WasWatching.com

If the Yanks had kept the Crime Dog, might they have traded away Donnie Baseball?

Of course, if they had both, then the Jack Clark/Steve Balboni/Dan Pasqua/Ron Kittle as DH eras might not have happened. And I'd have been OK with that.

It's a small wonder that Mattingly played for the Yanks at all, given the Yanks' preference for veterans at the time.

IIRC, the Yanks were higher on Balboni than Mattingly, due to his power potential.

Before they committed to Mattingly, weren't the Yanks trying to acquire Jason Thompson?

At the time, the Yanks were stacked with 1b-OF-DH types (looking at the current roster, the more things change...), and I don't think McGriff would've seen any time in NY, given the makeup and mindset of the Yanks.

~~If the Yanks had kept the Crime Dog, might they have traded away Donnie Baseball?~~

That's a good question - which leads to, if Donnie was traded, what happens to the Curse of Don Mattingly, does it never happen?

>> which leads to, if Donnie was traded, what happens to the Curse of Don Mattingly, does it never happen >>

Maybe, maybe not, but the "Curse of Extremely Low Attendance" would have been in full effect!

If the Yankees had kept McGriff and traded Mattingly, they would have kept the better player.

Of course, the best course of action would have been to keep the superior player, McGriff, but also keep the inferior one, Mattingly, at his original position, LF.

IIRC, McGriff was considered one of the few prospects in MiLB that had 50 HR potential at that time.

George was the de facto GM back then.