National League benefits greatly from mining AL rejects (cont.)

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Many baseball people believe that there is a psychological element as well, especially for pitchers who don't have to deal with a DH and thus face shorter, generally less-dangerous lineups. No team in the National League has a hitter as talented as Robinson Cano bating seventh or J.D. Drew hitting eighth. "I am flabbergasted at how different it is," one AL executive said. "In the National League, a pitcher can pitch around the No. 6 hitter to get to 7, 8 and 9."

Patient lineups such as those for the Yankees and Red Sox wear down pitchers. And bigger ballparks provide a comfort zone for pitchers in the NL.

But many folks in the American League think the difference between the leagues is about something much more obvious.

"All the talent's here," one AL GM said. "It's a pretty [crummy] league over there."

Around the majors

• It's believed that the Yankees will treat Derek Jeter like all their iconic players and mainstays and let him go into his walk year next year unsigned. In this case, they also know that negotiating off an MVP-caliber season would favor Jeter. That's the way they handled Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez and Jeter's best friend, Jorge Posada.

• Amazingly, in their mid-30s, Jeter, Rivera, Posada and Andy Pettitte all are having much better seasons this year than last year. With his home run on Thursday, Posada became the sixth catcher to have eight 20-homer seasons. Courtesy of Steve Lombardi of the famed waswatching.com, the others are Johnny Bench and Mike Piazza (11), Yogi Berra (10), Gary Carter (9) and Carlton Fisk (8). All but Piazza are in the Hall of Fame, and Piazza's overall numbers are obviously better than all the others.

• Speaking of amazing, Albert Pujols now has 361 home runs to tie Joe DiMaggio. Pujols' career start is often compared to DiMaggio's for the power without many punchouts. Pujols has 561 K's compared to DiMaggio's 369. But as for the power, let's not forget Pujols is still only 29, meaning he might only be halfway through his career.

• Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett appear to have hit a slump simultaneously. It's probably just coincidence, but both slumps have come after they hooked up in a scoreless duel eventually won by the Yankees 2-0 in 15 innings. Since that game five starts ago, Burnett has a 7.12 ERA, Beckett 7.46.

• According to scout scuttlebutt, Holliday isn't automatic to stay in St. Louis. While he's thriving there, he could be pursued by the deeper-pocketed Yankees, Mets and maybe even the Red Sox (especially if Boston fails to sign Jason Bay). The Cardinals are going to try hard to keep him, though.

• One other possible explanation for some of the pitching turnarounds in St. Louis is pitching coach Dave Duncan. He was upset by the treatment his son Chris received there, but one competing GM said, "They better not let him get away." Both Duncan and manager Tony La Russa -- who was also upset that Chris Duncan wasn't treated as he could have been (Chris is said to be like a nephew to La Russa) -- are free agents after the year.

• The Rockies plan to keep Huston Street out through the weekend. His biceps tendinitis is something that came on suddenly.

• The Yankees don't seem too worried about Rivera's groin issue. It was recently revealed to have been bothering him off-and-on all year.

• Billy Wagner expressed some concern about his control in an article in the Boston Globe. His fastball looks pretty healthy, though, as he hit 97 on Thursday night. As promised, Boston is being cautious with him.

• Alex Gonzalez has done a nice job at shortstop for Boston. They could bring him back, or perhaps try an upgrade with Marco Scutaro, who's a free agent after this season. However, they don't seem anxious to bring back Orlando Cabrera, who's also a free agent.

• Pedro Martinez has been as good as the Phillies could have hoped. To think, only the Phillies and Rangers showed real interest. The Cubs actually were interested, but their unsettled ownership situation appeared to be an issue at the time. The Brewers had some interest, but a scout missed the workout because Pedro arrived late (maybe he should have stayed around).

• One competing GM said he could see the Cubs seeking to pay about half the $21 million remaining on Milton Bradley's contract in order to trade him. Another GM said he felt, considering Bradley's issues, they'd have to pay nearly all of the money to be rid of the temperamental slugger.

• Curt Schilling said he has some interest in replacing Ted Kennedy as a Massachusetts senator. But the only real applicable experience he has is all his filibustering.

• Author Erin Arvedlund seemed to back away from her public claim that the Wilpons would have to sell the Mets in a year or two. (She said that in an interview with me and co-host Adam the Bull on WFAN.) Mets lawyer David Howard had beaten down Arvedlund a couple days earlier on Fox, and by the WFAN interview she conceded that she wasn't absolutely sure that the Wilpons would have to sell, or even take a partner. She also said that she didn't know anything about the Wilpons' other holdings. The Wilpons and Howard both say that they have no plans to sell. Arvedlund said a spokesman for Bud Selig also told her that she was wrong with her prediction.

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