen at the end of games for years to come.

He also tried to pry Freddie Garcia from the White Sox, but Chicago GM Kenny Williams wound up sending him to a rival in the NL East, Philadelphia.

"I just couldn't give them the prospects they were looking for," shrugged Minaya. "We tried."

Minaya was a bit miffed early in the week that he hadn't heard from Red Sox GM Theo Epstein about Manny Ramírez. It wasn't until Thursday, moments before the GMs scattered, that Minaya struck up a conversation with Epstein.

Minaya, who spent the weekend in the Dominican Republic on a scouting trip, has always had interest in Ramírez. Asked if anything was rekindled, Minaya said, "No. Theo was just the one GM I hadn't had a conversation with. Just wanted to say hi."

Did the Sox feel Minaya was no longer interested in Ramírez because of the Alou signing? Minaya sounded like a man who would have explored it even with Alou aboard.

And then there was Mets manager Willie Randolph's lukewarm answer when asked whether Shawn Green will start in right field in '07: "Yeah, he's the right fielder now, but he's got to come next spring and solidify that."

You wonder whether something will get going again.

Minaya is right when he says that GMs have different styles. Minaya is very competitive. He'll let out information for a purpose and then out of nowhere he'll do something that nobody saw coming. With Alou, he was thinking the Tigers would strike if they couldn't work out a deal for Gary Sheffield, so Minaya made sure he got Alou wrapped up as soon as possible.

Cashman's style is also cunning.

While there's usually calm around him -- he creates a sense that there's not much happening -- something major may be going on behind the scenes. The Johnny Damon signing was proof that Cashman can conceal things as well as anyone.

The Yankees were in on Ted Lilly, but he signed with the Cubs for four years, $40 million. Then Friday, Cashman sealed the deal on Andy Pettitte (one year for $15 million), bringing back to New York a beloved Yankee with championship rings.

While the Pettitte news was expected, you always wonder if there isn't something else to come. Cashman went off with Scott Boras the other day to meet Alex Rodriguez for lunch, but after the meal, business was discussed. Boras represents lefty reliever Scott Schoeneweis and recovering righty Eric Gagne, and it could have been business on that level. Or it could have been something much bigger.

Cashman dealt with his excess offense by sending Sheffield to the Tigers for three pitching prospects. It's a deal any big-market team would love to make with an aging, high-priced hitting star, especially since New York has so much hitting.

Cashman was also smart in picking up Sheffield's $13 million option despite all the squawking by Sheffield because it took him out of the picture for the Sox, who might have been in a stronger position to trade Ramírez if they had Sheffield.

"Never underestimate Brian," said an AL Central GM. "He's got so many ideas, and so many ways to get something done. I think other GMs really like dealing with him because he's up-front and no-nonsense and there are no hidden agendas. J.P Ricciardi is like that, too. Here it is, either we can do it or we can't."

Now Cashman has a long-in-the-tooth rotation of Chien-Ming Wang, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Pettitte, and Carl Pavano, a two-lefty, three-righty unit. But he also has the flexibility to introduce youth with prospect Phillip Hughes and Humberto Sanchez, acquired in the Sheffield deal.

Though the meetings are over, the feeling is that both Minaya and Cashman have people wondering and watching.

Sox can dodge this one

If the Dodgers bring tampering charges against the Red Sox in the J.D. Drew signing, they likely will be hard to prove. Granted, there were no other bidders to speak of, and it turns out the deal was pretty much done days after Drew opted out of his deal in Los Angeles. A red flag for sure.

But there is an extensive history of Boston trying to acquire Drew.

Two years ago, the Red Sox were in on the bidding when Drew elected to sign with LA as a free agent. They made an offer, went through negotiations full-term. They coveted him then and kept coveting him. At last July's trading deadline, the Sox made an inquiry as to Drew's availability at the same time they passed on Bobby Abreu.

When the time came that agent Scott Boras could get Drew out of LA, he knew that Trot Nixon was a free agent and not likely to be re-signed by Boston. So he knew where his market was.

There's also a bit of bad blood between the Sox and Dodgers. A major league source indicated that when the Red Sox were dangling David Wells, the Dodgers felt Theo Epstein steered him to San Diego, though the Dodgers felt they could offer a better player than catcher George Kottaras in return. Wells preferred San Diego and was also steering the Sox into making that move.

The Sox have signed another ex-Dodger this offseason, Julio Lugo, and until Friday, were competing with them for Eric Gagne.

A different view from above

A few questions for former Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller, who has joined the Dodgers' front office.

Q. Does it feel strange to think you're never going to play baseball again?

BM: "It really does. I loved playing baseball and I thought I was going to play it for much longer than I did. You never anticipate that injuries are going to force you out of the game. But my knee situation and multiple surgeries, and actually still facing a couple of surgeries, has made it impossible for me to ever play again."

Q. All of your career, you've been evaluated; now you're evaluating other players. That has to feel awkward.

BM: "It's certainly going to be different. I've always heard about my strengths and shortcomings from a variety of people, and I hope that I can make proper, educated, and fair evaluations on players in the years to come based on my eye for talent. I'm very excited about the opportunity to step into the next stage of my career and I'm thrilled that I get to stay in baseball."

Q. Will you miss playing?

BM: "Definitely. When you're a player, it's not only playing the game every day, it's the camaraderie you feel every day with your teammates and the feeling that you're a family and that you stick together and fight together. There's nothing like that. So as we move on, we have to find that in other ways, and I already feel a part of a team of people here with the Dodgers who are trying to make the best decisions possible for Dodgers baseball. If there was any way I could still play, believe me, I would. But I can't. I'll probably need a knee replacement down the road."

Q. Your Boston experience?

BM: "The greatest experience. You win a World Series with a team, you never forget that. It's the highlight. I loved that team. I loved Boston. I never wanted to leave. Being on this side of the fence now, you have to make those types of decisions on players sometimes. But the team we had, the guys we had, it doesn't get much better than that."

Etc.

Apropos of nothing: 1. "The Commissioner," Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, will receive the prestigious J.G. Spinks Award from the Hall of Fame. Well done. Here's hoping former Globe baseball writer Larry Whiteside, who opened doors for African-American writers everywhere, will get his recognition soon. 2. You think the Orioles are kicking themselves now for not taking Manny Ramírez and Jonathan Papelbon for Miguel Tejada last winter? 3. Former Yankees third baseman Mike Pagliarulo, who lives in Winchester and is founder/CEO of the Pags Companies, which provides international scouting information to major league teams, was at the winter meetings. One of his newest employees is former Sox scouting director Ed Kenney Jr. 4. When you see Mike Tamburro, Lou Schwechheimer, Bill Wanless, and the rest of the Pawtucket Red Sox contingent at the baseball meetings, you're seeing the pioneers of the minor league baseball industry, and everyone knows it. 5. In terms of how they changed the finances of the game and how they represented their players, the two greatest baseball agents are Scott Boras and current Red Sox special adviser Jeremy Kapstein.

One of agent Alan Nero's first acts with posted Japanese third baseman Akinori Iwamura was to send him to Tampa to play golf with Wade Boggs. Iwamura, who hasn't played much golf, shot an 82 with rented clubs. Boggs shot 88. "Wade was asked if he was going to work on his hitting, and Wade says, 'Heck no, he's going to work with me on my golfing,' " said Nero. There were face-to-ace negotiations with Nero and Tampa Bay Friday.

Rocco Baldelli still could end up in Baltimore or Atlanta. The Devil Rays have an excess of outfielders, and the Orioles and Braves have young starting pitchers who might tempt the Rays to trade him. Baldelli, over the injuries that sidelined him for a year and a half, is primed to have a huge spike in his performance.

You know your team is pretty set when all you're looking for is a lefthanded reliever and a part-time lefthanded bat. That's what Tigers manager Jim Leyland was seeking at the meetings. Leyland would swap righthanded-hitting outfielder Marcus Thames for a lefthanded bat. Asked if he had interest in Trot Nixon, he said he would but the money might be prohibitive. Would the Tigers move closer Todd Jones? The possibility was floating around the meetings. The Tigers will eventually move Joel Zumaya to the closer role, so Jones could bring the lefthanded bat.

What's going on in Seattle? Heads are being scratched over the trading of setup man Rafael Soriano to Atlanta for Horacio Ramirez, a lefty fifth starter. The Mariners needed a young starter and have J.J. Putz for the end of games, but the feeling was that they could have gotten more, given the shortage of setup/closer types like Soriano. The Mariners lost out on Jason Schmidt, couldn't retain Gil Meche, and didn't get far on Manny Ramírez. Miguel Batista, Jason Marquis, and Tomo Ohka are still out there, though Jeff Suppan could be headed back to St. Louis or to the Cubs.

Speaking of Ohka, the Twins apparently are interested in the former Sox righty. They lost Brad Radke to retirement and may lose Francisco Liriano for the season because of elbow surgery. Ohka, who was with Milwaukee last season, has received 4.61 runs of support per nine innings since 2002. Only nine of the 102 pitchers with at least 600 innings pitched in that time span have received less support. The Sox inquired about Ohka, but as a reliever.

There's clamoring for Chris Burke to take the second base job in Houston, but manager Phil Garner isn't going to let it happen just yet. Garner said at the meetings that Craig Biggio is the starter. "Not political at all," said Garner. "Craig is the second baseman. He is on his way to 3,000 hits. He is on his way to the Hall of Fame and nothing is going to stop that. Chris Burke is a good player but Craig has earned the right to get to 3,000 and whatever happens after that. That is not political. It's absolutely what he deserves."

Giants employees were giddy for a while when there was hope that Barry Bonds wasn't coming back, but after the Giants tried everything to get a Ramírez deal done, there was no choice. They had no competition for Bonds but gave him $16 million, much of which they'll make up with the hike in attendance, especially when he's about to break the home run record. Comments from agent Jeff Borris that multiple teams had interest made one general manager laugh out loud. "They approached us and tried to get us interested," said an AL GM, "and we said no immediately. Do we classify as 'interested'? I think it would have been a very difficult market for Barry to get a job if the Giants didn't do it." In the end, Borris did a fantastic job.

Nick Cafardo's e-mail address is cafardo@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.