Hank, shut it!

In one of his rare appearances to the outside world, Hank Steinbrenner spoke to the press this week. The subject? No, not Jennifer Love Hewitt, although I'm sure Hankenstein wanted to rush to her aid when he saw her thighs on the cover of People magazine, the headline screaming, "I'm Not Fat!!!"

Neither am I, sweetheart. Neither am I...

No, this week The Tamperor wanted to talk out loud about, of all things, Johan Santana. It seems someone in the press thought it prudent to write about the New York Yankees without first talking to Hank. The drool had barely collected before Hank opened his mouth once again.

It was reported that the Yankees had pulled their offer for Santana, something that was threatened a few months ago at the winter meetings. Never one to skip a chance to undermine his General Manager, Hankenstein let the world know that the Yankees are still talking but have no official offer on the table.

If you're scoring at home, that's the fifteenth AP story with absolutely no news on the Santana situation.

It feels as though Hank learned his negotiating tactics from Scott Boras, the maligned and incredibly wealthy baseball agent who supposedly managed to anger even Alex Rodriguez this offseason. Boras applies a press based smoke screen to many if his negotiations, leaking false bit of information to try and artificially raise his clients pending contract.

Hankenstein may not be lying, but he is creating a difficult situation for GM Brian Cashman. Splashing your teams intentions, or lack thereof, all over the back pages on a near weekly basis doesn't leave much room for negotiation. Previous to Hank, most Yankee chatter in the off season was rumor and speculation.

Not with Hank. Hank loves and respects Yankee fans so much that he wants to keep you abreast of all the latest gossip and dispel whatever false rumors might be flying around. At some point, Hank should just cut out the middle man and start his own blog. I'm sure if Hankenstein.com isn't available he could scrounge up the cash and buy it out.

What's more disturbing about Storytime with Hankenstein is how dangerously close to tampering he has come. His comments last week regarding Santana were surprisingly blunt, stating that the Yankees were one of the few teams that could give Johan the multi year nine figure extension he wanted, but that price AND trading prospects was too much.

Santana has a no trade clause. Read between the lines: we'll pay you what you want if you just become a free agent. That cuts underneath any plans of the Twins if Johan decides he wants Steinbrenner money.

At this point, I don't care what happens. The Twins have overplayed their hand. They're sitting on the best pitcher in baseball and have showed themselves to be indecisive and inept. The could conceivably contend this year and if Santana leads them to the Promised Land, we'll all look like fools. But come spring 2009, the Twins will be minus the best pitcher in the game and have little talent in return.

The best thing for the Yankees to do is put a muzzle on Hank and let Cashman do his job. The reason the Yankees have a surplus of young talent is because Cashman has rebuilt the farm system. He has finally had the chance to run the team his way for two seasons and along comes Hank to screw it up.

Shut your mouth, Hank. Let the baseball men do their baseball things. The horse is in the barn.