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Canseco dropped from roster

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 11, 2000

NEW YORK -- Jose Canseco hasn't done much for the Yankees since they claimed him off waivers from the Devil Rays.

Now he won't be doing anything.

The Yankees dropped Canseco from their 25-man roster for the AL Championship Series, deciding they needed the bullpen depth provided by Jason Grimsley more than the potential contributions of Canseco, who likely would have been used as nothing more than a pinch-hitter.

"It's not a major change," Canseco said. "It's not like a jaw-dropper, like I was playing every day and now I'm not on the roster."

The Yankees never really wanted Canseco, but they got him when they put in a waiver claim designed to keep him from other teams and the Rays let him go.

They used him some at designated hitter and briefly in the outfield. But he didn't play much down the stretch and not at all in the five-game division series with Oakland.

As a result, he wasn't that surprised when he got the news Tuesday from manager Joe Torre.

"I knew it was possible it could happen. ... I knew it would probably happen," Canseco said. "You want to be an everyday player and help your team. It's not my decision. But it probably was a good choice by Joe."

Canseco will stay with the team and could be put back on the roster if the Yankees advance to the World Series. But this had to be an embarrassing demotion for someone who considers himself an impact player with the potential to go to the Hall of Fame. (Especially because the Yankees kept Luis Polonia on the roster.)

Torre said the decision was not easy, but he didn't have a spot in the lineup for Canseco because he planned to use Chuck Knoblauch as the DH and he didn't think Canseco would be of much use off the bench. "(Canseco) feels he could help the club, and you know, I agree with him, but here it was tough to try to get him in there consistently," Torre said.

NOW PITCHING: Thankfully, Seattle's John Halama and New York's Orlando Hernandez will do battle with their arms tonight and not their mouths. Both had rather, um, interesting sessions with the media.

Hernandez tends to be short with his answers anyway, and he was in post-season form. He wouldn't talk about his relief appearance Sunday because it was in the past; said he won't treat tonight's game differently than any others; said his arm feels fine; and wouldn't address whether he had feelings about the Cuban Olympic team because he was a Yankee.

But with a 6-0 record and 1.24 ERA in seven career post-season starts, he probably can do what he wants.

Then there was first-time playoff pitcher Halama, who apparently didn't think reporters should find it interesting that he grew up in New York. Halama admitted he was a Mets fan growing up and said he'd never been to Yankee Stadium until he played there, but that was about it for inside information. A sampling:

Q. Where did you live in Brooklyn?

A. I live in Brooklyn.

Q. Where?

A. It's irrelevant.

MISCELLANY: The formal pregame introductions were scrapped because of the weather; game-time temperature was 48 degrees. ... The Yankees have won seven straight post-season series. ... They don't quite have the experience of the Yankees, but the Mariners are close. They have 10 players who had been in the league championship series.

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