So, Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman are hanging out together in New Jersey? According to The New York Post, the two were co-speakers at a lecture in Wayne, NJ. About 1,000 fans – a “mostly partisan Yankee crowd” – paid $37 each to hear the two GM’s talk baseball. I can just see the audience, the men decked out in their finest nylon running suits and wife-beaters and the women in leather pants and stilettos, hanging on every word.

Cashman stated he wanted to “stick with our young pitching staff” regarding the Johan Santana talks. He also admitted Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu showed up to spring training out of shape last season. Theo, meanwhile, fessed up regretting the trade to re-acquire Doug Mirabelli at the expense of Cla Meredith.

There was a lighter side to the evening, the Post reports:

There was good byplay between Cashman and Epstein, with the latter joking he was responsible for importing the bugs into Cleveland that distracted Joba
Chamberlain during Game 2 of the AL Division Series.

During a question-and-answer session, a fan asked each GM whom he would take from the other’s team if given the chance. Cashman picked Jason Varitek, noting he’d like to take the catcher and “put him [on] another planet,” to cripple the Red Sox. Who would Epstein pluck from the Yankees? “I’d take the gentleman on my left,” Epstein said, motioning to Cashman, “and make him [our] scouting director.”

Pitchers and catchers report in 18 days…