The Detroit Tigers have traded veteran catcher Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees for hard-throwing reliever Kyle Farnsworth.

Rodriguez, a 14-time All-Star in the option year of a $50 million deal he signed with the Tigers in Feb. 2004, will step into the hole in the Yankees’ lineup created by Jorge Posada’s shoulder injury.

Posada had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder Wednesday. The rehab time is about six months.

The 36-year-old Rodriguez, who has won the Gold Glove award 13 times, was hitting .295 with five homers in 82 games this season.

The story on this apparently is that Dave Dombrowski called up and asked about Farnsworth, not that he was being actively shopped. Good job shipping Rowdy Kyle while his value was still high, this should be helpful for both teams. I’m thinking newly acquired Damaso Marte will fill Farnsworth’s shoes (yes he exploded the other night but he is a rather good pitcher) and Mark Melancon will be a September callup.

Phil Hughes’ fastball was still way below where it should be, and his command was off. He wasn’t hitting where he wanted because of the movement but now that it’s start #2 I am starting to get concerned about him. There is something wrong with him, and I don’t know what, but this is not the kid I saw last year. It’s rather terrifying to me because I believe so strongly in him and want him to succeed. Another note is that he is still not working his change in there.

His next start is at Fenway and I hope they find a way to shuffle things around so he gets pushed back a day and Pettitte pitches there instead. Getting banged around two starts in a row would be really bad for him.

Saber Scouting had a bit about his mechanics today that makes me feel a little better. It makes it seem like if there really is a problem it’s fixable (oh god I really hope so).

Only Matsui and Abreu appear to be fully awake on the offensive side of things. Cano is looking just awful so far. Completely lost at the plate.

Jeter and Posada are both hurting, and at least one of them is going on the DL.

Alberto Gonzalez, who is a classic all-glove no bat shortstop is in Kansas City and may be there to replace Jeter on the roster. Girardi had already announced that Jeter was sitting out this series but the callup of another shortstop indicates he could really be headed to the DL. They could also be sending Duncan down (which unless Jeter is really that hurt might be the better option here) to make space.

Posada’s throwing arm is “dead”, and they’ve taken an MRI but no action yet. If he needs more than a few days rest, that’s pretty bad.

Not that either of them are doing well at the moment (Posada’s already missed a bunch of games, after all) but that is a big hit to the offense. I’ll take the defense you gain at short with someone other than Jeter playing there short-term but I really hope it’s not serious.

Anyway, it’s too early to completely freakout but I am worried. A lot of it depends on how Kennedy looks tonight. I’m not high on him but even if it’s just decent I’ll take it.