Trade Talkin' Time

Having just read this article, I thought I'd throw in my two cents of what the Yanks may want to trade for this year.

I should first note that the article points out that the Yankees put Barry Bonds on the table as a possible player to sign. But it doesn't sound very serious, they were just noting that he could be a resource for the rest of the year. It looks like Matsui is done for the year, Damon is banged up and won't play much LF, so they need someone who can platoon and be willing to DH now and then. Is Bonds a solution? Sure. But that solution will come with lots of baggage. And honestly, can we see Bonds handling the NY media at all? It could be a potential disaster and huge distration should anything go down.

And now for the worst joke of the day, if the Yankees sign Bonds he'd finally be behind bars...get it, the pinstripes are like bars. I told you it was bad...

Besides Bonds in terms of priority here's where the Yanks need the most help:

1. Starting pitching. I don't even know the rotation anymore. Wang's out til Sept the earliest, Hughes and Kennedy are long forgotten, Igawa is never an option, and there's risk among the rest of them for injury due to age and just the long season. The article mentions Jared Washburn as an option--and he'd be a decent #4 starter. I think a starting pitcher who's a veteran and has post season experience would be my criteria. Which means I'd also look at Greg Maddux as well.

2. Relief pitching. There have been a good deal of injuries here too and no one's really made up for it. Edwar Ramirez has been tremendous and Farnsworth has finally been pretty good. Everyone else, I don't trust (except Mariano). If Kennedy or Hughes come back, they should go to the bullpen, but they could use some help down the stretch. A good middle reliever who can get outs is the way to go.

3. Another bat. The offense is fine, but there's always slumps in the dog days of summer. LF is a mess obviously, but so is catcher. Finding a catcher who can throw runners out is ideal, but it'd be nice to have them be able to hit some. That's a bit lofty since Posada has been one of the better offensive catchers the last decade, but they also don't need a guy who will hit below .250 the rest of the way. They're looking into Benji Molina. Or maybe Tony Pena could come out of retirement.

Don't expect a blockbuster trade. There isn't a crisis per say and the tone of trading has changed for the Yankees of late.