By Will Kimmey
March 19, 2003

Padres general manager Kevin Towers had been fishing for an extra outfielder since Phil Nevin was lost for the season after dislocating his shoulder. He reeled in Rondell White from the Yankees on Wednesday, in exchange for outfielder Bubba Trammell and lefthander Mark Phillips.

The deal's roots, as is becoming the norm, are closely tied to budgetary concerns. White makes $5 million this season in the last year of a two-year, $10 million deal he signed with the Yankees. Trammell receives $2.5 million this season, but is due $4.75 million in 2004 and there's a team option for another $4.75 million in 2005 or a buyout of $250,000. The deal allows the Padres to rent White for a year while saving either $2.5 million or $12 million over the next three seasons. Phillips, who was slated for Double-A Mobile with the Padres this season, is the Yankees enticement to take on the extra salary.

White, 31, hit .240-14-62 in 455 at-bats between the outfield and DH for the Yankees in 2002. He's a career .288-134-503 hitter in 3,601 at-bats. White has a history of injury problems and has topped 400 at-bats in four of his eight full major league seasons. Towers sees him playing left field everyday and providing protection for Ryan Klesko in the Padres lineup. Top prospect Xavier Nady still should seeing regular playing time, but now that will come in right field rather than left.

Trammell, also 31, hit .243-17-51 in 403 at-bats for the Padres last season and .263-82-280 in 1,743 career at-bats. He can play left and right field and figures to battle Juan Rivera for the fourth outfielder's role behind starters Hideki Matsui, Bernie Williams and Raul Mondesi. He could also split time with Todd Zeile and Nick Johnson at DH.

Phillips, the ninth overall selection in the 2000 draft, had the best pure stuff of any pitcher in the Padres system. Few minor league southpaws can match the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder's combination of two plus-plus pitches: a fastball that sits in the low 90s and reaches 97 mph and a curveball that drops straight down. Raw when he signed out of Hanover (Pa.) High, Phillips started to put it all together last August at Class A Lake Elsinore as he posted a 2.53 ERA and 37-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his final 32 innings. He went 10-8, 4.19 in 148 overall innings last season and is 20-12, 3.96 with 156 strikeouts in 266 career innings. Though BA rated Phillips, 21, as the organization's No. 3 prospect, some in the organization questioned his makeup and consider him a high-risk, high-reward player.