In Newark, Abbey Mastracco notes the Mets will play Army on March 31 at West Point's Doubleday Field, "capping their spring training exhibition slate and renewing an old tradition." The Mets and Yankees used to "regularly schedule exhibition games with the U.S. Military Academy," but the Mets have not played one since '84. This will be the "ninth meeting between the two opponents." Mets GM Sandy Alderson, a former Marine, has "long been a supporter of the armed forces." Mets COO Jeff Wilpon said that Alderson "helped inspire the idea to revive the series" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 2/16).
LESSON LEARNED: In Chicago, Scot Gregor cited a White Sox source as saying that it was Chair Jerry Reinsdorf who "finally gave the green light for a rebuilding project after decades of squelching any conversation that endorsed assembling a young roster and letting it grow." It is "hard to blame Reinsdorf for conducting himself like a major-market owner, for wanting to put a competitive team on the field every year." However, after four straight "losing seasons with veteran teams that were patched together, Reinsdorf relented." He finally "understood you can build formidable teams from the ground up without losing face -- or your fan base" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 2/15).
STEPPING STONE: Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner yesterday during his State of the Yankees address said that he "could envision" Alex Rodriguez' role as a special instructor at Spring Training "expanding in the future, although there have been no discussions between the two sides about specifics." Steinbrenner: "We’re going to continue to talk about different ways he can be involved" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/16).
