Boras already is trying sell Zito as a No.1 - i.e. $14 million per year - and while neither the Mets nor the Yankees see him that way, somebody else - did someone say Texas' Tom Hicks? - most surely will. Yankee GM Brian Cashman, still smarting from the $40 million, four-year deal he gave Pavano, is admittedly gunshy about committing huge dollars for four or more years to a starting pitcher. "That's why we're doing what we're doing, stockpiling young arms in our system," he said. "You've got to develop your own pitching." Mets GM Omar Minaya, meanwhile, is not ruling out Zito, but it is wishful thinking on his part if he thinks Boras would take No. 2-3 money - $9 mil-$10 mil per year - because the Mets offered New York, a winning environment and the comfort zone of Zito's old pitching coach, Rick Peterson. To Zito, Jason Schmidt, Gil Meche, Ted Lilly, Vicente Padilla, Randy Wolf, Miguel Batista, Jeff Suppan, Woody Williams et al, we can only say: Watch that Matsuzaka number tonight and know that Christmas is coming.
