So now that I've had some time to consider the Knicks impending hiring of Donnie Walsh as team president here are a few thoughts on what Walsh has to do to return the Knicks from a joke to a team that New Yorkers can be proud of.

Step 1:
He needs autonomy. If he's here to take marching orders from Dolan and simply be a puppet, well good for him in getting $15 million to do that. Wish I could have a job like that. But if he's here to actually run the team then he needs to be allowed to do the right things, no matter how bad the team gets (though really can it get worse?) and no matter how many contracts have to be bought out.

Step 2:
Show Isiah the door. There have been rumblings that the reason Walsh was Dolan's first choice is because of his relationship with Isiah and that the two of them would work well together. Hiring Walsh helps give the Knicks credibility again, keeping Zeke costs them all of that. Now there are some who may think that Isiah is getting a raw deal here, that he's not as bad as people tend to think. Really? Well here's my counter argument to that; one potential name being bandied about to come in as GM is former 76er's exec Billy King - yes THAT Billy King - and what's more, he's considered a huge improvement.

Isiah the GM needs to go as does Isiah the coach - the latter needs to be replaced by someone who demands accountability from his players - ALL HIS PLAYERS. The name we keep hearing is Mark Jackson. I'm a little torn on that one. I like Jackson as a player but I'm not sure he's ready for the test that awaits the next coach of the Knicks. If it were me, I would hire Scott Skiles. Yes he's a hard a$$, but that's just what the Knicks need right now. Someone who will not accept a team that laughs its way through a 25-point loss. He will demand for players like Randolph, Curry, Marbury (if they are with the team) and Crawford to play as hard at their end of the floor as they do in the front court.

Step 3:
Unless the Knicks luck out in the lottery and get the top pick, he should use that pick as a carrot to get a team to take either Curry or Randolph off his hands. Look, it was a good idea, it really was. But the bottom line is that the Curry/Randolph front court just won't work. They are too similar in every way. You can get away with one low post player who doesn't run, is a defensive liability and can't or won't rebound, but not both of them.

Would the Nets for example consider Curry and the Knicks first round pick for Marcus Williams, Sean Williams and a re-signed DeSanga Diop? The Nets have Devin Harris running the point for the next six years and Josh Boone and Sean Williams are very similar players. For the Knicks, Marcus Williams would be the true PG they are looking for and Sean Williams would bring some interior defense to the party.

Step 4:
Buy out Stephon Marbury/Jerome James/Quentin Richardson - you'll notice I did not say trade them. I said buy them out. Get them out of here but don't be stupid enough to trade them for someone else's bad contracts. The only way to get out of this mess is to get out from under the cap and the only way that is going to happen is to let these contracts expire.

So, if Walsh were to follow these 4 steps the Knicks would enter next season with a starting five of:

Marcus Williams
Jamal Crawford
Wilson Chandler
Zach Randolph
Sean Williams
and a bench of Nate Robinson, David Lee, Renaldo Balkman, Jared Jeffries, Mardy Collins, Randolph Morris (if they keep him) and Diop.

Not ideal - in fact far from it. But it is a start, and a start is all Knick fans can hope for.

What happens when you combine a 23 round on-line draft with a Wednesday night in a league of 10 featuring 5 married guys (3 of which have newborns) and 1 enaged guy who had to give his fiance not just a ring, but his manhood as well? Well you get the WORST FANTASY DRAFT EVER!

As I said, the league is 10 teams deep, head to head matchups and you have to start two relief pitchers each week - it's essentially the same group of guys that have done it for years now. I had the third pick, which isn't ideal to start with, in a snake draft you either want to pick 4-5-6 so that you're consistently in the middle of the round. Anyway, the first couple of picks went as you would expect with A-Rod and Jose Reyes coming off the board. I decided to go with J-Roll over Albert Pujols based on the reports about Pujols's arm and the odds that it will explode at some point this season. I had my sights set on some other players for my next pick and they all came off the board in short order. By the time the draft came back to me I had to reach and take a third baseman (Ryan Braun) because third basemen were getting picked off and I didn't really feel like having to start Hank Blalock over there. More picks were made, and each one was stranger than the next. There was actually someone (an Indian's homer so he says, but I've seen him go into a full depression over a Boston loss which leads me to believe he's an Indians fan so long as they are playing well) who took Grady Sizemore with his first pick and Travis Hafner with his second.

Just to give you an idea of some oddities about this draft, Manny Ramirez lasted until the 5th round (I would have taken him myself but I feel dirty using Boston players), Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were drafted, one team ended up with Santana, Peavy, Sabathia, Webb, and Bedard. I wound up with both Braun (who will eventually be listed as an outfielder) and Ryan Zimmerman and also wound up with a horrific pitching staff that includes Pedro Martinez, Adam Wainwright, and Randy Johnson (along with Aaron Harang, Mark Buhrle and Carlos Zambrano) I also took Joba Chamberlain with an eye on him possibly starting during the second half of the season or if there's an injury to a member of the Yankee starting staff. In fact, here's my team:
C - Posada
1b - Adrian Gonzalez
2b - Brandon Phillips
ss - J-Roll
3b - Braun (until he gets his OF listing)
OF - Damon, Sheffield, Cuddyer
Util - Thome
Bench - Zimmerman, Justin Upton, Chris Duncan, Giambi
SP - Harang, Zambrano, Buhrle, Pedro, Wainwright, Big Unit, Micah Owings
RP - Joba, Mo Rivera, Kerry Wood (he's one of my sleepers - in fact he, Owings and Wainwright are guys who I have big hopes for. No I really do, I swear I'm not just saying that to prevent myself from crying as I type this....

Anyway, so as the draft is going on and I'm starting to get confused by picks I called one of my buddies - his team name is "My Fiance Keeps My Nuts in Her Purse" and asked why in the world he would draft Derek Jeter in the 3rd round - his response "I'm letting the computer pick for me, we have the neighbors over for wine and cheese" I threw up in my mouth. I called another guy later on, to find out what the blue blazes he was doing - turns out his wife told him that she would kill him if he did the draft becuase she is so pregnant she might pop and so he was running out to the car every five minutes to call in his picks and got confused.

Anyway, the moral, as always, is when your friends get married, it is time to get new friends. I have to go now, my girlfriend is on the phone....saaaaavvvveeee me!

Here is the reaction from Ray's Manager Joe Maddon from the New York Post: "The other day when we were playing in Tampa, that play you saw at home plate was a good hard baseball play. What you saw today is the definition of a dirty play," Maddon said. "There's no room for that in our game. It's contemptible. It's wrong. It's borderline criminal and I could not believe they did that.

"That was a blatant attempt to hurt Aki. And it was set up. It was premeditated. It's all of the above," said Maddon, who was adamant that Duncan should be suspended. "I mean, I don't know what's the difference between that and a high stick in hockey, but it was that bad."

From Joe Girardi:

"Shelley has been taught as a player, when he's going to be out, go after the ball and that is what he did," Girardi said. "Shelley made a hard aggressive slide." Girardi would not classify whether or not the play was dirty without seeing the film on it, but did say that if it was dirty he would talk to Duncan.

Duncan's intent was to send a message - there's no question about that. And I'm not enough of a homer to call it a "good hard play" but reading Maddon classify it as borderline criminal does make me chuckle. Iwamura got a cut on the leg, and a small one at that, but it could have been much worse and if it had been, the person responsible for getting all of this going would have been Maddon. Not for insisting that his team play hard in spring training, but for the way he treated everything that happened after the collision as a joke.

If you go back to Saturday and the comments since then that Maddon has made, it seems to me (and granted I'm as slanted on this as a see-saw with a baby on one end and JaMarcus Russell - all 300 plus pounds of him - on the other) that Maddon almost enjoyed the attention and was using the incident to put himself on the map. I think that annoyed the Yankees more than the play itself and maybe added fuel to the fire.

As a lifelong Yankee fan I will tell you that one thing about this makes me feel good about the Yankees under Girardi. Under Torre retaliation was never part of the plan. The Boston Red Sox, over the last 5 years or so, have made a habit out of hitting Yankee hitters and they do so without fear or retribution or retaliation. A couple of examples: When Pedro was still with Boston, the first two batters in the Yankee lineup were Soriano and Jeter - Pedro drilled them both, knocked them out of the game, not a single Boston player was even made to feel uncomfortable at the plate. Last year, Julian Tavares was seen during a game telling Dice-K that if he hits the Yankees they will be uncomfortable - he wouldn't have done that if it meant that Manny or Ortiz would be forced to eat dirt in response. It just wasn't Torre's way. Well, if Maddon's intent was to send a message on Saturday that the Rays aren't a pushover in the AL East then I think Girardi's message was that the days of taking liberties with the Yankees are over.

By the way, Yankees and Tampa still have to play two more times this spring. Something tells me we're not done here yet.

We knew it was coming. There was no way it could go down any differently then it did and now that it's happened we have to wonder if this is the end, or just the start of something bigger. I am of course talking about the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal - the law and order governor of New York was caught funnelling a ton of money into a prostitution ring - I hear there are already a few studios calmoring for the movie rights and I'm sure there will be a Law & Order episode or three dedicated to it - if there haven't been already.

Oh, and in sports the Yankees and Tampa Bay had a bit of a fiesty afternoon. In the first inning, Yankee pitcher Heath Phillips grazed Tampa prospect Evan Longoria earning himself an ejection and Longoria at least a bruise. Later in the game Shelley Duncan went into 2nd base hard with his spikes up and took out Akinori Iwamura. Duncan was then tackled by OF Jonny Gomes. The benches cleared. Someone accused someone else's parents of not being married, there were references to female dogs and the like. In the end, no punches were thrown but Duncan, Phillips, Gomes, and Yankee coaches Kevin Long and Bobby Meacham were tossed from the game.  It appears no one was seriously injured.

Here are some comments by those involved, courtesy of Newsday's Kat O'Brien:

Jonny Gomes
"I just thought he tried to inflict some pain on Aki.
... I was taught all the way up from T-ball to always
have your teammates' back."

Akinori Iwamura
"Probably Duncan himself knows that it wasn't a fair
play at the time."

Heath Phillips (on hitting Longoria)
"Nothing was intentional. ... I was trying to throw a
fastball inside and it got away from me."

Shelley Duncan
"There's no malicious intent at all. ... I play the
game the right way. I play hard every day."

Joe Girardi
"The code is play hard, and you play the game the
right way."

If you read the comments of Duncan and Girardi they seem identical to the ones made by Zimmer and Maddon - perhaps a not so subtle shot at the two men who have been a little disinterested, if not critical, of the Yankee response to the take out play of Cervelli.

Is this where it ends?

So here's the thing. As I get older it is becoming clearer to me that the women in my life are incapable of making decisions. I have a family wedding to go to in May out in Arizona and somehow the booking of tickets for myself, my mother and my girlfriend has fallen to me. We're all flying out of New York but at this point, we're going to be on three different planes arriving at three different times. Why you ask? Because women are insane! Every time I find a flight plan that works someone "suggests" an alternative. I've been at this for the last 5 hours now. I have a headache that makes me feel like there is a midget with a hammer banging on the back of my eyes. On top of that the idiot running one of my fantasy drafts has been unable to pick a date for the draft - since when has making a decision been so tough???

Anyway, onto the point of this posting, other than my deep desire to look at something other than flight plans. There are 3 potential Hall of Fame baseball players who want to work but haven't gotten a call. Those players, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mike Piazza, would be a great fit in some situations, here are those situations:

Barry Bonds:
Cleveland Indians - The Indians have a platoon in LF with Jason Michaels and David Dellucci. Plug Bonds into the Indians' lineup and you've got: Grady, Cabrera, Bonds, V-Mart, Pronk....and so on. That lineup might be one that could actually go toe to toe with the Tigers. Defensively, the wall in left will make up for some of Barry's short comings and they have enough depth at the position to give Bonds a blow every so often. As for the clubhouse distraction, the Indians are a veteran team and I don't think the "Bonds Factor" would be as pronounced.

New York Mets - It would be a sideshow no doubt, but just like the Indians are a veteran team, so too are the Mets. Mets' GM Omar Minaya doesn't have a problem signing a steroids guy (see Guillermo Mota) and while Carlos Beltran might cry upon realizing how much space he and his bad knees are going to have to cover, the fact is Moises Alou is not going to play more than 100 games. Angel Pagan has looked good this spring but looking good in Spring Training and looking good in the heat of the regular season are two very different things. Between Alou and Bonds the Mets would get one very good left fielder on an everyday basis. It would also provide insurance in case it turns out that Ryan Church can't hit lefties.

Sammy Sosa
San Francisco Giants - If you've read enough of these posts you'll pick up on a theme that I believe the San Fran offense is weaker than watered down decaf coffee. The Giants are batting Molina in the clean-up spot. We know that they don't have an issue with the possible steroid implications. The Giants are slated to have Dave Roberts and Randy Winn in the corners, and really would Sosa be that much of a drop off? He's still productive, Bruce Bochey can get him some off days and use either Winn or Roberts as a defensive replacement late in games.

Minnesota Twins - The Twins are an interesting case. On the one hand I figure they are rebuilding, on the other hand, the Twins are always rebuilding in one form or another. Right now it looks like Jason Kubel will be their DH, but given the lack of pop in their lineup wouldn't Sosa be a pretty strong option. For that matter so too would Piazza. Speaking of...

Mike Piazza
Minnesota Twins - in addition to being a pretty good DH, Piazza could spell Mauer behind the dish from time to time. Neither Piazza nor Mauer should be catching much - Piazza because of his lack of defense and Mauer for his health. But if you DH Mauer right now, that means Redmond has to catch and if he goes down the Twins are in trouble. Being able to rotate Mauer and Piazza between the DH/Catcher spots while keeping Redmond on the bench as an insurance policy. You could also try to get Piazza an AB or two at 1st in a pinch. Ideally you don't want to carry three catchers, but I don't think that the spot he is taking would be going to a superstar anyway.

Tampa Rays - Tampa is currently using Cliff Floyd at DH. They could really use a righty bat to compliment Crawford and Pena. Floyd could see some time in the OF and having Piazza as a DH and sometime's catcher to spot Dioneer Navarro wouldn't be a bad choice. He's a good guy to have in the clubhouse with the young players.

Milwaukee Brewers - Here's all you have to know about the catching situation in Brew Town - they are seriously considering batting Jason Kendall BEHIND the pitcher. I know that with Braun and Prince they already have a strong offensive core - BUT COME ON!!! How long can the Brewers carry a catcher who is so weak offensively he has to bat behind the pitcher?