Words From Gammo

Say what you will about Peter Gammons (and there's plenty, good and bad, that you could say), he's got connections, and when he drops by for a chat, he's always got something interesting you probably haven't heard before.

Here's a sampling of his comments from his Boston Globe chat session yesterday:

• "I've spent a lot of time with the Cubs this season and they are stating that their entire business model is copied from the Red Sox right down to the design for luxury boxes that Janet Marie Smith and Lucchino drew up."
• "[T]here is a ground swell among the players that [Masterson] should start ... . I found it interesting that two national league scouts both said he reminds them of Kevin Brown and a young Darren Dreifort because of his sinker ..."
• "I realize that [t]his is a very brief window but one national league team that does defensive ratings like Red Sox and Indians has Lowrie's defense ranked 5th among the 62 major league shortstops."
• "I don't think players were angry because so many of them like Manny off the field but what happened was that he became a distraction and players don't like answering questions about other players when those players won't answer the questions themselves."
• "I am told that as long as Brian Cashman is the GM and Hank Steinbrenner is owner, Manny will not be going to the Yankees. Their plan is to take the money they have stashed away and go after CC Sabathia."
• "[R]emember, in 2006, Ramirez played 6 games in September and Ortiz was second to Alex Rodriguez in OPS for the month. Last September, Ramirez played 6 games, batting behind Ortiz once, and David led the majors in OPS. If Ortiz's swing is right, he's one of the few players who rises above protection."
• "My guess is that they'll make a run at Jarrod Saltalamacchia in Texas or Mike Napoli with the Angels, but they may have to forge some kind of platoon with someone like Brian Schneider and hope that the next couple of years they can develop a Mark Wagner or a Luis Exposito."
• "I get the distinct impression that the Yankees are looking at the rest of this season the way the Red Sox looked at Sept. in 2006, which is a time to build and develop their young pitchers and find out what they have before the offseason."