It’s Still Yankees’ World After All

We should have known.

We should have known that when George Steinbrenner threatened to sue baseball over the financial burden the new collective bargaining agreement put on his New York Yankees, it didn’t mean he was sealing the door to his Bronx vault.

We should have known that when General Manager Brian Cashman insisted at the GM meetings that the screw had been turned and he was being forced to dump payroll, it didn’t mean the Yankees were truly withdrawing from the market -- domestic or otherwise.

We should have known that when it came time to sign the premier international players, the Yankees, with their unrivaled resources, would continue their domination of that sphere and leave the accounting for later.

“Most of us simply can’t shop where the Yankees shop,” Ned Colletti, the assistant general manager of the San Francisco Giants, said Tuesday, referring to a holiday spree during which the Yankees first signed Japanese outfielder Hideki Matsui for $21 million over three years, then blew out the Boston Red Sox on Christmas Eve by signing pitcher Jose Contreras, the Cuban defector, for $32 million over four years.

“The Yankees,” Colletti continued, “shop on Rodeo Drive. Most all the rest of us shop in a strip mall.

“They simply have more resources than anyone and continue to stockpile talent -- domestically and internationally. They’ve changed the way we all scout and develop.”

Colletti meant that the Yankees had expanded the scouting frontiers.

It’s just that few clubs have the resources to outbid the Yankees for the premier talent.

Nor do many have the Yankees’ reputation.

In shattering the record for a Cuban defector -- set by Danys Baez with his four-year, $14.5-million signing by the Cleveland Indians in 1999 -- Contreras actually said he sacrificed money to join the acclaimed Yankees.

“Jose Contreras is most certainly the premier amateur pitcher in the world and may be the best ever in amateur play,” said Gordon Blakely, the Yankees’ international scouting director.

“He has an exceptional fastball and breaking ball, plus a championship makeup.”

At an alleged 31, Contreras’ age may be open to debate, but few in the industry question his credentials. The Yankees claim he had a 117-50 record in seven years with the Cuban national team before defecting in Mexico City on Oct. 1. He recently established residence in Nicaragua so that he could be pursued as a free agent, rather than subjected to the June draft as a resident of the U.S.

Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein traveled to Managua in an effort to outbid the Yankees, and the Dodgers dispatched scouts Rene Francisco and Don Welke, but more in the capacity of spectators.

“We were merely in the country, not in the middle of the bidding,” General Manager Dan Evans said. “We were very aware of Contreras and think he can be an exceptional major league pitcher, but we never made an offer, once we heard they were talking about four years and $7 or $8 million a year. The Yankees got their own gig to run, and I’m not going to talk about that, but [the Yankee offer to Contreras] would have put us over the [payroll tax threshold] and there’s no way we’re going there.”

In the Yankees’ gig, Contreras isn’t the end of it. They are close to re-signing Roger Clemens, who would become their eighth starting pitcher.

Colletti said, “Maybe they’re planning to start a different pitcher each day of the week.”

Clemens and Contreras will join starting pitchers Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, David Wells, Jeff Weaver, Orlando Hernandez and Sterling Hitchcock.

Presumably, they are no longer in the market for Bartolo Colon, but can we be sure?

Since the end of the season, they have allowed relievers Mike Stanton and Ramiro Mendoza to leave and re-signed third baseman Robin Ventura at a $2.5-million cut in salary, but all the talk about a major payroll reduction under the new labor agreement has translated to a lot of lip service.

“We couldn’t, the right word is, we wouldn’t sacrifice the opportunities to sign these talents on the basis of reducing payroll first,” Cashman said, referring to the signings of Matsui and Contreras. “The mind-set is still for me to reduce payroll. We just need time to shake things out between now and spring training. Time will tell. We certainly have an abundance of depth, and I would call it quality depth. That’s a position of strength.”

The Yankees have been trying to move Hitchcock and outfielders Rondell White and Raul Mondesi, but there have been no takers.

Meantime, add Contreras and Matsui to the list of foreign-born players the Yankees have signed, which also includes Alfonso Soriano, Orlando Hernandez, Hideki Irabu, Jackson Melian, Ricardo Aramboles, Andy Morales, Adrian Hernandez and Wily Mo Pena. Some worked out, some failed, some were used in beneficial trades. All were expensive signings, underscoring the image that the Yankees are hard to compete with on the international scene.

There is still the possibility that a worldwide draft will level that playing field some. Still, a draft committee that was expected to pursue the concept when there wasn’t time to work out details before the signing of the labor agreement remains inactive, long past Oct. 15, when management and the union had agreed to begin discussions.

So, the Yankees, with all their riches, have only their own payroll conscience to restrict them, and we see again with Hideki Matsui and Jose Contreras what that’s worth.

We should have known.

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Arms Buildup

With the signing of pitcher Jose Contreras on Tuesday (four years at $32 million), the New York Yankees have seven starting pitchers under contract. And they anticipate that by the Jan. 8 deadline they will re-sign Roger Clemens to a one-year contract worth $8 million to $10 million. A look at the 2002 salaries of the other six starters:

Orlando Hernandez...$3.2 million

Sterling Hitchcock...$4.9 million

Mike Mussina...$11 million

Andy Pettitte...$9.5 million

Jeff Weaver...$2.35 million

David Wells...$2.25 million