Here is the question that Alex Rodriguez will eventually have to answer, for the feds, for the Yankees, for Major League Baseball. It doesn’t have to be the first question he is asked, but it is still one that requires not just an answer, but a straight one:

Why exactly did you need to go to a Canadian doctor one who can’t practice medicine in New York to get anti-inflammatory drugs for a hip that may or may not have been “inflamed” at the time?

I don’t mean to be a cynic or skeptic with the Yankee third baseman, but are we supposed to believe he couldn’t get anti-inflammatory pills at Columbia-Presbyterian, a few minutes from Yankee Stadium?

He couldn’t get anti-inflammatory pills from the Yankee team doctors or at New York Hospital?

But apparently we are supposed to believe that Dr. Galea, who is on record about how much he likes human growth hormone as a way of keeping himself young, is as much of an expert on anti-inflammatory pills that’s what he told the Associated Press he gave to Alex Rodriguez as he is blood-spinning. What a guy. He should have his own TV show, like Dr. Oz.

Or maybe Galea is a different kind of wizard.

Come on, there are more things fishy about all this than the old Fulton Fish Market. If the whole thing is so easily explained, if Rodriguez is “at ease” with the whole situation as he told the media in Florida the other day, how come he hasn’t cleared some of this up already, no matter how lawyered up he is.

For me, it’s pretty obvious. Rodriguez went north of the border to seek out some form of treatment that is not approved in the United States.

Blood-spinning and/or anti-inflammatory prescriptions could have easily been done somewhere in New York or any other major city here. Yet, Alex went to Galea because he felt that there was something he could do/provide that was not available (or legal?) here.

And, in time, the truth will come out on this one. Of course, what happens after that is anyone’s guess.

Then again, yes, everyone said last year that Boston had more pitching than it knew what to do with…so, we’ll just have to wait and see, in the end.

I’m all for the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox organizations. And, generally, I enjoy seeing Boston fail. But, stuff like this is an entirely different matter.

There’s being a baseball fan, and a Yankees fan, and then there’s being a human being. That latter condition trumps all. And, the human being in me sincerely hopes that everything works out well for Westmoreland and he rebounds from this quickly.

Teams with limited resources had become adept at exploiting market inefficiencies, leaving teams with deep pockets to construct their clubs using free agency, the most inefficient of markets. Suddenly, the Red Sox were ready to pour big-market resources into the areas of scouting and player development, whose affordability had allowed small-market clubs to compete.

“Small-market clubs were more value driven out of necessity. They were more conscious of risk. They were more industrious, out of necessity. These days, I think that mindset and approach has infiltrated the big-market clubs as well,” Epstein said. “Scouting and player development as the core way to build a team. That’s not the unique province of smaller market teams anymore.”

The Yankees followed suit, particularly after Brian Cashman got operational control over New York’s baseball operations in 2005. He began plowing more money into both the draft and international amateur signings, and steered the club away from signing role players such as Steve Karsay and Rondell White, who cost the team both money and draft picks.

“In baseball, draft day is the most important day of the year. I know one of the reasons I think we’ve gotten back to having success is the fact that we made that day important again, protecting draft choices and not sacrificing them for a middle reliever,” Cashman said. “You increase your amateur talent budget because if I wind up being successful in having a number of players emerge in our draft, it will save me from adding $50 million or $60 million, $70 million or $100 million in the free agent market.

“I can turn from within and have a Phil Hughes and have enough remaining so that I can go sign a C.C. Sabathia.”

“People have become more educated in the game than ever. They’re looking for new measures to try to quantify what really is taking place on the field, testing theories. It’s terrific,” Cashman said. “We’re taking the game and trying to find every which way to measure what’s real and what’s not, and trying to make sense of it. That’s wonderful.”

So, if the Yankees are trying to build from within, using the draft and international signings, then where are all those prospects in their system?

There’s maybe five or six prospects in the Yankees farm system now who appear to be somewhat the pick of the litter. And, that’s just about the same as it was in Yankeeland before “Brian Cashman got operational control over New York’s baseball operations in 2005.”

All this talk about the Yankees being like the Red Sox, Rays, Twins, et al, in terms of adeptly working the amateur markets is just a bill of goods until we start seeing a robust prospect pipeline, no?

[The Yankees have agreed] to terms with RHP Alfredo Aceves, RHP Jonathan Albaladejo, C Francisco Cervelli, RHP Joba Chamberlain, 2B Reegie Corono, LHP Wilkin De La Rossa, RHP Christian Garcia, OF Brett Gardner, OF Greg Golson, OF Jamie Hoffman, RHP Phil Hughes, RHp Mark Melancon, RHP Hector Noesi, RHP Ivan Nova, 2B Ramiro Pena, RHP David Robertson, 2B Kevin Russo and RHP Romulo Sanchez on one-year contracts.

And, via Chad Jennings -

Nine players were cut from big league camp this afternoon.

RHP Andrew Brackman
RHP D.J. Mitchell
RHP Christian Garcia
RHP Kevin Whelan
LHP Wilkins Arias
LHP Kei Igawa
LHP Wilkin De La Rosa
LHP Jeremy Bleich
C Kyle Higashioka

All just signs that we’re getting closer to Opening Day. And, on a soaker day in the heart of Yankeeland, that’s just like a bucket full of sunshine.

The Yankees have never relished the destructive defamation suit former pinstripe hero Roger Clemens brought two years ago against his accuser, former Yankee trainer Brian McNamee, but bigger headaches for the club may yet lie ahead according to a new appeals-court brief issued by McNamee’s defense attorneys.

A footnote deep in the 60-page brief lists current Yankee stars Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter as witnesses McNamee might call to the stand for sworn testimony about Clemens’ purported use of steroids and human growth hormone. Also listed among potential witnesses for McNamee is Angela Moyer, an alleged mistress of Clemens who tended bar near the Upper East Side apartment where McNamee said he visited Clemens after Yankee games to inject the pitcher with steroids and human growth hormone (Clemens has testified he thought the syringes contained vitamin B12).

All of this is mere foregrounding to the still-active criminal inquiry into whether Clemens committed perjury before Congress. A grand jury in Washington D.C. is actively considering those charges, and McNamee is cooperating with the feds on that matter.

McNamee is currently living in Queens, and is cooperating with federal prosecutors who have convened the Washington grand jury, which is exploring whether Clemens lied two years ago when he went under oath and denied using performance-enhancing substances. Clemens has spent parts of recent months attending sports events with his sons and Tweeting about his charity efforts. On Feb. 28, he appeared at a fundraiser in Trenton, New Jersey, posing for photographs and signing autographs at an event that raised money for Allies Inc., an organization that assists people with disabilities.

There’s no truth to the rumor that Jay Baruchel and John Cena are being sought out to play McNamee and Clemens, respectively, in the movie version of this story.

I never went to see the movie when it came out in 2008. And, to be candid, I’ve never watched the movie from start to finish now that it’s in its after theater life.

But, several times, I have caught pieces of it on HBO. A few minutes here, more than a few minutes there, etc. And, from what I have seen of it, to me, it seems like it got a bad rap when it came out in 2008.

One of these days, I’m going to watch the whole thing. Maybe you just had to be a fan of the show way back when to appreciate what the Wachowski Brothers did with this one?

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Alex Rodriguez struck out swinging when he sold his bayfront Florida estate for nearly one-third less than he paid for it.

A-Rod and ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis Rodriguez purchased the one-acre, six-bedroom property for $12 million in December 2004 but only got $8.5 million for it recently from an unidentified buyer, according to The Miami Herald.

Cynthia has moved to a rental in Miami Beach’s Palm Island, the paper reports.

The Yankee slugger, meanwhile, rents a $30,000-a-month, two-bedroom apartment on the 35th floor of 15 Central Park West.

Nice city digs at 15 CPW:

Remember when Jose Reyes was the shortstop of the future in New York and Derek Jeter supposedly was starting to slip?

Now, things just keep getting worse for Reyes and the Mets while Jeter and the Yankees keep winning championships. No one knows better than Jeter what a difficult task it is to survive and thrive in New York and right now he feels for his sidelined Mets counterpart.

“First and foremost is your health, and it goes beyond anything you do on the field,” Jeter said yesterday at Steinbrenner Field. “You wish him the best. I don’t like to see anybody go through that kind of stuff. It’s just that he’s had such bad luck. You have to assume that his luck is going to change here soon. All you can do is be patient.”

“I’m sure it’s frustrating for him,” Jeter said. “I’m not familiar with the situation that he has now. The only thing you can do is to try and stay positive. It can be very, very difficult to do at a time like this.”

“Jose has had a lot of injuries with his legs because he runs a lot,” Jeter said. “So that’s one of the differences. He’s the type of player who is running a lot, stealing a lot. Ever since the first time he tore his hamstring, I was always getting worried for him when you see him running because that can be tough.

“I’ve never torn a hamstring. I pulled a hamstring, but those can be tough injuries to get over.”

“I just wish him luck,” Jeter said.

I can’t remember the last time Jeter had so much to say about a player on another team. I’m not sure if this is a new trend emerging for Derek or if this is just some calculated way to highlight Reyes’ downfall as some sort of a “finger” back at those who used to claim that Jose Reyes was the best shortstop and player in New York?

In any event, here’s a wild thought for you. Suppose that Reyes’ thyroid problem becomes a Rocco Baldelli type thing and basically ends his days of being able to play shortstop on a full-time basis. If this happens, would the Mets dare make a run at Jeter if Derek becomes a free agent at the end of this season?

Personally, I think that the Mets would lack the funds to be a player in the race for Jeter. But, if they were to fake it, then it could give Jeter a little more leverage when dealing with the Brothers Stein – even though he probably doesn’t need it.