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The Montero Factor.....

I have been talking about this with my friends during the last week. Most of my friends are baseball fanatics. They know their baseball. They all like different teams and we debate....if beer is involved....it gets ugly, like a nasty divorce case.

The story we have been discussing is the BioGenesis issue. We all knew about Balco and Victor Conte. We even remember the Government hearings with the tainted players. So I brought up the Yankees trade of Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to the Mariners for Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. I was happy. I thought we got two nice arms and gave up a #5 starter and a big hitter with suspect defensive skills/no alternative position. Than Pineda shows up to camp a mess and throws his fastball in the upper 80's/low 90's. He did not even top out and his slider was garbage! I knew there was an issue and wham....he is shutdown and he is diagnosed with a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. Campos had elbow issues of his own. There had to be a back story....like something big enough that Cash would sacrifice his top prospect and trade chip for two pitchers that have injuries. The Yankees medical staff is the best in the business. There is no way the Yankees have quacks on their medical staff. A whiff of an injury would red flag and kill the deal...if there was not a back story to the deal.

Cash has been wanting to get back at Mariners GM Jeff Z ever since he had his fingers crossed on a Cliff Lee deal a few years ago. Cash never forgets and rarely forgives, but this one stung and Cash was on a mission to get back at the M's GM for those crossed fingers. So here it is....Cash deals Montero because he knows Montero has been hanging around with A-Rod in Miami, just where BioGenesis is located. A-Rod introduces Jesus to Bosch who than gives Montero his whole story of synthetic steroids and how they cannot be detected through tests.....he looks at A-Rod and says ask him!! Montero buys it and is now one of the 20 players supposedly on a "list" from the offices of BioGenesis. Cash gets payback.

Does Montero get suspended? He is not a high profile name and may be thankful that A-Rod and, in the voice of Tom Wilkinson who played General Friedrich From in Valkyrie, a MLB player whom will go nameless, from the University of Miami and present Brewer 3B/OF. I think Montero gets 50 games. I think all the players on the "list" will get penalized for their business dealing(s) with Bosch.

Maybe Cash just did not want a threesome (sorry), Cervie included, who are in tainted pinstripes. Hal Steinbrenner, who seems to be a stiff and semi-engaging owner, has respect for the game, but a love of the Yankees. Most people his age, that inherit the richest team in MLB..if not in the sport world, would put it on the market for top value and get a retirement package for himself, his family, his siblings, his grand children and theirs as well. No he keeps the team, wants a payroll under $189 million for next year and plans to spend like a lunatic in 2015. What if A-Rod's contract is voided or maybe even cut in half, regardless it is insured and the Yankees have more money. Hal has a plan and I like the plan he is hatching up. Cash has proved to be a genius in the GM spot. I mean Vernon Wells (Artie Moreno gave the Yanks money to get him off his team..crazy??), Youk ( I would not call $12 million a scrap heap player), Travis Hafner, Lyle Overbay and countless others lifted off the has been list, putting on pinstripes and being kids again. That is what the pinstripes are all about.....being a kid again! Cash banked on that and he is getting results. Yes...there is the possibility of these guys fazing out by August, but the players they are keeping the positions warm for are not far way from coming back by the time they may faze out. I forgot about Joe G..I have to give Girardi his props for coaching a group of players that looks a lot like the team he managed in Florida years back. He is my pick for manager of the year...so far!

Whether I am right or wrong....I just think that this is a possible scenario for all you conspiracy theorists!

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