COMMENTARY : It’s No Fun Dealing With Trader George

When Dave Winfield left the Yankees, he left no Biblical allusion unturned, completing an ascent that took him from hell through limbo to, finally, the company of Angels.

To get him, Angel vice president Mike Port didn’t have to make a deal with the devil, just George Steinbrenner.

Now, Port is planning to file a grievance with Commissioner Fay Vincent over Steinbrenner’s involvement in the Winfield trade.

Why?

Just because the trade was announced on a Friday, Mike Witt was in a Yankee uniform on Sunday and Winfield didn’t receive his trade notification papers until Tuesday?

Just because Steinbrenner failed to pay Winfield $100,000 in back bonuses, hoping, perhaps, that the Angels would pick up the tab?

Just because Steinbrenner publicly criticized Yankee vice president George Bradley for making the trade against his wishes, braying ever so loudly that he wanted Winfield back?

Just because Steinbrenner met with Winfield behind closed doors and promised him his starting job back if Winfield decided to stay in New York?

Just because Steinbrenner tried to talk Port into accepting either center fielder Roberto Kelly or shortstop Alvaro Espinoza instead of Winfield?

After six days of slogging through the mud and the mire, the meddling and the muddling, the Angels finally got Winfield.

They also got hit with the bill: $9.1 million, including a one-year contract extension plus two option years.

Think the Angels might have gotten off more cheaply if Steinbrenner had given his ego the week off, or at least received more attention when he was a child?

The Angels think so.

It’s tough to place the blame on this one. Do you fault Steinbrenner simply for being Steinbrenner? Or do you fault the Angels, who simply should have known better?

The Angels must have been lulled by the tidiness of their most recent dealings with the Yankees. Luis Polonia for Claudell Washington and a minor league pitcher. No fuss, no muss, and thank you, George, for taking one big headache off our hands.

Winfield, though, was going to be different. Too much was at stake. Too many tabloids dangled too many headlines. George had to have the last word.

And the first one.

The Yankees announced the trade before the Angels, with obvious loose ends still showing, which steamed Port. So did the fallout, which had Winfield balking and Steinbrenner talking and the Angels grimacing through six days of national embarrassment.

This is standard Steinbrenner operating procedure: Slash, burn and damage control. Act first, think next, alibi later.

Steinbrenner spent a decade debasing Winfield, who might have been Steinbrenner’s best player, depending on how you feel about Don Mattingly. He insulted Winfield. He humiliated Winfield. He sued Winfield. Then he trades Winfield and the public reaction waylays Steinbrenner.

Suddenly, Steinbrenner loves Winfield. Bradley is the culprit, Steinbrenner says. Never should have traded him. Bucky Dent is the accomplice, Steinbrenner says. Never should have platooned him.

When Winfield invoked his 10-5 privileges and said he wouldn’t go, Steinbrenner had six glorious days to grandstand. On Monday, he called Winfield in for a meeting--and accidentally forgot not to tell the newspapers about it. On Tuesday, he hung Winfield’s old No. 31 in his old Yankee Stadium locker stall--and told Dave not to be a stranger.

All the while, Winfield’s name graced the Angels’ 40-man roster. Whose player was he? If he was the Angels’, as Port contends, Steinbrenner is in for an education.

George, can you say tampering?

In the end, just desserts were distributed.

The Angels got Winfield, who finally gives this rudderless team the superstar presence--both on and off the field--it has lacked since Don Baylor left in 1983.

Winfield got his money, which won’t buy him peace of mind, but maybe a piece of California.

And Steinbrenner got Witt, a perfect pairing if there ever was one. During the spring, Steinbrenner swore that Witt would never be a Yankee because he didn’t have “the makeup” to pitch in New York. Now, he swears he never said that.

And, by the way, how is Witt fitting in? As well as always. On his first day as a Yankee, Witt met the press, refused to shake hands with one writer, asked another, “Who are you, anyway?” and soon drove them all off with his usual array of scripted, cryptic answers.

Eventually, Mattingly had to take Witt aside for a short lecture on proper media relations. That should have been done years ago.

Meanwhile, Steinbrenner is as beloved as ever in New York. Last week, David Letterman put a new spin on the old joke and announced “results” of a Late Night opinion poll on the Yankee owner. The findings:

Eighty percent say Steinbrenner stinks. Twenty percent say Steinbrenner really stinks.

If the Angels weren’t consulted, they’re expected to lodge their vote with the commissioner’s office any day now.