The Offseason of George
During the 1995 offseason, the New York Yankees were a team on the rise. While the team was about to enter a period of sustained dominance, the Yankees almost pulled off a couple of trades that seemed too good to be true.
While the Yankees’ championship roster was beginning to take shape, the personnel in the organization were undergoing a major shakeup. For starters, the Yankees parted ways with general manager Gene Michael and manager Buck Showalter. As the Yankees hired Joe Torre to lead the ball club, they settled on former Astros’ GM Bob Watson to lead the organization. While the team had many new faces, they wanted to maintain their current culture and were considering an internal promotion to the role of assistant general manager.
The Man for the Job
As George Steinbrenner started going over his short list for the job, one name that stood out to him was the team’s assistant to the travelling secretary, George Costanza.
Sure, Costanza was responsible for the cotton uniform failure, but he was showing great initiative and dedication. Steinbrenner, usually the first to arrive, was surprised to consistently see Costanza’s car in the lot and was shocked when he learned he was also the last one to leave.
After the decision was made to promote Costanza, they were unable to locate him. Unfortunately, the only clue to his whereabouts was his now damaged, bloody car and the team had to assume the worst. Fearing he was dead; Steinbrenner was left to keep Brian Cashman as the assistant GM.
A few days later, Costanza returned. Having survived the crash on grubs and puddle water, he was informed that the club had moved in a different direction. His ideas to add Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. would be passed on to Cashman and the Yankees missed out on perhaps the greatest lineup of all-time.
The Trades
For starters, Costanza gave us some insight into his plan to add Barry Bonds while giving up a package centering on Bernie Williams and Jim Leyriz. At the time, the Giants were coming off a last place finish and could have conceivably looked to rebuild. Bernie would take Bonds’ spot in the outfield while Leyritz would have been an improvement behind the plate.
However, the Yankees would likely need to sweeten the deal. While the mid-90s Giants had plenty of talent, they lacked strong arms at the top of their rotation. Having already given up Bernie, the Yankees would have pushed to include Matt Drews, the 6-foot 8-inch pitcher who ranked as MLB’s 79th best prospect.
While Bonds would instantly bolster the Yankees lineup, his acquisition would create a hole in centerfield, and Costanza had his eyes set on Ken Griffey Jr. In the offseason prior to '96 , the Yankees and Mariners did complete a trade sending Tino Martinez, Jim Mecir and Jeff Nelson to New York for Russ Davis, then the 78th ranked MLB prospect, and Sterling Hitchcock.
For the Yankees to convince a competitive Seattle franchise to throw in Griffey, they would need a trade offer that would blow them away. To start, the trade would center on the number one prospect in the Yankees’ system and MLB’s number two overall, Ruben Rivera. With Seattle’s infield set, they likely would have looked to improve either the rotation or adding an additional outfield. I like to imagine the Yankees wouldn’t have included Andy Pettitte and instead would have looked to include lower level prospects, Eric Milton, Donzell McDonald or Ricky Ledee.
The Lineup
While the late 90s were one of the most successful dynasties of all-time, adding Bonds and Griffey would have created the most powerful lineups ever. Going into the '96 season, the lineup would have looked something like:
Wade Boggs, 3B
Barry Bonds, LF
Ken Griffey Jr., CF
Ruben Sierra, DH
Paul O’Neill, RF
Tino Marintez, 1B
Mariano Duncan, 2B
Joe Girardi, C
Derek Jeter, SS
Meanwhile, George Costanza would have a plaque in Monument Park, the stadium would exclusively sell calzones and Yankee fans would be lining up for fitted cap day.