A bit old, but relevant, I think.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Stanton, Quantrill first to be let go by struggling Yanks
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Relievers Mike Stanton and Paul Quantrill became the first victims of the New York Yankees' roster shakeup when they were cut Thursday.
Mike Stanton
Relief Pitcher
New York Yankees
Profile
2005 SEASON STATISTICS
GM W L BB K ERA
28 1 2 6 12 7.07
The underperforming Yankees, just 39-38 despite a $200 million payroll, brought up left-hander Wayne Franklin from Triple-A Columbus, giving an old pitching staff three new relievers. Scott Proctor was recalled last week and Jason Anderson on Wednesday.
"As everybody knows, we just have not performed up to expectations, and it's gone on for a long enough period of time where we're looking to make changes now for change sake," general manager Brian Cashman said. "We're not afraid to try to and see what some young individuals can do, and maybe we can run into something."
New York will fill the other open roster spot Friday by recalling outfielder Bubba Crosby from the Clippers.
Cashman met Tuesday in Tampa, Fla., with owner George Steinbrenner and the team's top executives, and the group discussed how to jump-start a team that has struggled all season.
"Somewhere in April our team bus hit a black cat," Cashman said. "We're looking to shake things up and try to find some way to get this thing going in the right direction."
Quantrill, a 36-year-old right-hander, was 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA in 22 appearances this year. Stanton, a 38-year-old lefty in his second tour with the Yankees, was 1-2 with a 7.07 ERA in 28 games, allowing a game-ending homer to Brian Roberts on Tuesday night at Baltimore on his first pitch.
Paul Quantrill
Relief Pitcher
New York Yankees
Profile
2005 SEASON STATISTICS
GM W L BB K ERA
22 1 0 7 11 6.75
"Mike Stanton and Paul Quantrill are two of some of the best people I've met," Cashman said. "They're fighters and they stand for all the good stuff. But ultimately, the performance hasn't come at the same time, and that's what this is all about. It's not just them, this club's guilty of a lot of different things."
The Yankees are responsible for Quantrill's $3 million salary this year and a $400,000 buyout of a $3.6 million 2006 option they declined in December. They also are responsible for Stanton's $4 million salary, although they did receive $975,000 from the New York Mets when they acquired him in December for Felix Heredia.
Franklin, 31, was released by San Francisco during the final week of spring training, signed a minor league contract with the Yankees the following week and went 2-2 with one save and a 4.13 ERA in a league-high 38 games at Columbus. He has a 14-15 major league record and a 5.47 ERA with Houston, Milwaukee and the Giants.
With Kevin Brown still on the disabled list because of his bad back, New York also must come up with another starting pitcher for Tuesday's game against Baltimore. Sean Henn flopped when given the opportunity to fill the slot, dropping to 0-3 with an 11.12 ERA.
Brown threw on flat ground for around 10 minutes Thursday in Tampa, Fla., his second throwing session in two days.
"I just don't think he'd be an option for us," Cashman said. "I just think it would be too early."
While New York is looking for a starting pitcher and a center fielder, Cashman didn't want to talk about any talks he's had "out of respect" for his current players.
"I know what we need to do, and we're working on trying to fix what areas are broken," he said.
Cashman had no problem with Gary Sheffield's remarks Wednesday that he would be unhappy if traded to another team. The Yankees were approached by the Mets about a Sheffield-for-Mike Cameron swap and turned down their crosstown rival.
"Obviously, here's a player who wants to stay here and wants to be here, and I appreciate that," Cashman said. "In Sheff's case, I feel he's more part of the solution than any problems we're currently having."
Sheffield was suspended for two games and fined $2,000 Thursday by Bob Watson, baseball's vice president for discipline, for "aggressive actions" in Sunday's game against the Mets. Sheffield threw his helmet after he was called out by first base umpire C.B. Bucknor, then was ejected. Replays showed he appeared to beat the throw.
"I think Bob Watson's decision was completely wrong," Yankees president Randy Levine said. "He totally missed the point that this whole incident was precipitated by a now-known erroneous call at first base and an overreaction by the umpire, who prematurely ejected Gary Sheffield.
"We applaud Sheffield for appealing this decision. We will assist him in every manner possible and look forward to demonstrating to the commissioner's office the outrageousness of this decision.
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