Yankee 21
12-09-2003, 09:29 AM
Boss boils as
Sheff stirs it up
By ANTHONY McCARRON
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Gary Sheffield's talks with Yanks are cooling down.
Maybe Gary Sheffield won't be coming to the Bronx after all.
Two baseball officials confirmed to the Daily News last night that the Yankees' deal with the free-agent slugger - which had been all but announced last week by the team and bragged about by Sheffield in a USA Today Sports Weekly article - has hit significant snags.
In the words of one baseball executive, the deal "fell apart. Sheffield changed his mind and wanted more money."
So the Yankees might find themselves without their impact free agent, even as the Red Sox and Rangers are talking about a trade that might send Alex Rodriguez, the game's best player, to Boston. Perhaps Vladimir Guerrero, who earlier this offseason the Yankees said was too expensive, will become a Yankee option now. The deal they completed over the weekend with Ruben Sierra could be seen as insurance against the Sheffield signing failing to happen.
There is still a chance a contract with Sheffield will get done, of course. But according to baseball sources, Sheffield upset the Yankees when he called George Steinbrenner - who is personally handling the negotiations - in the last few days and demanded that the contract be increased to $42 million over three years. The original pact had been for three years and $39 million and the two sides were haggling over how some of the money would be deferred, because the Yankees want the average annual value of the deal to be $11 million.
Friends of Sheffield's have been warning that he was pushing Steinbrenner too far with his latest gambit. No official said the negotiations were completely shut down, but Steinbrenner is probably unhappy that Sheffield tried to get more millions when The Boss thought the deal was nearly sealed.
Sheffield, 35, seemed like a lock for the Yankees from the beginning of the offseason, though at one point the Braves were interested in re-signing him. Sheffield is a Tampa product and Steinbrenner loves players from his adopted hometown. Sheffield's uncle, Dwight Gooden, works for the team, and Sheffield would fit snugly into the Yanks' gaping hole in right field.
At a charity appearance in Manhattan last month, Gooden was widely quoted saying that he thought a deal would get done and his nephew would be a Yankee. Last week, Sheffield was referring to the Yankees as "we" in the article detailing the negotiations, which he had mostly handled himself. And, Sheffield had worked out at the Yankees' complex in Tampa.
If he still does wind up signing with the Yankees, this episode will have provided a preview of sorts of what it is like to deal with this talented but temperamental player.
One of the sources speculated that the Braves had heard that the Sheffield deal with the Yankees had fallen apart and that's why Atlanta did not offer arbitration to him on Sunday, fearing they'd get stuck with him and have to give him a big raise for a one-year deal decided on by an arbiter. The move meant the Braves forfeited the chance to get a draft pick as compensation for losing Sheffield, but it also meant they cut ties with him.
There was also industry scuttlebutt that the Braves might file a grievance against the Yankees because Atlanta thought the Yankees weren't announcing a done deal with Sheffield to save the draft pick.
However, a third baseball source said, "After everything that came down with Sheffield and Dwight Gooden and the Yankees, (Braves GM John) Schuerholz wanted no part of Sheffield, and that's why he didn't offer him arbitration. On the off chance that this deal blew up, Schuerholz didn't want Sheffield back."
Now Sheffield might have to find a completely new suitor.
Sheff stirs it up
By ANTHONY McCARRON
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Gary Sheffield's talks with Yanks are cooling down.
Maybe Gary Sheffield won't be coming to the Bronx after all.
Two baseball officials confirmed to the Daily News last night that the Yankees' deal with the free-agent slugger - which had been all but announced last week by the team and bragged about by Sheffield in a USA Today Sports Weekly article - has hit significant snags.
In the words of one baseball executive, the deal "fell apart. Sheffield changed his mind and wanted more money."
So the Yankees might find themselves without their impact free agent, even as the Red Sox and Rangers are talking about a trade that might send Alex Rodriguez, the game's best player, to Boston. Perhaps Vladimir Guerrero, who earlier this offseason the Yankees said was too expensive, will become a Yankee option now. The deal they completed over the weekend with Ruben Sierra could be seen as insurance against the Sheffield signing failing to happen.
There is still a chance a contract with Sheffield will get done, of course. But according to baseball sources, Sheffield upset the Yankees when he called George Steinbrenner - who is personally handling the negotiations - in the last few days and demanded that the contract be increased to $42 million over three years. The original pact had been for three years and $39 million and the two sides were haggling over how some of the money would be deferred, because the Yankees want the average annual value of the deal to be $11 million.
Friends of Sheffield's have been warning that he was pushing Steinbrenner too far with his latest gambit. No official said the negotiations were completely shut down, but Steinbrenner is probably unhappy that Sheffield tried to get more millions when The Boss thought the deal was nearly sealed.
Sheffield, 35, seemed like a lock for the Yankees from the beginning of the offseason, though at one point the Braves were interested in re-signing him. Sheffield is a Tampa product and Steinbrenner loves players from his adopted hometown. Sheffield's uncle, Dwight Gooden, works for the team, and Sheffield would fit snugly into the Yanks' gaping hole in right field.
At a charity appearance in Manhattan last month, Gooden was widely quoted saying that he thought a deal would get done and his nephew would be a Yankee. Last week, Sheffield was referring to the Yankees as "we" in the article detailing the negotiations, which he had mostly handled himself. And, Sheffield had worked out at the Yankees' complex in Tampa.
If he still does wind up signing with the Yankees, this episode will have provided a preview of sorts of what it is like to deal with this talented but temperamental player.
One of the sources speculated that the Braves had heard that the Sheffield deal with the Yankees had fallen apart and that's why Atlanta did not offer arbitration to him on Sunday, fearing they'd get stuck with him and have to give him a big raise for a one-year deal decided on by an arbiter. The move meant the Braves forfeited the chance to get a draft pick as compensation for losing Sheffield, but it also meant they cut ties with him.
There was also industry scuttlebutt that the Braves might file a grievance against the Yankees because Atlanta thought the Yankees weren't announcing a done deal with Sheffield to save the draft pick.
However, a third baseball source said, "After everything that came down with Sheffield and Dwight Gooden and the Yankees, (Braves GM John) Schuerholz wanted no part of Sheffield, and that's why he didn't offer him arbitration. On the off chance that this deal blew up, Schuerholz didn't want Sheffield back."
Now Sheffield might have to find a completely new suitor.