Is baseball being played somewhere?

I expect the Yankees supposed first baseman will be talked about quite a bit in the "pages" here, so I hereby declare that he will be known as Doug Mntkwcz from here on in since his family has long ago abandoned vowels, but even I wouldn't go quite this far.

Speaking in a few places yesterday, Joe Torre indicated that he still has an open mind on the first base situation. The question in his mind is if he should use a first base platoon or just have a big ol' Doug Mientkiewicz buffet. If there is to be a platoon, he's been impressed by Josh Phelps on both sides of the ball, but he still wants to give Andy Phillips a chance, especially with his unfortunate absence from camp.

Whatever decision Torre makes about Mientkiewicz, there will still be a trade somewhere down the line. The only thing that will prevent it is if the Yankees get off to a hot start and blow the doors off the division by June.

Update: One for 19.