from the New York Daily News

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The wise old baseball sages long have warned us about the perils of making snap judgments on rookies in spring training or September. Spring training especially is a "fooler" time, they tell us, because the starting pitchers and the regulars are barely playing five innings, just working themselves into game shape, and everyone's deeds and stats are therefore skewed. Joe Torre and his brain trust are, of course, keenly aware of this, which is why there are words of caution draped around any appraisals they might offer when asked about Bubba Crosby, the all-purpose outfielder who has been lighting up the spring so far. Much as they're trying not to allow themselves to fall in love with this kid, Crosby seems to be frustrating them at every turn.

"The first thing I noticed about him were his quick hands," said batting coach Don Mattingly when I asked him if Crosby, who is hitting .363 while playing a flawless center and right field, might be the real deal. "He can run, throw and hit. That's all I can say, other than the fact that he's a major league player in my opinion, and could be one for a long time."

If so, then it's been a longer-than-necessary time coming - at least as far as the 27-year-old Crosby is concerned. He was acquired by the Yankees from the Dodgers in the Robin Ventura salary dump deal last July 31 and was probably a 100-1 shot to make the team when he came to camp two weeks ago. But as the beneficiary of significantly increased playing time, the result of Bernie Williams being on the shelf with an appendectomy, Crosby has offered the Yankees a glimpse at the tools that convinced the Dodgers to make him a first-round draft pick out of Rice in 1998.

For whatever reasons, the Dodgers' interest in him waned, even after he hit .361 with 57 RBI in 76 games at Triple-A Las Vegas last year and made the Pacific Coast League All-Star team before missing the last six weeks of the season with a sprained thumb.

"I felt last year I couldn't have done anything more to prove myself at Triple-A, and to at least get an opportunity," Crosby said yesterday. "But eight pinch-hit at-bats is not exactly an opportunity in my mind, and then they went out and brought Rickey Henderson in. They keep telling you to put up the numbers and we'll give you the opportunity.

"I'm not sure what happened with the Dodgers other than they had a lot of payroll and three different general managers when I was there so they had communication problems among themselves. I was having trouble just getting someone to tell me what I have to do."

This has not been a problem for him with the Yankees. With Williams out, Torre has turned Crosby and veteran Darren Bragg loose in center field and told them to just play. Yesterday against the Phillies, Crosby gave Torre his best playing performance yet, beginning with an eight-pitch at-bat resulting in a base hit to right to start the game off against Kevin Millwood. He later would add a double, and in the seventh inning displayed his defensive skills with a sensational diving catch of Jimmy Rollins' fly ball on the warning track.

Afterward, Crosby was asked if the grime all over the front of his uniform was warning track dirt or blood.

"A little of both, I think," he replied.

"You're not gonna find a better catch than that," said Torre. "There was no depth perception on that baby."

What makes this improbable Crosby story even stranger is that, normally, in a salary dump deal such as the one that made him a Yankee, the club doing the dumping is happy just to get a warm body. In this case, Yankee GM Brian Cashman got a .300 hitting outfielder in Crosby and a pitcher, Scott Proctor, who has made a similar big impression by topping out at 100 mph on a radar guns in his brief appearances.

"You just never know in this game," said Cashman. "We traded lists of players with the Dodgers, each of us rejecting them, until we finally settled on Crosby and Proctor. It could be we may really have something here."

"When I first was told of the trade I thought it was a negative," said Crosby, "but as I drove from Las Vegas to Houston with nothing else to think about, I realized with the Yankees, I'm not a No. 1 pick, so they won't think twice about trading me, like the Dodgers did. My goal is to leave a good taste in everyone's mouth here about me."

'He's made an impression, no question," said Torre. "That's the highest compliment I can give him - that we know who he is."

And Crosby should know it doesn't get any better than that, being that it is, after all, only spring.