Playing Coops

So in between huge photo spreads on the Game Without Hands, the Paper of Record reported that "Dave Dombrowski...spoke to reporters and revealed that he had spoken extensively with Cashman the day before. It was a cordial chat, no doubt, but surely no substantive strategic plans were divulged."

No doubt.

The Times informs us that "Dombrowski and Cashman are in competition to improve their rosters through the trade markets" and that "According to what Dombrowski told reporters, trades could start happening sooner than normal. He said he had engaged in conversations with many teams, including a few on Saturday, and noted that the teams looking to trade an established star for prospects were motivated to deal quickly.

" "Some of them have indicated that they are prepared to move forward at any time," Dombrowski said. "I think more so than at any time in my recent memory."

Horse hockey.

With their minor-league cupboard temporarily bare, the Red Sox couldn't make any moves if they wanted to. Dombrowski has already done all he could, which was astutely picking up Steven Pearce, who seems to have made it his life's mission to punish the Yankees ever since Coops prematurely dumped him six years ago.

If Dombrowski is talking to "many teams," it's to compare World Cup brackets.

All this really amounts to so much smoke designed to get Coops racing to the market, and giving up as much as possible.

I'm sure that tanking teams are indeed eager to deal sooner than later. That's how they get the better deals. If the Yankees do make a deal, the longer they wait the less they will have to give up—something that Dombrowski, I'm sure, understands right down to his long, yellowing toenails.

Of course the writers have picked up on this theme. The sooner Coops deals, the surer he is to avoid the Dreaded One-Game Play-In.

At least, I'm sure that's what Dombrowski is telling him in their "extensive conversations." I'm sure he also told him that despite what he may have seen last night, Sonny Gray has a great future in the Bronx.