Yanks, Etc.

Jason Michael Barker

A few weeks ago, "sources" said the Yankees would have a deal for Sammy Sosa worked out by the All-Star break. Earlier this week, "sources" said the Yanks had turned their attention to Moises Alou and Jose Lima of the Astros. Yesterday, "sources" said a deal was close between the Yankees and Tigers for slugger Juan Gonzalez.

What does it all mean? It means things like this get leaked all the time (see: Gammons, Peter). Sometimes how "close" a deal really is has been exaggerated, and other times these rumors have little, if any, truth to them in the first place. But these rumors sell papers, get you to watch the sports report on television, and compel you to click links on websites.

Of course any one of the deals I mentioned could have happened by the time you read this, at which point the media outlet who first ran the story would look pretty damned smart -- run enough of these rumors, and eventually you'll hit one on the head. The beauty part of all of this is that there's very little accountability for those rumors which aren't true, because after all, they were only little tidbits of information from team sources who only spoke on the condition of anonymity.

I'm not here to turn this into some sort of rant against the media and questionable journalism, because there are much more interesting things to fill this space with. Rather, this is just a reminder for you to think about where these stories are really coming from before you get too excited about the possibility of your favorite team trading for Pedro Martinez.

Before you email me to say that we here at Strikethree are guilty of this exact thing on our Rumor Mill page, I'd offer that our Rumor Mill is designed primarily to entertain, not to be a definitive source of information. So there, neener neener.

Moving on, I wasn't surprised to see the rumors about New York being interested in the Alou/Lima package. That's a combination of players that actually makes a ton of sense for both teams -- the Yankees because they need another bat and have questions about their pitching, and the Astros because they're already out of it this season and have youngsters on the way to take the place of both players.

Even though the Yankees have had trouble scoring runs this season, I still think they'd be best served by adding another pitcher (or in a best-case scenario, a pitcher and an outfielder). David Cone doesn't appear able to pitch every fifth day, Roger Clemens has been ineffective and is now on the disabled list, and Orlando Hernandez sprained his elbow last weekend. That leaves Andy Pettitte as the number-one starter, and his strikeout rate has declined each of the past four seasons. Long-term, I'm not sold.

I didn't intend for this to turn into a piece about the Yankees either, but they're certainly an interesting bunch at the moment. After taking a turn as a designated hitter, Chuck Knoblauch was back in the field Thursday and up to his old tricks -- in the fourth inning, he fielded a Jose Offerman grounder cleanly but threw the ball away allowing Offerman to take second base.

I'm normally one to say that defense is overrated, and that a player who hits well can generally make up for his lack of fielding prowess. Knoblauch is making errors left and right, however, and to make matters worse he's having the worst year of his career at the plate -- his .332 OBP this season is well below his very good .386 career mark. He's also slugging under .400, a very difficult feat these days.

New York picked up infielder Jose Vizcaino from the Dodgers this week, primarily to use a defensive replacement for Knoblauch in the late innings. In exchange, they sent C/1B/DH/PH Jim Leyritz to Los Angeles.

That the Yankees would ship him out for a defensive replacement when they already had Wilson Delgado and Clay Bellinger on the roster speaks volumes: despite his reputation as a good clubhouse presence and a post-season clutch hitter, Leyritz can't really contribute anymore in tangible ways.

Finally, Toronto's David Wells became the first 12-game winner in baseball Thursday, working seven innings of a 7-4 win over the Tigers. I only mention this because in the game, the Blue Jays got the bulk of their offense from Tony Batista, who homered twice and drove in three runs. The two blasts bring him to 18 on the season -- not bad for a guy who missed the first week of July with an injury.

Batista, if you recall, was acquired by the Jays for reliever Dan Plesac in the middle of last season. Plesac is a solid lefty to have in your pen, but he has nowhere near the value of Batista, who has now hit 44 homers in his 163 games with Toronto. Just 26, he still has the best years of his career ahead of him... and to think GM Gord Ash got him for a situational reliever who has only worked 18.1 innings this season.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker was rumored to be heading to another baseball website, but he couldn't agree to terms on a long-term contract extension. Tell him he was stupid to turn down $10 and a box of doughnuts at jmb@strikethree.com.