Unsubstantiated claims by Minneapolis baseball people

• Something new and creative by Minneapolis types: bash someone else. As soon as they stop doing this, I'll stop pointing it out.
  

"But, with all their talent and all their money, the Yankees have spent time salivating over Minnesota ace Johan Santana to the point that many believe it's just a matter of time before the left-hander is wearing pinstripes."

• The Yankees have salivated (?) to the point that...it's just a matter of time before Santana is in pinstripes? First, this couldn't happen til 2009 at the earliest, and apparently the writer is unaware the Yankees have 2007 and 2008 pitchers to worry about. (The article still has Matsui out for only 3-4 days, but he was put on the DL Sunday). "Salivate?" Who exactly is sitting around doing this?

"MANY BELIEVE?" Name one, please. You don't name any. I found one reference to a New Jersey baseball reporter who wrote a column in January 2007, and with no news to report speculated on possible trades down the road. He mentioned Santana's name as a possibility but completely as speculation from his own imagination, no shred of anyone in the organization saying word 1 about it. The article was picked up by furious Twins bloggers who accepted it as practically a done deal with no evidence whatsoever. I don't know if this is what Smith was using as background. The column was on ESPN.com Insider column by Bob Klapisch.

• "To that assumption, Santana has little to say.

"Right now, there's no reason for me to talk about that," he said after his seven-inning, one-hit outing Sunday. "I still have two more years, this year and next year, with the Minnesota Twins, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make people feel proud of being on this team, and, hopefully, in the future, we'll find a way to stay here.

From article by Kelsie Smith, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 4/9/07, "Yankees Still Dangerous, Gardy Says." (I was unable to create a link to this-just got a blank page with a Media News Group url in the title. I tried to get to that, but no luck. I found the article originally at twincities.com the Pi-Press website).

I usually check on google for the backgrounds of anyone who writes about baseball. If this is the same Kelsie Smith, she formerly worked at the Boston Globe and is the fiancee (perhaps wife by now) of former Boston Globe Red Sox reporter Chris Snow, who now works in the Minneapolis area as well. (From aarongleeman.com, 3/1/07).

• It astounds me a mass media reporter is allowed to make apparently unsubstantiated claims without fear of being fired or sued. So far, I've been unable to get the links to work in this post, but I'll keep trying.