Tino: I'd like to manage

Tino Martinez will manage the World team in the 10th annual MLB All-Star Futures Game as part of the All-Star festivities at Yankee Stadium. Obviously he's psyched, and he also has an eye on the future.

Rangers brace for interesting summer

I finally put my Rangers cap on after two months of activity in Yankeeland. A few things have happened since their season ended in Pittsburgh.

For one, Glen Sather is playing hardball. Given today's athlete, I'm afraid that game will blow up in his face. Jaromir Jagr has at least one good season left and Sean Avery needs to remain a Ranger.

Wang out, Yanks in trouble

The dreaded Lisfranc injury, which once shut down Michael Strahan and currently has Brian Bruney on the shelf, claimed a new victim on Sunday. And if you're a Yankee fan, you're probably hyperventilating.

All Chien-Ming Wang has done is post consecutive 19-win seasons and is 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts this year. He'll be on crutches for at least six weeks and is expected to be out until at least September. That, my friends, is an optimistic forecast. Once Wang is actually cleared to throw - again he won't be doing a thing for at least six weeks - it's Spring Training all over again. That means throwing off flat ground, then off a mound. Then the Yankees will monitor simulated games and decide when to start the clock on his rehab, which will comprise of at least two or three starts in the Minor Leagues.

If the Yankees are fighting for their playoff lives come September, Wang, historically a quick healer, could be back by then. That's a big if at this point. Unless the offense scores 1,000 runs again, Mike Mussina continues his resurrection season and Joba Chamberlain emerges as staff ace, the Yankees will be looking ahead to 2009 by football season. You just don't throw someone in place of a two-time 19-game winner. Phil Hughes? (Out until at least August) Ian Kennedy? (Hurt and destined for more time in Scranton) Jeff Karstens? (More injury prone than Hughes). Kei Igawa? (Yeah, right) The Yankees have limited options, so it's looking like Dan Giese, who's done a good job in long relief, who will start in Wang's place on Saturday. Why not?

Incidentally, Hughes' and Kennedy's combined record: 0-7 with a 7.99 ERA. Don't trade them, but they aren't helping this year.

Trade for C.C. Sabathia, you say? OK, the Indians, underachieving but 5.5 games out of the AL Central penthouse, will say, "Sure, take our best pitcher. We'll accept Karstens, Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan. That's cool." Here's a more realistic thought: Bronson Arroyo. 1) He's cheaper than Sabathia (his 2009 salary will be for $9.5 million. He will earn $11 million in 2010). 2) It'll be easier to pull a deadline deal with a team outside of the American League. 3) His postseason numbers may not be stellar, but he's battle-tested in the AL East and in big spots against the Yankees. And his ERA is 7.41 in October in 10 games. Sabathia's is 7.17 in four starts.

The point is this: Arroyo isn't a sexy name, but neither was Shawn Chacon in 2005.

You never count out the Yankees, not after their second-half surges the last three seasons (in 2006, they were without Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui for most of the summer). But neither Sheffield, nor Matsui, nor Babe Ruth replaces a pitcher who's 54-20 in 95 starts covering three-plus seasons just like that.

Spreading Murcer's Inspriation

The good folks at Dugout Central re-printed my feature on Bobby Murcer's book. They're dividing it into three parts and people have shared their comments. One came from former Yankees third baseman Mike Pagliarulo, who runs this fine site.

One big reason why I got into the journalism business was to make a difference. Bobby Murcer, like too many people, is in the fight of his life, yet his faith and refusal to be defeated has been the ultimate inspiration to so many patients. To quote Yankees senior adviser Ray Negron, "When they hear Bobby Murcer is doing well, it makes him automatically want to be well."

According to the New York Brain Tumor Foundation, someone dies of a brain tumor every 20 minutes. The incidence of brain tumors is rising, and no one knows why, and this year, close to 300,000 people will be diagnosed with a brain tumor. Whether it's via donation or offering strong moral support, if we can make a positive impact on at least one cancer patient, the reward is priceless on so many levels.

JobaMania

Last week was crazy in YES and Yankeeland. Joba Chamberlain made his first career start last Tuesday and you thought it was October. It was early June and a 22-year-old kid was on the mound, but you think Whitey Ford and Ron Guidry were reincarnated.

YESNetwork.com joined the fun and assigned me to do a live blog. It was different and afforded me to provide unique armchair observations instead of your standard play-by-play. A few days later, I found it within me to stick up for the Yankees and their commitment to their young guns. Already people are dismissing Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy as busts, but as Roy Halladay reminded me, he was demoted to Single-A in 2000. The Blue Jays stuck with him; they neither buried him in minors nor sent him away. Three years later Halladay won the Cy Young Award.

Any one of Generation Trey winning a Cy Young is far from a guarantee. One, or all of them, may flame out, but let's at least allow this to play out over a period of years, not months or days.