It's only a week until spring camps open, do you know where your pitchers and catchers are?...


The staggering thing about Cincinnati naming Wayne Krivsky, 51, as general manager this week isn't that the Reds admitted their mistake in bypassing Krivsky two winters ago in favor of Dan O'Brien, but that somebody finally woke up and tapped into the fertile Minnesota Twins organization.

The Twins, under the direction of GM Terry Ryan, for years have been a model franchise in terms of scouting, intelligence and efficiency. Yet, partly because the Twins aren't into self-promotion, whenever GM jobs opened, franchises tapped into other pipelines. Oakland, under Billy Beane, sent J.P. Ricciardi off to run Toronto and packed Paul DePodesta off to direct the Dodgers. After DePodesta failed, the Dodgers then went to San Francisco to tap Ned Colletti to replace him. Baltimore hired Jim Beattie following Beattie's stint in Montreal. Pittsburgh brought in Dave Littlefield from Florida. Seattle hired Bill Bavasi after Bavasi had been bounced by the Angels in Anaheim. The Mets brought back Omar Minaya from the Expos. The list goes on and on -- fortunately for the Twins, who have enjoyed almost unheard of continuity with talented people like Krivsky, Mike Radcliff -- one of the finest scouting directors in the game -- and Larry Corrigan, special assistant to the GM, surrounding Ryan.

It's no secret that Cincinnati has some of the poorest pitching around, Eric Milton (major-league leading 40 homers allowed in '05) is a poor fit for Cincinnati's ballpark, there isn't much help in the minors and Krivsky will tackle the problem of squeezing Adam Dunn into the expected payroll of around $60 million (think: trade). From all of that, we'll know what to expect from new owner Bob Castellini by how much patience he has: Minnesota owner Carl Pohlad has made a lot of mistakes in a lot of areas, but the best thing he did while the Twins were losing in the mid-to-late 1990s was remain patient with his baseball staff. Ryan ranks second to Atlanta's John Schuerholz in GM tenure. Schuerholz has been GM in Atlanta since Oct. 10, 1990; Ryan has been in charge in Minnesota since Sept. 13, 1994.

Silly me. I realized how badly I needed my just-finished vacation when I was home one night and saw Love Monkey was a new show on CBS. I just assumed it had something to do with Kris and Anna Benson.

So new Florida manager Joe Girardi is banning facial hair, just like the Yankees. Big deal -- after losing Carlos Delgado, Mike Lowell, Juan Pierre, Josh Beckett and everyone else this winter, nobody on the team will be old enough to grow facial hair.

Just because Bill Pohlad, son of Minnesota owner Carl, is one of the executive producers for the Oscar-nominated Brokeback Mountain, you shouldn't automatically assume that the Oscar-nominated Good Night and Good Luck is a documentary of the '06 Orioles directed by Baltimore owner Peter Angelos. Though Miguel Tejada says it's OK if that's what you want to believe.

Holy Ma Bell, you've got to be a telecommunications expert to keep up with wherever they're playing in San Francisco. The Giants home field has gone from Pac Bell Park to SBC Park to, now, AT&T Park. One thing we know: As long as Barry Bonds is playing left field, it will not become Sprint Park.

The slowest moving thing in Canada right now is: A) The syrup being tapped from maple trees; B) The wait for an available MRI machine. C.) New Blue Jays catcher Bengie Molina "running" to first base.

Be honest here, a gambling scandal breaking out in a sport in which the commissioner is named "Bettman"? Somewhere, you just know that Pete Rose is doubled over in laughter.

Some are groaning in San Diego at the additions of Mike Piazza (37), Vinny Castilla (38) and Doug Mirabelli (35), thinking that the Padres should be getting younger, but as San Diego reporter Bill Center notes, the Padres are getting very Young: They've also added pitcher Chris Young (6-10, 260), first baseman Walter Young (6-5, 310) and infielder Eric Young (5-9, 185).

Definition of the dead part of the winter: When they've got little else to talk about in New York and Boston except whether Roger Clemens can be convinced to return to the Yankees or Red Sox.

The trial involving the Angels' name change has gone to a jury in Anaheim and the club is waiting to see whether it will remain the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or revert back to the Anaheim Angels. Manager Mike Scioscia attended court the other day to hear closing arguments. Worst thing for him was, none of those arguments involved the name "Manny Ramirez."

Names are suddenly all the rage. Tampa Bay is going to drop the "Devil Rays" for a name to be determined following the '06 season. So far, they're still looking -- "Yankees" already has been taken.

Notable Yankees absent from WBC rosters include Randy Johnson, Hideki Matsui, Mariano Rivera and Gary Sheffield, and Alex Rodriguez almost certainly wouldn't be except for some strong behind-the-scenes personal lobbying from Commissioner Bud Selig. Owner George Steinbrenner, however, has agreed to allow Horace Clarke to play.

Boston's center fielder this summer will be: A) Whomever Johnny Damon recommended on his way out the door two months ago; B) The bird from the Coco Puffs box; C) Coco Crisp.

Sadly, if Sammy Sosa does sign with the Nationals, he'll rank third -- behind both the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials -- on the list of monuments with range in Washington, D.C.

If baseball and dogs are your passions -- real dogs, not Wiki Gonzalez -- then check out One Night in February -- Tony La Russa's All-Star 60th Birthday Roast, the new 90-minute DVD produced to raise funds for La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation. Filmed at La Russa's birthday gala last February, it features a Who's Who cast of speakers: Sparky Anderson, Tommy Lasorda, Dennis Eckersley, John Madden, John Grisham and, in what was one of his final public appearances since going underground with the ground hogs following last March's Congressional inquisition, Mark McGwire. It's a crisp, behind-the-VIP-tape look at an evening devoted to a legendary manager, and the guest's affinity for La Russa is very visible. It's available for $19.99 at www.mlb.com, and for further information on ARF -- a worthwhile cause -- check out www.arf.com.

Sorry, I had a few other things to add, but the NLF came in and "lowered the volume" on my microphone.