A year ago, we turned Melky Cabrera into the Yankee whipping boy. While many fans were high on the youngster with the good arm, we weren’t impressed with his hitting and didn’t feel he could be the Yanks’ center fielder of the present, let alone the future.
This time around, the Yanks don’t even have a center fielder upon whom we could dump. It seems that barring a trade, the Yanks will head into 2009 with some combination of Brett Gardner, Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon patrolling the home where Bernie Williams, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio once roamed.
To that end, some names keep popping up in low-level trade speculation. Some Yankee fans like Ichiro; rumors have linked the team to both Mike Cameron and Aaron Rowand. The Yanks, after all, could be the salary dump team of choice for NL teams looking to off-load their high-priced outfielders.
While the center field market is hardly robust, last week’s trade of Coco Crisp from the Red Sox to the Royals may open Kansas City up for a deal with the Yanks. The Royals now have too many outfielders and could look to trade David DeJesus. Enter John Perrotto. In this week’s Any Given Sunday column (subscription required), Perrotto drops in this piece of idle speculation:
The Royals would at least consider trading outfielder David DeJesus after acquiring center fielder Coco Crisp from the Red Sox in a trade, and there has been talk of a swap with the Yankees for second baseman Robinson Cano.
Robinson Cano, of course, remains the Yankee Major League most likely to be traded this off-season despite the team’s obvious commitment to straightening out his swing. They didn’t send Kevin Long down to the Caribbean for Winter League work with Cano just to fix the Royals’ future second baseman.
That said, DeJesus is an interesting candidate for CF. A soon-to-be 29-year-old Brooklyn native, DeJesus has had his ups and downs over the last few years. He’s a career .287/.360/.422, and while fast, he doesn’t seem to be a very effective base stealer. He’s just 40 for 71 in his career on the base paths.
I wouldn’t trade Cano for him, but I could see why the Yanks would think DeJesus to be a good fit for the Bronx. Can they pull the trigger on this one? Or will Brett and Melky and Johnny become the de facto center field trifecta next season?
As always, use this open thread for, well, an open thread. Feel free to comment on anything. The Jets beat the Titans. That was impressive. The Red Sox seem willing to wave good bye to the man with a giant red C on his chest, and the Lugo-for-Willis rumors persist.
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