YANKEE NOTES
CHICAGO – According to several sources, the Yankees were one of four teams to put in a waiver claim on Braves center fielder Andruw Jones.
The Yankees had no spot for Jones, who isn’t being dealt, but the move likely was made to make sure Jones didn’t end up in Boston.
He had to be dealt by Monday, when the 72-hour period closed.
Brian Cashman refused to discuss the claim because Major League Baseball prohibits teams from talking about the waiver process.
Considering they were among the top teams in the AL, it’s likely the Yankees were the fourth team to claim Jones, who isn’t going to be dangled a second time.
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Randy Johnson will be striving for his first win since July 24 and attempting to break a 102/3-inning streak without a strikeout tonight against the White Sox.
“His last few starts have been spotty,” Joe Torre said of Johnson, who has one win in his last five outings.
“In his last three, one was a clunker and the other two just OK. Hopefully he is just going through a flat spot. It happens.” Johnson hasn’t registered a strikeout in the past two games. It’s the second time in his career that has happened; the first was 1989 with the Expos.
Johnson (11-9; 5.11) draws RHP Jon Garland (12-3; 4.99).
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Hideki Matsui’s left wrist will be examined by a doctor in New York on Friday, and Matsui will continue his rehab with the big-league club instead of in Tampa because the Yankees don’t want him eating up days on his rehab assignment. Days 11 through 20 at a springtraining facility count against the 20-day assignment.
Matsui has been in Tampa working at the facility for two weeks.
“It was an organizational decision,” Torre said. “He will stay with us until he is ready to play games. But I don’t have a date.” Matsui would have preferred to stay in Tampa.
“It would be nice if I could stay here,” Matsui said. “In terms of workouts, in terms of rehab, it’s a better environment for me. You have a lot of time here. When you join the team, obviously the priority is for the active players who are playing.”
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Carl Pavano is slated to pitch in a Florida State League (Single-A) game tomorrow for Tampa . . .
Octavio Dotel said he believes he is ready for bigleague action, but the Yankees think otherwise about the right-handed reliever.
“He feels he is close enough to go, we feel he needs more work,” Torre said of Dotel, who eventually has to get as high as Trenton (Double-A) before returning to the majors.
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Daniel McCutchen, a 13th-round pick of the Yankees this past June out of Oklahoma, was suspended for 50 games yesterday for using a performance-enhancing substance believed to be amphetamines.
McCutchen, a 23-year-old right-handed pitcher, was with Charleston (Single-A) of the South Atlantic League after being promoted from Staten Island (N.Y.-Penn League).
