Brian Cashman arrived at the Winter Meetings last night and will leave tomorrow. Having filled the Yankees’ biggest need when Mike Mussina was signed to a six-year, $88.5 million deal, the Bomber GM will be in an information gathering mode in Dallas.
“You never know where it may lead,” Cashman said of his kick-the-tire talks with agents and other GMs.
Mike Stanton believes Cashman and the rest of the Yankee brass will eventually come up with somebody to replace Jeff Nelson. And it’s possible the seed could be planted in Dallas.
“It’s going to be hard to cover,” Stanton said of the hole in Joe Torre’s bullpen that developed when Nelson turned down the team’s three-year offer of $9 million to take a three-year deal from the Mariners worth $10.5 million. “Obviously, we still have a lot of the off-season left. I know Cash and the guys upstairs are working hard to find another arm or two, but it’s tough losing a quality reliever like Jeff.”
Stanton, who formed a quality setup tandem with Nelson for the last four seasons, was at Yankee Stadium yesterday to greet fans who inhaled tickets on the first day they were on sale.
Unless the Yankees get knocked over by a deal too good to pass up, they plan to fill Nelson’s role from within.
Cuban defector Adrian “El Duquecito” Hernandez, no relation to El Duqe, showed the ability to get right-handed hitters out last season in the minors. Barring an acquisition, he will get first crack. Darrell Einertson and Craig Dingman will receive spring training looks. If Ramiro Mendoza’s surgically repaired shoulder is sound, he figures to abandon the long relief role for setup work. The Yankees made an offer to Tom “Flash” Gordon but consider themselves dark horses to land the right-hander, who missed all of last season due to elbow surgery.
Another option is increasing Stanton’s workload since he has always pitched more effectively when he doesn’t sit for long stretches.
“That sounds fine to me, I am not looking at this situation to put more pressure on myself, I am going to approach it the way I have always approached it and that’s come to the ballpark and pitch,” said Stanton, who appeared in 69 games last year. “If it’s more often or later, or earlier, whatever Joe wants to do, so be it. But as long as I am pitching, I will be happy.”
Stanton plans to contact Nelson and congratulate him on the new deal and tell Nelson he will be missed. Knowing the business side of baseball, Stanton didn’t have a feeling if his sidekick were staying or going.
“In baseball nowadays, you don’t expect anything,” Stanton said. “Because your expectations, more times than not are not going to come true. It’s great during the season when you have the sport of baseball to play, but once the last out is made then you have the business of baseball and sometimes the business of baseball brings you down to earth.”
Understanding George Steinbrenner’s thirst to win, Stanton wasn’t surprised by the addition of Mussina. And had the bullpen done a better job, Stanton said David Cone’s miserable season wouldn’t have been so bad and Cone would still be in Pinstripes.
“The first half of the season there were five or six wins out there he didn’t get, that he was either leading and us in the bullpen blew or he lost a game 1-0 or 2-1,” Stanton said. “If he gets those wins, no one says anything about it how tough of a season he has had and it probably would have been a no-brainer for him coming back.”