Sports

DO SOMETHING, PLEASE! YANK TRADE RUMORS DRIVING PLAYERS BATTY

CHICAGO – Every day the Yankees sit at a table in this city or that. They sip their coffee and read the newspaper. They read the Yankees are the front-runners for Sammy Sosa. They read the Yankees are on the verge of acquiring Juan Gonzalez. They read Moises Alou could be joining them soon.

Then they put the newspaper down and look out into the Yankees’ clubhouse. They don’t see Sosa or Gonzalez or Alou. They see Felix Jose and Wilson Delgado. They see a pale-faced minor league reliever named Ben Ford walking through the door. They see Jake Westbrook walking out the door, back to the minor leagues, the only place that can calm his nerves.

And they wonder what on earth is going on? They walk through the tunnel from the clubhouse to the dugout. They see Ricky Ledee, the human trade rumor, surrounded by reporters and they want to throw blocks to create daylight for Ledee to sprint onto the outfield grass, his sanctity from the madness.

They shake their heads a lot. They grumble. They brace themselves, waiting for the next new face to stop by their locker and ask them about the trade rumors.

They see a phalanx of television cameras smothering Joe Torre, who has said he will not talk about trades but is asked about them daily.

They shake their heads.

“Look at that,” one player said, pointing to the World Series-like crowd around Torre. “Maybe that’s why [Juan Gonzalez] doesn’t want to come to New York. This is ridiculous. They either need to do something or come out and say they aren’t doing anything.”

The problem with the perception that the Yankees are going to do something and something big to help snap themselves out of the doldrums kills the team in so many ways.

For one thing, it is a constant reminder that they aren’t good enough to get it done without getting help. You hear that enough times and you start believing it.

For another, it’s a distraction that takes the players’ minds off the task at hand, that night’s game.

Once this 72-hour window to convince Gonzalez to come to New York and sign a contract extension expires, George Steinbrenner must take control of the situation and within 24 hours trade for Sosa or announce the Yankees are not making a marquee acquisition or he’ll watch his team slowly wind down the drain and out of the playoffs.

More than personnel reasons are responsible for the Yankees going 12-17 of late. The constant trade speculation has worn away at the team, robbed the players of their ability to concentrate, made them feel a time zone or two off.

The players are aware Gonzalez turned down an eight-year, $140 million contract offer from the Tigers. It’s only natural then that the Yankee players are wondering what will be left for them if the Yankees sign Gonzalez to a contract extension.

“Sure, it’s a distraction,” Torre said. “Darn right it is. We’re used to distractions, but this is lasting a long time. It’s a distraction. This has probably been the biggest distraction since I’ve been here, as far as for an extended period of time. You can’t pretend it’s not there.”

You can eliminate it, by making your own set of rules. A self-imposed trading deadline of June 28, for example, would give the players a better sense of togetherness.

Getting a Gonzalez or a Sosa would lift the team in obvious ways. Telling the players definitively they are not getting a superstar to help them, would also help in that it would remove the uncertainty, eliminate the distraction, and make the players bond together in an effort to try to prove they don’t need as much help as advertised.

Yankee GM Brian Cashman, who has not accompanied the team on this trip, can only tell inquiring general managers from other clubs so much as long as the Gonzalez deal remains a possibility.

Gonzalez’s initial reaction to a trade to New York was one of non-interest. He has a no-trade-to-the-Yankees clause in his contract. Remember this about players who initially have New York fears, then change their minds for New York money: It doesn’t always work out.

Roger Clemens chose the Blue Jays over the Yankees, proceeded to win two Cy Young Awards, then followed the scent of money to New York. He hasn’t been the same pitcher since. Not even close.

Do the Yankees really want a player who needs to be talked into joining them?