The Yankee inner circle is meeting today in Tampa. After the Sox beat the Yanks out for another bullpen arm, you think George wants to trump them with a splashy move in the next 24 hours? How would you like to be Brian Cashman today? Sweat much? The names Brian Giles and Vladi G are being thrown around in the press. It’s hard to imagine that the good people at MLB are going to let George swipe Vlad, and the Pirates have been looking to unload Jason Kendell with Giles.

Still, stranger things have happened. Put George in a corner and he’s likely to come out spending.

I almost forgot to mention, thirteen years ago today Fay Vincent suspended George Steinbrenner from baseball. George actually received a ‘lifetime ban,’ which curiously only last until 1993. Anyhow, the date is important, because Stick Michael began building the Yankee dynasty during George’s absence.

Jay Jaffe has a good write-up on the Mondesi trade over at The Futility Infielder. Larry Mahnken isn’t shedding any tears for Mondesi either.

The Baseball Crank has a good piece today about how the current Red Sox offense ranks against some of the great offenses in history. (Good news for Sox Nation, sobering news for Yankee fans.)Aaron Gleeman has an equally impressive post about the newly designed Red Sox bullpen. (More kudos for Theo.)

Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus has nothing but raves for Mr. Epstein:

“The question I’ve been getting peppered this week on the radio is, ‘Who’s going to win the AL East?’ I’ve been circumspect up until now, pointing out that the two teams are pretty evenly matched, and that it should be a good race, with the Sox coming out on top. With the addition of Williamson, however, I believe the Sox have moved well ahead of the Yankees. They’re the clear favorite.

If the Red Sox do make the playoffs, they’re going to be downright scary, with Pedro Martinez starting every fourth game and Kim and Williamson available for multiple-inning outings in the ones he doesn’t. Combined with an offense that won’t quit, and it might just take extraordinary happenings–a curse, perhaps–to keep this team from winning it all.”

To round things out, Rob Neyer has an angry response to those readers who think he lets his emotions and bias’ dictate his writing. I can’t remember Neyer ever being so irked before. Granted, I’m only familiar with the work he’s done over the past year and a half, but in his most recent column, Neyer’s in no mood to play. Frankly, I don’t blame him for losing his patience with some of his readers, but this is the first time I’ve seen him lose his cool, and his sense of humor. Nothing like a Yankee vs. Red Sox piece to drive him–and apparently his readers—over the edge.