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- There are just a few days left until the August waiver trade deadline, but don’t hold your breath for the Yankees making a move – as far as Brian Cashman is concerned, there’s nothing to be had out there. In fact, he even went as far as to actively term those players that would ostensibly be of some quality – Jose Reyes, James Shields – as having horrible contracts (his words). Which is, of course, true; that, and none of the players available are going to light the world on fire anyway. Best to leave well enough alone.
- Anybody and everybody on the 40-man roster can expect to inject themselves into the Major League side come September, with Brian Cashman proclaiming through a loudspeaker (really just in a stand-up with the media, probably conducted at normal volume) that it would be "all hands on deck" on September 1. "I'm not going to care about Scranton," Cashman said of the Triple-A side. "I'm not bringing anybody unless they can help New York, period, but if there's somebody down there we think can help, they're coming." So, who will we see in a few days? Well, not Aaron Judge for one, who’s been ruled out – he’s not on the 40-man, which is the biggest factor, but the Yankees also won’t want to start his service time clock without cause. The familiar motley crew of bullpen Band-Aids will be up (Cotham, Goody, and their colleagues), as will Rob Refsnyder, Jose Pirela, and, providing he is healthy, Gary Sanchez. But don’t get hopeful that Refsnyder will replace Stephen Drew – it's not going to happen (barring some injury to Drew, one assumes).
- Derek Jeter, current human, conducted a mailbag with readers on The Players’ Tribune. In it he considered important questions and issued important answers. Consider Victor from Albany’s blunt query "Favorite breakfast cereal?" and Jeter’s confident and classy answer, "Frosted Flakes, next question;" or Adam from Austin’s "Do you like cilantro?" to which Jeter responded, "No." Jeter did take some legitimately interesting questions, however, like one asking what the secret toughest thing about baseball is. Said Jeter:
"The schedule. I think people know, but they don’t know. The number of games, the travel, the times you get in and out of hotels — your schedule’s just out of whack. . . . There’s really no offseason anymore: Maybe three-to-four weeks off. Then it’s right back. So I was really on one long schedule, on a loop, for 20 years. It’s tough."
Perhaps the most important question was buried in the middle of the piece: "What are your thoughts on the Meek Mill/Drake beef?" asked Houston’s Gabriel; "I have no thoughts on it," said Jeter. - The Post would like you to know that Hannah Davis is capable of hanging out with Derek Jeter’s friends.
- Continuing what may well become a new segment, perhaps to be titled Things People Would Like You to Know, Alex Rodriguez would like you to know that he thinks Barry Bonds is the greatest baseball player of all time. That’s from a Q&A he did with ESPN – from that we also learned he’s way into Kings of Leon, he would like to be a better cook, and he is pining to go to Sedona.
- Meanwhile, Rodriguez is being accused of insurance and real estate fraud, a claim rising from a $100 million lawsuit brought against him by his former brother-in-law. The brother-in-law claims he was unfairly ejected from a business venture he was running with Rodriguez. Perhaps our beloved centaur can lean on Warren Buffett for advice – Buffett and Rodriguez are apparently close-ish friends.
- Sports Illustrated ran a great longform piece on Brian Cashman a few days ago. You may have come across a story from it about Cashman’s fart machine (an unsuspecting woman walks by – "‘What’re you doing?’ she says; ‘Putting my fart machine on,’ Cashman says’") but let’s not overlook a few other tidbits. There was the time Cashman played wide receiver at Georgetown and his teammates kept whipping a towel against his butt. Then there was the time Cashman drove into a pothole while chauffeuring George Steinbrenner to the barber. "This isn’t a f—ing tank," chastised Steinbrenner. Read the article for more.
- In Greg Bird news, Joe Girardi invoked the name of Miguel Cabrera when describing Greg Bird.