TAMPA — Mickey Rivers and Willie Randolph are having a catch on Legends Field, alongside Goose Gossage and Donnie Baseball. Nothing wrong with the past in Yankee land.
A few hours earlier, a muscular manchild named Wily Mo Pena walked up to the plate for his second at-
bat of a minor league exhibition game, an at-bat delayed because the young lefty throwing for the Yankees couldn’t throw a strike.
A right-handed hitter, Pena, 18, swung and missed at the first pitch, took two pitches, then hit a pop fly to the opposite field. Just missed it. Got under it a little. Off the bat, it was destined for a medium-depth out. Wait a minute, the right fielder is backing up, backing up, backing up, gone. He didn’t have to catch it all to clear the fence. Can you say special?
Nothing wrong with the future in Yankee land.
It’s the present that feels just a wee bit unsettling for a change. It has nothing to do with the 5-16 record the Yankees took into last night’s exhibition game against the Pirates.
It has everything to do with the subtle shortage of Bombers who will be swinging in The Bronx this summer. Having managed so many ugly teams so short on arms, Joe Torre knows pitching ranks first in importance and nearly all appears well with the Yankees’ elite staff.
“I like our pitching staff,” Torre said. “That’s really the thing I key on. As far as our offense, I don’t dwell on that stuff because I know with our pitching staff we can win games scoring three, four runs.”
The Yankees remain the favorites to win it all, even if they don’t beef up their offense with a trade. But you have to like their chances so much better if they can swing a deal for Angels center fielder Jim Edmonds, a serious talent with the bat and in the outfield.
Rookie general manager Bill Stoneman of the Angels attempted to douse the flames of Edmonds trade talks by saying the center fielder isn’t going anywhere, which means he’s only going somewhere if the Angels get a player who really excites the rookie GM.
Alfonso Soriano excites Stoneman. The Yankees have Derek Jeter at shortstop. Thanks to the retirement of Chili Davis and to troubled slugger Darryl Strawberry’s weakness for drugs, the Yankees are one bat short of the sort of lineup they used to win three World Championships in the past four years.
A plus B plus C equals D as in deal. So deal already.
Instead, the Yankees moved one day closer to opening the season with a lineup that isn’t as good as last season’s when the addition of Edmonds would make the batting order even better than the one that smoked the competition with an 11-1 post-season record, pushing the two-year dominance to 22-3.
Scouts project Soriano as an All-Star.
Stoneman isn’t bluffing totally when he says he’s not going to trade Edmonds. He’s willing to let Edmonds make it all the way to free agency, knowing he at least will get draft choices in return for losing a Type A free agent. What he leaves unsaid is that he won’t trade him unless he gets one of the magical names on his list. Soriano qualifies, especially with the likes of a Ryan Bradley tossed in the deal.
Imagine a lineup of Chuck Knoblauch, Derek Jeter, Edmonds, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, Jorge Posada, Ricky Ledee and Scott Brosius.
Subtract Edmonds and add Tim Raines or Jim Leyritz and it makes a big difference offensively and defensively.
The Yankees certainly won’t be in crisis mode if they don’t land Edmonds. Crisis mode is not having enough pitching. Torre has been there before.
“It’s a scary feeling,” he said. “When I was managing the Cardinals, we went into Colorado not thinking we could win a game. We didn’t win in that series.”
He never has had that feeling as manager of the Yankees and he won’t have it this season.
“Here, I’m thinking about how we can win every game in a series,” Torre said. “Here, I have the feeling every time that we have a pitcher out there who gives us a chance to win.”
The Yankees’ chances of winning it all aren’t quite as good as the past two seasons.
But Torre’s not sweating it. He’s paid not to worry and nobody does a better job of that than Torre, a calming influence who constantly emits positive vibes.
Doesn’t mean there isn’t cause to be a little concerned about the lack of Bombers in The Bronx.
