The MiLB.com Overall Starting Pitcher of the Year pitched at three levels on his way to the big leagues. He won't light up radar guns like Chamberlain, instead relying on outstanding command of four pitches to get hitters out. He did show that despite the plus fastball, he could miss more than enough bats to succeed.

He said that he was an unlikely candidate for the Yankee GM's office, however. "I grew up as a Yankee-hater — I was a Los Angeles Dodger fan, and I hated the Yankees because they always beat the Dodgers," he said. While a student at the Catholic University of America in Washington, Cashman, then 19, began with the Yankees as an intern. "I did just about anything, without question — I'd run stats, I'd pick up the GM's wife at the airport, I'd work with stadium security. Whatever they asked me to do, I would do it."

Despite being the "low man on the totem pole" in the Yankee organization, he said that he "loved the work because it was baseball."

He found himself getting one promotion after another. "Not surprisingly, there was a lot of turnover — the opportunities above me kept popping up."

IF Robinson Cano, RHP Phil Hughes, RHP Jeff Karstens and RHP Tyler Clippard for LHP Johan Santana and IF Matt Tolbert.

OF Melky Cabrera, RHP Joba Chamberlain, RHP Jeff Marquez and IF Wilson Betemit for LHP Johan Santana and LHP Glen Perkins.

RHP Ian Kennedy, OF Melky Cabrera, OF Jose Tabata, RHP Ross Ohlendorf and RHP Allan Horne for LHP Johan Santana.

Hank chose the worst of all possible years to apprentice in the family business. It was 1986, a season that saw his father's nightmare become reality with the Mets and the Red Sox meeting in the World Series. George the Elder was at his worst: bitching and bullying and firing employees at will. Green, now senior vice president for media relations with the Miami Dolphins recalls being sacked "about five times" in his Yankees career.

None of this was lost on Hank, then a 28-year-old with a taste for Led Zeppelin. The great Hank story — and it is told several ways, though not by Greene — has him being asked what it would take for the team to exhibit sustained improvement. "Simple," said Hank. "Get rid of my father."

He was kidding. Or was he?

The Yankees have "definitely reached out" to free agent right-hander David Riske, said his agent Nez Balelo. Riske, 31, was 1-4 with a 2.45 ERA in 69 2/3 innings with the Kansas City Royals in 2007.

Jackson is a tremendously athletic outfielder who, upon being promoted from the South Atlantic League to the Florida State League, responded to the challenge by showing the ability to hit to all fields with power, speed and more defensive ability than he'd shown in the past.
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He'll play the 2008 season at age 21 and could feasibly do it with Double-A Trenton.

"I don't want to get into that at this point, as far as what they want, what we're willing to give and all that," he said. "It's preliminary right now."