Trade Talk Has Yankees Up in Arms

Bernie Williams, the New York Yankee center fielder, was a teenage teammate of Juan Gonzalez in a Mickey Mantle League in Puerto Rico and yearns to have the Detroit Tiger left fielder as a teammate again.

Joe Torre, the Yankee manager, yearns to be done with a distracting pursuit one way or another but knows that if Gonzalez doesn’t waive his no-trade clause before today’s noon deadline that owner George Steinbrenner is likely to embark on an even more time- and headline-consuming pursuit of Sammy Sosa in a possible package with Ismael Valdes.

It is believed, in fact, that the Yankees have kept the Sosa door open in conversations with the Chicago Cubs even while negotiating with Gonzalez and his representatives over the last 48 hours of a 72-hour window that opened when the Tigers agreed to trade the two-time American League most valuable player for outfielder Rickey Ledee, third base prospect (and Michigan quarterback) Drew Henson and double-A pitcher Randy Keisler.

It was not clear Saturday where the Gonzalez situation rests, but Torre labeled it a definite distraction before his Yankees outlasted the Chicago White Sox, 12-8, with a performance that again seemed to illustrate that their weary and injury-wracked pitching staff needs help more than their inconsistent offense.

Gonzalez? Sosa?

How about Moises Alou or B.J. Surhoff or any of a dozen other outfielders that have been rumored to interest the Yankees in their quest to beef up an offense that ranked 10th in the league in runs before Saturday’s 16-hit assault.

“Sure, it’s obviously been a distraction,” an obviously tired Torre said. “We’re used to distractions, but this has been going on a long time and is probably the toughest distraction we’ve had to deal with since I’ve been here. I mean, I can remember saying 10 days ago that I didn’t want to worry or think about it anymore, and here we are.

“You can’t ignore it. You can’t pretend it’s not there. You have to understand there are some things you can’t control.”

One being Juan Gonzalez.

The Yankees are one of 10 teams listed in his no-trade clause. Agent Jim Bronner, according to sources, told the Yankees on Friday that Gonzalez would waive it if he could retain his free-agent eligibility at the end of the season.

Steinbrenner has long abhorred the rent-a-player routine and probably would not agree to give up three players--two of them top prospects--for a player he might retain for only three months.

Whether he would agree to it if the Tigers were willing to take less in a trade isn’t clear.

Whether the Yankees would try to lure Gonzalez to New York with a contract topping the record eight-year, $140-million Detroit package that Gonzalez rejected seems doubtful considering Steinbrenner’s current and future payroll obligations.

One thing seems certain: Sosa, who has right of approval, would probably cost the Yankees more in exchange and is likely to demand a larger contract extension--perhaps as much as $17 million a year. Those are two key reasons the Yankees opted for Gonzalez first.

In addition, the Yankees, with their conservative and team-oriented clubhouse, are leery of the limo-traveling, entourage-accompanying, defensively suspect Sosa--who would still be a power-hitting plus and marquee attraction in the Hispanic-heavy Bronx.

He would also be a powerful addition to the Boston Red Sox, whose Martinez brothers, Pedro and Ramon, continue to talk up their Dominican Republic countryman.

However, Boston’s interest may intensify only if the hated Yankees land Gonzalez, and the Red Sox may harbor some of the same doubts about Sosa the Yankees do.

“Is he a team player?” Boston’s Carl Everett asked in a recent Sports Illustrated article.

Williams, meanwhile, has no doubt Gonzalez would give the lineup a “tremendous boost” and fit the Yankee mold of “the special kind of player who has to sacrifice, keep his mouth shut, be willing to win and play under all kinds of pressure. . . . “

“I just can’t see him passing this opportunity. Nothing against Detroit or the Tigers, but he’s won all the individual awards and now he has a chance to be on a winner. If he plays his whole career and doesn’t win, he may spend a lot of time thinking about this.”

Amid the distraction, Torre was spending a lot of time thinking about his “unsettled pitching” situation Saturday after Ramiro Mendoza was forced out with a 10-1 lead in the sixth inning of game in which the manager, out of options, ultimately had to call on closer Mariano Rivera with a five-run lead in the eighth.

The Yankees do not consider it serious, but Mendoza again experienced the shoulder fatigue that recently sidelined him for two weeks, compounding the elbow sprain that has sidelined Orlando Hernandez, the groin injury that has Roger Clemens on the disabled list and the worrisome 1-6 record of David Cone.

Some in the organization, of course, think the Yankees should be focused on pitching. Some in baseball think Gonzalez has already said no to the Yankees but agreed to keep it quiet while the Yankees quietly talk to the Cubs about Sosa.

One thing is certain. The Yankees play the Tigers Tuesday night, and Gonzalez will be in that game, wearing one uniform or the other.