The Daily News
September 17, 2006
If there has been one defining element about the Yankees in the 11 years of Joe Torre's stewardship, chemistry would have to be it. Adherence to the program. Fitting in. And those players who didn't, including Raul Mondesi, Kenny Lofton and Tony Womack, had abbreviated stays here.
Torre, master chemist, has held it all together through nine and soon-to-be 10 first-place finishes. Now, however, as he prepares to take the Yankees into the postseason for the 11th straight year, Torre is faced with a slightly different chemistry issue - how to seamlessly fit his returning sluggers, Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, into a lineup that was functioning quite proficiently, due in no small part to the ability of their respective outfield replacements, Melky Cabrera and Bobby Abreu, to adhere to the Don Mattingly program of disciplined, patient hitting. There are those who will maintain that in recent years the Yankees had gotten away from this offensive approach that so characterized their championship seasons; the arrivals of Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez perhaps subconsciously made them more reliant on the long ball and less inclined to manufacture runs.
Yesterday, even Torre conceded the current lineup, without the return of Sheffield as of yet, is the most potent he's ever had here.
"It's the deepest lineup we've had whether we get (Sheffield) back or not," is how he put it. "Bobby (Abreu) gives us a lot of length, no question."
And that is the central point of Torre's pending dilemma. In the lefty-swinging Abreu, who sees more pitches than any hitter in baseball, the Yankees could not have gotten a more perfect No.3 hitter to sandwich between Derek Jeter and Rodriguez in the batting order. Lethal as Sheffield had been in the No.3 hole for the Yankees the last two seasons, he's an aggressive free swinger who does his own thing. In short, there wasn't the lineup chemistry that has been so prevalent since the arrival of Abreu.
"I think what it comes down to is, if you've got home run hitters, you tend to go for the home run," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "I can understand what Joe's trying to figure out. I only wish I could relate to it, but I'm having trouble just finding enough hitters right now. I only know that when I first saw Cabrera, I said right away: 'This kid is a pretty good player.' As for Abreu, I know there was a lot of talk about us trying to get him, too, and I remember saying to (Red Sox GM) Theo (Epstein), that (if they did get him) over the last six weeks of the season he might be the best player in baseball. I wish I was wrong."
For now, Torre is closely monitoring every Matsui at-bat since his return Tuesday and has liked what he's seen, even though, as he said yesterday, "Matty's doing what he has to do right now, getting at-bats, gauging off-speed pitches to regain his timing."
Presumably, until Sheffield returns, which Torre said is likely to be sometime during the next road trip, Matsui will continue to DH, with Cabrera maintaining his place in left field. After that, things could get very complicated, with Torre working overtime in his chemistry lab to figure out the right solution. He refuses to rule out anything - even Sheffield playing first base, or tinkering with the middle of the batting order. He maintains that Sheffield has said he'll do anything to help the team and be part of the program, noting that the temperamental right fielder took it upon himself to get a first baseman's glove. But will Sheffield's ego allow him to hold his tongue if Torre tells him he's hitting sixth or lower or, even worse, coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter?
"I haven't even thought about the lineup," Torre insisted.
If that's true, it's probably because he hasn't wanted to think about it. After all, why would you want to concern yourself with trying to fix something that isn't broken? Even without Sheffield and Matsui (who combined to score 212 runs last year), and with all the midsummer failures and foibles of Rodriguez, the Yankees still lead the AL in runs and on-base percentage. That's the Gene Michael program that was instituted here when the Paul O'Neills began replacing the Danny Tartabulls. Many have said that Abreu is a carbon copy of O'Neill but even more disciplined.
In any case, Abreu is going to be here next year and Sheffield is not, and only until a couple of weeks ago, it was assumed Sheffield would not be back this season. He said himself he wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize his future by rushing back, and the easiest solution for chief chemist Torre would be to keep Matsui at DH and Cabrera's superior defense in left field. But as Torre knows full well, nothing that involves Sheffield is ever easy, and if it's determined he's fit to play and contribute, what do you do with him?
It is a question one visiting AL scout for a potential postseason opponent answered with a sigh yesterday.
"Only the Yankees," he said, "could actually weaken themselves by finding a place in their lineup for a hitter of Gary Sheffield's caliber."
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