NEW YORK -- Relievers Mike Stanton and Paul Quantrill became
the first victims of the New York Yankees' roster shakeup when they
were cut Thursday.
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.
"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.