The Futility Infielder

With the trade deadline approaching, the Yanks pulled a significant deal on Tuesday. But instead of adding another bat to their already formidable lineup, as some have been expecting, they subtracted one, trading rightfielder Raul Mondesi and their favorite reserve, Cold Cash ($2 million), to the Arizona Diamondbacks. "The Buffalo" has been banished to the desert in the company of Snakes. They received three players in return, outfielder David Dellucci, reliever Brett Prinz, and catcher Jon-Mark Sprowl. This translates, roughly speaking, into receiving a turnip, a rutabega, and a kumquat in exchange for one of their bigger headaches. Yes, it's nice to cure that throbbing pain behind the temples, but how are you going to cook with that stuff?

Mondesi's trade was triggered by an act of insubordination: the moody outfielder left the team after being pinch-hit for in Sunday night's ballgame against the Red Sox. GM Brian Cashman made no effort to hide the organization's displeasure. "He decided to shut it down," Cashman told the New York Times. "He showered and left before the game ended. He left the clubhouse and took off. That motivated me and Joe Torre to make a change."

Thus ends another chapter in the strange career of the "32"-year-old Mondesi. A legitimate five-tool player with power, speed, and a cannon for an arm, Mondy's always been hampered by his ten-cent head. His poor discipline at the plate (a .331 OBP and one walk per 12.4 at-bats) has rivaled his poor discipline in front of the fridge; he's added about 30 pounds over the course of his career and avoided off-season conditioning like the plague. He posted 30 homer/30 steal seasons with the Dodgers in his youth before his lackadaisical play and failure to blossom ran him out of the country. Traded to Toronto for Shawn Green after the '99 season, he became the poster-boy for the Jays' ailments: overpriced, underproductive, and with a bad attitute to boot. Meanwhile, Green became a superstar in the City of Angels. After two and a half seasons of disappointment, the Jays dumped Mondesi on the Yanks, agreeing to pay a hefty portion of his salary ($6 million of his $13 million this year). He managed only a 745 OPS for the Yanks in 2002, though he did shore up rightfield defensively and gave Yankee Stadium PA Bob Sheppard a regular opportunity for virtuosity every time he came to bat: "Rauuuuuuuuuuuuuul MON-desi!"

Shopped by the Yanks last winter, Mondesi finally channelled some energy into working out. He came to spring training looking lean and mean, impressing George Steinbrenner enough that the Yanks took him off the market. The results showed; Mondesi had a good spring and then put up a white-hot April. The hot start helped the Yanks overcome the loss of Derek Jeter and the slow start of Jason Giambi as they charged out to an 18-3 start. But since then, he'd gone into a funk:

                 AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS  HR  BI

March/April     .347  .409  .683  1092   8  18

May/June/July   .223  .299  .381   680   8  36

One of the knocks on Mondesi has always been that even with his 30-homer power, he's never driven in 100 runs (he topped out at 99 in '99). His splits reveal the reason, at least as far as this season goes: a .151 average and 526 OPS with runners in scoring position. Eeeuch. And as thrilling as it's been to watch baserunners scamper backwards as they cower in fear when Mondesi cocks that right arm, his defense is overrated. Baseball Prospectus' numbers show Mondy as a below-average fielder for the past five seasons.

Dellucci is a lefty hitter who lacks power (career .429 SLG, but only .382 this year) but who has just enough plate discipline (career .341 OBP and a walk every 10 ABs) to convince you that he's a worthy bench player. He's a strict platoon playeer; his numbers are weighted down by infrequent appearances against lefties (2-for-24 this year). Take those away and his career numbers against righties look a bit more respectable: .281/.356/.442. That could help a ballclub.

The Yanks already have another lefty in their odd assortment of rightfielders, Karim "Abdul" Garcia. Acquired from the Cleveland Indians on June 25, Garcia's been hot in his limited action, putting up a .943 OPS in 48 at-bats and showing signs that his late-season run in 2002 (16 HRs, 52 RBI and a .299/.317/.584 line after August 6) was not a fluke. But he's got no plate discipline to speak of (4-to-1 K/W ratio and one walk every 20 AB). Switch-hitter Ruben Sierra could see time against lefties, but rightfield might be a defensive stretch for his fielding "talents." Expect the Yanks to continue shopping here.

Prinz pitched 41 respectable innings with a 2.63 ERA and 9 saves for the 2001 World Champion Diamondbacks, though he missed the postseason due to shoulder tendinitis. But the 26-year-old righty struggled in 2002 (9.45 ERA in 13.1 innings) and has spent nearly all of the past two seasons in the minors. He saved 18 games at Tuscon last year, but has struggled with groin problems and thrown only 16 innings in four stops throughout the D-Backs organization. At best he's Al Reyes-level insurance with a bit more promiise; he may get a shot at the back of the Yanks' pen should somebody else falter or more likely, come up lame. Sprowl is a promising 23-year-old lefty-hitting catcher out of a Billy Beane fantasy: he's currently hitting .296/.402/.421 in the Class A Midwest League. On the other hand, Baseball America isn't so high on Sprowl, noting that he's repeating A-ball this year and that his defense is pretty bad (as for the age discrepancy, he turns 23 on Friday).

Upon further evaluation, the Yanks didn't do too badly in trading Mondesi. No, they didn't add Brian Giles, Vladimir Guerrero, or Juan Gonzalez, but they snagged a useful role player and two guys who could help the team down the road. Brian Cashman's done worse, and so have a lot of other GMs.

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I updated his latest links in the article below, but it should be noted that Alex Belth's Bronx Banter has a new home on Cub Reporter Christian Ruzich's site. The new addy is http://www.all-baseball.com/bronxbanter.