[新聞] POSTSEASON WILL GAUGE ABREU DEAL

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http://tinyurl.com/racl7

July 31, 2006 -- SO NOW Bobby Abreu brings his star with him to the Bronx the
way Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez,
Randy Johnson and Johnny Damon have all done since the last time the Yankees
won a World Series in 2000.

And now it is up to Abreu to produce the same kinds of hits this October that
Paul O'Neill produced every autumn - even as A-Rod hasn't been able to repli-
cate Scott Brosius' success in the postseason and just as Giambi hasn't been
able to duplicate Tino Martinez's tournament production.

"There's weight on every one of us that's come here without winning a champion-
ship," Giambi told The Post in Tampa during in spring training when asked spe-
cifically about the pressure that Damon would bear after being imported from
Boston to bat leadoff and replace Bernie Williams in centerfield. "Each one of
us has come over here to fill a specific role, and in the end, we've come up
empty.

"Believe me, we all feel it."

The Yankees sure seem better positioned for a run at a ninth straight division
title and 12th consecutive playoff berth than they were before acquiring Abreu,
the 32-year-old right fielder, and Cory Lidle, the 34-year-old starting pitcher
, from the Phillies in exchange for four minor league prospects.

But the ultimate success of the trade will only be determined by Abreu's work
in the postseason, if the Yankees do in fact qualify. To a lesser degree that
holds true as well for Lidle, whose name is in small letters on the marquee and
of whom less will be demanded the rest of the way.

Because although Joe Torre said after yesterday's 4-2 victory over the Devil
Rays at the Stadium that "the Yankees only deal for the present," the fact is
these Yankees only deal for October.

Sal Fasano, the catcher whom the Yankees acquired last week from the Phillies,
said that he believes Abreu, "is really going to like the spotlight.

"He's a magnetic personality and enjoys being the center of attention," Fasano
said. "I think the bigger the stage, the better he'll play."

That's what they all say before coming to the Bronx wipes the smiles off their
faces. And that's why GM Brian Cashman yesterday resisted the opportunity to
suggest that Abreu's transition from Philadelphia to New York would be "seam-
less."

"I hear he's a great person, but nothing is seamless about coming to New York,"
Cashman said. "With what I've seen, I don't want to jinx him by saying it's
going to be seamless."

What Cashman saw yesterday was Rodriguez going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts to
fall to .280 on the season. He saw Giambi walked intentionally in the third
inning to get to A-Rod, who obliged with a K with runners on first and second,
and we wonder what, say, Mayor Koch thinks of that?

Cashman has seen A-Rod stink up the playoffs the way he has seen Sheffield un-
able to swing as lethal a bat in two Yankees Octobers as he has in his pin-
striped summers. He has seen Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez implode in the
postseason.

Abreu has three at-bats in his playoff career, 1-for-3 as a pinch hitter in the
NLDS against the Braves in 1997 when he was a sophomore 23-year-old part-timer
for the Astros. Lidle's post-season history is depressing; the Yankees them-
selves battered him from the mound by scoring six runs in 32/3 innings during
Game 4 of the 2001 ALDS in Oakland on their way to rallying from 2-0 down to
win the series in five.

And so while, yes, again, Abreu appears to represent an immediately significant
upgrade over the Bernie Williams-Aaron Guiel cut-and-paste approach to right
field, without a championship, the deal will have gone for naught in the unique
Yankees world where winning the World Series is both everything and the only
thing.

Which means we'll have to wait and see how Abreu handles the weight before we
know anything for sure.


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