NOT ANOTHER "PHELPS" DEAL!

It is being reported that the Mariners were scouting David Phelps’ spring start on Tuesday.   Speculation has begun that given the Yankees need for infield help and the Mariners need for starting pitching (they have two starters injured), a deal might be in the works.

I couldn’t help but hearken back to the last time a Yankees/Mariners trade involved someone named “Phelps”.

The year was 1988 and George Steinbrenner was running the show for our Bombers.  At the time, we had a young, powerful outfielder coming up through the ranks named Jay Buhner.  He had played in just 7 games in 1987 and hit a paltry .227.  In ’88 he put 25 games under his belt and his average remained low (.188), but he did manage to hit three home runs and drive in 13.  Still, he was only 23 and his ceiling remained high.

On the other side of the continent, the Mariners had a 33-year-old first baseman/designated hitter that had never played in more than 101 games for any of the three teams he had been associated with.  Ken Phelps batting average to that point had never gone above .259, but he displayed decent power in hitting 51 home runs during the 1986 and 1987 seasons.  As a left-handed hitter, his power-stroke seemed like it might translate well in Yankee Stadium.

Timing is everything, and Phelps slugging percentage (.547) through the first 72 games of the 1988 season was the highest he’d ever had.  He was well on his way to another 25+ home run season and our owner was itching to make his team better.

With George “being George”, the Yankees owner looked past the fact that the team already had Don Mattingly manning first base and Jack Clark hitting in the DH spot, and dealt Buhner to Seattle for Phelps.

BYB writer Ike Dimitriadis wrote this article last June about the deal and I recommend giving it a read...  "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU TRADE JAY BUHNER FOR?" It accurately portrays the atmosphere and attitude of that time in the Bronx.

Needless to say, Buhner would go on to become a Mariners’ legend, hitting 307 home runs in a 14 year career on the west coast.  Phelps would become the poster-child for the failed Yankee clubs of the 1980’s, lasting a little more than one season with the team and hitting just 17 home runs in 131 games.

For Yankees fans (like myself) that remember that particular dark period of our franchise, we cannot help but feel the hairs on the backs of our necks stand straight up when we hear about another potential “Phelps” deal with the Mariners.

Even if all this much ado is about nothing, I’d prefer that any trade involving someone named “Phelps” occur with a team not named the “Mariners”.


    

--Steve Skinner, BYB Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1

   

 
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