Quote:Yanks will go
with Benitez

Trade in place, to Mets' relief

By SAM BORDEN in New York and BILL MADDEN in Chicago
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS


It looks like Armando Benitez will be wearing pinstripes soon.


Benitez makes his last appearance in Met uniform, taking a walk with Barry Bonds, before last night' s All-Star Game.

The Mets and Yankees have tentatively agreed to a blockbuster deal that would put Armando Benitez in pinstripes, sources told the Daily News last night.
The two clubs were under strict orders from commissioner Bud Selig not to make any announcements that would steal the spotlight from the All-Star Game, which is why the trade won't be official until today. Benitez was a member of the National League team last night in Chicago, though he didn't see any action.

But he will be a Yankee today, with the Bombers sending three minor leaguers to the Mets in exchange for their much-maligned closer. The three righthanded pitchers - Jason Anderson, Anderson Garcia and Ryan Bicondoa - are not top-level prospects, which is why the Yankees will pay the rest of the Benitez's nearly $7 million salary.

When asked for comment on the deal last night, officials for both clubs said only that talks were ongoing. Benitez's agent Mike Powers said he was not aware that a deal had been reached.

Benitez, a free agent at the end of this season, has 21 saves this year, but has also blown seven chances - including an infamous four-walk meltdown to the Yankees and one last Sunday in what now looms as his final game as a Met. Cracking under pressure has always been the biggest knock against Benitez, but the Bombers will use him as a setup man - as he was earlier in his career - and give Joe Torre a bridge to Mariano Rivera.

Owner George Steinbrenner said he wanted to "settle down" the pen two weeks ago, and after Ugueth Urbina was traded from Texas to Florida, Yankee brass figured Benitez was the best arm available.

Trades between the two teams are rare. The last one was in 2001, when the Mets sent Robin Ventura to the Yanks in exchange for David Justice.

But this is a deal of far greater magnitude, if only because of Benitez's history. In addition to a litany of catastrophic moments in big spots (notably a blown save in Game 1 of the 2000 Series vs. the Yankees), Benitez also sparked an ugly brawl with his new team, by hitting Tino Martinez in 1998 while with the Orioles.

During the ensuing melee, the righty was chased into the dugout by Graeme Lloyd and Darryl Strawberry and grabbed by David Wells. Although there has been significant turnover in the Yankees clubhouse since then, several current Yankees - Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, among them - were furious with Benitez afterward.

GM Brian Cashman was there then, too, and had harsh words for the player he will welcome today.

"That was the most chicken--- stuff I've ever seen in my life," Cashman said of Benitez's drilling Martinez.

Williams, who hit a long homer one batter before Benitez hit Martinez, said, "You give up a homer, be a man. Be professional about it."

In his book "Perfect I'm Not," Wells refers to his former Oriole teammate's "career-long series of big-game collapses" and describes him as "about as reliable as a schizophrenic on crack." He also describes grabbing Benitez around the neck when they were opponents in the Martinez game, saying he squeezed hard enough to make "reliever juice" as the Oriole screamed "Lemme go!"

One can only wonder how the clubhouse introductions will go when Benitez first shows his face in the Bronx, but the fact of the matter is, he gives the Yankees what they need. Although the Mets and Yanks are usually averse to dealing with each other - partially because of Steinbrenner's fear that a Yankee prospect would bloom with the Mets - fate seemed to keep pushing them together.

For the Mets, the move is a continuation of interim GM Jim Duquette's youth movement. Roberto Alomar was traded to the White Sox on July 1, and Jeromy Burnitz was sent to the Dodgers on Monday. The Mets are determined to bolster their minor-league system, and want to give their young players every opportunity to play.

There had been discussions of a three-way deal with the Giants, in which the Bombers would get Felix Rodriguez, but that fell through. Once Urbina went to the Marlins, the Yankees' options for a high-level reliever were limited.

Similarly, the market for Benitez was small because of his contract and impending free-agent status. Duquette, however, was determined to move the most maligned of few remaining Mets vets, but knew there were only a few teams that would be willing to rent Benitez's services for half a season.

As it turned out, he didn't have to look far to find one.