CSTB fixture Rog has far more on his plate than merely baiting Ben Schwartz. The scourge of this blog’s comments section notes the latest entry by Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman and says of the former Newsday baseball columnist, “hey, I phone it in all the time, but my mistakes aren’t published all over the place”.

“The Yankees are believed to be interested in Teixeira and also interested in keeping him away from the team that plays eight miles to the south, in Queens.”

–Um, Shea is East-South-East at best. Not due South.

“Orioles. Orioles owner Peter Angelos covets Teixeira. Angelos loves the fact that Teixeira has spoken positively about playing for his hometown team, and Teixeira seems to be a genuine Baltimore booster. However, 10 straight losing season can’t be a plus for them.”

–Free agents go after the big money, not necessarily ‘the chance to win.’ We know this.

Red Sox. There’s some thought they could agree to trade Manny Ramirez, move the versatile Kevin Youkilis to leftfield and import Teixeira. Boston execs do like the idea of getting younger. However, Ramirez is such a hero now in Boston that it might be tough to move him out of town.

–Yikies! They played Youk in the outfield a few times a couple of years ago and it was an unmitigated disaster. The dude is a corner infielder…period! And, ‘trading Ramirez?!?’ The dude’s contract is up this year. It’s called a ‘contract year,’ Jon. All they have to do is pay the buyout and sign Teixeira if they wanted to; no need to make a trade, dummy.

Indeed, if it were “tough” to dump Manny when he had 3 and 4 years left on his pact, it might be downright impossible, not to mention implausible and hardly advisable. Hands up, everyone who can imagine the first-place Red Sox dealing Ramirez this season, or for that matter, Manny waiving a no-trade clause?