Hallelujah, Joe Torre got it right. The twenty-fifth man on the Yankee roster is . . . Bubba Crosby! Congratulations, Bubba. Allow me to suggest you wear a pare of dungarees under your uniform pants to avoid getting splinters in your bum.
Okay, maybe that’s not fair, but getting Bubba on the roster, which is great, is only half the battle. The other half is getting Torre to rest Bernie once or twice a week and–rather than moving Matsui into center and starting Sierra in left, a possibility that seems to intrigue the Yankee skipper a little too much for my liking–start Bubba in his place.
Torre had several conflicting quotes today about the likelihood of this happening. The most promising was this:
“This guy [Crosby] may be a regular in a part-time situation, where he may play 2-3 games here or there”
More troubling was this:
“He can steal a base, and that’s probably where he’ll be utilized more times than not. We don’t pinch-hit for many people, but we do have a couple of guys you’d pinch-run for. In that regard, he’s a bonus for us.”
And of course the ever-present:
“We do have options if we want Ruben to get some playing time, we can put Ruben in left field and move Matsui to center. [Matsui] is so good at what he does, that won’t be a concern if that’s the way we decide to do it.”
