I buy three papers each morning before I get on the subway: The Times, The Daily News and the Post. There were no baseball stories in The Times this morning. Not one. (It was a long ride to work today.) The Post and the News had a few minor ones. Both had small blurbs about Don Zimmer, who evidently has not been contacted by the Tampa Bay D-Rays for a coaching position (I haven't been able to find the articles on-line yet).

The other story of note is that Bobby Valentine is in Japan and is expected to return to the Lotte Marines, a team he managed in 1995. The AP is reporting that he will sign a three-year deal to manage the team again. ESPN will lose Valentine after Bobby V's fine rookie campaign as an analyst.

It's hard not to admire Valentine's moxie. Talk about going against the grain. With Japan's biggest stars focused on breaking into the Majors, Valentine is saying, "Damn the Torpedos: Eastward Ho!" And why not? He's a charasmatic personality who will most likely only see his celebrity grow this time around in Japan.

JACKING FOR BEATS

Peter Gammons invented The Sunday Notes column when he wrote for The Boston Globe in the 1970s. Gammons can still crank out a satisfying Notes column for ESPN, and Gordon Edes--the top baseball writer at the Globe these days--does a fine job of it himself too. Jack Curry--filling in for Murray Chass--does his variation for The New York Times and Bill Madden holds down the fort for The Daily News.

As Will Carroll suggests, Gammons is at his best when writing about the Boston Red Sox:

[Manny] Ramirez wants to leave the Red Sox and play for the Yankees. He was offered a chance to opt out of his current contract, but we're told the union wouldn't allow him to do that -- the "union" that lectures us about rights of the sweat shop inmates who play baseball, unless those rights have to do with trying to trade happiness for dollars, a right forbidden by the MLBPA.

Then, incredibly, Moorad told any newspaperman or talk show host who'll listen how Manny is happy in Boston, he just prefers playing for the Yankees. Unbleepingbelievable. Oh, great. And Manny is going to be upset when he gets booed the first time he doesn't run at full speed on a ground ball to short?

...What the Red Sox pulled has been widely applauded across baseball. "First of all," says an American League general manager, "it sends a message to Manny to shut up and stop talking about a trade because no one wants him at that price. For anyone associated with Manny to say 'the Red Sox should eat some of the money' is a joke. He wants out, the agent wants out, they should eat the money. But, beyond that, isn't this a reminder that the player and the agent bear some responsibility for accepting $160 million? The evidence right now is that they bear absolutely no responsibility."

Sticking with Boston, Edes confirms the A-Rod-to-the-Red-Sox rumors:

One club source insisted that an A-Rod/Garciaparra swap never has been discussed, and Sox ownership has maintained all summer it feels an obligation to make every effort to re-sign Garciaparra. But the Rangers have made it known they would move A-Rod, who at 28 is unchallenged as the game's best all-around player.

Unlike Garciaparra, who finds the working environment here miserable, Rodriguez has the personality to not only handle all the attention but thrive on it. It's one of those Williams-for-DiMaggio swaps you think could never happen, until you find out after the fact that it was discussed.

Also, here is a good tidbit for all you "Moneyball" fans:

Did this conversation really take place? We heard that it did. During Game 7 of the ALCS, A's GM Billy Beane called Sox GM Theo Epstein and told him, "Remember who helped you get where you got -- don't screw it up."

Yipe.