The Yankees traded Raul Mondesi to the Arizona Diamondbacks last night for utility outfielder David Dellucci, right-handed reliever Bret Prinz, and a minor league catcher, Jon Sprowl. Who? The Yankees lose Mondesi, an undisciplined hitter, and the Yankees’ only defensive threat in the outfield. Evidentally, this is Joe Torre’s call.

After being pinch-hit for in the eighth inning on Sunday in Boston, Mondesi showered and left the park before the game was over. This is a huge no-no in Torre’s Yankeeland. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as Mondesi began complaining about playing time a few weeks ago in Cleveland.

“The Yankees and Mondesi are not going in the same direction,” [GM, Brian] Cashman said, “so I decided to get more aggressive with some of the interest we had for him.

“He’s a player that plays hard, but I don’t know if he was ultimately on the same page with us.”

Joe Torre added: “It’s not acceptable what he did. George was obviously aware of it. I think he was fond of Mondy. Brian and I pulled the trigger on this one.”

Karim Garcia and Ruben Ruben will now play right field. The Yankees lose a head case in Mondesi who was not a good fit on Torre’s team, but again, they also lose their only defensive threat in the outfield. Does this mean Cashman has another move up his sleeve? We’ve got a little more than 24 hours to find out.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox picked up Reds’ reliever Scott Williamson for a single A prospect, cash and a player to be named later. Score another victory for Boston who continues to rebuild their bullpen. The Yanks were in the hunt for Williamson too, but according to Cashman, the Reds wanted Brandon Claussen. What Cincy got from the Sox appears to be a whole lot less than Claussen. Maybe teams simply don’t want to deal with the Bombers. Conspiracy theorists start your engines.

Either way, after a ‘rough’ start last winter, Theo Epstein is doing just fine for himself, don’t you think?