Brian Cashman still hasn’t read Joe Torre’s book, “The Yankee Years,” in which he is prominently featured, but he hinted yesterday at significant frustration with what he has read and heard is in it.

“I can tell you the Yankee years that I lived are different than maybe what’s been depicted in that book. Let’s just leave it at that,” he said on WFAN. But Cashman did not leave it at that.

When Mike Francesa asked Cashman about his relationship with Torre, he spoke in the past tense about what was “as good a relationship as any manager and general manager have had, probably in the history of the game. That’s the Yankee years I lived.”

Cashman said the two have not spoken since Torre called him from Hawaii the day tidbits from the book first were leaked.

Told that one theme is the lack of support Torre perceived from Cashman toward the end, Cashman said, “I supported Joe Torre every step of the way while he was here. I probably would say I would be in the Hall of Fame of support of a manager from a general manager’s standpoint.

“So I can sleep well at night knowing that I had his back every step of the way.”

As for Torre’s perception that Cashman became a Moneyball-style slave to statistics, he said, “I would use every tool in the toolbox, and I have always used every tool in the toolbox, so I would disagree with that as well.

“I’m definitely not a number-cruncher. I use numbers. I use feel. I use gut. I use all aspects of it.”

Cashman initially did not answer when asked if he was “hurt” by the book, but he eventually said this:

“The one thing it sounds like I’m disappointed in from that book side of it is the fact the Yankee years I lived, we are so transparent that everybody knows what my failures were, but I also had a lot of successes here, too, and it doesn’t sound like any of that stuff shows up in any books.”

…we are so transparent that everybody knows what my failures were, but I also had a lot of successes here, too, and it doesn’t sound like any of that stuff shows up in any books…

“..doesn’t sound like any of that stuff shows up in any books”?

Any? Really? Maybe G.M. Thin Skin should write his own book?

Cashman, who has remained relatively quiet about the contents of Joe Torre’s book, has spoken with his superstar third baseman about the “A-Fraud” firestorm created by the release of Torre’s “The Yankee Years,” and the general manager isn’t worried about Rodriguez’s ability to cast the controversy aside and focus on baseball.

“He’s fine,” Cashman said. “It’s something he’s going to have to deal with.”

Cashman has spoken to Rodriguez several times throughout the winter, which is not unusual for them. The GM said he didn’t reach out to A-Rod specifically to address Torre’s book, though the topic came up during a recent conversation.

“He’s already dealt with stuff like this way too many times,” Cashman said of the “A-Fraud” fallout. “It’s just another thing for him to swat out of the way.”

…It’s just another thing for him to swat out of the way…

How cool would it be to have a full 12-month period, or longer, where A-Rod doesn’t have “another thing” to deal with?

You think if Jim Bouton’s Ball Four came out today, for the first time, that Bud Selig would allow Costas to interview Jim, for an hour, in prime-time, about the book?

Or, if the MLB Network had been around when Jose Canseco’s Juiced had come out, do you think baseball would have been willing to help Canseco promote the book by granting him a one-hour special interview on their network?

Granted, the fact that Tom Verducci works for the MLB Network and the fact that Bob Costas was probably looking to make a splash now that he’s joined the network, probably helped to grease the wheel on this one. But, if baseball really had a problem with Torre’s book, do you really think this interview on their network would have been allowed?

Oh, and, Joe Torre and Bud Selig being long-time friends probably didn’t hurt this from happening too.

Anyone else find it interesting that the MLB Network basically gave Torre a one-hour commercial for his book yesterday? Think the Yankees were happy about that?

…I spoke to his nephew, Michael Kay, the other day about Joe Torre doing interviews with Mike Francesa and Chris Russo during his book tour this week, but not with Kay on 1050 ESPN.

Kay said he requested a sitdown with Torre, but “he wouldn’t come on with me.” The two had a mostly frosty relationship during Torre’s days with the Yankees, during which Kay was a radio announcer, then YES’ play-by-play man.

Why did he think Torre turned him down? “Because he has such warm feelings for me, I’m sure, and I for him,” Kay said.

Whatever their relationship, Kay said he and Torre acted professionally in doing their respective jobs. “Whatever I needed from him, I got from him,” he said. “It wasn’t contentious at all, not at all.”

Kay said he assumes Torre has not appreciated some of the criticism of him Kay has voiced on his radio show, a forum he did not have during Torre’s early years.

“I didn’t have a venue to rip him,” Kay said.

Kay offered few specifics of their relationship but promised to share someday.

“There are.things he did that I’ll save for my book that were very, very wrong on a personal level,” he said.

Max Mercy is promising to write a book? Oh, goodie…

Seriously, this is an interesting story. Is it telling us something about Torre, Kay, or both? Probably both…

While Joe Torre continues to plug his book, “The Yankee Years,” in New York as the Dodgers winter caravan continues without him, feedback is still rolling in, this time from one of the players mentioned in the tell-all.

I spoke Wednesday with Jason Giambi, who certainly had mixed feelings about his former manager’s decision to write it, something he’s known about for quite a while because of a phone call he received from the publisher’s fact-checker. These are his first public comments about the book.

“It’s definitely hurtful,” he told me. “When you play together that long, you’re family. There’s a certain trust involved. We were always like ‘keep everything in-house, especially in New York with that media.’ I was surprised to hear that he was writing a book … he meant so much to that town. But from his point of view you can respect it. He had to get things off his chest,” referring to Torre’s bitter exit from the Yankees.

When I asked if writing the book violated the trust of his former team, Giambi said, “That’s hard to answer. We were all going in the same direction, we were a family. I can see how other guys will be hurt by it.”

Then Giambi offers, “It’s hard to know what came from Verducci and what came from Torre,” referring to Tom Verducci, who co-authored the book. “That guy was always hanging around.”

When told about Giambi’s remarks, Joe Torre apologized – but, Torre would not mention any specific details on what he was apologizing about…

(Yeah, that’s a joke. Get it?)

Where Hamilton got this report…well…I dunno? After looking around, I cannot find it.

But, if it’s true, who do you think issued this one? It’s not like Hank to hide behind the “unnamed” shield. And, Randy Levine is in New York, not Tampa, right?

In any event, it’s probably better to see if it’s true first…because, like I said, I cannot find a report to back this up.

Understand this: Torre is not being forthright with his explanation about the infamous A-Fraud reference on Page 245. In his publicity tour for the book, Torre has repeatedly explained that A-Fraud was something said right in front of Alex Rodriguez, by the coach Larry Bowa, a playful reference to whether he was going to play well that night and be A-Rod, or play poorly and be A-Fraud.

Here is the actual passage, as written by Torre and Tom Verducci: “Back in 2004, at first Rodriguez did his best to try to fit into the Yankee culture – his cloying, B-grade actor best. He slathered on the polish. People in the clubhouse, including teammates and support personnel, were calling him ‘A-Fraud’ behind his back.”

Players are being asked about the A-Fraud stuff as they trickle into Tampa for spring training or appear at public functions. Nobody has acknowledged that it’s true, which is not surprising. They will naturally support their teammate, and maybe they never heard the A-Fraud term precisely. But be aware that any Yankee who says he never heard anyone say anything negative about Rodriguez behind his back is either lying or totally oblivious.

If you spend time around the team as a beat writer, you hear stuff like that from Yankees personnel. You can’t write it because it’s understood to be off the record, but it’s there.

Do teammates like Alex now? Sure, plenty of them do. He helps them win a lot of games, and nobody questions how hard he works or how badly he wants to succeed. That is also conveyed in the book. But make no mistake: Torre is doing more than spinning now; he’s backtracking on the A-Fraud stuff to soften its impact.

This ties back into something that I wrote in May of 2006:

Recently, I heard it from someone who said that they heard it from a source in the Yankees front office – and, yes, I know that things can get mangled in such a game of “telephone” – that the front office’s impression of A-Rod is that he’s a, well, let’s just say “little kitty cat.”

And, now, three years later, we’re still hearing it…there’s Yankees personnel out there who are not members of the A-Rod fan club. And, I wonder if it will always be that way?

Jorge Posada joked that it would “take me about three years” to read every page of Joe Torre’s book, “The Yankee Years.” But the Yankee catcher needed no time at all to defend his former manager Tuesday, saying that Torre did not violate clubhouse sanctity with the book and adding that much of the controversial content was common knowledge.

And, Posada said, the infamous “A-Fraud” moniker for Alex Rodriguez was nothing more than a clubhouse joke uttered solely by former bullpen catcher Mike Borzello – now with Torre in Los Angeles – in front of Rodriguez himself. Rodriguez, Posada said, would be among those chuckling while Borzello tweaked him.

“There was not one player on those teams that said those words,” Posada said. “Never. If we heard it, it was just (Borzello) messing with Alex and Alex would be right there and he’d be laughing about it. It was never out of disrespect at all. . . . It was never said behind his back by any teammate.”

“Joe’s done nothing wrong, in my eyes. He’s been a father figure to me, so I don’t think he can do any wrong.”

Think Mr. T ever sang this one to Jorgie?

“Whatever his involvement is with this book, Joe Torre is the No.1 guy,” [Paul] Quantrill argued. “People may understand that he didn’t say that, but even being Joe Torre, being the greatest manager, blah-blah-blah, he’s walking a thin line. When you start exposing anything from the clubhouse in general, whether it’s about a d*ckhead like ‘the fraud,’ or anything, it doesn’t really matter. It’s that you opened up and said it.

“You are part of a book and guys don’t usually come out of it in a positive light, especially if they’re still active. To me, it’s pretty straightforward. It doesn’t matter if you’re a slapd*ck like Brian McNamee or Jose Canseco, or whether you’re Joe Torre. There are certain things, whether it be about Alex or whether it be about any player, the sanctity of the clubhouse is something that we all try to live by. It blew me away that an active manager is even involved in a book talking about the daily grind.”

…When you start exposing anything from the clubhouse in general, whether it’s about a d*ckhead like ‘the fraud,’ or anything, it doesn’t really matter…

Did Paul Quantrill just call Alex Rodriguez a…..?

Really?

Yeah, I think he did.

The first time that I went to see him, in February 2006, I brought a book about Tris Speaker with me to kill the time in his waiting room – as well as the examination room before he got to me. When he saw the book, he asked me if I was a baseball fan. And, that led to a nice conversation where I told him about the book that I wrote back in April 2005 and he shared with me that he was a Yankees fan going way back…having grown up close to the Stadium, etc.

Now, keep in mind, since that first meeting in February 2006, our only other meetings were in February 2007 and February 2008. And, during those visits, our time together was brief and our conversation was limited to how the Flonase and Astelin was working, etc., and that we were going to use that treatment again that coming season, yadda-yadda.

Well, it’s February 2009 and today was the day to go see the allergist again (this morning). In total, this was the fourth time that I’ve seen him in the three years since my first visit in February 2006.

As in my last two visits, we started off talking about using the same prescriptions again this year, and, then, he paused, looked at me, and said “Hey, wait a minute, you’re the ‘baseball’ guy, right?”

I laughed and said “yes.” And, then, he asked me “So, are you going to read Joe Torre’s book?”

I laughed again and said “I already pre-ordered it on Amazon and hope that it shows up today.”

Just goes to show, no matter where you go in the next 12 hours or so, expect the topic to be Joe Torre’s book – because, with his appearances scheduled in New York and New Jersey today, February 3rd (2009) is going to be “Joe Torre Book Day” in Yankeeland, no doubt…