Biggie asks: I love the Grandy Man, but with the 2014 budget in mind do you think it would be wise to re-sign Nick Swisher, pick up Curtis Granderson’s option and then trade him (similar to Gary Sheffield)? Granderson’s defense, strikeouts, and relying on two things that age saps (homers and speed) makes a long-term deal scary for me. Thoughts?
I’m not a big fan of doing that. When the Yankees traded Sheffield after 2006, they did so because they already had a viable replacement in-house (Bobby Abreu). The internal replacement for Granderson is … Zoilo Almonte? Melky Mesa? Chris Dickerson? Nope, they aren’t cutting it. The free agent alternatives aren’t very appealing either, whether they keep Swisher or not.
Perhaps there’s a scenario in which the Yankees dish Granderson for prospects that they could then turn around and include in a package for Justin Upton — essentially a three-team trade — but that doesn’t seem very realistic. A lot of things had to fall into place to pull off the original three-team deal that brought him to New York in the first place. Doing it again isn’t impossible, just unlikely.
At the end of the day, I have a very hard time seeing a way the Yankees could trade Granderson this offseason while actually improving the team. The goal is still to win now, and Curtis helps them do that. Unless Swisher winds up getting Jayson Werth-type offers, I would prefer to see the Yankees bring him back and let Granderson walk after 2013. He’s a bit younger, I think he’s a better bet to remain productive going forward, and I think the contract will be more palatable. There are a lot of assumptions with that obviously, but that’s all we can do until we see what the market says the value of these two is after the season.
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