Via Ken Rosenthal comes this gem: “A trade remains a possibility, but the Braves are unwilling to meet the Yankees’ price for outfielder Xavier Nady, knowing they might get better deals in July.” That’s music to my ears because it shows the Yanks aren’t going to just give Nady away because they have a bit of a logjam. They don’t have to move him, but if someone is willing to pay the right price, they will. It works for me.
Rosenthal Roundup: Nady, Pettitte
Kenny R.’s got a new column up. While he focuses more on John Lackey’s impending free agency and Boston’s potential interest in Adam Dunn, he has a few Yankee-related items as well. First, he speculates via the ever-popular “rival executive” that the Mets could and should add Andy Pettitte at one year and $13 million. Pettitte would add depth to a Mets’ rotation sorely lacking in just that. At that price though, I have to believe the Yanks would step back in to the Pettitte fray.
Rosenthal also adds a note on Xavier Nady. Noting that Nady will probably wind up with Type A free agent status next season, Rosenthal feels that this designation could help the Yanks trade the righty later on this year. With no right-handers other than Manny Ramirez on the market, Nady, at a low price point, is attractive to many suitors, and as Rosenthal writes, “a team could offer him arbitration without fear that his salary would be exorbitant, thus preserving its right to draft-pick compensation.”
Cameron/Swish rumor debunked, Yanks talk with Braves
We’ll start off with the good news. A report earlier this week indicated that the Yankees offered Nick Swisher for Mike Cameron. Thankfully, Buster Olney has stepped in and debunked this already specious rumor. On his blog today, he note:
Heard this in regards to rumors of a Mike Cameron-Nick Swisher swap: The Yankees have not had any trade talks with the Brewers since the winter meetings, and they are not considering a Cameron-Swisher trade.
So sanity is restored. It’s not like many of us took this seriously, anyway. Why would the Yankees offer Swisher, who is young, for Cameron, who is not? The only advantage Cam holds is the ability to play a pretty center field. He did have his best UZR since 2003 in 2008, but even so Swish’s youth, and the fact that he’s under contract next year, make him the more favorable player. Plus, I suspect if the Yankees made this offer, the Brewers would have had the paperwork done already.
We do have some fresh rumors regarding Swish and Xavier Nady. Via MLB Trade Rumors we get word from both Ken Rosenthal and Jerry Crasnick that the Yanks and Braves have discussed the corner outfielders. Rosenthal even went so far to say that the two teams have spoken about trade possibilities.
The team’s next step will be to add a bat, and the club has spoken with the Yankees about their available hitters, Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher, sources said.
By no means does this indicate the Yankees will actually pursue a trade. Like any good GM, Cashman is listening to what’s out there. If he finds something that improves the team this year and in the future, he’ll consider it. If the best that’s out there is something like Swish for Cameron, I suspect he’ll head into Spring Training with a bit of a surplus. As we’ve noted multiple times, depth becomes even more valuable in the spring, when teams get a better look at their teams (and see their players befall injuries).
RAB at Newsday: Nady or Swisher?
Newsday beat writer Kat O’Brien is headed out on vacation, getting in some R&R before the start of Spring Training. The crew at Newsday invited us to take over her blog for the next two weeks, and we’re honored to do so again. Today I took at how Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady matchup, concluding that if the Yanks do decide to deal one of their extra outfielders, Nady should be one packing his bags. Check it out.
Nats inquire on Nady, Swisher
Add the Jim Bowden to the list of GMs calling Brian Cashman. According to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, the Yankees and Nationals are “currently in trade discussions” involving Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher. It’s unclear what the Nationals would offer the Yankees, and I still don’t think the Yanks should be in such a hurry to trade either of these two players. However, this is one rumor that might carry some weight. The Nationals need some pop, and the Yanks could be trying to clear payroll for one final pitching signing of the Hot Stove League. (Hat tip to MLBTR.)
The reality of a Reds trade
This past week I discussed a favorable trade scenario for Xavier Nady. The caveat, of course, being that it’s favorable to the Yanks. Surely the Reds would want a significant add-on if they were to even listen. They might also want to swap Aaron Harang for Bronson Arroyo, at which point Cash should hang up the phone (much like Reds fans think Jocketty should hang up on a Nady/Harang swap).
Mark Sheldon of MLB.com notes that the Reds are still looking for some right-handed power to sandwich between lefties Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. At this point Brandon Phillips seems to be the leading candidate, though he’s no bopper. After smacking 30 homers in 2007, he followed that up with a .261/.312/.442 performance. That’s not at all ideal production for your No. 4 hitter. This is what fuels the speculation that the Reds are looking outside the organization for some pop. Hence, the link with Nady.
Sheldon acknowledges that the Yankees surplus (is it really a surplus, though?) of outfielders could make the two teams viable trade candidates. But, as he notes:
On the trade market, the Yankees have a surplus of outfielders and could be willing to deal either Nick Swisher or Xavier Nady, with Nady being the most likely to be moved. The Yankees need starting pitching in return and probably wouldn’t settle for anyone less than a Reds veteran such as Bronson Arroyo or Aaron Harang.
I’d obviously change that from an or statement, saying that the Yanks wouldn’t settle less for a veteran such as Harang. As I said in the original, though, a one-for-one swap would be inequitable. Chad from Redleg Nation says “no thanks” to the proposal. The commenters on that post are also taking me to task. That I can understand. I would imagine Reds fans have become attached to Harang over the past few years, and don’t want to trade him for a guy coming off a career year (and whose production dropped in the second half).
If not Harang, though, it doesn’t seem the Yanks and the Red would match up on a trade. Take a look at their 40-man roster. There are some good young players there, one quality veteran pitcher (Harang), and some middling talent. Not at all what the Yanks should be seeking in a Nady trade. I’d far rather go into the season with depth than make a trade for the sake of making a trade.
Midnight in the garden of good and Nady
The Xavier Nady rumors, it seems, never end.
On Thursday, I noted that the Yanks are listening to offers for Nady, and Joe talked about trading Nady for Aaron Harang. On Wednesday, the rumor du jour concerned Randy Winn. While a little over a week 55 percent of RAB voters said don’t trade Nady, his name just keeps on popping up in trade rumors.
Today, we have both the Giants and Pirates involved in various talks over Xavier Nady. The first story comes to us via The Splash, Henry Schulman’s San Francisco Chronicle-hosted Giants blog. He writes, “I’ve been told by a good source that Yankees GM Brian Cashman wants to keep Swisher to replace Bobby Abreu in right field and deal Nady, who becomes a free agent after the 2009 season.”
Schulman goes on to speculate that the Giants could be interested. However, he’s just guessing and has no further information concerning the team’s interest.
Meanwhile, the Pirates seem to be talking Nady and Swisher with the Yanks. Dejan Kovacevic reports:
The Pirates have had trade talks with the New York Yankees regarding outfielders Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady, one high-level source said today, but there is little cause to expect a deal involving either coming to Pittsburgh.
In Swisher’s case, he is owed $22 million the next three years and is coming off a down season in which he batted .219 with 24 home runs and 69 RBIs. Moreover, the Yankees are seeking pitching, the Pirates’ most precious commodity, so the match is poor. The source described the chance of a Swisher deal being done as “a long shot.”
A Nady deal is seen as even less likely, and the talks on that front have been no more than cursory. The primary reason is that the Yankees never could get back as much as they gave up for Nady and reliever Damaso Marte in the teams’ July 26 trade — outfield prospect Jose Tabata and starters pitchers Jeff Karstens, Ross Ohlendorf and Daniel McCutchen — and that could make for an awkward set of circumstances.
So we have some conflicting information, and some sense of what the Yankees are expecting. It’s worth noting that the Kovacevic is the latter of the two. Perhaps the Yanks are willing to listen on Swisher even if they would rather keep them. A Front Office conducting its due diligence would be better served hearing everything another GM has to say about any player.
Meanwhile, I’m not sure I agree with Kovacevic. If the Yanks are, as Schulman says, so keen on moving Nady, they may view him as the lesser of the two pieces from last summer’s trade. They seem to recognize that Nady had something of a career year last year, and Brian Cashman, in looking to move Nady, seems to be betting on the belief that Nady won’t duplicate his 2008 number. He wants a decent package for Nady and needs to replace some of the parts they sent to Pittsburgh last year. It is unreasonable to expect to get a full return though.
Either way, these talks were very cursory, and at the risk of sounding like a broken RAB record, I still predict Nady to be with the team come April.
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