Evaluating The MLB’s Top Contenders: Trade Deadline Needs/Potential Solutions (Yankees Edition)

Logan on 07 6, 2009

With the MLB trade deadline looming, it’s time to take a look at each contender’s needs and provide potential solutions for those needs. We at Bareknucks.com will take a look at a few of the top teams in each league, evaluate the weaknesses in each roster, and look at the options available to strengthen those weaknesses.

New York Yankees:

Coming off the recent acquisition of seemingly perennial World Series participant Eric Hinske, the Yankees look to finally be coming into their own. The Yankees offense is fine, there’s really no need to acquire any type of a bat. Alex Rodriguez is catching fire, and players like Mark Teixeira and Melky Cabrera are making a positive impact on a daily basis. Xavier Nady is set to return to the lineup soon. Alongside Brett Gardner, Johnny Damon, and Nick Swisher, Nady completes what is a deep outfield corps. Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, and Teixeira round out what is a solid defensive club. They don’t seem to need to make a hasty acquisition similar to the Red Sox 2004 trade, which brought over Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz in order to enhance their defense for the playoffs.

With Burnett and C.C. Sabathia recently catching fire, it’s hard to knock the front end of that rotation come October assuming they‘re still playing then, therefore improvement in starting pitching is not a necessity. However there are weaknesses in that roster. For the time being, Joba Chamberlain will remain a starter, that should change come postseason time. If that is the case, the Yankees bull-pen will improve, but it is still not up to par with what a championship team resembles in that regard. That is the most glaring need for this club. Aceves has been brilliant (5-1, 2.25 ERA), Robertson has been solid as well, but aside from that the Yankees fail to feature a bridge from the starting pitching to their future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera. When looking at the title contenders of years past, a complete bull-pen always seems to be featured by those clubs.

With the eventual return of Xavier Nady, the Yankees have a surplus of outfielders at their disposal, providing much needed trade bait. On the other hand, the Yankees have never been shy about dealing prospects in order to win now. The Yankees do have a solid farm system, and with a lineup that doesn’t seem to have any room for young talent any time soon, it isn’t farfetched to consider New York being open to dealing a few prospects to fill their needs. However, I believe Nady’s return will force Swisher to the bench, which makes him dispensable.

Possible solution: The Indians have more or less labeled themselves “sellers” at this time. After revamping their bull-pen in the off-season, they’ve still failed to find success from a relief standpoint despite their efforts. How about going after someone like Rafael Betancourt? Betancourt is well into his thirties, and the Indians are clearly looking to get younger and re-tool, which makes Rafael and his 3.71 ERA an enticing opportunity for the Yankees. Rafael is averaging over a strikeout per inning and has been very reliable throughout his entire career. He seems to be the perfect fit for a bull-pen that desperately needs a mentally strong set-up guy for Mariano Rivera. Without that, Rivera’s talent is nearly rendered useless.

During the Yankees’ dynasty not too long ago, the game was considered over if you didn’t hold a lead on them after the 7th inning. A reliable bull-pen is seemingly always a staple of a successful team. Having Rivera is great, but without a few arms to back him up, his post-season dominance is almost useless. Consider a Betancourt seventh inning followed by a Chamberlain eight to set up the shut-down Rivera ninth, a very scary thought for opponents considering a Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte 1-2-3 punch in the postseason. If the Yankees plan to content with the likes of Boston in the American League, they need to go after some relief help. I can’t think of a better option than Rafael Betancourt.