I entirely agree with your point about the Yanks being too sonsevative now with their prospects. I have said before that if the Twins would take Hughes Melky, a position player and Horne/Marquez or any of their ilk the Yanks should do it. To not make this trade over future number 5′s like Horne is crazy. If they love Hughes that much I understand and I understand not giving up Kennedy that is fine, but this deal should not die over Horne, Marquez or even AJax (who we all love based off 1/2 a season and hitters are easy to find – look at this years free agent market for God’s sake) with a rotation of:

Santana
Wang
Petitte
Joba
Kennedy

This is the best rotation in baseball imo. Replace Melky with Patterson and it is pretty much a wash in fact I think Patterson has more potentitial and adds an element of speed. Its almost as if the Yanks have overhyped their prospects so much that they themselves start to believe the hype.

DWillis and Miggy Cabrera netted 6 prospects, so imagine the value is about equal (2 all-star caliber players)… You’d prob be talking Hughes and Kennedy, Melky, and three other players, prob among Horne, Melancon, Robertson, Sanchez, Cox, Betances, Alberto Gonzalez, Tabata, AJax, Hilligoss, and Sublett.

you telling me we dont have the depth to make this trade, and still have solid prospects on the way up?

you make the deal, extend Johan, and hope you can extend Nathan.

LLOYD, i’m sure at least one of Sabathia/Santana will not reach FA. unless the Twins are in a playoff hunt in July, Santana will be traded & signed. Cleveland probably has the resources to sign Sabathia, but IF they both hit FA, i believe the Yanks COULD afford both, with all that Giambi, Mussina, Abreu $ available.

I don’t think you can justify adding Kennedy to the deal to get Nathan. Just put Joba in the bullpen this year and you’ll get roughly the same results, except next year you still have both Joba and Kennedy.

Remember the days when D’Angelo Jimenez was the next big thing?

The problem here is the Yankees have stockpiled pitching prospects. Teams generally only care about your top couple of prospects at each position. Getting the Red Sox #2 pitching prospect is sometimes seen as a better deal than getting the Yankees #3 pitching prospect, even if the Yankees player is better. And getting a random team’s #1 prospect is easier to sell than getting someone else’s #4 prospect, even if the #1 is coming from a team with a crappy farm system and the #4 from a team with a stacked farm system.