The Yankees Lose an Irritant What kind of team might the Yankees be if someone else owned them? A much more appealing one, from the looks of it. With George Steinbrenner in failing health and not maintaining his usual death grip on the club, GM Brian Cashman has cut back on egregious spending for over-the-hill free agents and is stocking the team with young pitchers.

To that end, the Yankees just traded away free agent pitcher Randy Johnson, one of baseball's most unpleasant men, after signing him just two seasons ago. They sent Johnson back to Arizona, the team from which he came. And a few weeks back, they jettisoned Gary Sheffield, a daunting hitter who is also one of the most unpleasant men in baseball.

Johnson was a Steinbrenner mandate; after the Diamondbacks beat the Yanks in the 2001 World Series, Steinbrenner was obsessed with signing the snarling lefthander. Though Johnson won 34 games in two years, he really never pitched very well, or very consistently, and his ERA last season was 5.00. And by all accounts he was a deeply obnoxious presence on the team.

But, alas, not all the moves the Yankees want to make are so encouraging: The Times says the Yankees still want to sign Roger Clemens, who only wants to play half a season. Ugh. Nothing seems more antithetical to the concept of building a team.....  ¶ 8:18 AM