Just My Type

THIS WEEK I interviewed a baseball G.M. who said the following:

? DESPITE his team's need for pitching, he didn't even bother drawing up a contract offer for CC Sabathia once he heard how many years he wanted.

? NEGOTIATIONS are basically at a stalemate with a popular star player who turned around his team's season: "We're not going to bid against ourselves."

? WHEN the subject of the Yankees' spending came up, he said, "They're living in a different world."

THE AMAZING THING: This was not the G.M. of Kansas City or Pittsburgh. This was the Dodgers' Ned Colletti. (The star in question was Manny Ramirez.) Forget about competitive balance, at least in the off-season. Compared with New York, just about every place else is small market.

Talking Head Games

PHILLIES PITCHER Cole Hamels made headlines this week when he said of the Mets, "For the past two years they've been choke artists." I like that he said it—let's get another rivalry going besides Yankees-- Red Sox. But whenever athletes make attention-getting remarks, I can't help but get the impression they're auditioning for a future job as a TV commentator. If you find yourself thinking, That's the sort of thing John Kruk would say on Baseball Tonight , that may not be a coincidence.

THE FINE PRINT: The Yankees spent a quarter-billion dollars on two pitchers. Now they're looking to pick up a centerfielder and an automaker.

Go to DANPATRICK.COM for more from Visanthe Shiancoe and other recent interviews, and hear live audio of Dan's radio show, 9 a.m. to noon ET, Mon.-Fri.