Who's (going to be) in Right?
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by user I am a cpcp
As the MLB trading deadline nears every year, one thing is for certain: there will be two New York Yankees trade rumors for every other team rumor.
This year the Yankees are drooling over every just about every outfielder in the league. Here's a list of players the Yankees are rumored to be persuing this year:
Kevin Mench, RF (Texas Rangers) - The Mench rumored just popped up today. The Rangers want to unload the soon to be free agent. The Yankees are supposedly offering Shawn Chacon as bait for Mench.
Alfonso Soriano, LF (Washington Nationals) - This is probably one of the least likely trades. The Nationals want two can't-miss prospects for Soriano and the Yankees only have one (Philip Hughes) who they supposedly refuse to trade.
Shawn Green, RF (Arizona Diamondbacks) - The Yankees are half-heartly looking at Green who is 33 and will make $9.5 million next season and has a $10 million option for 2008. The bright side to Green is that Arizona doesn't want much in return since they're rebuilding and want to bring up more prospects. Green is hitting .306 but hasn't done much more than that, especially for what he's making.
Jose Guillen, RF (Washington Nationals) - The cheaper but much less desirable of the Nationals' available outfielders could maybe help the Yankees until Sheffield gets back. Guillen is currently batting .210 with nine homers and 34 RBI.
Bobby Abreu, RF (Philadelphia Phillies) - Both New York teams are pressing for Abreu as are the Milwaukee Brewers, and Detroit Tigers. The last report that cited a National League executive and a newspaper reported that Phillies GM Pat Gillick is giving the team two weeks to get back into the playoff race before seriously considering making major trades.
Those five rumors have come up since Sunday. Just three days and five outfielders are on the Yankees radar. This list doesn't include Aubrey Huff who the Yankees were scouting until the Houston Astros got him first.
So why is a Cleveland Indians fan writing about what the Yankees are up to? Well, besides the fact that the Indians are being eerily quiet and there are no rumors to where Bob Wickman and Aaron Boone are going and who's coming in to replace them, I always find it facinating how the Yankees manage to steal the rumor news every year when (at least recently) they haven't done all too much - at least helpful - at the deadline.
The difference this year though, is that most of the significant players (Mench is the exception) they're looking at have other suitors who have a chance to get the guy because they have much more to offer than the Bronx Bombers (unless they give up Hughes). With the injuries they're dealing with, they're not deep enough to trade major leaguers and they don't have much of a farm system left.
Seattle has a lot to offer for Soriano (Adam Jones), and Abreu's suitors - even the Brewers - probably have a better shot. So this means if the Yankees do anything it will probably getting Shawn Green or Jose Guillen. News that would make any non-Yankees smile.
Sources: ESPN, Fox, Baseball Reference
Date
Tue 07/18/06, 12:44 pm EST
