USA TODAY Sports Weekly presents its 13th annual list of the 100 Names You Need to Know. These are the next wave of players heading into the major leagues who, in our view, could make the biggest impact during the 2009 season. These aren't necessarily baseball's 100 best prospects, because many top prospects are too far down in the minor leagues to contribute in the majors this season. Others are stuck behind established major leaguers.

Not all of the players on our list have rookie status, but our standard for inclusion is that a player must have had more innings or at-bats in the minor leagues in 2008 than he has had during all of his major league time.

35. Brett Gardner, OF, Yankees: Right now, Gardner is stuck in a five-man logjam in the Yankees outfield. Things could clear up for him (a trade of Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher, further club dissatisfaction with Melky Cabrera) or get more crowded (Jorge Posada forced to DH, pushing Hideki Matsui into the outfield mix). Gardner, 25, gives the Yankees a needed burst of speed (he stole 13 bases in 14 tries) and does the little things well, but will need to hit more — maybe a lot more — to get playing time.

84. Austin Jackson, OF, Yankees: The weak link in the Yankees' lineup, at least offensively, is center field, where either Brett Gardner or Melky Cabrera is likely to be on opening day. By some point later in the season, it's not an unrealistic scenario that Jackson, 22, could be there. He is speedy with the ability to hit for average like Gardner but has more power. Cabrera can do similar things as Jackson offensively but slumped terribly at the plate last year. If Cabrera slumps again, Jackson will be a call away in Class AAA.

97. David Robertson, RHP, Yankees: Robertson, 23, emerged as a steady big-league bullpen option, then hit the wall with an 8.18 August ERA and was sent back to Class AAA. He throws hard enough to be a factor again this season, if not immediately.

After his workout, Posada said he might visit a Tampa bookstore to buy Torre's book, which was released yesterday. Posada hasn't read the book, but plans to, and said he was basing his initial opinions of it on media reports. He tried to call Torre recently, he said, more to say hello than anything else, and left a message. "It really isn't explosive," Posada said of the book. "We'll have to sit down and read it, but what's been said in the media, nothing's been surprising to me. I think he's just talking about his experiences with the winning teams and all that. He hasn't really said anything we didn't know.

"Joe's done nothing wrong, in my eyes. He's been a father figure to me, so I don't think he can do any wrong."

To his credit, Rivera – during an interview on MSG Network at halftime of Monday’s Knicks game – brushed off the criticism. He also said he was planning to buy Torre’s book and didn’t really comment one way or another on Torre writing it.

"Ultimately, we've made our decision," Cashman said. "We chose to put that money into Mark Teixeira to play first base. I do hear rumblings [that] people actually expect us to get in on Manny. That's not going to happen.

"We respect his abilities, there's no doubt about it, but we're now in the non-roster-invite mode. ... We've secured the areas of need and hopefully put ourselves in a better position. We're not playing on any Major League free agents, other than non-roster invites."

"I'm just curious as to why people keep asking the same questions over and over. We've been down this road before. Alex is a teammate. I support him. Our whole team is behind him. We all support him. And we're looking forward to a new season. To be quite honest with you, it's old hearing the same questions. It's something that's been addressed before in the past. Everyone's moved beyond it. And it doesn't really need to be addressed again."

Amid the initial uproar over "The Yankee Years," Torre revealed to the New York Times that he told Cashman, "we'd always be friends." As much as Torre talks about trust, he cannot possibly believe that.

Cashman, friends say, is "crushed" by how Torre depicted him in the book. He had considered Torre a second father. And he was loyal to Torre, except, perhaps, at the very end.

Torre should be upset if Cashman indeed failed to speak on his behalf at the final meeting — and if Cashman failed to inform ownership of a contract proposal that Torre believed might save his job.

But is that even what happened?

Some close to Cashman dispute that the final meeting went down as Torre described and say that other portrayals in the book are pure fiction as well.