YANKEE NOTES
Had the Expos not gotten cold feet and flunked Brandon Knight’s right arm in mid-June, Ugueth Urbina would have been in the Yankees’ bullpen last night.
Instead, Urbina, whom the Yankees failed in a physical after the Knight fiasco, was traded from Montreal to Boston yesterday and the move certainly got the Yankees’ attention.
“I don’t want Boston to get any better than they are,” GM Brian Cashman said of the Red Sox, who are still 3 ½ games games behind the Yankees despite the Bombers’ 6-2 loss to the Rangers last night. “They are a handful already. Until someone tells me we have accomplished something this year, anything Boston will do will bother me unless it’s them taking a loss.”
“It’s a big play by them,” Yankee manager Joe Torre said. “If they had a question mark, it was their bullpen and Urbina is a good one.”
Cashman worked the phones until yesterday’s 4 p.m. trading deadline but never got to the serious stage of discussions concerning a last-minute trade. Considering the Yankees added Luis Polonia, Jose Canseco and Luis Sojo after the waiver trade deadline, Cashman was asked about the possibility of making a deal in August.
“You never stop looking to improve your club because that’s part of the job description,” Cashman said. “But I have a lot of confidence in what we have here. I feel good about what we have going on here and there is a period of time to let it run and see where it takes you.”
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*Jorge Posada and Tino Martinez were late scratches from the Yankee lineup. Posada went down with a stomach disorder and Martinez was hit in the right cheekbone during BP. Martinez’ injury wasn’t’ serious and he was available.
Todd Greene filled in for Posada and Luis Sojo played first for Martinez.
*David Justice started his minor-league rehab assignment as the DH for Norwich (Double-A) last night. If his left groin held up, Justice was going to repeat the exercise tonight. If nothing goes wrong, he could be in the Yankees’ lineup tomorrow against the Rangers.