Friday, July 15, 2005

Bob Klapisch: Dial 'R' for Roger

Friday, July 15, 2005

BOSTON - When Brian Cashman learned Monday that Chien-Ming Wang had blown out his shoulder, his first reflex was to call Joe Torre with the devastating news. Cashman started dialing his manager's cellphone, but then hung up when he remembered Torre was hosting a charity golf tournament in Westchester.

"I guess he was doing me a favor," is what Torre said with a rueful smile. It would be another 24 hours before Torre discovered Wang will be lost for the season, and that his Yankees are in their deepest pitching crisis in a decade.

Actually, it's a perfect storm of worst-case scenarios: With four starters on the disabled list, the Bombers can't possibly survive a brutal 11-game road trip (without any off-days), but they're too close to first place to justify handing the ball to the decomposing Tim Redding and/or Wayne Franklin.

Al Leiter will almost certainly be in pinstripes by Monday, but when asked to measure the former Met's rescue quotient, one Yankee elder just shook his head, unable to think of any false-hope response. Leiter has lost his fastball and cutter and would've never been set free by the Marlins if he had anything resembling his Shea-era stuff.

The Yankees are smart enough to know Leiter, Redding and Franklin could turn August (or even July) into a standings nightmare. In any other market, it might be the time and place to consider trading away the assets, like Tom Gordon and Gary Sheffield and replenish the naked farm system that's at the root of this emergency.

But George Steinbrenner needs to keep the Stadium's turnstiles in a steady blur. He'll draw close to 4 million fans this year, most of whom believe the Yankees are good enough to catch the Red Sox. Indeed, for all their early-season mediocrity, the Yankees arrived at Fenway on Thursday night just 2½ games out, and had hit 17 home runs in their past six games.

The Boss can't possibly call off the hunt just because there's no one left to pitch. Cashman is under orders to call anyone and everyone. "There's no name that's out of the question," is what the general manager said.
Including Roger Clemens'?
Cashman stared straight ahead, letting his silence act as an answer. The Yankees are convinced the Astros would never deal the Rocket, not now, not when they're back in the wild-card race. And with Clemens' teenage son Koby now officially a member of the organization, drafted and signed and on his way to rookie ball as an infielder, there's no way the Rocket would ever leave Houston.

Or would he? During the All-Star break, the right-hander put owner Drayton McLane on notice to find a replacement for Carlos Beltran before July 31. Clemens stopped short of directly threatening Astros management, but he's not exactly giving McLane unconditional love, either.
After all, Clemens has the lowest ERA of any pitcher this late in the season since Bob Gibson's 1.12 in 1968, yet the Astros still have a losing record in games he starts. Not only have the Astros not hit, they've diminished Clemens' Hall of Fame career.

That's the window of vulnerability the Yankees can exploit. They have to call the Astros today and be prepared to deal Robinson Cano and Eric Duncan and then start writing checks to McLane. And even then, the Yankees would need a complete and unconditional collapse by the Astros - nothing short of 10 straight losses that would make it virtually impossible for Clemens to get to the postseason.

At that point, the Bombers would still be facing the mother of long shots. Still, why not at least inquire? "Because they'd want a king's ransom, that's why" is what one major league scout said.

Of course they would. No one is in the business of helping the Yankees crawl out of the cesspool. There are general managers who are loving Cashman's predicament today - loving it. But the Yankees have to react intellectually, not with any macho defiance.

They shouldn't consider Cano an untouchable, even though they've spent the last two months building him up as a latter-day Rod Carew. He's a good, young player, athletic with a smattering of power, but he's no future superstar. It's possible the Yankees are seeing all they're ever going to get from Cano.

Trade him? Why not, if it means landing a front-line pitcher who can keep alive the possibility of getting the Yankees to the postseason. That savior obviously isn't Randy Johnson, who'll be under enormous pressure on Saturday, his start sandwiched between Redding's tonight and whatever desperation-move the Yankees make on Sunday.

Johnson is no longer the pitcher who threatens to throw a no-hitter every time he takes the ball. Mike Mussina has lost his aura of invincibility, too. With a chance to calm the Yankees' nerves on Thursday, Mussina allowed the Red Sox four runs before he even got two outs. So much for easing the crisis.

What the Yankees need is an arm - and a leader. They know where to find Clemens. They can start by picking up the phone. And this time, they shouldn't wait 24 hours.

E-mail: klapisch@northjersey.com

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