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Defense, Insurance, and Youth

© Harold Friend

It is July 12 and my friend Tali is ecstatic. First, the Yankees acquired the contract of right fielder Raul Mondesi on July 1, and four days later were involved in a three team trade with Oakland and Detroit that brought twenty five year old right handed pitcher Jeff Weaver to the Bronx. Tali thinks the Yankees’ only weaknesses were addressed and eliminated.

Mondesi is an excellent defensive outfielder who has won two Gold Glove awards, was National League Rookie of the Year in 1994, and made the National League All-Star team in 1995. Going into this season, Mondesi has averaged 30 home runs and 93 runs batted in, with a respectable lifetime batting average of .282. He is fast and is a good base runner.

One of the problems Tali and I had discussed was the fact that Jorge Posada hit into too many double plays and struck out too much to be an effective number five hitter in the Yankees batting order. The acquisition of Mondesi allows Posada to bat sixth, which partially eliminates the problem. Mondesi strikes out too much, but not as often as Posada, and he grounds into double plays, but not as often as Posada.

The Yankees traded minor leaguer Scott Wiggins for Mondesi, whom the Toronto Blue Jays had said was available to any team willing to take him and part of his salary. The Yankees will pay Raul for the rest of this season and $7 million next season, with the Blue Jays making up the remaining $6 million on his $13 million contract.

The Jeff Weaver trade was more costly. The Yankees acquired Weaver while sending left handed pitcher Ted Lilly and highly touted prospects Jason Arnold and John-Ford Griffin to Oakland. Detroit acquired first baseman Carlos Pena, right-hander Franklyn German, and a player to be named from Oakland (believed to be minor-league right-hander Jeremy Bonderman).

I agree with Tali in that the Yankees got a fine young pitcher who has done well in the major leagues and has the potential to do even better, but we both agree that John-Ford Griffin and Jason Arnold may come back in a year or two to haunt us. Tali says that if either Griffin or Arnold really develop into stars, the Yankees will trade some minor league prospects to get them back. Knowing George Steinbrenner, Tali is not kidding.

Griffin was drafted 23rd in the 2001 player draft. He played at Class AA Norwich this season and batted .328, with five home runs and 10 RBIs in only 67 official plate appearances.

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