"The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way will come to grief among so many who are not virtuous...therefore, if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must be prepared not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to his need." -Machiavelli, "The Prince"

SO: Cashman has consolidated his year-old coup within the organization by once again defeating the Tampa contingent. Apparently, he was the major factor in Mr. S's decision not to release Torre.

He is one of the 2 or 3 best GMs in the game. For the Yankees, his power within the hierarchy is a good thing.

Cashman re Alex: "I fully expect him to be here"..."We're going to figure this thing out together." Once again, a wise decision.

Besides starting pitching, Cashman must now engineer a solution to, as Machiavelli wrote, "keep his subjects united and loyal." I fear that a newly crowned MVP will be further emboldened to freeze Alex out.