From the New York Times’ Tyner Kepner.
Brian Cashman has little flexibility to deal from the major league roster, partly because several players have no-trade clauses. Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada do not have such clauses in their contracts, but Sheffield would essentially create one if the Yankees tried to move him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” said Sheffield, who is signed through 2006. “If I have to go somewhere, I won’t go. If they said, ‘Wouldn’t you want to get paid?’ I’d say, ‘I’ve got plenty of money.’ I’m not playing nowhere else. I can promise you that.”
Speaking with MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Yankee right fielder struck a somewhat different tone.
Sheffield, who is reportedly being dangled by the Yankees in a deal with the Mets that would land Mike Cameron in the Bronx, said that if he is traded, his new team better be prepared to extend his contract and give him more money — and whatever else he can think of to make it pay for taking the pinstripes off his uniform.
“It was my first choice to come here,” Sheffield said. “I made a lot of concessions to come here, and I’ll make it very clear. If I have to go somewhere else, a lot of things are going to have to be changed or you’re going to have an unhappy player.
“I’ll ask for everything. Period. You want to inconvenience me, I’m going to inconvenience every situation there is,” he added. “The only reason I’m playing is that I wanted to play for the Yankees. If I don’t get that opportunity, things change.”
Hey, if its concessions Gary wants, no problem. In the Pedro era, the Mets are all about coddling their superstars. Among the special stipulations Omar Minaya should be prepared to add to Sheffield’s contract are the following :
1) a promise from the entire roster that no one will try to steal Gary’s chef.
2) use of the Wilpon private jet so Gary can spend his days off with Roger Clemens’ family
3) all recordings by R. Kelly, Aaliyah, Ronnie Isley or Dave Chappelle parodying R. Kelly, banned from the clubhouse
4) full use of Shea facilities when the inevitable Subway sequel commercials (co-starring Jason Giambi) are ready to shoot.