Hank, hit the mute button

One thing I've noticed since all these Santana rumors started is that only one official from one of the teams is doing any talking on the record. And we all know who that one official is.  

Here are a few more gems from Hank tonight:

"I think our offer is the best offer," Steinbrenner said. "We have the best young pitchers in the game, even better than Boston."

Then...

And if the Yankees are to be a part of trade talks, "now" means by Monday, according to Steinbrenner, who said: "The Twins are aware of it, that I'm not going to wait much longer. And the truth of the matter is, they don't want to be stuck with only one team to deal with. If they're stuck with just Boston, they're going to get a lot less. I'm not going to be played. This is not a game. This is serious business. I'm not going to be played, us against the Red Sox. That's not going to happen."

Steinbrenner contradicted reports that the Yankees and Twins were haggling over the third player in the deal, that the Twins wanted either righthander Alan Horne or Ian Kennedy or centerfielder Austin Jackson along with Hughes and Cabrera.

"That's erroneous," Steinbrenner said. "I don't think that [the third player] will be the sticking point."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/ny-spyanks1203,0,399845.story

He also had lunch with Bill Madden of the Daily News recently, and the piece ran today.

A few nuggets:  

"I had a lot of good teachers whether they know it or not," Hank says now. "All those dinners on the road with Clyde and Woody and Lou - I learned a lot."

"What was the most important thing you learned?" I asked him.

"The mistake of trading young pitching," he answered quickly. "It killed me seeing all those young pitchers we traded back then - (Scott) McGregor, (Jose) Rijo, (Doug) Drabek - who went on to have great careers because we just didn't have the patience. If there's one thing that's going to be different between me and my dad it's patience."

"Maybe," I said, "but it sounds like you're about to do the same thing - trading young pitchers - for (Johan) Santana."

"There's a big difference," Hank countered. "Santana's only 28 and just coming into his prime. I remember consoling Woody when my dad insisted we trade Drabek for (Rick) Rhoden. Rhoden was 32 or 33, but back then that's the way we did things.

And...

"You've been pretty out front lately as the spokesman for the organization," I said. "I assume the old man is okay with that?"

"Like I said, I feel I have a duty to let our fans know as much as I can with their team, although sometimes I do go too far," he admitted. "In the respect of being the front guy, that's gonna slow down now. This is my last interview."

"You sound like (Richard) Nixon," I said. "Are you saying we won't have Hank to kick around anymore?"

He laughed.

"No, I guess what I'm saying is we don't want these huge media circuses that were associated with my father. I mean he wasn't Jonas Salk."

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/12/02/2007-12-02_bill_madden_breaks_bread_wi th_yankees_ne.html

He needs to shut up. Cashman must be dying.