As the media reports oscillate from one end of the spectrum to the other (Abreu!! Soriano!! Yes!! No!!...wait, now YES!!....wait, now it's totally NO!!!) I see Cashman using the media in the way he never could when leaks were coming out of the organization like multiple waterfalls in the days of the NY/Tampa schism...

Cashman has probably read Julius Caesar's "Conquest of Gaul" and is employing a relevant lesson from that most famous man in history: "Men will readily believe what they wish to believe."

These media reports, while generally informative, are probably planted by BC to mask his true intentions. Cashman is planting these leaks to assess how the market will move....the Yankees are the biggest whale in MLB, one little move of the flipper and everyone else is displaced and MUST react. Cashman understands the power of this position, and gone are the days when the Yankees were played like a fiddle with agents having direct lines into Tampa sources and the Boss's office...

For example, there's as close to a zero chance as possible that they would trade Alex...but the Oilers traded Gretzky...I guarantee you there's a hypothetical deal for Alex (and Hughes, and every Yankee player) that could create value for the team.

And Cashman seems to never take anything off the table. Watch his public language closely....