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Yankees Acquire Randy Johnson


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Yankees to get Johnson after all

Johnson could be headed back to the American League. (AP)

 

The Yankees have reached agreement on the key players in a three-team trade that would send Randy Johnson to the Bronx, Newsday reported Thursday. The Dodgers would receive Javier Vazquez and two minor leaguers. The Diamondbacks would get Brad Penny, Shawn Green and Yhency Brazoban.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb

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WoooHoooo :lol:

Until then, the Yankees will move on to other matters, including today's meeting in Tampa, Fla., with Carlos Beltran, the free-agent outfielder who starred for Houston in the playoffs. George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal owner, will attend the meeting and is hopeful of signing Beltran, who could command the first $100 million deal in the majors since the Yankees signed Jason Giambi in 2001.

If the Yankees signed Beltran, who is believed to have a six-year offer worth about $84 million from the Astros, he would displace Bernie Williams in center field. Williams and Beltran have the same agent, Scott Boras, and Williams has not opposed the Yankees' courtship of Beltran.

"If you get a guy like Beltran, obviously he's going to play center field," Manager Joe Torre said at yesterday's news conference. "But Bernie's been a team guy. He's never been tough to manage in terms of understanding what we're doing."

Boras said he envisioned a mammoth contract for Beltran, who will be 28 in April and had 38 homers and 42 stolen bases last season.

"He can pretty much do everything," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said at the news conference. "He's an outstanding player. He can beat you in so many different ways. He's got to be up there with the best players in the game."

The Yankees will hold another news conference tomorrow to announce the four-year, $39.95 million contract for starter Carl Pavano, who flew to New York last night.

Pavano's deal includes a fifth-year club option for $13 million. Pavano can elect for free agency after the fourth season if he pitches 200 innings in 2008 or 400 combined over the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

Pavano will be 29 in January, the same age Jaret Wright will be next week. Wright, also a right-hander, will soon sign his two-year, $14 million contract.

If the deal for Johnson and Ishii goes through, the Yankees would have six starters, with Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown also on the staff. "We have a ton of pitchers on the staff," Torre said. "It's a nice problem to have, trust me. Last year, my only concern was the lack of depth in the starting pitching. Now we have some youth, too."

At 41, Johnson will not be part of the youth movement. He will be brought in to fulfill Steinbrenner's mandate - win now - as long as the Dodgers let the deal proceed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/sports/b...ll/21yanks.html

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tell you what they are taking a chance here, these are all great looking moves for the yankees but if it backfires oh man shit is gonna go flying.

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As an Astro fan I hate to see Beltran go to someone else, but he's a player who's benefitting from getting white-hot at exactly the right time....in the national spotlight of the playoffs. He carried the Astros up until the last game, in which he was hitless...but if you look at his statistics there's less there than you'd expect to find with a superstar. He's a gifted and exceptionally fine ballplayer with a great attitude...but he's not as productive a player as Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez, just to name two. If he gets the kind of money he's asking for, such as those two receive, he's going to be grossly overpaid.

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Tony womack is a allstar?

Who do they have at first? Ole Giambi isnt gonna do anything anymore without his steriods.

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Those are pretty good players you guys are dissing! I would prefer to have Soriano over Womack, but all in all, I cant believe you wouldnt want a team like this...

***

Dodgers Sink the Three-Way Trade for Johnson

By LEE JENKINS

Published: December 22, 2004

he Yankees' quest to acquire Randy Johnson has returned to where it began more than six months ago.

A three-team trade involving the Yankees, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers, which had seemed near completion and would have sent the 41-year-old Johnson to the Bronx, fell apart yesterday when the Dodgers backed out. The Yankees then began negotiating exclusively with the Diamondbacks and expressed optimism that they would ultimately land Johnson during the off-season. Still, they have now failed to do so on three occasions, and yesterday's events also raised questions about Yankees pitcher Javier Vazquez, who was one of the key players in the three-way deal.

But as one superstar at least temporarily slipped from the Yankees' grasp, another was in their midst. Team officials, including the principal owner George Steinbrenner, met yesterday with the free-agent outfielder Carlos Beltran for an hour and a half at the Yankees' complex in Tampa, Fla. Though no contract offer was made, each side expressed interest.

Few people in baseball expected the Yankees to extend a contract yesterday. The consensus is that the Yankees, with their ability to spend, have the upper hand in the bidding for Beltran, who is certain to end up with the richest free-agent contract this winte

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Giambi is not good he cheats. he is gonna look like somebody poked him with a needle when he doesnt have his steriods anymore.

Womack is a average player and Posada is not all that good either

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Yankees Complete Deal With Pavano

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: December 22, 2004

Filed at 3:17 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Right-hander Carl Pavano and the New York Yankees finalized their $39.95 million, four-year contract on Wednesday. Pavano, who turns 29 on Jan. 8, was among the most sought-after free-agent pitchers. He told his agent, Scott Shapiro, on Dec. 11 to work out a contract with the Yankees.

``I know the team I'm going to have behind me is going to be competitive every year,'' Pavano said.

He joins holdovers Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown on a rebuilt Yankees rotation. New York also has a preliminary agreement with free agent Jaret Wright and is trying to acquire Randy Johnson from Arizona in a trade that likely would send Javier Vazquez to the Diamondbacks or another team.

Pavano was 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA for Florida last season.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-...ees-Pavano.html

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What I want to know is why Steinbrenner allowed Don Mattingly to play his entire Yankee career without making it to the World Series. George didn't put the kind of money into the Yankees then that he does now. From 1982 to 1996 the team had to watch the Series on TV.

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The Roster :bigsmile: My only complaint is that I wish we could get Soriano back

Pitchers

27 Kevin Brown

35 Mike Mussina

-- Carl Pavano

48 Paul Quantrill

-- Ramon Ramirez

42 Mariano Rivera

Felix Rodriguez

33 Javier Vazquez

--Randy Johnson

--Jared Wright

 

Catchers

20 Jorge Posada

Infielders

Jason Giambi

Derek Jeter

13 Alex Rodriguez

-- Tony Womack

Outfielders

55 Hideki Matsui

11 Gary Sheffield

51 Bernie Williams

--Carl Beltran

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Pavano, the Newest Yank, Makes a Pitch for Johnson

By TYLER KEPNER

Published: December 23, 2004

For a team that could have been reeling from its latest foiled bid for Randy Johnson, the Yankees held themselves together yesterday. They introduced their latest young ace, Carl Pavano, and publicly supported Javier Vazquez, the pitcher they would have traded for Johnson.

The Yankees still have a chance to land Johnson, the 6-foot-10 left-hander who wants the Arizona Diamondbacks to trade him to New York. Even without the help of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who backed out of a three-team trade on Tuesday, a deal for Johnson could still happen.

"He's probably one of the few guys in the league I look up to, in more ways than one," Pavano, a 6-foot-5 right-hander said of Johnson. "He's a great guy. He'd be a great addition to the ball club. Those decisions aren't up to me, but who wouldn't want to be part of a staff with one of the most dominating - if not the most dominating - lefty ever to play the game?"

In his first official day as a Yankee, Pavano already grasped the party line. He would welcome Johnson, but would not be dismayed if Vazquez stayed. Pavano and Vazquez pitched together in Montreal, before Pavano was traded to Florida.

"I know what Javy's capable of doing," said Pavano, who agreed to a four-year, $39.95 million contract after going 18-8 last season. "I thought he pitched great last year. He was a first-time All-Star; he pitched deep into a lot of ballgames. He has a track record of being a horse. I'd be sad to see him go."

Vazquez faded badly after the All-Star Game last season, culminating in an awful performance in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against Boston. Still, he is popular among other teams, and his name often surfaces in trade talks.

Two weeks ago, as Johnson rumors swirled, Vazquez called the Yankees' general manager, Brian Cashman, to clarify his status.

"He let me know his intent was to come back here and turn it around," Cashman said. "He's a guy who takes a great deal of pride in what he does. I made no promises to him, but I was honest as well. I told him I wasn't shopping him, but there was one unique circumstance and he could be wrapped up in a deal. Other than that, he's not going anywhere."

The Yankees, Diamondbacks and Dodgers agreed in principle last Wednesday to a 10-player trade that would have sent Johnson to New York and Vazquez to Los Angeles. But for days, no formal agreement was forwarded to Commissioner Bud Selig.

The Dodgers lost the free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre to Seattle last Friday, as news was breaking about the Johnson trade, in which the Dodgers would have traded outfielder Shawn Green, starters Brad Penny and Kazuhisa Ishii, reliever Yhency Brazoban and a minor leaguer.

There was a strong backlash in Los Angeles, but the Dodgers continued to tell the Yankees that the deal would take place. The teams reached a formal agreement on Monday at midnight, but the Dodgers added a wrinkle: all players must take physicals by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

"There was an issue for one of the clubs that they wanted physicals to take place," Cashman said. "It was Monday at midnight, and the only way it could work is if you could take the physical by a certain time on Wednesday. And that was not feasible."

Because the Yankees had suspected that Vazquez was hurt in the second half of the season, they put him through a series of tests after the season. Through his agent, Vazquez suggested that the Dodgers study those records.

Vazquez signed a four-year deal with the Yankees last season, and he was in no rush to accommodate a West Coast team immediately. He was also on vacation in St. John in the United States Virgin Islands, and could not take the physical by the Wednesday deadline. The Yankees also doubted that Ishii, who was in Hawaii, could have flown to New York for a physical by then.

The Dodgers established the deadline because they wanted the deal completed before they signed the free-agent right fielder J. D. Drew. But the Dodgers are set to announce the signing of Drew anyway, for a five-year deal worth perhaps $55 million, even though General Manager Paul DePodesta publicly backed out of the Johnson deal on Tuesday.

That angered the Yankees, whose president, Randy Levine, said they would reconsider their future dealings with the Dodgers. Still, the Yankees and the Diamondbacks could have common ground for a deal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/sports/b.../23yankees.html

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Yankees Finally Get Their Man, Acquiring Johnson in a Trade

By LEE JENKINS

Published: December 31, 2004

he Yankees officially turned the calendar yesterday on the Year of the Red Sox. In the final hours of 2004, their principal owner, George Steinbrenner, let it be known once again that every year is to be the Yankees' year.

Randy Johnson, who at 6 feet 10 inches is one of the tallest pitchers in baseball history and is certainly one of the most accomplished, has become the newest symbol of the Yankees' size, strength and power.

The Yankees agreed in principle to a trade yesterday with the Arizona Diamondbacks that has been six months in the works. The Yankees will send the right-hander Javier Vazquez, the left-hander Brad Halsey, the catching prospect Dioner Navarro and $8.5 million to $9 million to Arizona for one of the best left-handers ever.

Johnson, at the advanced age of 41, will become the ace of Steinbrenner's extremely expensive team and the latest superstar to join his constellation. Assuming Commissioner Bud Selig approves the deal and the players pass their physicals, the Yankees will most likely sign Johnson to a two-year contract extension next week and send him to the mound on opening day, April 4, at Yankee Stadium. Facing him will be the Yankees' rivals, the Red Sox, who are baseball's world champions for the first time in 86 years.

This trade was made with Boston very much in mind. The Yankees pulled off the biggest move of the previous off-season when they got Alex Rodriguez, but went on to blow a three-games-to-none lead over the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series in October, driving Steinbrenner to one-up himself.

While a new year is supposed to bring hope even to the hopeless, the rest of Major League Baseball was left wondering yesterday what the Yankees could possibly do next, how they could tilt the competitive balance even further in their favor. Steinbrenner has met with center fielder Carlos Beltran, the premier free agent this winter, and if the Yankees sign him for a contract that could easily exceed $100 million, it would be hard to imagine their missing the playoffs next season. They have been there every year since 1995, and they will begin next season with a star-stuffed roster and a payroll that exceeds $200 million and dwarfs the money spent by almost every other team.

Johnson fills the Yankees' one prominent hole. He is the top-tier starter they did not have against Boston in 2004 and the dominant left-hander they have missed since Andy Pettitte went to Houston after the 2003 season. Johnson, who collaborated with the Red Sox ace Curt Schilling to help Arizona beat the Yankees in the 2001 World Series, will become his chief rival. Among the 19 regular-season games between the Yankees and the Red Sox in 2005, the potential matchups between Johnson and Schilling will be the most anticipated.

One of the Yankees' motivations in making this move was to counter Schilling and neutralize the left-handed hitters in Boston's dangerous lineup. But in acquiring Johnson, they were also able to match the Mets, who had made the splashiest off-season acquisition in New York up to this point, stealing Pedro Martínez from Boston. The 2005 baseball season in New York will now include two of the most prominent pitchers in the sport, who have captured a combined eight Cy Young Awards. A showdown between Johnson and Martínez, who have spent most of their careers in opposite leagues and have never faced each other, would be almost as compelling as a duel between Johnson and Schilling, who do not seem to consider each other friends even though they were teammates. Those who know Johnson and Schilling say they have an ultra-competitive relationship, which should further stoke one of the hottest rivalries in sports.

"It will make 2005 a fun season," said Larry Lucchino, the Red Sox' president.

Because of his age, Johnson represents a risk for the Yankees. They have learned over the past four, frustrating years that is impossible to guarantee a World Series championship in the middle of winter, as hard as they may try, and that aging pitchers, despite their accomplishments, can break down just as October rolls around. In the 2003 World Series, David Wells, overweight and 40, left Game 5 after one inning with an aching back and the Yankees lost the game and, two days later, the Series. Last season, Orlando Hernández's remarkable comeback, at an age somewhere between 35 and 40, was derailed in late September by a tired arm, leaving the Yankees' pitching more vulnerable in the postseason.

And Kevin Brown, who was a fragile 39-year-old for much of the 2004 season, failed miserably when the Yankees, in desperation, gave him one more chance in Game 7 of the A.L.C.S. against Boston. He was chased from the game before the second inning was over, and Boston went on to win the series in the greatest postseason comeback in major league history.

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Brown, who will be 40 in March, remains in the rotation, at least for now. Another Yankees starter, Mike Mussina, turned 36 this month, and while he has been durable and consistent, he did go on the disabled list for the first time in six years this summer. Johnson, himself, missed a substantial part of the 2003 season with knee problems, although he was healthy and often overpowering in 2004.

As for the Diamondbacks, they will now try to ship Vazquez to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Paul Konerko and a pitcher, or to Baltimore for a combination of players, including relief pitcher Jorge Julio, starting pitcher Erik Bedard and outfielder Jay Gibbons. Arizona has also talked about sending Navarro and some of its own prospects to the Dodgers for outfielder Shawn Green.

First, the Diamondbacks have to send the paperwork on the Johnson trade to the commissioner's office. Because more than $1 million is changing hands and because the commissioner's office is closed for the holidays, Selig may not approve the deal until early next week, when the Yankees will then have 72 hours to negotiate an extension for Johnson. The two-year extension is expected to be worth $32 million and might give Johnson a chance to win his 300th game with the Yankees. He is the career strikeout leader among left-handers, and has five Cy Young awards and 246 victories.

The Yankees, alternatively loved and hated in and out of New York, will divide public sentiment even more with Johnson in the fold. That the Yankees were the only team capable of entertaining serious trade talks for Johnson is another reminder of their limitless resources. And that Johnson was willing to waive his no-trade clause only to join the Yankees is another reminder of their enduring appeal, and their built-in advantages.

Like the Yankees, Johnson can be a divisive force. He is as recognized for his intimidating scowl as his free-flinging delivery. He has a nasty temper, a history of fighting with teammates, and a penchant for throwing 98-mile-an-hour fastballs under batters' chins.

All of which, it seems, is exactly what Steinbrenner is looking for. He does not mind cramming his clubhouse with egos and prickly personalities as long as they come with talent. So preoccupied was Steinbrenner with Johnson that he persisted after at least three unsuccessful attempts to get him: Arizona rejected the Yankees' best prospects in July, the Diamondbacks turned down a proposal involving Vazquez and Halsey earlier this month, and the Dodgers pulled out of a three-way deal last week.

Steinbrenner could practically see Johnson at Yankee Stadium, and for that reason, there was never really a doubt his vision would become reality. On April 4, Steinbrenner will be in his luxury box, Johnson will be on the mound and the Red Sox will be in town. When Boston's leadoff man, Johnny Damon, digs into the batter's box, he will be a little less comfortable.

For the owner who cannot get enough, it should be the start of a happy new year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/31/sports/b...artner=homepage

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Tino Martinez Rejoins New York Yankees

RONALD BLUM

Associated Press

NEW YORK - Tino Martinez is headed back to the Bronx.

The popular first baseman and the New York Yankees finalized a $3 million, one-year contract Friday, a deal that gives manager Joe Torre a familiar option if Jason Giambi's health problems keep him out of the lineup again.

Martinez, 37, played for New York from 1996-01, helping the Yankees win five AL pennants and four World Series titles. A close friend of Derek Jeter, Martinez hit .262 with 23 homers and 76 RBIs for Tampa Bay last season.

Martinez, a two-time All-Star, has 322 homers, 18th among active players, and he has played in 95 postseason games, fourth on the career list. He gets $2.75 million next season, and New York has a $3 million option for 2006 with a $250,000 buyout.

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What I want to know is why Steinbrenner allowed Don Mattingly to play his entire Yankee career without making it to the World Series. George didn't put the kind of money into the Yankees then that he does now. From 1982 to 1996 the team had to watch the Series on TV.

Kooper, here's the reason George has opened up his pocketbooks

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/sports/b.../06yankees.html

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Yankees and Johnson Reach $32 Million, Two-Year Deal

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: January 6, 2005

Filed at 8:27 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- All that stands between Randy Johnson and the New York Yankees are a bunch of medical tests. The Big Unit and the Yankees reached a preliminary agreement Thursday on a $32 million, two-year contract extension, leaving only a physical as the final step needed to finishing the drawn-out process of finalizing the trade Arizona and the Yankees agreed to Dec. 30.

Johnson, a five-time Cy Young Award winner, waived his no-trade clause as part of the agreement negotiated by agents Barry Meister and Alan Nero, a baseball official and a person close to Johnson told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Arizona will receive pitchers Javier Vazquez and Brad Halsey, catcher Dioner Navarro and $9 million in the swap for the 41-year-old left-hander.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-...es-Johnson.html

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BIG BOO BOO! :o

The day before his official initiation at Yankee Stadium, the Big Unit acted more like a big jerk.

In a bizarre scene witnessed by this Post reporter, the notoriously ornery Randy Johnson physically confronted a Channel 2 cameraman yesterday morning while walking on Madison Avenue to his physical.

He shoved a TV camera down while local CBS cameraman Vince Everett was backed against a building, a stunning display even for an athlete with a history of anger issues.

"I've had them angry, but never to that extent where the athlete grabbed the camera," Everett told The Post. "And that includes Barry Bonds.

"I've (ticked) Barry Bonds off, but he hasn't done anything like that."

http://www.nypost.com/sports/yankees/37946.htm

post-86-1105478496.gif

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