If this week’s freznzy surrounding the proposed Gary Sheffield/Mike Cameron swap is anything to go by, perhaps we have now have a better idea why the Mets and Yankees are rarely major trading partners. From the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman.
There were a few ways to analyze all this hocus pocus. A notebook or microphone could get hung up over who – Brian Cashman or Omar Minaya – made the initial contact. The veracity of the reports could be questioned. Or a voice could analyze the trade itself. Or was it a potential trade? Or was it a rumor? Or was it a conversation? Or was it bull?
Anyway, as Cameron stepped to the plate for the first time Wednesday night against Philadelphia, Keith Hernandez decided to order from both column “A” and “B.”
Speaking of the Post’s Joel Sherman, who wrote the column about the Sheffield-for-Cameron talks, Hernandez said, “You’ve got to wonder what he (Sherman) mixed with his corn flakes that morning to write that story.”
Ouch! Fran Healy found that line hysterical. He provided a pretty good laugh track before Hernandez started talking baseball.
“From a Mets perspective, the trade doesn’t make sense,” Hernandez said. “You’re going to get an older player than Mike. You got a player who makes more money (than Cameron) …Cameron is a guy who has been good for this ballclub. He keeps guys loose.”
On the radio side, both Gary Cohen and Howie Rose were adamant the Mets would be short-sticked because Sheffield comes with a bag of shtick.
In their opinion, Sheffield is a jerk.
“What the Mets would lose in terms of clubhouse demeanor would be overwhelming,” Cohen said. “Cameron is such an enormous, positive force amongst his teammates. I’m not sure Sheffield is anything close to that.”
If you believe in magic, or most published reports indicating Minaya wanted Sheffield in this “deal,” then each and every Mets announcer, without naming Minaya, was questioning his sanity.
That’s called being honest.
Over in the Yankees’ YES booth, for a different reason, the phantom transaction got no support either. On Wednesday’s pregame show, both Michael Kay and Ken Singleton said Sheffield was too valuable to the Yankees. Kay described Cameron as “a nice player,” but reminded viewers Sheffield is a “125 RBI guy” who “would be irreplacable” in the Yankees’ lineup.
So, if the announcers for both teams were in charge, there would be no deal, or talks. You think maybe this was all about an overture? Isn’t that what GMs do at this point in the season, make overtures? They make calls, they talk to each other and throw a lot of stuff up against the wall. If someone runs with that, pumps it up and puts a headline on it, well, it obviously can become a story.
Or a non-story, depending on where you sit.