SHEFF TO YANKS...SOON?


Herr Steinbrenner eager to reclaim back pages ASAP

Ken Davidoff of Long Island's great product other than Lyle Hysen, Newsday, reports the Yankees are on the brink of signing free agent OF Gary Sheffield. Sheffield, who bitched and sulked his way out of tenures with Miwaukee, San Diego and L.A., has a World Series ring from his brief spell in Miami ('97) and managed to get through a relatively incident-free two seasons in Atlanta. More to the point, the 35 year old has been one of the scarier hitters during his 15 year major league career, at least in the years he's managed to stay healthy (Sheffield has averaged 144 games played per season since 1996). This is a player who despite not-so-sporadic bursts of me-first-ism, has knocked in over 100 runs or hit more than 30 home runs on 6 different occasions, spend most of the '90's walking more for than he struck out...and wears more body armor than Gerry Cheevers.

The mooted Yankee deal is for 3 years (club option on a 4th) for between $38 and $40 million. Does Sheffield have another 3 seasons at an elite level left in the tank? That's hard to say --- though there are so many great advancements in nutrition, vitamins, personal training, well-financed laboratories, etc., who dares bet against him?

Posted: Sat - November 29, 2003 at 05:58 PM      

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