YANKEE NOTES
ANAHEIM – George Steinbrenner has called a major sitdown of his Inner Circle today in Tampa, where The Boss wants to know what’s available on the trade market before tomorrow’s 4 p.m. deadline.
Steinbrenner has summoned both branches – Tampa and New York – of the Yankees’ dysfunctional family to the minor league complex. Team president Randy Levine and GM Brian Cashman are expected to represent the New York family. The Tampa mafia of VPs Gordon Blakeley, Damon Oppenheimer and Billy Connors will be on hand.
The top priority for Steinbrenner is this: do the Yankees, who started last night’s action 1½ games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East, have enough weapons to win a sixth straight divisional crown?
Steinbrenner, who ordered his Inner Circle to get Raul Mondesi from Toronto last year, will be updated on what the right field alternatives are now that Mondesi was dealt to Arizona last night. The Boss will also hear if there are any options to improve a bullpen that has been rebuilt twice since the end of last season.
* GM Brian Cashman heard from the Reds Monday night that reliever Scott Williamson was on the block and talked to the Reds yesterday about the right-handed reliever who went to the Red Sox yesterday.
“They offered him to us and we turned them down,” Cashman said. “They wanted [Brandon] Claussen and $2.5 million.”
According to Cashman, until Jim Bowden was fired from his GM post Monday, Williamson wasn’t available. But with Bowden gone, things changed with the Reds, who received a Single-A player, $1.2 million and a player to be named from the Red Sox.
* David Wells plans on making his start tomorrow night against the Angels.
“That’s my plan,” said Wells, who was bothered by a balky back last Friday night in Boston when he walked five in 52/3 innings after walking four all year. “I threw in the bullpen [Sunday] and felt all right.”
Cashman did something yesterday that is difficult to do: he traded a player designated for assignment. Cashman moved righty reliever Dan Miceli to the Astros for a player to be named later or cash. If the Astros waited until next Tuesday there was a good chance Miceli would have been a free agent.
Miceli was designated by the Yankees Friday when Nick Johnson came off the DL. Acquired from the Indians with outfielder Karim Garcia on June 25, Miceli appeared in seven games without a decision. In 41/3 innings, he allowed three earned runs and four hits.
* RHP Roger Clemens (9-7; 4.01) draws RHP John Lackey (7-9; 4.96) tonight and LHP David Wells (12-3; 3.80) is slated to face RHP Aaron Sele (6-8; 5.17) if Wells’ back problem allows him to pitch.
* Now that Robin Ventura‘s production is off, he doesn’t look at the statistics through a frown and wonder how he can raise his batting average, home runs and RBIs.
“You get to this point in your career and it would be pretty nice to win,” the 36-year-old Ventura said. “As long as I am doing something productive, then everything is fine.”
Ventura then uttered a sentence the Yankees have their fingers firmly crossed comes true.
“It’s going to be better than it was,” said Ventura, who hit .202 (17-for-84) in June and was a .217 (10-for-46) for July going into last night’s action against the Angels at Edison Field.
