Some Yankee trade proposals so we can stop winning 2, losing 2, winning 3, losing 3, etc.-etc.

So Joel Sherman wrote this blog on Sunday, and for whatever reason, the web editor deleted my 4-paragraph-long, insult-laden comment within a half-hour of each of the five times I submitted it. Why? I have no idea. Maybe he reads our blog and thinks “Monnie D.” already has a forum in which to bash Sherman’s stupid blogs without having to hijack the Post. Or maybe he was just pissed that I dedicated the entire last paragraph to calling him out for staining the reputation of “The Best Sports in Town” by even publishing such garbage. Who really knows? Either way, I figured I’d transition from bashing someone else’s trade proposals on their website to throwing out my own ideas on, you know, my own website.

Before I get to it, I just wanted to make a few points– I think our most pressing needs at the moment are (in order): 1. a left-hander of any sort on our pitching staff; 2. a set-up man; 3. a right-handed hitter to balance the lineup. Now some of you are probably wondering why I didn’t put “starting pitcher” on that list, and that’s because I just don’t see it as a high priority this season. For one, pretty much every team in the league — and that even includes the Red Sox — have major issues in their rotation, whether caused by injury or inconsistent performance. That being the case, it makes sense to address the Yanks’ other myriad flaws before fixing that one. Secondly, by the time Phil Hughes returns next month, Joba will be a full-fledged starter, and Hughes’ presence alone will help stabilize things. Now all of that considered, I’m not saying we couldn’t use another decent starter, but I don’t think we should auction the farm for one either. Alright, here goes:

Deal(s) that arrogant New Yorkers believe should happen, but probably won’t:
1. Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes to the Yankees/Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Jeff Marquez, and J.B. Cox to the Rockies: this deal makes a ton of sense for both teams. Holliday will be an FA after the ‘09 season, and the Rockies pretty much have no chance to sign him to an extension. Willy Teveras is their CF and sucks, so getting a new one is probably a good idea. From the Yanks’ perspective, they’d be giving up a lot, but they’d address two glaring needs with this deal: right-handed power and a lefty-specialist. Actually, Fuentes would be more than that for the Yanks. With his experience as a closer, and his miniscule ERA, Fuentes would easily slot in as our set-up man. To facilitate this move, the Yanks would have to trade Bobby Abreu to a team that thinks it needs one more player to get it over the hump and into the playoffs, and would be willing to rent him for the next few months. I see the Astros as a possible destination, especially considering they had no problem giving up big-time prospects for just 3-months of Carlos Beltran a few years back. And that’s another reason why I like Holliday– with Abreu set to be an FA after this season, we could slot in his replacement in July instead of trying to find one in November-January (in case you couldn’t tell, I’m not exactly keen on re-signing the guy. That’s a whole ‘nother blog for another day.). Why won’t this happen? 1. The Rockies will ask for Phil Hughes, and the Yankees will say no (And I probably would too anyway. Hey, if you’re not gonna trade the guy for Johan, why trade him for 28-year-old OF-er?). 2. We can only do this deal if we find a taker for Abreu, and the market will be pretty slim for a rental.

2. A.J. Burnett to the Yankees/Ian Kennedy, Jose Tabata, and Mark Melancon to the Jays: Burnett can opt out of his contract at the end of the season — and rumor is he absolutely will — so we’ll be able to leverage the Jays into foregoing a demand on Phil Hughes thanks to that. Plus, while he has ace-type stuff, Burnett still hasn’t become an elite pitcher. But, there’s no denying that having him in our rotation would improve it drastically. Sure, he’s erratic, but when he’s on he can absolutely dominate, and the hope would be that he could do so for the next few months. The main reason why I don’t think this will happen is because Jays’ GM J.P. Riccardi is extremely reluctant to trade within the division, and I don’t see him making an exception here. Plus, we’d then have to give Burnett an extension to rationalize giving up some pretty decent prospects to get him, and I’m not sold on going down that road with a guy as injury-prone as A.J.

Deal(s) that arrogant New Yorkers believe should happen, and probably will, so I’ll take them seriously and provide scenarios in which they could all go down (aka, I won’t use the same player in multiple trades):
1. Huston Street to the Yankees/Ian Kennedy, Mark Melancon, and David Adams to the Athletics: I know we’re giving up a lot, but with the way Kennedy has pitched this year, A’s GM Billy Beane might ask for even more, so hang on to your hats. I’m not sure I like the idea of trading Melancon, who is absolutely dominating Double-A and is projected to be up with the big club by mid-summer, but it might be a necessary evil to get the A’s closer. Bringing in a guy like Street would give us, without question, the best bullpen in all of baseball for the foreseeable future. Think about it– for everyone who thought we should’ve never taken Joba out of the 8th inning, we’d now have a guy to do that job… with the added bonus of having Joba pitch every five days. And with the emergence of Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez, and with Kyle Farnsworth pitching somewhat decently, you could forget about 6-inning games– if the Yanks after up after five, it’s over. I can’t see a whole lot of impediments to this deal. Street made $3.3 million this year via arbitration — which is a crapload of money for the A’s — and that total could easily double when he goes back to arbitration after this year. The A’s need a 2B badly, so my thoughts on why we drafted Adams may come to fruition. So long as Phil Hughes isn’t headlining this deal, I think it gets done.

2. Brian Fuentes to the Yankees/Jeff Marquez and Alberto Gonzalez to the Rockies: the Rockies need a 2B badly as well, and some insurance for SS Troy Tulowitzki’s injured leg. Gonzalez proved he can play pretty much anywhere and SS is his natural position, so that makes sense. In Fuentes we pick up the hard-throwing lefty specialist we sorely need, and a guy who can even handle the 8th inning if need be. Oh yeah, and if we have both he and Huston Street in the same ‘pen, then wow– we could even be talking about 4-inning contests from July on out. The only roadblock I see here are the Rockies’ pitching demands. Marquez should be good enough to get this done, but if Colorado starts sniffing around Alan Horne (who the Yanks actually project to be better than Kennedy, which is why the latter has become expendable) or J.B. Cox, that’ll kill it.

3. Xavier Nady to the Yankees/Melky Cabrera and Chase Wright to the Pirates: Nady, despite being a corner outfielder by nature, is a good defender/athletic enough to play CF, and he’ll obviously give the Yanks all the right-handed pop that Melky lacks (Honestly, what is the point of switch-hitting when you’re batting .206 from the right side?). You can laugh all you want about Chase Wright and the back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers he gave up against the Sox last year, but a lot of teams’ still look at him as a viable 4th or 5th starter, and with good reason: he’s a Ted Lilly-type lefty who’s 6-1 with a 2.56 ERA at Double-A Trenton this year. This deal becomes even better if we can find a taker for Abreu, which will allow us to plop Nady in RF, and then bring up Brett Gardner from Scranton-Wilkes Barre to play CF. Never heard of him? You will soon, because he’s the main reason why the Yanks were so willing to give up Melky to the Twins for Johan Santana, not to mention that most scouts believe he’s ready for the big leagues NOW. His batting average is decent (.295), while his homer (3) and RBI (25) totals are a little low. But what really jumps out at you are his on-base-percentage (.414) and his stolen base numbers (25). Basically, he’s our lead-off hitter of the future, but I’d absolutely love to see him in the 9-spot today to make our lineup circular. The Pirates are notoriously difficult to deal with, so that could torpedo things, but hopefully they’ll own up to being the glorified minor league team that they are and get back to selling off players Montreal Expos-style.

Well, there’s my plan to fix the Yanks. If we can pull off even one of those deals, we’ll be in markedly better shape. But if B-Ca$h hits the jackpot and makes all 3, then it would take a natural disaster to keep us from marching down the Canyon of Heroes in October. Actually, with the way things have been going, I’d settle for a playoff birth– and who would’ve ever thought a Yankee fan would say something like that a few years ago?