Yankees "to do" list remains long

Mariano Rivera received a three-year, $39 million offer from the Yankees and has not yet responded. Rivera wasn't happy that the Yankees didn't sign him this spring, made him wait and counted on his well-known loyalty, so now he's turning the tables and making them wait.

His longtime batterymate, Jorge Posada, also has the Yankees right where he wants them. New York is offering a three-year deal for similar money, but Posada knows that he can get four-year deals elsewhere and will bank for now on the Yankees caving. With Alex Rodriguez almost surely gone and Miguel Cabrera unlikely as a replacement, Posada understands how devastating his loss would be to the team. The next best available catchers are Yorvit Torrealba and Paul Lo Duca, solid players who aren't in Posada's class.

Around the majors

• The Angels, who are viewed as the favorite in the A-Rod Derby, became a rare team Tuesday to admit to interest. The others are just more shy about admitting it.

• Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski and Cubs GM Jim Hendry have been telling folks that they won't be in the A-Rod Sweepstakes. However, it's still possible that in the case of the Tigers, owner Mike Ilitch will take the lead in negotiations, as he did with Magglio Ordonez, Ivan Rodriguez and Kenny Rogers. The Cubs don't even have an owner, so it's difficult to imagine A-Rod going there.

• The Mets were still planning to meet with Scott Boras, A-Rod's agent. The signing makes perfect sense for the Mets, except for the problem of having to move third baseman David Wright to accommodate A-Rod. Second base, first base and a corner outfield position appear to be the options for Wright, who happened to win his first Gold Glove award on Tuesday over a weak field.

• Rangers owner Tom Hicks nixed a run at Barry Bonds. "His bat would help anyone. We just decided we're not going there,'' Rangers GM Jon Daniels said. However, several GMs said they believe that Bonds will get a job, and not one said they believe he will be shut out.

• Mike Cameron might have an excuse for why he was suspended for amphetamine use (though on the BS meter, citing a tainted supplement ranks pretty high, especially when you have to fail on two separate occasions to be suspended), but he hurt his free-agent cause badly. Most see him returning to the Padres now.

• Cliff Floyd, one of the nicest guys in the game. apparently has dropped the retirement talk and will return to play in 2008.

• In a weak free-agent pitching market Carlos Silva should make a big score. Silva's better than you think and is easily the best long-range answer on an ultra-thin list. Silva, who'll likely draw interest from about 20 teams, was 7-4 with a 3.72 ERA in the second half.

• The Diamondbacks loved having Livan Hernandez but have no expectation to retain him and are one of many scanning the trade market for a starting pitcher.

• The holdouts in the vote to support limited use of instant replay (which passed 25-5) were the Reds, Cubs, Astros, Brewers and Twins.

• Curt Schilling isn't going to be able to open his own agenting business if that $8 million guaranteed deal for him is an example of his work. Schilling could have gotten almost double. Great deal for the Red Sox, who patiently waited for Schilling to stop talking publicly about his situation and got him under contract for what should be the bargain of the winter.

Other teams would have paid him close to $15 million, but of course, Schilling is that rare player who's more interested in attention than loot. For example, how many hits does his self-aggrandizing Web site lose if he goes to the D-Rays ... or even the Padres?