Free agent negotiations, possible trades and the fallout from Curt Schilling joining the Red Sox came to a halt yesterday when George Steinbrenner sat by the side of trusted lieutenant Billy Connors in a Tampa hospital.
Connors, 62, was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital at 10:30 Friday night after suffering a heart attack on the way home from the St. Louis-Tampa Bay hockey game in Tampa. Steinbrenner, who was in the car with Connors, spent the night and all day yesterday at the hospital. Connors went into the operating room at 12:30 yesterday for a triple bypass operation.
Connors, a long-time aide to Steinbrenner, is listed as a VP of player personnel, but his specialty is pitching and he is often referred to by Steinbrenner as “a pitching guru.” Steinbrenner credited Connors with turning around Jose Contreras this past summer after the struggling right-hander was sent by Steinbrenner to work with Connors in Tampa instead of being demoted to Triple-A Columbus. That move caused a rift between Joe Torre and Steinbrenner that Connors found himself in the middle of.
Lately, Steinbrenner has been listening to Connors talk up free agent right-hander Bartolo Colon.
So, one day after Schilling agreed to a trade to Boston that gives the Red Sox a formidable rotation of Pedro Martinez, Schilling and Derek Lowe, the Yankees stayed away from the phones and concentrated on Connors coming through surgery.
The often-fractured Tampa branch of the dysfunctional Yankee family gathered at St. Joseph’s yesterday after word spread that one of Steinbrenner’s main under-bosses was being prepped for surgery.
When Steinbrenner, who is calling the shots more than ever, gets back in the saddle, he will have his plate full trying to improve his starting pitching to stay even with the Red Sox, signing right fielder Gary Sheffield and deciding if Kaz Matsui is worth chasing after to play second base. That last move could force Alfonso Soriano to the outfield and Bernie Williams to the DH spot.
Randy Hendricks, Andy Pettitte’s agent, has been holding conversations with the Yankees, but according to Hendricks, it’s “the same old, same old.” Which means there is still plenty of progress to be made in order for the Yankees to keep Pettitte in pinstripes. It’s believed the dollars are agreeable – $15 million per – but the sides differ on years. The Yankees are wary of going more than three and Pettitte could be looking for five.
After Pettitte, Steinbrenner has to decide whether to trade Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera to Montreal for 27-year-old right-hander Javier Vazquez or sign the 30-year-old Colon, who turned down $36 million for three years to stay with the White Sox.
Sheffield, 35, and the Yankees are at odds over money. The Yankees would like to keep a three-year deal to about $11 million per. According to sources, Sheffield requested $15 to $16 million a year.
Kaz Matsui, who isn’t related to left fielder Hideki Matsui, remains in the Yankee picture but according to an industry source, “they keep going back and forth on Matsui.”
