Sports Nut Update

Nothing Succeeds Like Excess
It turns out agent Arn Tellem is pitching his client Nomar Garciaparra to the Yankees. He's offered Nomar up as willing to play CF for the Yanks. It's kind of weird. This in turn has spawned a notion that mayhap, Nomar might play a super-utility for the Yankees. It would make sense but in a perverse way. Nomar is not an everyday guy in that he's injury prone, but he is a tremendous impact bat that can play a good infield.

"There are probably a half-dozen teams that have expressed interest in him," Tellem said in a telephone interview. "It's starting to pick up. That's why I'm going to Dallas. I have a number of meetings with teams to talk about him."

Tellem would not name the teams, but Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said Tellem had called him about Garciaparra. He would get little playing time on the left side of the infield with the Yankees, but Garciaparra could conceivably play every day at other positions.

"Teams have asked him, in general, about the outfield, first base, second base," Tellem said. "He's pretty open to any position other than catcher and pitcher."

Garciaparra has played in fewer than half his team's games the last two seasons, and the Yankees would have to be confident in his ability to play in the field. Cashman said he did not want to give Manager Joe Torre another designated hitter.

"That's the last thing I want to get, to be honest," Cashman said, adding later, "I'd like to have Joe be able to have a number of different players that can play a number of different positions, and a lot more choices if injuries happen."

Before the Yankees seriously address Garciaparra, though, they must resolve center fielder Bernie Williams's status. Williams is attending the winter meetings, and Cashman said he wanted to meet with him. Cashman has a scheduled meeting with Williams's agent, Scott Boras, who also represents Johnny Damon and reliever Julian Tavarez.

So if you could slot in Nomar instead of a Luis Sojo type to spell Jeter, A-Rod, Cano, or Juicin' G, you won't lose much production with the bat. It's a sick idea. It really is considering how deep the Yankee lineup already is. On top of that, we're talking about the Yankees collecting the full-set of the 'Holy Trinity of Shortstops' of the late 1990s. What are they going to do? It's not exactly Monopoly where you can start building houses and hotels. To top it off, the shortstop with the worst glove of the three (but with the best intangibles LOL) would actually still play shortstop. Heh. You gotta laugh.

MLB.com doesn't think it's likely, though that is largely due to there not being an obvious spot for Nomar. However, that's not the point of the weirdo concept of Nomar as super-utility.

"I've had people throw ideas my way," Cashman said. "What we need for this team is to be more flexible. We don't need another station-to-station guy with power only who can't run. I would like to get some flexibility."

With the current roster, Giambi and Andy Phillips are penciled in as the first baseman/DH duo for the upcoming season. Cashman said that he is comfortable with that tandem, as the offense is stacked with several high-profile bats, such as A-Rod, Jeter, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui.

"Andy can swing the bat," Cashman said. "If the season started today, we'd be comfortable with him being that guy. But the season doesn't start today."

Cashman spent the first day of the Winter Meetings speaking with several player agents and club executives, as he continues to search for a center fielder and bullpen help.

There are any number of Bosox fans in the thousands, nay millions spitting chips about this possibility; but it was Nomar and Tellem who floated the balloon last year when he offered to convert to to 2B for the Yanks. This is the second off-season where Nomar has been available as a Free Agent and both times he's indicated a desire to come to the Bronx. I get the feeling he means it, if not just to spite the Bosox who traded him at the 2004 trade deadline.

It's also the kind of signing George Steinbrenner would love, just to rub it into Boston. Common sense and logic and all that tells you it probably won't happen, but you never know - I never discount George's spitefulness towards Boston. Go on Cashy, just do it. :)

In case you already haven't, please check out my 3 tracks, 'The Holy Trinity of Shortstops' parts 1,2 & 3 at iCompositions.

Miki Ando Falls, Injures Hamstring


Japanese Superstar figure skater Miki Ando took a fall and injured her hamstring.


Figure skating is one of those odd sports where looks matter. Ando has looks. So even if she comes fourth, she still makes headlines. "Ando comes Fourth!"

We're Only In It For The Monkey


Not quite the Zappa album. These monkeys huddle in the Northern Hemisphere winter cold.