I don’t really believe Brian Cashman would do this but here it is:
Kemp, 23, would be viewed as a replacement for Bobby Abreu in right field next year. Kemp is batting .287 (104-for-362) with 11 homers and 55 RBIs in 94 games this season. His biggest downside is striking out 107 times.
Matt Kemp is a very fine baseball player and he is going to become even better, but Robinson Cano has great offense at a premium position and has a great glove (a few mistakes don’t make him bad, folks). Cano has actually been somewhat decent all year, his April was just that awful. Here are his splits by month:
April - .151/.211/.236 May - .295/.333/.432 June - .287/.302/.416
I know you have to give up good stuff for good stuff, but I don’t want the Yankees to give up Cano and I know the Dodgers fans don’t want to give up Kemp. It’d probably be a trade of equal value but the Yankees don’t really have anyone of even half Cano’s ability to plug in at 2B.
Other Things Cashman Shouldn’t Do
Take on Jose Vidro along with Jarrod Washburn
The Mariners apparently aren’t satisfied with just dumping Jarrod Washburn and calling it a day. No, they also want to straddle the Yankees with Jose Vidro. Washburn is under contract for two more years, sucks, and could be kind of useful which is why I am okay with that. Jose Vidro just sucks and will not be useful in any way. He has no power and is gimpier than Hideki Matsui to the point where he absolutely cannot play in the field. If the Mariners want to dump Vidro they should just DFA him before they accidentally trigger his option for next year (or who knows maybe they’ve already done this, the number of plate appearances he needs for it to vest has been a closely guarded secret).
To put it briefly: Justin Christian is a better option off the bench than Vidro in a million ways. Salary dumps are for good players, not bad ones.
Give up anything of worth for a lefty reliever
A lefty reliever for the Yankees would be a luxury and really shouldn’t be as high on their list as it is. The bullpen has been good, Edwar is good against lefties. There is no room for one given that someone (probably LaTroy Hawkins) is going to get the boot once Brian Bruney is ready. Who are you going to toss into AAA for this mystical LHP on the 25 man? The asking price for Brian Fuentes is allegedly Ian Kennedy, even with Ian Kennedy’s diminished value that would be a bad trade for the Yankees.
Trade for a catcher
Yes, it sucks that Jorge Posada is not going to be behind the plate for the rest of the season. However, there really aren’t any better options out there right now. You can overpay for say, Jarrod Saltamacchia who is probably not a better option than Jose Molina or Chad Moeller at this stage in his development and then have nowhere for him to stick on the roster next year unless Posada moves to 1B permanently which he doesn’t seem ready to do yet.
