Davidoff's Sunday insider: Wild-card update

Thursday is the deadline for Major League Baseball to announce whether there will be a second wild card in each league for the 2012 season. At the urging of Bud Selig, and with many players wanting their club to have a better chance at October action, officials on both sides of the aisle are working diligently to try to make that a reality.

Because the commissioner often gets what he wants, let's wager a small amount on the extra wild card happening. Those opposed to it, however, fear that the concept will be shoehorned into the schedule and set up MLB for criticism should some messy scenarios emerge.

With the regular-season finales set for Wednesday, Oct. 3, and with World Series Game 1 set for Wednesday, Oct. 24, that makes it awfully challenging to squeeze in an extra postseason game, not to mention the potential play-in game for that extra postseason game. Ideally, baseball likes to build in days off for travel as well as publicity purposes, but there simply might not be room for that this time. And don't even bring up the possibility of rainouts.

My suggestion: Wait for 2013, when you'll have two 15-team leagues giving each club an equal mathematical chance for postseason qualification and time to do this right.

My prediction: The powers won't heed my suggestion.

Picky, choosy Roy

Look, we love and respect the "free" part of "free agent." Every player can do as he wishes. Nevertheless, folks throughout the game are confused by the way Roy Oswalt dealt with his free agency.

A Phillie since the middle of 2010, Oswalt, 34, targeted just two teams, your reigning pennant winners St. Louis and Texas, neither of whom needed to take the high risk on Oswalt. The Cardinals offended Oswalt with an offer he described to friends as "lowball," and a meeting with Texas fizzled once Rangers bigwigs asked Oswalt if he was willing to pitch out of the bullpen.

Now Oswalt says, through his agent Bob Garber, that he'll stay in shape and wait for a better opportunity to arise during the season. Maybe it'll work out; we know how fickle pitching depth can be. Yet Oswalt is putting his future on the line at a juncture during which -- based on the way he prepared and conditioned over the winter -- he very much wanted to keep pitching.

Big night in San Fran

On June 26, the Giants will hold "New York Giants night" during a game against the Dodgers (of course) at AT&T Park. Former New York Giants players will attend -- Willie Mays is often at the games, anyway -- and replicas of the Polo Grounds will be distributed to those who attend as part of a special ticket package.

One of the night's key organizers has been Gary Mintz of South Huntington, a lifelong Giants fan and frequent contributor to this page's "pop quiz." Mintz got to know some Giants officials when they brought their 2010 World Series trophy to New York, and he suggested an event this year to honor the 55th anniversary of the Giants' final year in the Big Apple.

"He's definitely one of the most passionate fans that I've had an opportunity to work with," Faham Zakariaei, the Giants' director of special ticket events, said of Mintz.

Mintz helps lead the New York Giants Preservation Society, a group of like-minded fans in the area. "If people can go [to San Francisco], it's a wonderful way to pay tribute," he said. "You can't pay tribute here. There's nothing here anymore."

Special visit

More than 70 of Hank's Yanks appeared at Steinbrenner Field on Wednesday and listened to speeches from Joe Girardi and Russell Martin. Said Hank Steinbrenner: "As long as there are Yankees, there will always be an effort to reach out to all kids."

Pop quiz

In a 1989 episode of "Coach," Luther gets suspended and compares his situation to that of a Yankees first baseman who lost his job to an eventual Hall of Famer. Name the first baseman who was benched.

Top three remaining free-agent pitchers

Roy Oswalt. His "Wait until the season starts" strategy will work only if he gets less selective.

Arthur Rhodes. You'd figure someone would take a shot on the venerable lefty reliever.

Mike Gonzalez. Another lefty reliever, he did well against lefty batters last year.

Top three remaining free-agent position players

Derrek Lee. Without a compelling offer, he appears content to fade away.

Vladimir Guerrero. There's no love out there for the Hall of Fame candidate.

Magglio Ordoñez. His serious injury (broken right ankle) in last year's playoffs made an encore difficult.

Quote of the week

"As a part of our drug testing program, the commissioner's office and the players association agreed to a neutral third party review for instances that are under dispute. While we have always respected that process, Major League Baseball vehemently disagrees with the decision rendered today by arbitrator Shyam Das." Rob Manfred, MLB's vice president for labor relations, on Ryan Braun's 50-game suspension being overturned.

Pop quiz answer

Wally Pipp, who lost his job to Lou Gehrig. Thanks to Fred Snyder of Farmingville for the suggestion.