MLB's non-believers

It's amazing, the grief the Yankees received for not spending money this past offseason. Especially since, you know, they usually get grief (including from this space) for just the opposite.

But even after their second straight offseason in which they actually cut payroll, the Yankees' pure financial muscle still puts a scare into the other 29 clubs. And Matt Holliday should be appreciative.

According to a person in the loop, the Cardinals bid so highly for Holliday - they eventually committed a seven-year, $120-million package to him - because they were terrified that had they not essentially bid against themselves, Holliday would have signed a one-year, $20-million deal with the Yankees and gone back out on the market next year. The Cards raised their offer from five years and $80 million.

The Yankees had no interest in such a deal. They prioritized other high-priced needs in Curtis Granderson and Javier Vazquez; they weren't that high on Holliday, and they simply couldn't afford him, as per the budget set by Hal Steinbrenner.

Holliday, as Newsday reported in October, ranked the Yankees first on his free-agency wish list. But the two sides never seriously engaged in negotiations

.A loaded deck

Scott Boras represents both Holliday and Johnny Damon, and there's a working theory among industry officials that Boras sacrificed Damon - who agreed to a one-year, $8-million deal with the Tigers Saturday - for Holliday's greater payday. If Damon had re-signed quickly with the Yankees, in other words, the Cardinals wouldn't have felt threatened by the Yankees in the Holliday talks.

I'm not buying it. First of all, Damon was fully on board with Boras' negotiating strategy of talking tough with the Yankees. Moreover, once Boras and Damon realized that the Yankees were about to sign Nick Johnson, they quickly relented and offered to sign for a reasonable two years and $20 million. The Yankees responded that they already were too far down the road with Johnson.

Early call

Rod Barajas may not be headed for Cooperstown, but most people would've bet last November that he would make more money in 2010 than Brian Schneider.

Yet while Barajas agreed to sign with the Mets Saturday for about $1 million, Schneider received $2.75 million over two years to leave the Mets for the rival Phillies and back up Carlos Ruiz. He signed the deal Dec. 1 while clubs still had some spending money.

"I always believe, if the opportunity is in front of you, if it's a good situation, don't be greedy, because they'll go get somebody else," Schneider said Friday. "He who hesitates is last."

Schneider described the 2009 Mets season as featuring "a lot of chaos" but attributed the myriad injuries to "bad luck" rather than any team-culture problems.

Best wishes

General manager Pat Gillick, now an adviser with the Phillies, worked in the Yankees' front office in 1975 and 1976. That means he knows longtime Yankees head trainer Gene Monahan, who is taking a leave of absence because of a "significant illness."

"Gene Monahan is one of those guys who is very, very professional," Gillick said. "Very loyal to the Yankees organization . . . You think of the Yankees, and you're in the baseball industry, and you think of Gene Monahan."