This just in.  Yankees CEO Chief Executive Blowhard, Hank Steinbrenner, predicts the Yankees will repeat.

“The two trades that Brian did, I was really pleased with and very proud of,” Steinbrenner said. “I think that is going to make a big difference for us.”

“We needed another top-notch starter and got one,” said Steinbrenner.

Well, one could say with largest payroll in the league, you would expect them to win every year and I guess he does.  And the ability to make trades like that should help -key word here being should.

When he puts that thing up to his lips and sucks, he’s definitely smoking something and it ain’t tabakky. 

Here’s the three biggest reasons they will not repeat:

1.  They ain’t getting any younger. 

• Captain Derek Jeter turns 36 – his defense has become a liability
• Catcher Jorge Posada turns 39 and there’s no backup for him in sight
• 3B Alex Rodriguez turns 36 and his game totals will decline once more due to the fact that he can no longer turn to steroids to help him recover
• P Andy Pettitte turns 38 and there is no way he wins 14 games again for them
• P Mariano Rivera just turned 40.  Can he keep up his amazing run?

2.  They blew up the team a bit and the new guys aren’t really that good.

• Curtis Granderson in.  Your new leadoff hitter had an OBP of .327 and during his career strikes out about 2 and half times more than he walks.
• Javier Vazquez in.  After a career year in Atlanta, he turns 34 during the season and he will revert to his old ways.
• Randy Winn in.  The Yankees signed him to replace Johnny Damon.  This after one of his worst seasons in the majors.  He turns 36 during the season.
• Nick Johnson in.  Injury riddled former Yankee.  Why?
• Johnny Damon out – They didn’t want to pay the money, so he’s gone and Winn’s in.  Not an upgrade on the field and definitely not in the locker room.  He’ll seek his revenge elsewhere.
• Hideke Matsui out.  Another question – why pick Johnson over Matsui at the DH spot?
• Melky Cabrera out.  If Vazquez tanks, the Yanks will rue the day they made the trade.  No matter what Steinbrenner the Chief Executive Blowhard says.

3.  Pitchers Joba Chamberlin and Phil Hughes – Clearly the Yankees do not know how to utilize either one of these potentially very good players.  The clock is ticking on Chamberlin to reach his potential, but where?  As a starter or in the bullpen?   Should the Yankees hand the closer role over to Hughes now?  Or at least start easing him in?

Hank is sadly mistaken if he thinks this team can take him to the promised land.

George Herman Ruth with George Herbert Walker Bush from 1948.  Babe Ruth is shown here donating the manuscript of his autobiography to the captain of the Yale baseball team and future President of the United States.

This is life at the crossroads.

The Babe’s life is literally a few months away from ending.  At the time of this picture, he was suffering from a rare form of cancer that would end his life prematurely at the relatively early age of 53.

Babe Ruth was in the inaugural class of the Hall of Fame, and many consider him to be the greatest baseball player of all time — especially if you combine his pitching talents with his prodigious hitting ability.

George Herbert Walker Bush’s life is just beginning.  After serving in the US Navy, as the then youngest naval aviator, President Bush married his current wife, Barbara in 1945 and graduated from Yale in less than three years.   From there he became a successful oil man, Congressman, Director of Central Intelligence, Vice President and President.

This is the picture of two great men with baseball as the intersection.

Meanwhile on the other side of the country, the San Diego Padres seem to not be too interested in signing their young slugger and hometown All-Star, Adrian Gonzalez.  He’s  under contract to the almost always underperforming Padregs until after the 2011 season.

It’s been reported in a few places that there is suspicion that the former Boston Red Sox assistant GM and current San Diego Padres’ GM Jed Hoyer is already working with the Sawx Nation to broker a deal.

Here’s what owner Jeff Moorad had to say in a recent interview:

A couple of days ago WCCO in the Twin Cities reported that Joe Mauer, the all-around good guy and hometown hero of the Minnesota Twins, had reached a  preliminary agreement on a 10-year contract extension.  For those of us who cheer for the Davids of the world, this is good news, unfortunately. . .as of yesterday, it hasn’t yet gotten done.

MLB.com’s Twins reporter Kelly Thesier in a phone chat yesterday underscored the importance of the contract extension and believes that it’s going to get done and that Mauer will give the team a home-team discount.  And as was pointed out by Brett yesterday, his agent, Ron Shapiro, also represented the late great Minnesota Twin and Hall of Famer, Kirby Puckett.

It’s important to Joe that he not only play for a contending team, but also for a championship team.  I understand that and I believe that the Twins with Mauer could have all the ingredients to bring the World Series banner back to the Twin Cities.  Without him?  That’s entirely another kettle of fish.

We ask this all the time, but exactly how much money do you need?  How much steak can you eat?

Stay home, Joe!

This just in, hot off the presses from ESPN The Magazine.  Joe Mauer, All-Star, Gold Glove and MVP catcher and Minnesota native son, was named America’s Fan-Friendliest Athlete.  

If you’re not an Insider at ESPN, then you’re out of luck reading about it.   And even if you are, the article has a “no, duh?” feel to it.   Really, you had to tell me that the Bengals are the least fan friendly?  Like I couldn’t figure that one out myself.

Getting back to Joe.  (Like all famous athletes I now can refer to him as Joe – like Al Michaels constantly saying Ben for that guy in Pittsburgh or Brett wherever he plays).

Well, of course he is.  He’s from the Midwest.  He’s a fan himself, he comes from a solid middle-class background and his Mother is in charge of the fan letter response.   His fan base starts with his family and friends in the Twin Cities area.

So, let’s get down to dollars and sense.

The cheap-as-a-department-store-suit Minnesota Twins are now trying to tie Joe up for years to come with a contract extension.  Well, good for them.  We’ll see how that goes and I hope it goes well.   It would make sense for the Twinkies to break the bank to sign him just as it would have made sense for them to sign Torii Hunter and/or Johan Santana.

Reminder:  Neither of those signings occurred.

Joe’s age and his maturity and his accomplishments tell me that it would make sense to take the dollars and run to one of those cities (we know who they are so I won’t mention them) with deep enough pockets to give him a 10-year deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $200M.

However, I truly hope that Joe gives the Twins a hometown discount.  Given that his agent is Ron Shapiro, who represented both Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn, Sr., this seems more likely to happen than if his agent was the terminally greedy Scott Boras.

The thing that many players don’t seem to think about is their own immortality.  They’re young, they’re gifted and they’re blessed.  And they’re not looking 20, 30, 40 or 100 years down the road.  Ripken and Gwynn were blessed to be playing for their hometown teams.  They saw how the fans responded to their ups and downs with support and adulation.

They stayed.

They stayed in Baltimore and San Diego.  They didn’t go for the big bucks.  They didn’t go for the store-bought championships.  They didn’t go for glamour and glitz.    They’ll be building statues to them for now and forever. They stayed.

Think the teams that can afford you will be doing that?  Think potential teammates A-Fraud and Tex will have statues built for them?  Yeah, me neither.

My advice to Joe:  Give Cal and Tony a call.   See what they have to say.   And then give immortality a shot.  You’ll be glad you did.