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Yanks Say Nope, Reds Split on Piazza |
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Written by Mark Healey
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
 Fear not, Mets fans, it looks like Mike Piazza won't be donning Yankee pinstripes any time soon.
According to Peter Abraham's LoHud Yankee Blog, Yankees' GM Brian
Cashman has shot down the rumor reported here yesterday that the
Yankees were mulling the pros and cons of signing former Met Mike
Piazza (left, photo by P. Borriello).
However, we do know that there was some conversation between
Piazza's agents and the Yankees recently, so it's very possible that
the dialogue was a very short and sweet, "No thanks, we're good".
The
fact remains is that Piazza wants back into baseball, and given the
fact that teams are "digging into scrap heaps for catchers these days",
there are several teams that have expressed some interest in retaining
Piazza's services.
"Piazza is not ready to call it a career," said one East Coast-based industry source. "His agents are probably calling everyone (in baseball) to gauge interest ... (but) he's going to have to sign somewhere soon if he has any chance of getting to the postseason with a contender."
Though the Reds and Dusty Baker are telling the Dayton Daily News' Hal McCoy that they're unaware of any interest in Piazza, other places are reporting differently, and only the level of interest differs with GBM's report. With all due respect to McCoy -- he at least identified Gotham Baseball Magazine as "A New York-based Web site", rather than the usual "Internet report" or non-mention that most print media guys do (on their blogs, no less) -- Baker's selective memory (there's a former manager out there still waiting for his phone call, Dusty) and GM Wayne Krivsky's public statements and subsequent actions (just ask former interim skipper Pete Mackanin) are not exactly proof-positive of anything.
Let's just say that the Reds -- who are a dark horse candidate to win the NL Central in some places -- not here -- are in need of a little star power these days. Sure, he's 39, but there is a feeling amongst the Reds' front office that Piazza, even in a limited role, could provide a tad more ESPN screen time than Paul Bako. And that, my friends, is how the Reds are trying to do business these days. I mean really, what other reason was there to hire Dusty "Destroyer of Young Arms" Baker to manage a club rebuilding its once-mighty franchise with young arms?
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 20 April 2008 )
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