February 24

TAMPA, Fla. -- It's not a baseball story, per se. Darryl Strawberry has hit 65 homers in eight years, and if you lined up the Yankees' 25-man roster with Darryl, his value would rank somewhere in the 23-24-25 area.

	Darryl Strawberry is still popular with his teammates, manager and George Steinbrenner.

The Yankees won the World Series and were 13-11 with Strawberry in the lineup. Hey, DH wasn't even important to them -- they got 84 RBI from the position last season, 11th in the league.

Sure, the Yankees started calling around Wednesday after the Strawberry news hit the fan, because if you're Brian Cashman and your boss is George Steinbrenner, you cannot survive without checking every alternative. But the general feeling is Cashman doesn't want to get rid of Ramiro Mendoza no matter what Steinbrenner says. If the ideas about Darin Erstad or Jim Edmonds don't work with Anaheim, fine -- the Yankees can get a bat in July, at which time they'll likely be 60-40 and in first place. The July possibilities: Matt Stairs or Matt Lawton, Dmitri Young or Dave Martinez. But for now Cashman is trying to get Daryle Ward or Lance Berkman from Houston -- which isn't going to happen.

It appears for now that unless the Yankees move Mendoza and prospects for Edmonds, they will monitor the middle of their order, at least for a while. Manager Joe Torre does not want to get rid of Mendoza, and Torre is usually right. Stienbrenner has made noises in the organization about moving Mendoza and keeping the payroll well below the $100 million level, but in most trades it would be hard to move the reliever and not have to take on more salary for a bat.

"Brian clearly does not want to deal him, but has to call around," another club official says. "If he could get a young, low-cost bopper, he'd do that. But who's going to do that?"

Cashman called on Ward.The Astros are not going to move their best young hitter. They can figure out his position later.

Torre can use Ricky Ledee in left field against right-handers. He can give Shane Spencer at-bats to see if he can hit righties. Tim Raines and Jim Leyritz are alternatives. He can also use Roberto Kelly in left with Spencer and Leyritz splitting DH time.

There are some who feel that Paul O'Neill is aging at 37 and Tino Martinez might be on the decline, but O'Neill is in his usual Herculean shape, and Martinez has earned the right to disprove doubters. There are going to be a lot of bats available after June 1. Since the Expos want to alter their deal with New York because of the bone chip in Hideki Irabu's elbow, they could ask for a hitter (Jose Vidro? Fernando Seguinol?) instead of right-hand pitcher Jeremy Powell as the player to be named later.

The Yankees right now are the favorites to be back in the World Series. Why? Every day they take the field thinking they can win because of their starting pitching. If one were to break down, Mendoza is the ideal guy to step in for six weeks. He already has shown his soul under pressure -- his two performances against Boston in the ALCS probably were the difference in that series.

Strawberry's is a sad story, because -- unlike Steve Howe -- fellow players, his manager, his coaches and the owner genuinely care about the man. "I didn't want him here in '96," Torre says. "But I was wrong. He's a good person. He's easy to manage. He's always on time."

Straw has worked hard to get out from under millions of dollars in debt, although he reportedly still owes $300,000 -- with interest -- in back taxes. Steinbrenner, with the influence of former Drug Enforcement Agency director Jack Lawn (one of Steinbrenner's closest allies), has been convinced that drug addiction is a sickness from which one in seven addicts recover.

"I've learned that you can't threaten a person into giving up drugs," Steinbrenner says.

The Players Association and Commissioner's Office knew about Strawberry's Jan. 19 positive test for cocaine Feb. 8, when the court signed off on continuing his after-care program, rather than punishing him further. Why did it take two weeks for Selig to summon Strawberry?

It's almost as if people are exhausted from the whole thing. "I know it's fair to ask 'how many chances does one get?' " Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch said. "But knowing Darryl, I know he needs baseball, and I hope he gets to rehabilitate and has another chance."

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