General: Sterno's Talkin' Smack -- Episode #11

Sterno's Talkin' smack. No holding back here. It's all trash, all the time. Welcome to the Wednesday morning edition. Enough chit chat-let's get started.

Smack This: Bubba Trammell -- In case you haven't heard, Bubba has gone into hiding, and deserted the New York Yankees. Yes, that's right, a guy who was a bench warmer who had a first class ticket to the World Series, has jumped ship. The question now is why?

The outfielder's agent called Yankees general manager Brian Cashman just a few hours before game-time this past Sunday to say that Trammell wouldn't be coming to the Stadium. Personal reasons were cited according to the New York Daily News.

According to some team sources, Trammell was unhappy with the playing time that Joe Torre was giving him this season. When approached about this Torre spoke of his concerns that it was something more than that, possibly health related. My only response to all of this is what did Bubba expect? When he became a Yankee in the off season, he must have known that he was never going to see the field. Seriously, with Hideki Matsui, Bernie Williams, and Raul Mondesi patrolling the outfield, where was he going to fit exactly?

When asked about Trammell's sudden disappearance, Cashman told the paper, "I can't comment further. I'm telling you most of what I know. He's on our 25-man and 40-man roster, but he's not here. I haven't spoken to Bubba. It was a quiet Sunday before that call."

Translation -- Bubba doesn't even come close to showing up on the Yankee's radar screen. I think bigger fish to fry is the saying?

Bubba Trammell -- Smacked!!!

Smack This: Scott Layden -- Well, Scott Layden's one week love affair with the New York fans, following the NBA draft, is now officially over. Reports indicate that the Knicks are in the midst of some serious trade conversations regarding Antoine Walker of the Boston Celtics.

Walker, he who got beaten to a pulp by Kenyon Martin this past postseason, may be a Knick by week's end. Many questions arise from this breaking story. First, I thought the Knicks, who are absolutely killed year in and year out by the salary cap, were going to try and dump salary. At the forefront is that of Latrell Spreewell. So, if you deal Spree for Walker, you cut how much money off the payroll?

Drum roll please -- none. Walker is set to make $28 million over the next two years, which is why Boston has been so eager to move him. Well, that and the fact that he's been nothing short of a bum in the playoffs over the past couple of years.

Another question now is raised. If the deal doesn't help the Knicks with their cap issues, then it must be to help the team in an area of need; right? Whoops! Wrong. With Walker, the Knicks would have six power forwards on the roster including the two they acquired in the NBA Draft in Mike Sweetney and Maciej Lampe.

Once again, Layden will overload a spot in the New York lineup. Over the past couple of seasons, the shooting guard position has been as logged jammed as the Long Island Expressway during rush hour. It's been a nightmare, plain and simple.

Earth to Dolan and the New York Knicks -- Get your head out of your respective rears and pay attention!

Scott Layden-Smacked!!!

Smack This: The Anaheim Mighty Ducks -- Quack Quack, go the Ducks. Quacking themselves right out of contention is what they are doing. The surprise team, and media darling, led by Jean Sebastian Giguere, is very close to losing their identity.

Incase you haven't heard, the Ducks neglected to make a qualifying offer of $10 million to captain Paul Kariya and $3.5 million to top line center Adam Oates. If the Ducks had kept Kariya, he would have been paid a salary of $10 million for the fifth straight season. Simply put, they no longer are willing to dish out the cash.

Okay, I understand that Kariya did practically nothing during their playoff run, but as in Brian Leetch's situation yesterday, here is a guy who has been the entire team for a decade now. With Kariya the Ducks have had a terrible team, yet he never has left them for dead. He stuck idly by while the Ducks organization did almost nothing to show any dedication to winning.

As for Oates, his age is getting up there, that's for sure. However, his leadership is critical for the continued growth and success of the team. Now, the Ducks look to cut some costs (despite the fact that they just made a ton of money this past season), and it looks like Kariya will go elsewhere. An unrestricted free agent as of today, Kariya will have plenty of money thrown at him by some big market teams like the New York Rangers perhaps. I think that this show of disrespect will be enough of a reason for Kariya to say goodbye to Disneyland.

This will be no surprise to the Ducks GM -- "I don't think there's any question. We understand he's a very important player for the franchise, very important going back (for years)," Murray said. "This year, he was a real catalyst. We don't want to lose our fans because of this. But when you're building a contending team, it's hard to have one player at $10 million when the payroll is in the mid- to low-$40s (millions). Giguere will be left all alone in Anaheim in 2004."

The Mighty Ducks -- Smacked!!!

One for the Road: The Arizona Diamondbacks have now won 12 straight games without their two aces on the hill in Randy Johnson and Curt Shilling. Bob Brenly, the team's manager, has done a terrific job this season to bring the D'Backs back into contention. I give him a ton of credit.

Hit me up with feedback at eSports (click the Write the Editor link) or on my homepage at http://www.suite101.com/myhome.cfm/theycallmethecloser.

I'll see you all Wednesday morning... till then, DON'T be the one who's smacked!