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Changes coming for Yanks

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 6, 2001

PHOENIX -- The Yankees who walked off the field in defeat Sunday night won't be the same Yankees who assemble for the spring training in Tampa in a little more than three months.

Principal owner George Steinbrenner guaranteed they'd be back on top, and that usually means changes are coming.

With nine free agents, the Yankees will have to make major decisions on Tampa's Tino Martinez, their leading run producer, along with third baseman Scott Brosius. They have promising prospects at both positions, but may prefer to keep the veterans for a few more years.

They aren't expected to re-sign Chuck Knoblauch and may look to trade Orlando Hernandez, who has become increasingly unreliable, and possibly David Justice. Paul O'Neill and Luis Sojo are retiring.

After they figure out who's going, the Yankees will decide who's coming. Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi could be marquee free agents, and Gary Sheffield's name usually comes up.

"In this era, you're not going to keep everybody year to year," general manager Brian Cashman said. "Hopefully we'll know who to keep as well as bring in guys who will buy into the team concept we have here."

GOOD VISION: D'backs manager Bob Brenly must have had a pretty good feeling about his team. When he went to take Curt Schilling out in the eighth inning down 2-1 and knowing the Yankees would bring in Mariano Rivera, Brenly was heard on the Fox broadcast telling Schilling: "Hell of an effort, big man. You're my hero. We'll get that one back. That's not going to beat us."

MONEY MATTERS: Getting to play the final two Series games meant several million dollars in revenue to the D'backs. According to team officials, it is enough that for the first tine since 1998 they will have a positive cash flow for the season. That, of course, is without factoring in the millions they owe in deferred salary.

BUDDY SYSTEM: Tino Martinez and Luis Gonzalez grew up together in west Tampa and played together at Jefferson High. So even though it meant his Yankees lost, Martinez was happy for his friend. "If anybody had to beat us," Martinez said, "I'm glad it was him."

OH, HENRY: So how did Brenly prepare for Sunday's game? He went home a few hours after Saturday's game, watched On Golden Pond (one of his favorite movies), dozed off for about an hour, then woke up fidgeting. So he got up, sat by his pool and smoked a cigar, and watched the moon and the stars. "I heard the newspaper hit the driveway, made a pot of coffee and read the paper," he said.

CITYWIDE SUPPORT: Because of the trauma in New York from the terrorist attacks, the Yankees had become something of an inspiration for the city. Even though they lost, Mayor Rudy Giuliani thanked them for their effort.

"What they've done the last few weeks was great for the city of New York," Giuliani said in the Yankees clubhouse after Sunday's game. "It boosted our spirits. It brought a lot to our economy. The players accomplished a great deal. They should all feel they've done a great job for New York City."

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