Are You Kidding Me? (05/24/00)
The Yanks are struggling. Not like other teams struggle where they lose 10 of 12 games. No, the Yanks aren't in first place by 10 games already. And for them, at least in the eyes of their fans and the media, they're struggling.
So the Yanks are gonna start trading to get their team back on top. According to ESPN, the Yanks have their eyes on Jose Canseco, Juan Gonzalez, Henry Rodriguez, B.J. Surhoff and Sammy Sosa. Nice little grocery list... "Oh, honey, I'm just gonna pop over to the convenience store and pick up a couple of the best hitters of all-time... no, I think they're out of Mays and Aaron..."
The media has made it known that whichever one of these guy they want, the Yanks will get, because when George Steinbrenner wants a guy, he gets him... unless his name is Johnson, Brown, Griffey, Bonds, Schilling or Maddux.
Most teams aren't into giving their stars away for literally nothing, although some of the trades that have been made over the past several years have amounted to as much. But since giving players away is not a common practice, the Yanks are gonna have to give up some players to get one of these stars.
The most likely candidate to be dealt is Ramiro Mendoza. Everyone, according to the pundits, craves this guy, even though he's never been much more than a middle reliever and only a decent one at that. There's talk that he would be a great starter, but his lifetime ERA as a starter is more than a run higher than as a reliever. This year, it's 2 1/2 runs higher. But for arguments' sake, let's assume the media is right and every GM craves this guy. Is he enough to bring Sammy Sosa in trade? My guess is no. How about Henry Rodriguez? I don't care how pitching starved a franchise is, no GM in his right mind trades a middle reliever for an everyday player... unless, of course, it's Cleveland's John Hart, who illustrated the folly of doing exactly that when he dealt outfielder Brian Giles for reliever Ricardo Rincon. Talk about giving a player away... but I digress.
So if Mendoza is not enough, assuming that some other team wants a middling middle reliever, then the Yanks are either gonna have to chip in a little more, or shop at WalMart. Since George does nothing cheaply, the former is probably the way they're gonna try to go. I say "try" because they will have to pony up someone from their minor leagues. And frankly, they haven't got much. Their two best prospects, Nick Johnson and D'Angelo Jimenez are out with injuries. Johnson is out at least until June with a hand injury that hasn't healed. There's a good chance he could be out much longer. Jimenez IS out much longer, as he is out for the year recovering from a spine/neck injury suffered in a car accident this winter. Not likely that an enemy GM is gonna give up good product for damaged goods.
The Yanks' 3rd best prospect, Alfonso Soriano, has been up and down from AAA.
Player AVG G AB R H Tb 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS SH SF HP SLG% OBP%
Soriano AAA .273 20 77 17 21 34 4 0 3 9 7 19 2 0 0 0 1 .442 .341
Soriano ML .167 14 42 5 7 15 2 0 2 2 1 14 2 0 1 0 0 .357 .186
Soriano Com .235 34 119 22 28 49 6 0 5 11 8 33 4 0 1 0 1 .411 .286If I didn't know better, I'd say these are the numbers of a normal shortstop, not the numbers of the super prospect that many of the top prospect lists made him out to be this past winter. In fact, his on base and slugging are rather Chris Gomez-like. Not meaning to make light of it, but here's a comparison of Gomez and Soriano, using Gomez' first full year in the majors and prorating Soriano's current combined numbers.
Player AVG G AB R H Tb 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS SH SF HP SLG% OBP%
Gomez .223 123 431 49 96 153 20 0 11 50 41 96 4 1 3 4 3 .355 .292
Soriano .235 123 430 80 101 177 22 0 18 40 29 119 14 0 4 0 4 .411 .286Yes, Soriano is better, but is he so much better that he can bring a top 10 slugger in return? If I'm the GM, no way.
How about pitching? Everyone needs more pitching. The Yanks can throw in some pitching prospects. Well, maybe. If the Yanks deal Mendoza, they're gonna need all the pitching prospects they can lay their hands on to help an already ailing pitching staff. They do have the second best ERA in the AL, but that is largely due to the great ERAs of Jeff Nelson (1.46), Jason Grimsley (1.93) and Mike Stanton (3.06). However, it should be noted that those three are on pace for a combined 300+ innings. Throw in Mariano Rivera and the Yanks will be depending on 4 relievers to throw nearly 400 innings in relief. The last time a team had 4 relievers throw that many innings all in relief was the 1992 Astros, who finished 4th in the NL West race. Generally speaking, it's not a good sign when your bullpen is throwing that many innings.
But I digress... So who do the Yanks have that can help their cause if they trade Mendoza? Or better yet, who can they trade instead of Mendoza? Well, just looking at their pitching staff in AAA Columbus...
AGE PITCHER W-L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO WP AVG
24 Bradley, Ryan 1- 0 6.35 16 0 0 0 0 17.0 26 13 12 3 1 11 17 2 .347
29 Buddie, Mike 1- 1 3.18 3 3 0 0 0 17.0 14 9 6 1 0 12 10 2 .222
24 *Choate, Randy 0- 0 2.50 17 0 0 0 0 18.0 15 5 5 1 1 9 18 0 .227
26 Dingman, Craig 3- 0 2.95 15 0 0 0 1 21.1 21 9 7 0 0 5 21 1 .263
25 Ford, Ben 1- 0 4.58 11 0 0 0 0 19.2 21 10 10 1 4 15 18 6 .273
24 Knight, Brandon 2- 6 5.63 9 9 2 0 0 54.1 57 38 34 7 1 19 32 2 .271
25 Lail, Denny 3- 3 4.13 8 7 0 0 0 48.0 46 22 22 7 0 15 37 0 .250
24 *Lilly, Ted 1- 1 3.65 2 2 0 0 0 12.1 11 5 5 1 0 5 9 1 .234
27 *Tatis, Ramon 0- 1 9.27 6 3 0 0 0 22.1 28 25 23 2 0 16 15 1 .315
28 Tessmer, Jay 2- 0 1.04 17 0 0 0 9 17.1 10 3 2 1 0 6 10 0 .167
29 *Watson, Allen 0- 0 0.00 4 1 0 0 0 5.2 2 0 0 0 0 2 3 1 .105
22 Westbrook, Jake 2- 6 6.75 8 8 0 0 0 41.1 51 32 31 1 0 22 25 1 .304
29 Williams, Matt 1- 0 3.00 5 0 0 0 1 6.0 6 3 2 0 0 2 5 1 .261
24 *Yarnall, Ed 1- 1 7.71 5 5 1 0 0 25.2 28 23 22 4 4 16 13 2 .301uh, nobody. Yarnall, Westbrook and Bradley are the closest approximations they have to being prospects and those 3 are getting hammered. If they're getting pummeled by guys who can't make the majors, imagine what'll happen against the guys who can. The story is not much better at any of the other Yankee farm clubs, either.
The Yanks do have two other guys who are considered top prospects: 20-year old Jackson Melian and 18-year old Wily Mo Pena. Melian is holding his own in AA and Pena is in the low A Sally League.
PLAYER AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS SLG OBP E
Melian, Jackson,OF .288 42 160 20 46 7 4 3 24 10 39 11 1 .438 .328 5
Pena, Wily,OF .188 46 165 31 31 5 0 8 22 16 66 4 4 .364 .267 4Hmmm. Not that great. Yes, they are young for the levels they are playing, but they're not really doing much to get excited about.
So what will the Yanks have to do in order to get a prime slugger? In all likelyhood, to even tempt a team for one of the aforementioned hitters, they're gonna have to include Mendoza and either Soriano or one of the two young outfielders. Maybe all three. Undoubtedly they will have to throw in one of the "pitching prospects" from AAA.
The Cubs would probably make the deal for Rodriguez, but not for Sosa. It would be a public relations nightmare to divest themselves of Sosa right now. Canseco can't really play outfield and has a tough time staying healthy; not exactly what the Yanks are looking for. Tigers GM Randy Smith just traded a ton of guys to get Gonzales this winter. Even though the rumors are that Gonzales won't sign with the Tigers, I doubt Smith wants to be remembered as the guy who traded Gabe Kapler, Francisco Cordero and Frank Catalanotto for a couple of middle relievers and a shortstop who can't hit. As for the O's and BJ Surhoff... why the Os would consider trading one of their only remaining productive players is beyond me. Then again, the same could be said of their master plan for building a contender. So you never know.
Regardless, it'll be very interesting, if not downright entertaining, to see how the Yanks try to address the situation, both on the field, and perhaps, for the sake of Yankee GM Brian Cashman's job security, in the media.