New York Yankees: Recent Trade Rumors Are Puzzling

Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

To this point in the offseason, the New York Yankees have been among the busier teams in the league. Having lost Robinson Cano to free agency, the Yankees have been allocating the money that would have went to him toward other high priced players to fill some other holes. Nonetheless, questions still remain for this team, and they’re a club that figures to be involved in plenty of trade scenarios/rumors over the next couple of months.

Over the past few days, we’ve heard a couple of those rumors, as the Yankees appear to have had discussions with a couple of different teams, as they attempt to look at their second base vacancy, and perhaps unload one of their surplus of veteran outfielders.

One of those rumors included Brandon Phillips headed to the Bronx, while Brett Gardner would go to the Cincinnati Reds in the exchange. There’s no word if other pieces were involved, but the word is that it was the Yankees who shut it down. That’s certainly confusing. Unless it’s a matter of money, and trying to stay under that $189 million threshold, this is something that would fall heavily into their favor.

You’re talking about a perennial Gold Glove infielder who would help Robinson Cano to become a distant memory much more quickly than he would have otherwise. Sure, his bat has diminished a bit, but he could rebound and there’s still some pop there. Not to mention that the Yankees would be dealing a player at a position in which they have too many people. We’ll see if they look at that again later on this offseason.

Then there’s the matter of another rumor, which also involves Gardner. In this case, he’d be headed to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Austin Jackson. Such a deal, especially if straight up, would be a head scratcher from the Detroit perspective, but while there are plenty of benefits to acquiring Jackson, especially the fact that he’s a few years younger, if the Yankees are going to deal Gardner, one would imagine it’d be to acquire a pitcher or a player at an actual position of need.

These are just two of the recent ones we’ve heard about the Yanks to date, and there figure to be some more as the offseason moves along. Nonetheless, these two are definitely puzzling, to say the least. While the New York Yankees don’t appear to want to deal Gardner, he’s drawing heavy interest, and could make plenty of sense, especially if they’re able to improve elsewhere.